The Return: Disney Lands (30 page)

“Sure we did,” Charlene said, discouraged.

“We’ve got to believe him,” Willa said. “Keep it together, everyone!” But her own voice sounded shrill.

“You’re the one screaming,” Charlene said.

“Am I? Oh, man!” Willa shrank into herself, leaned toward Philby.

“It’s going to be all right.” Wayne sounded a little too glee-club,
a tone that didn’t match the bewildered look in his eyes.

“Maybe it will, maybe it won’t.” Maybeck walked to the door and looked outside. “Part of me is excited to be here, now, to get to be a part of all this. Part of me is not
okay with it at all.”

“Wayne,” Finn said. “I mean, with present company excluded—Wayne has always come through for us. We deciphered his message and we pulled
off the impossible. It’s
nineteen fifty-five, people! And we’re here!”

Maybeck spoke a word that turned present-day Wayne’s face crimson.

Finn hardly heard. Something outside that door was pulling at him, just as he could feel it pull at the rest of the Keepers. Something extraordinary. The past. Something terrifying. Their
present. A challenge. Young Wayne, old Wayne; their mentor
and now their potential ally. Walt Disney himself.

“You understand what’s out there?” he said. “Who’s out there?”

No one answered.

“It isn’t about going back. It never is,” Willa said.

Finn knew what was behind him, but he had no idea what lay ahead. He knew he’d come through for Wayne, that the boy standing in front of him would take that man’s place for a while,
be it a day
or a week. What did it matter, in the end? It would be like having Dillard back as a DHI, the momentary easing of the loss, the pain.

Beyond the door lay sunshine and joy and the wonder of Disneyland. What else mattered? What else even came close?

“I’ve figured it out,” Philby said proudly.

“Let’s hear it,” Maybeck said.

“The letter isn’t just for Wayne. It’s for us, too. It’s
a Stonecutter’s Quill or a Keeper Quest or some Wayne-ism that’s going to explain everything.”
Philby was beaming, his face brightened by an inner light. Finn was relieved to hear he wasn’t the only one; Philby was on board now, too. “Do you know what he’s done? What
we’ve done? Like Finn said: the impossible. If we turned around now, it would be like Columbus getting back aboard the ship the
moment he touched the beach. The astronauts staying in their
capsule and never climbing down the ladder onto the moon’s surface.”

He stopped, met their eyes one by one. Each Keeper. Young Wayne. Friends, old and new and…old.

“Are you kidding me, guys? We’re going to get this close and not go through that door? Why go through all of this if that’s the case? What’s the point?” Philby
answered his own question, still steadily smiling. “Wayne told us. He told Finn. He let us know what was going on way before we had even a hint. We turn around now, we’d be
fools.”

“Not that we can turn around,” Maybeck said beneath his breath. “I’m just saying.”

“What do you mean, he told us?” Willa asked Philby.

“Yeah!” Charlene echoed, incredulous.

“Seriously?” Philby exclaimed.

He and Finn met eyes. The pulse of brotherhood filled both boys, that feeling that comes only from completing an impossible task together. Then Philby nodded, deferring to Finn, as if to say:
You tell them
.

Finn nodded back. He looked down to see the faintest of images still lingering on his forearm: Walt’s pen.

In a voice of hushed reverence, he uttered the words, the only words
that made any sense.

“It’s about time.”

And as one, the Keepers turned to face the door.

To the terrific Kingdom Keeper Insiders, thank you for all the hard work! It’s another level of fun to write parts of this book with readers of the series, and see their
contributions in the book. (Look carefully, you will see them!) Congrats to the few who made it into
The Return
! Well done! (You can see their real names at the end of the book.) I posted
some tricky
challenges. The number and quality of the submissions was unexpectedly impressive! Please stay with the project at kingdomkeepersinsider.com—and the app.

Thanks to all the Keepers who contributed to the research for
The Return—Disney Lands
. These include: Nick Perkins, who helped inspire the series concept, Brooke Muschott (Keeper
Extraordinaire), VIP Guide Katie (Disneyland), VIP Guide
Janet (Walt Disney World), and the many Imagineers who have helped me over the years—especially Alex Wright. Becky Cline and Kevin
Kern at Walt Disney Archives continue to help me dig and delve into archival materials, while Chris Ostrander, Karl Holz, Thomas Schumacher, and myriad other Disney executives smooth the way to
allowing me this wonderful exploration of “Everything Disney.” I have the
best job on earth!

To Wendy Lefkon and Genevieve Gagne-Hawes, thanks for the endless hours of edits through a half dozen full rewrites. Mary Ann Zissimos and Seale Ballenger keep my sorry mug in front of the
cameras, while Tim Retzlaff wins me billboards in Downtown Disney and Disney 365s! Without Jen Wood and Nancy Zastrow, I wouldn’t know which shoe to tie. Thanks, you two, for keeping
the
office fires burning and allowing me to write. Thanks to Storey and Paige for helping with social media and to Jessica Kim for the Alliance.

No acknowledgement would be complete without the Allie Lazars of the Keepers world—you, the readers that start the series and never stop, spreading the word, maintaining the excitement,
making my hours mean something. To all of you who embrace
the series, you are who this is all about.

¹
Music_Vision Rachael Elmers

²
Abandoned_Wishes Mitchell Krueger

³
President_Escher Alissa Cook

⁴
Dark_Robinswood Kaelyn Marble

⁵
Stonecutter_Cannon Clayton Jarrard

⁶
Ladder_Finn Emma Marx

⁷
Wind_Princess Emily Tonne

⁸
Lost_Technology Nolan Gunsolley

RIDLEY PEARSON
is the award-winning author of the best-selling Kingdom Keepers series along with forty other novels for adults
(suspense) and young readers (adventure), including co-writing
Peter and the Starcatchers
. Ridley spends a good deal of his time sneaking around the Disney parks and aboard the Disney
Cruise Line ships, all in the name of research.