by Holly Hook
Alric.
It was the name Grandma had been muttering in her sleep.
I shrunk back from the guy. Big mistake. He stepped closer as if sensing my discomfort.
"Who's Alric?" I asked.
"He has summoned you," the man said. "You must return to Fable at midnight tonight. Alric has taken the King's place. It is his order and my job to enforce it."
I took another step back. I didn't know what this guy was on, but nothing he was saying made sense. Fable? It sounded like some magical world you might read about in some fantasy book.
"I've got to go," I said. Tate was taking a long time inside the bathroom. I searched the crowd for an opening I could sneak through.
And then the man reached out and grabbed my arm.
"It is an order," he said. "Alric has risen. You wouldn't dare defy him."
Okay. Maybe this guy belonged to some weird fantasy cult, and at one point, Grandma knew them. Maybe they hung around Disney World, and this was the real reason she didn't want me to come here. Why didn't she just tell me in that case?
"Let go," I said. At that moment, I didn't care if Grandma came through the crowd and pummeled the guy with a package of kale. I didn't even mind if they threw me out of the park. I tugged, but the man kept my arm in his grasp.
"You don't understand," he said. "You need to obey Alric. Things are changing in Fable. He is assembling his forces and will not deal lightly with those who do not submit to his rule."
Was this guy scared?
"What is your problem?" I asked. I searched around, but people moved around us, parting like a river in front of some rocks. No one wanted to step forward and mess with this guy. But the guy didn't even look tough anymore. He appeared as scared as Grandma sounded in her texts.
"Do you not know who you are?" he asked.
He was freaking me out. Not because he was talking weird, but because he was making me wonder if Grandma had some points after all. He tugged. I let him pull me in, surprising him. My crashing into him sent us sailing into a light post. The guy grunted and loosened his grip on me, and I took my knee and got him right between the legs.
That worked. The guy doubled over, and I broke away and bolted towards the bathrooms. The man cursed and seethed. I didn't need to turn around to know he was curling up in a ball, flushing. I dodged around people. Someone shouted something. Asking if that guy had been bothering me.
Tate was walking out right when I got there. I about crashed into him. Yes, I was about to run into the guys' bathroom to find him. "Tate," I breathed.
He must have read the expression on my face. "Your grandma's here."
"No. Some guy just tried to drag me off. Here in Disney World. I got away. I had to do something that would have made you cringe." I was babbling nonstop. My words blended into the noise all around us. "He's over--"
I looked. The man was gone.
I told Tate what had happened. I left nothing out. I even told him about the name--Alric--that Grandma had muttered in her sleep not too long ago. Tate's eyes widened. I trembled the more I talked. Maybe, just maybe, Grandma had been right to tell me not to come here. Maybe her panicked texts had a good reason behind them, and I was a horrible person for running off like this.
"What did the guy look like?"
I told him.
"We've got to go to security. If there's some jerk trying to snatch girls, they've got to arrest him."
Tate grabbed his map of the park and found the office. We walked there, and I kept an eye out for the man with the bulging shirt. He was nowhere. I couldn't have hallucinated the whole thing.
Who the heck was Alric and what did he want with me? Neither of my parents was named Alric, that was for sure. Did they have any siblings that were after me?
And why did this Alric person have guys crawling around Disney World? It didn't make any sense.
We told the people in security what had happened. The woman behind the desk let us know she'd send people out to hunt for him. They'd never had anything like this happen before, and she was sorry.
"What's your name?" the woman asked me.
"Red," I said. I wouldn't give her my last time in case Grandma asked around for me.
"And Tate." He tightened his grip on my hand.
Maybe he didn't have a connection to Grandma after all if he'd been bothering other people.
Tate and I sat down outside the office for a bit, and I fought down the sickness rising. They sent some people out to look for the guy. I watched the shadows from the light poles and the trees getting longer and longer across the pavement. People walked by, carefree and enjoying their day. A girl walked past, talking on her cell phone. There was still no trace of the guy or my grandmother. We seemed to be safe for now.
"We can leave if you want," Tate said. "I can find us another hotel. And call a cab. I'm sure they have to have them for people who aren't old enough to rent cars."
I realized just then that we were without transportation. That limited us. "There might be another shuttle we can use."
"Excuse me," someone said beside us.
I turned. One of the security women stood there in her uniform. Her radio crackled. I couldn't make the words out.
"I feel bad that you've gone through such an experience in the Magic Kingdom," she told us. "I think we're going to make it up to you. I've arranged a little something with higher up to get you a free room in one of our resorts tonight. Where are your parents?"
Uh, oh.
"We...didn't bring them," Tate said. "But I have cash, so we don't need to worry about any credit cards."
The woman's face fell for a second, but then the smile returned. "That's okay. I won't mention this fact." She grinned, and I wondered what she was up to and why they were letting us get away with this. Tate had used his dad's credit card to book the room. But my heart leaped. It would be off the record, and Grandma wouldn't find us. Tate would just have to cancel the room at the Caribbean one.
Maybe.
Would Grandma be up all night looking for us?
Would something awful happen to her because of me?
I knew I was worrying way too much. I shouldn't be. Grandma knew how to take care of herself. But why couldn't I shake this horrible feeling of dread? Something must have happened to me in a past life or something. Maybe I defied authority and got stoned for it. Or burned at the stake.
Tate looked at me. "Something wrong?"
"No," I said. "It's just...been a long day. First my grandma, and then this."
"Well, it's ending a lot better than it started, that's for sure." He winked at me and excitement rose up inside of me. Tate and I were spending a night alone together. At last. We'd never had the chance due to Grandma's constant worrying and her working with his parents. Now, we had a breath of freedom.
Tate's parents.
"Your parents didn't let slip to Grandma where we were going, did they?"
Tate froze and then leaned back against the bench. "Oh, man. Now that I think of it, they might have. It's possible. What if your grandma called them about the field trip?"
"I thought they were going to help keep this a secret."
Tate sighed. "Maybe my mother had a memory slip when she was talking to your grandmother or something. Mentioned the Dumbo ride when she was supposed to be talking about the Washington Monument. Awesome. I'll talk to them when we get back."
"Or maybe she did watch for the tour buses," I said. "It's a good thing we changed hotels, then. She might have made your dad tell her where we were staying."
"Well, it's over now," I said. "I'm not mad." We got up when the guard led us back into the building. She'd finished making her phone calls. We were staying in one of the resorts with a view of the Cinderella Castle. We'd even have a balcony to overlook it. It was going to be awesome.
Tate and I spent a while getting our luggage out of our lockers and walking there since we had no car. The sunlight grew long and tired, and the guests started to file out of the par
k, exhausted kids in tow. The crowd was thinning, and Tate and I walked faster in case that guy, or worse, my grandmother--came back.
But neither of them did. We finally reached the hotel, and my feet felt ready to explode by the time we did. Tate booked our room, and the guy behind the counter gave us a funny look like he was waiting for our parents, and he even made a phone call to security, but after that, he grudgingly waved us on.
"I can't believe it worked out this way," I said as we boarded the elevator. "And we don't even have kids to ruin our night." I was starting to relax.
It was getting late and full dark outside by now. I kept checking out the windows to make sure that guy hadn't returned. Tate and I got off the elevator and headed towards the balcony room.
But there was someone here.
The security lady. She stood against the wall with her hands behind her back and smiled at us. She nodded as we passed. "Have a magical night," she said, smiling.
I thought that was weird. I couldn't help but draw closer to Tate, and we rushed past her. I appreciated what she'd done for us, but her hanging out here seemed a little bit odd. Didn't she have a shift that should have ended by now?
Or maybe she was here to make sure we behaved. I'd have to check out the peephole in that case.
The room was great. Tate and I dumped our stuff and started out by sitting out on the balcony and holding hands. We watched the lights all turn on around the castle, and we talked about stupid things that we couldn't get away with constant supervision around. I felt freer than I ever had in my life. It was so much better than what coming here as a child would have been. I had Tate now, and he was a lifesaver.
Time passed so quickly. Too quickly. Tate checked his phone and grimaced. "It's eleven forty," he said. "I can't believe we've been out here for so long." He took off his hat and stretched like he was getting ready to say something. My heart leaped.
"Want to go inside?" I asked.
Tate smiled. "Yes."
We went in and stopped at the door to the bathroom. It was open, and the hot tub--the hot tub--waited underneath a beautiful blue ceiling. A light with a castle hung above.
"You want to try that?" I asked.
Tate shifted. Was he nervous?
Then he pulled my face to his and kissed me. It tasted like leather and adventure. It was turning into the best night of my life.
"You know," Tate said when we were catching our breath. "You kiss like a wild girl. There's one in there, and you have to be able to let it out."
I smiled. Tate started to pull his shirt off.
And then there was a knock on the door.
A loud knock. A forceful, open up right now knock.
Tate pulled his shirt back down, and I whirled around. I wanted to rip off the head of whoever was bothering us right now. Maybe it was the guard asking if we were okay, but that seemed a little over the top. It was almost midnight. I marched over to the door, got on my tiptoes, and peeked through the glass hole.
The truth was so much worse.
Grandma stood right outside our hotel room, shifting leg to leg. She still wore her hot pink athletic pants, and her pink fingernails were as bright as ever.
My stomach curled into a teeny, tiny ball.
"She's here," I said.
Tate rushed to the door. He peeked through as if he didn't believe me. "Crap," he said. "She is. Let me deal with her. Or better yet, let's just deal with her together."
I didn't want to. Grandma would make me head back home, not with force but with words and emotions. I knew myself too well. I'd give in.
But I couldn't leave her standing out there, either.
I opened the door right when she was bringing her hand down to knock again. Grandma stopped, almost hitting me in the nose.
"Oh!" She lowered her fist. "Red. You're still here. I've been asking around these resorts all night for you. The man at the counter told me two kids with your descriptions were up here. We have to get away from the Magic Kingdom. Now."
The man who'd been frowning at us. He'd betrayed us.
Grandma sounded so scared that I couldn't help but wither. Grandma's eyes were large. There was something wild in them that I had never seen before. She blinked like she was trying to hide it. "Red. We need to go. Don't bother with your luggage. We have to be out of here by midnight."
"Midnight?" I asked. I wondered about that guy who had approached me outside of the Pirates ride.
Grandma reached out and grabbed my arm. She was strong, stronger than I remembered. I tried to pull away but couldn't. "We need to go!"
"What's going on?"
But she was too far gone in panic for that. She hadn't even yelled at me or chewed out Tate for staying in a hotel room with me. Maybe that would come later. "I have to grab my stuff."
"Wait," Tate said. "Red and I had this trip all planned out for a month. We even got this room for free. You can't just come in and ruin it for us!" He was getting upset. I didn't blame him. I wanted to scream. "Your granddaughter is turning eighteen soon. What are you going to do when that happens?"
"This free room is a trap," Grandma said. "They wanted you here. It'll be easy for the Watchers to take you back. Maybe it's even why that man let me come up here, too. Alric won't rest until he's got us under his control. The man's dangerous."
"Who the heck is Alric?" I asked, but Grandma was already pulling me out of the room and towards the elevator.
She didn't speak. A strange noise came from her throat, but I couldn't make it out. Tate followed, protesting, as we piled into the elevator. The door closed and Tate gave me a look. We'd left our door open. She was winning. Grandma hadn't been able to catch us, and now she was using some trick to stop my dream vacation. Even if we managed to get away this time, there would be no hiding from her.
"Who is he?" I repeated. "If I'm supposed to be in so much danger, I think I deserve to know who Alric is. Otherwise, I'm going back up to my room."
Grandma still held my arm. She whirled on me, and her expression was the most dangerous one I had ever seen. Something was off. "You are not. You are not coming back here ever again. This park is a dangerous place for Legends. Portals open in places like this. It's too connected to the old tales."
"For what?" I managed, hating the way my voice sounded.
The elevator dinged, and the door opened right when the elevator next to us closed and started to hum. Someone was going up to our floor. Grandma listened. "The Watchers must be heading up to catch you now," she said. "Now is the time to make our exit. I have a cab ready to take us to the airport."
She still refused to release my arm. I followed because I had no choice. I held the tears of humiliation back. Tate and I would never be able to escape from her shadow. She'd follow us to college. To our first house. Maybe I'd have to sneak out at midnight when it was time to move to campus. But how would I get financial aid when Grandma would have to cosign all my loans? A whole mountain of hopelessness built on me with each step I took towards the exit. It was my life. My prison. Tate followed behind us, fists balled with rage.
"Grandma, stop!"
To my surprise, she did for a second. I didn't give her a chance to say anything.
"Are you going to be like this when I turn eighteen next year?" I asked.
Her lips thinned, and she turned away. Pulled on my arm again. Tate drew up beside me and searched around for something that might offer an escape. Grandma couldn't drag me all the way back across the country, could she? Maybe there was some way we could stop this madness.
There was something I should say. Something I should do, but I couldn't. What if Grandma was right and there was someone after me? Maybe there was some underground crime ring in the Magic Kingdom and Grandma owed a debt to them or something. Perhaps I had done something horrible by coming here.
The only person in the lobby was a tired guy in a janitor's uniform behind the counter. He just stopped there and stared.
And then Grandma stopped. "Hide. Both of
you."
Then I saw. There was a group of people waiting outside, forming a semicircle around the front entrance.
There were six of them between us and the parking lot. Behind them, a clock's hand drew closer to midnight. It would chime in about twelve minutes.
The creepy guy in the bulging tan shirt was standing there before the others. The security guard stood there in her uniform, arms crossed, and the guy who had been working at the hotel desk earlier waited along with them. The hotel guy was wearing a short-sleeved black shirt now, and I could see the bottom of a red tattoo on his arm. It was the same coat of arms I'd seen on the arm of the man who had tried to kidnap me earlier. Two more women stood with them along with another man I had never seen before. All of them looked as if they'd trained for the military.
Grandma faced me. "Back away and hide. Now. Get as far from the Magic Kingdom as you can and never come back. I will distract them."
"Who are they?"
"Watchers! Now go. Tate's family will take you in."
"You have to release me first."
She did. "Tate, get her out of here."
Tate grabbed my arm. "Come on!" he shouted.
"What's happening?" I managed as he pulled me back through the lobby. Grandma walked towards the entrance. Had they seen us? I couldn't tell.
"Something," Tate said. We bolted down the hall and stopped at the entrance to the pool. The janitor had vanished. "I don't know what it is. Did your grandmother ever tell you she was involved in any weird gangs or anything?"
I shook my head. "I don't know anything. Grandma never told me about when she was younger. We've got to go back and get her."
"She wanted you to run."
I couldn't let Grandma face those guys alone. I broke away from Tate and headed back to the lobby. Grandma had her back to me, and she stormed right through the rotating doors to face those guys standing outside, waiting. Were they waiting for me, too? But the man in the tan shirt walked forward to meet with her. They spoke for a minute, and then the security guard stepped forward and handcuffed her. The man in the bulging shirt pointed at the clock outside. It read ten to midnight.