The Return: Disney Lands (15 page)

U
NSEEN BY
W
ILLA,
behind her the Crypto
gestured broadly to his partner, indicating
Pain and Panic. The presence of the two characters in the park raised the alarm. Any unusual sighting held significance. Having nearly reached Willa, the Crypto changed course to intercept Pain and
Panic. His co-worker did the same.

“Can I help you?” the Crypto called out.

Pain and Panic turned.

“Help?” Pain asked. “We are the ones who
give the help! Never the other way around!”

Panic nodded cartoonishly. “Yup. Yup.”

Pain engaged his counterpart. “Has anyone ever offered to help us? And by ‘ever,’ I mean ‘on any occasion, under any circumstances, on any account?’”

“Nope. Nope.”

“Then don’t you think we ought to thank the man?”

“I think we ought to thank the man.”

Before the Imagineer could step back,
the two minions grabbed him at the same time. His eyes went wide with fright, shockingly large in his instantly bloodless face, and he shivered under a rush
of pain so intense his vocal cords locked and his lungs froze. Silently, he dropped to his knees, Pain still grasping him by the arm. As the character released him, he keeled over.

When Panic reached down and patted his cheek like a
caring mother, the Crypto shook head to toe. Quickening their pace, the two characters closed the distance with Willa. Their smiles were
nothing short of pure evil.

T
HE AIR SHIMMERED LIKE OIL
above
the carousel horse. A crack tore open the air like a black scar. Finn
appeared, straddling the rump of Jingles. He rode just behind a young pigtailed princess.

To Willa, Finn looked like a person awakened too quickly from a deep sleep. Disoriented. Dislodged. She could see him try to collect his bearings, to make sense of it all.

A woman—most likely the princess’s mother—cried out, and
tried to pull Finn off Jingles. Her hand moved right through the young man. She froze in disbelief. Her second try
caught a compromised DHI. Made mortal and material by confusion, Finn was knocked off the horse. The woman snatched her child in her arms, and ran.

A Crypto headed in Willa’s direction. She couldn’t locate the man’s partner. Worried he was about to blindside her, she took the
offensive.

“Look!” she called out loudly. “An Imagineer!” She pointed at the Crypto. The crowd responded, enthusiastically. It surrounded her pursuer, slowing him. Willa took a
calming breath and pushed her DHI
through
every obstacle in her way, starting with the people, and then a planter and finally a railing. She timed it well, pulling a woozy Finn up off the
floor of the slowing carousel.
She hauled him off, and into the crowd.

There were whispers of “Kingdom Keeper,” her name and Finn’s. Faint applause. The Imagineer called for her to stop.

“You good?”

Finn nodded, still dazed.

“Faster!” she urged.

Finn got his feet under him and began running on his own.

Willa caught a glimpse of Finn’s left forearm, pumping furiously as he ran. If they weren’t being chased
by an Imagineer (she was), and he wasn’t being pursued in turn by a
pair of evil cartoon characters (he was), she might have stopped Finn to study the additional writing on Finn’s arm.

She managed to pick out numbers—
1313
and
471
.

But that was all. The rest would have to wait.

As she and Finn reached Disneyland’s Central Plaza, their pursuers nearly upon them, Finn looked at her,
puzzlement still muddying his eyes.

“I remember stuff!” he said.

She stopped him at the base of the Partners statue.

Fingerprints of an artist’s touch encompassed every surface of the statue, the castle looming behind.
⁵
Wrapping one arm around him, she did something that—amazingly!—she’d never done
before.

She pushed the button.

T
HE
K
EEPERS MET
in the local skateboard
park Finn had frequented as a middle
schooler. Finn hadn’t told his mother he was leaving the house, but it was before his curfew of eleven p.m., so technically he didn’t feel he had to.

Like Finn, Willa was still in the clothes she’d been wearing when they’d crossed over. Philby’s loose-fitting gray T-shirt, shorts, and sandals made him look like a surfer
dude. His red hair was tousled,
his smile a little forced. They stood under one of the bright lights that lit the park in silver cones. Mist hung in the cool evening air.

“Can I see it?” Philby asked, taking Finn’s left arm before his friend could grant him permission. “Bizarre,” he said softly, tracing his fingers across the words
written there.

“Weird,
right?” Finn said. “And I know what you’re going to say, but I’m telling you: that’s not my handwriting.”

“It was there on his arm when I pulled him off Jingles,” Willa confirmed. “Wherever he was, whatever happened to him, he came back with that message.”

“Which means we owe you an apology.” Maybeck stepped from the shadows and joined them under the light. He and Finn exchanged fist bumps,
but the familiar ritual was more solemn,
somehow. “I thought you’d gone mental, man. Seriously.”

“How did you—?”

“I called him,” Willa said. “I told him about Mr. Toad’s
Nearly Fatal
Ride, the Cryptos. Pain and Panic.”

“We…I…the thing is…” Maybeck stuttered, seeming to not know what to say.

“No problem.” Finn took mercy on him. “This may sound strange, but I didn’t want to believe
it, either. Not really. To go through everything we went through, to lose
Dillard and Wayne, and then to have it all start again? All I wanted…but forget it; we’re past that.”

“We were jerks. We
are
jerks,” Maybeck said. “So much for one-for-all-and-all-for-one. We left you hanging.”

Philby still held Finn’s left arm. Again and again, he traced the blurry letters, his eyes distant. “IAV.
I know that tag. ‘Imagineers Audio Visual.’ It goes way back.
Hasn’t been used since the nineteen sixties.”

“So what’s in file four-seven-one?” Willa asked.

“No idea. But someone needs that file.” Philby sounded concerned.

“What’s with ‘bring’?” Finn chimed in.

“You’re the only one who can answer that. What happened to you after you got onto Jingles?”

“I actually do remember
some stuff,” Finn said. “A stage. Lights. Audio-Animatronics. A guy older than us but too young to be anybody important. I think maybe the guy wrote it
on my arm. I’m not sure.” He checked with Philby. “This is where you’re supposed to think I’m crazy.”

“Your mother made sure that wouldn’t happen,” Philby said. “Now, I don’t know what to think.”

“I remember being rescued by Willa. Thank
you for that, by the way.”

Willa shook her head. “You were gone for more than twenty minutes.”

“Seriously? No real memory of that.”

“The lint?” Philby asked Willa.

She nodded. “Yup. Both times, leaving and returning. It’s much more vivid in person.”

“Oh, man. Are we talking time travel again?” Maybeck asked. He was with them, but only so far. “It’s gotta be an illusion. Right?
A magic trick! Think about magicians.
They can make elephants disappear. Finn would be a piece of cake.”

“And the loss of memory could be the result of hypnotism.” Willa sounded relieved, excited.

“It is a much more reasonable explanation,” Philby said.

“So, you’re saying Wayne did all this so I could be hypnotized,” Finn said, raising an eyebrow. “The hypnotist, this magician guy,
wrote something on my arm, and
meanwhile the Overtakers put on a little show just so Willa wouldn’t be bored?”

“Well, if you put it like that,” Philby said, “it sounds plain stupid.”

“I’m doing it again, huh?” Maybeck said. “Not believing you.”

“I did not write this message,” Finn said, meeting their eyes one by one. His look was calm, steady. “I don’t even know what it means. And
I don’t think my
vanishing off that horse was an illusion. Yes, hypnotism could erase my memory—but dang, you guys, aren’t we past that?”

“We need to find this file,” Philby said, finally releasing Finn’s arm.

“Thirteen thirteen is the street address of Disneyland.” Willa paused, then added, “I’m just saying.”

A prolonged silence spread through the four friends.

“It’s Wayne,”
Finn said. “Don’t ask me how, but it’s definitely Wayne.”

“We need to find the file.” Philby’s firm tone left no room for argument.

“I’ll bet Amanda and Jess would help,” Finn said. “Especially if you asked, Philby. They’re out there. They’re part of the company now. They find it, I
deliver it.”

There had been a time when Finn might have struggled with confronting Philby, might have
worried it would start a turf war between the two. Not any longer. Since the epic battle in Disneyland,
the Keepers had forged what had felt like an inseparable team. The rest of them bailing on Finn had scarred his heart, but his faith in the team as a whole had not waivered.

“I’ll contact Amanda again,” Philby said. “I agree. That keeps it a business relationship.” He directed this at
Finn. “You sure that’s okay?”

Finn winced a smile. “I’m not sure of anything.”