Kingdom Keepers Boxed Set

by Ridley Pearson

  Finn repeated the weird instructions in a whisper. A moment later he stood with Wayne. To the others, now arriving, both Wayne and Finn appeared to be standing upside down.

  He heard Maybeck say, “Okay! This is way cool.”

  Wayne said, “This is a good place to come if you’re ever in trouble or trying to hide. Without a guide to show the way, no one makes it up the first time. Memorize it carefully. The castle has several secret entrances. I’ll show you if we have time. Once in here, you’re safe.”

  It isn’t safe, Finn remembered Charlene saying. He wasn’t sure he wanted to go any farther.

  Wayne continued, “The other place you should be safe is if you follow the tracks out of the Frontierland train station toward the Indian Encampment. There are some teepees out there that aren’t programmed for DHI projection.”

  “Safe from what?” Finn asked.

  “Ah!” Wayne said, ignoring Finn’s question. “Here come the others. Follow me! Memorize!” he reminded. “The next two staircases are fakes.”

  Finn was stunned by how incredibly real each of the many staircases appeared. The first staircase turned out to be nothing but paint on a wall. Wayne led him to the real staircase and together they climbed it.

  Finn looked back, carefully committing the route to memory. He called ahead to Wayne. “If I’m half hologram, half human, as you said, how can I touch anything? Shouldn’t I only half touch it?”

  “Have you studied Einstein, Finn?” Finn didn’t want to sound dumb, so he didn’t answer. “It’s time you did. There’s more space between atoms than there are atoms. And yet atoms hold together somehow and form what we think of as a solid. We can touch, smell, taste. It all comes down to what you believe. What you think you can do.”

  The only thing Finn knew about Einstein had to do with bagels. He stuck to more practical matters. “How will we ever get back down?”

  As he reached yet another landing, Finn realized Wayne was nowhere to be seen.

  “Take the middle door,” Wayne’s voice instructed.

  Finn faced half of a hexagon: three doors, all at angles. He walked through the middle door, which sprang shut behind him. He now stood in a pitch-black space. Being part hologram, Finn glowed, casting a bluish light into the absolute blackness. But the space seemed to swallow his light, to go on forever. He saw nothing.

  Charlene came in next. Even when the door opened, Finn saw no walls, only blackness.

  “I don’t exactly love this,” Charlene said, a pulsing blue light in the dark.

  The way her voice sounded—so close and bright—told Finn that they were in a very small room.

  “Look up,” he said.

  “Are those stars for real?” Charlene asked.

  “Is anything real here?”

  The door opened. Philby, Willa, and Maybeck entered. As the door shut, the stars reappeared.

  “Wow!” Philby said.

  “Yeah,” Finn agreed.

  “What’s this about?” Maybeck asked.

  Finn jumped as Wayne said from behind him, “Move to the center, everyone.” He’d been standing there all along.

  The kids crowded together into a group. Finn felt the old man’s hand grab his wrist and pull him toward what turned out to be a wall.

  “Feel this?” Wayne asked.

  “Yes.” It was a smooth, glassy button.

  “And this?”

  Another.

  “Yes.”

  “Push.”

  Finn pushed. The floor vibrated and the stars grew closer.

  It took a moment, but Willa understood before the others. “It’s an elevator!”

  “An elevator without walls,” Finn said, for it wasn’t the floor that appeared to be moving, but the walls.

  “It’s an elevator floor,” Maybeck said. “A platform.”

  The overhead constellations grew closer. As they reached the Big Dipper, Finn could imagine it as a cleverly shaped door.

  “You gotta love this,” Philby said.

  “I don’t have to,” Charlene protested, sounding a little frightened.

  The floor stopped. Finn heard a click. He pushed against the wall—the Big Dipper—and it opened.

  They entered a small apartment, full of old furniture in pastel colors, like something from Finn’s grandparents’ house. A small drafting table occupied the far corner. Most of one wall was filled with books. A tiny galley kitchen was next to the room’s only window. Narrow and small, the slit window belonged in a castle. It was tinted with a blue theatrical lighting gel with a tiny hole cut into it to allow you to peer outside. Finn looked down over the entire Magic Kingdom. The view took his breath away. They were very high up.

  “Welcome to Walt’s secret hideaway,” Wayne said.

  Three phones hung from the wall: red, blue, and yellow. Philby studied them.

  “Never touch any of those,” Wayne advised, eyeing each of the kids.

  Charlene peered out the small hole in the window. “Beautiful,” she said. That led to each of the kids taking a turn, oohing and ahhing.

  Wayne waited for them to face him. It was a small apartment with barely enough room for the six of them.

  “You were each picked for a reason, or you wouldn’t be here,” he said. “Our selection of the DHIs was careful to the point of painstaking. We’ve brought you here to help us. I’m going to share a story with you. A fable. It’s something that has been in my care a long, long time. Walt entrusted me with this, and it has been in my head ever since. All fables have names. This one is called The Stonecutter and, as it turns out, has been around a few thousand years. But take note: Walt called it The Stonecutter’s Quill. It’s up to you to find out why he added quill to the name. But here’s the story. I believe it to be the key to stopping the forces that are gathering.”

  The kids looked for places to sit. Willa took a chair. Charlene and Philby the couch. Maybeck sat on the floor. Finn stood.

  No one said a word. Wayne had their full attention.

  “It was a hot, sweltering day, and the stonecutter balanced on his haunches, chisel and hammer in hand, streams of sweat running down his back as he broke bits of rock away from the base of a wall of stone. It was hard, blistering work, and it felt like the sun had no mercy on him.

  “How wonderful it must be to have the power of the sun, he thought. If I were the sun, no one could resist me! I wish I were the sun!

  “In an instant, he found himself looking down on the earth, beating on it with his heat and energy. He was the sun, and he liked the way he touched everything and everyone below him without mercy. In his presence, people would be thirsty, they would be hot, and they would always know he was there.

  “Suddenly, he realized that there was something impeding him. He could not touch the earth with his power. He looked down and saw that a cloud had interposed itself between him and the earth.

  “Hmm, he thought. In spite of my great power, there is something that thwarts me. Surely this cloud is mightier than I am. I wish I were the cloud!

  “And in an instant, he found he was the cloud, and he could block the sun all day long. What’s more, he could rain on those below him, bringing cold, eroding buildings, drowning what he pleased. Surely there was nothing more powerful than he was now!

  “But he felt himself being swayed, and quite without his consent, he was being pushed and he could not resist the movement. He found that the wind was blowing him to the side, and he saw that because he could not defy it, it was mightier than him. How I wish I were the wind! he thought.

  “And he was. Where he blew, huge trees bent. He could push great walls of water where he pleased. He could topple the tallest, most majestic buildings. Surely he was all-powerful now.

  “But as he swept across the world, he came across something that stopped him. He looked and realized that the mountain before him could not be penetrated. As hard as he might blow against it, he could not push it to the side. Look how it resists me! he thought. Surely this m
ountain is mightier than me. I wish I were the mountain!

  “And he was. He sat, imperial and bold, tall and proud, bolted to the earth, and he knew that there was nothing in all the world that could move him, could destroy him, or could overcome him. He was the mightiest thing of all.

  “But then he realized something. From somewhere far below, he felt he was being reduced. He was being destroyed—torn apart—quite against his wishes, and he could do nothing about it. What is there mightier than a mountain? he asked himself. Not the sun, the cloud, or the wind…What could it be?

  “With great effort, he looked down, and there, far below, at his very base…

  “He saw a stonecutter.”

  The kids said nothing, focused on Wayne expectantly.

  Wayne said, “The things in the story you need to focus on are the sun, cloud, wind, and stone. At least we’re pretty sure about that. Note the order. All four of these themes are seen repeatedly in the Magic Kingdom. Somehow they are meant to lead us to a solution, a way to defeat the darker powers that have begun to threaten the park.”

  Silence.

  “Comments?” Wayne asked, reminding Finn of an English teacher.

  “Be careful what you wish for. That’s the theme, isn’t it?” Maybeck asked.

  Finn said, “It also says to be satisfied with who you are.

  “Not to mention that no matter how strong you think you are, there’s always something stronger,” Willa contributed.

  Philby said, “So it’s about power. It’s a study of power.”

  “Walt told me that story,” Wayne explained, “and then said something I will never forget. He said, ‘I have plans for this place that should put things in perspective, Wayne.’ And there was this twinkle in his eye. There was something more to it than he was letting on. At least that’s been my opinion all these years.”

  “But what?” Finn asked.

  Wayne shrugged. He repeated: “I have plans for this place that should put things in perspective.”

  “And we’re supposed to figure out why he called it ‘The Stonecutter’s Quill’?” Willa asked.

  “Yes, it’s up to the five of you to solve the fable. Others have tried before you, myself included, but to no avail. As matters grew more urgent, we came up with the idea of the DHIs. You have one foot in the character world, one in the real. We need not only to solve whatever the fable is supposed to tell us, but we need to apprehend and stop the Overtakers responsible for our recent problems.”

  “And we’re the chosen ones,” Maybeck said skeptically.

  “Indeed, you are. Very carefully chosen, at that: intelligence, athleticism, artistry, computer knowledge.”

  “What if we don’t want to be chosen?” Willa asked.

  Finn answered. “There’s not much choice. We’re going to cross over when we go to sleep.”

  “But that must be your doing,” Willa said to Wayne accusingly.

  The old man looked back impassively. For a moment it seemed he might refuse to answer. Then he said, “It’s out of my hands now.” He raised his arms dramatically. “I’ve waited a long time to tell that story to you.

  Willa spoke, “What are we up against?”

  Wayne said, “You know how you can sometimes sense a storm before it ever rains? You can almost smell it? Whatever is happening to this place is like that: we know it’s coming. Bad things have been happening, but worse things are on their way. We’re powerless to do anything about them. You are not. You five can change it.”

  Maybeck snorted.

  Philby, deep in thought, complained. “What if there isn’t enough time?”

  He won Wayne’s attention.

  Finn explained, “This afternoon we all…kind of fainted. All of us. Right at the same time, and all in completely different locations.”

  Wayne’s face wrinkled in concern. He considered this carefully and said, “Was this sometime after two o’clock?”

  Finn gasped. “How would you know that?”

  “The DHIs here in the park—they went down for a few minutes this afternoon. Something to do with the computer server. Maybeck?”

  Maybeck shied from the summons.

  “That’s right,” Philby said, remembering. “You’re a computer freak, aren’t you, Maybeck?”

  “Freak? I’m freaking good with them, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  Finn speculated, “If we’re able to cross over at night—and we certainly are, then maybe if something happens to the DHIs during the day, it also happens to us.”

  Wayne said, “I think you’d better hurry.” He pursed his lips and looked each of them in the eyes before saying, “Once the Overtakers realize you intend to help us—that you’re here to stop them—I believe they’ll do whatever they can to stop you first. Maybe your fainting is the result of their dark powers. If they can stop you from crossing over, we’re defeated. Fear is one way to stop you.” He paused a moment and said, “This is new ground for all of us.”

  Finn felt a chill run up his spine.

  Still deep in concentration, Philby said, “Walt was an artist. An animator. He drew things. You draw things with pencils and pens. Quills.”

  “Yes,” Wayne agreed. “We got that far as well.”

  “So the solution to the fable has something to do with that,” Philby said. “A pen. A pencil. A quill.”

  Wayne nodded. “Just as we’ve thought these many years. But what it is exactly, and where to find it? We have no idea.”

  Willa had her own concerns. “What do you mean by ‘dark powers’? Some kind of magic?”

  “What puts us in a bad mood when just a minute before we felt so good?” Wayne asked. “What makes us afraid of the dark when we know perfectly well there’s nothing bad out there? What explains that sometimes we think of a person and two seconds later the phone rings, and it’s that same person calling us?” Again, Wayne looked at the kids one by one, his face deadly serious. “Not all such forces have to do with hats and rabbits. There are forces bigger than all of us. Good, and bad.”

  Wayne reached toward the wall. “Good luck,” he said as he pushed a circular metal plate embossed with a silhouette of Mickey Mouse. A panel in the floor opened up beneath him. Wayne fell through and disappeared.

  Finn jumped up, ahead of the others. The floor was solid again. Wayne was gone.

  Sitting on the coffee table in the center of the room was what looked like a small black garage-door opener with a single red button.

  Wayne had used it to send him back to his bed on his earlier visits. Finn pointed it out for the others to see. “Well, I guess that’s it. So who’s in? Who’s up for solving the Stonecutter fable?”

  One by one, the other DHIs tentatively lifted their hands. They had accepted Wayne’s challenge.

  He said, “Philby and Willa will work to connect the fable to the Magic Kingdom. There has to be something we’re supposed to do with the story. Maybeck will find out as much as he can about the DHI servers and what we might do to protect them, to protect us. Charlene and I will study up on Walt Disney—why he might have picked the Stonecutter’s fable, what’s with the quill, and anything else we can find out. Sound okay?”

  No one disagreed. Finn was the acknowledged leader.

  Finn said, “I doubt this button is going to cross over with me. It’ll remain here.”

  Maybeck said, “My guess is, it’s a proximity thing, like the dialogue bubbles in VMK. You have to be near it when it’s pushed in order to go back. So if you’re ever in trouble, get up here to this room and push this button.”

  “Okay?”

  Everyone nodded.

  Finn indicated the black fob with the red button. They all gathered close together.

  Maybeck said, “It might be smart to hold hands.”

  The kids looked anxiously and apprehensively among themselves.

  Finn said, “It wouldn’t be good to get left behind.”

  They grabbed each other’s hands immediately, forming a circl
e. Willa took Finn’s right forearm, freeing his hand to reach down and press the button.

  The world went dark.

  THE FOLLOWING NIGHT, the five DHIs gathered near the Riverboat Cruise as the first rumblings of a thunderstorm echoed like faraway drums in the distance. The approaching clouds drew a veil across the night sky. The river’s black water swirled and lapped lazily at the riverbank. Wayne had mentioned the Indian Encampment as a safe location, and this had led the DHIs to meet here.

  The cluster of extremely realistic-looking teepees sat atop a rise, overlooking Tom Sawyer Island. The encampment included a dozen human-size models of Native Americans doing a day’s work: chopping wood, tending a fire. At the fake campfire, an old Native American woman squatted while she cooked.

  As Finn led the DHIs inside the first of the teepees, they all disappeared. Charlene gasped aloud. “We’re…”

  “Invisible,” Maybeck answered. “Our holograms are not projected inside the teepees. Basically, we’re in a kind of hologram-projection shadow here.”

  Finn said, “That’s got to be why Wayne suggested it. It’s the perfect hiding place.”

  “Our holograms apparently have been programmed to project inside most attractions,” Maybeck said.

  Philby said, “The plan was to have us guide guests onto the rides at some point. Still is. Sit there with them and explain the history of the attraction. That producer Brad told me about it when we were all at MGM.”

  Finn said, “But here, we’re safe.”

  The small space was crowded with the five of them. Maybeck’s crossed legs—and only his legs—showed because they were near the teepee’s open door. A part of Charlene’s left knee showed as well.

  “This is too weird,” said an invisible Willa.

  Maybeck raised and lowered his arm into the light that came through the door, making his hand appear and disappear. He said, “It’s like cell phone reception in a tunnel.”

  “Let’s not forget,” Philby pointed out in a whisper, “that though we may be invisible, we can hear each other. That means we can also be heard.”