Kingdom Keepers Boxed Set

by Ridley Pearson

  “The witch, Maleficent, has something to do with this,” Finn said. He told Wayne everything that had happened recently.

  “Apparently she has everything to do with this,” Wayne agreed.

  “The Overtakers,” Finn tested. “There are other Overtakers besides Maleficent.”

  “Too many to count.”

  “Like the pirates.”

  “Worker bees, is all. The pirates don’t matter much. But you must underestimate nothing, no one. Conviction is the better part of intent. Few battles are won by strength alone. Cunning and knowing your resources can help you overpower the most powerful.”

  “How do we stop Maleficent?” Philby asked anxiously. He sipped the tea, liked it, and drank some more.

  “Don’t get ahead of yourselves,” Wayne said.

  “Maybeck,” Finn said.

  “They won’t want anyone to see him. Nor to hear him, should he call out,” Philby continued.

  “Someplace dark and noisy,” Finn said.

  “One of the attractions!” Philby said. “Like Pirates of the Caribbean! The pirates took him!”

  “It’s not dark enough,” Finn said. “And where would they hide him?”

  “On the boat, maybe,” Philby said.

  “Possibly,” Wayne said, though his tone of voice suggested that he didn’t give the idea much credence.

  “Well, listen, Obi-Wan,” Philby said sarcastically. “Why don’t you tell me and Luke here where to find him, and we’ll make for hyperspace.”

  “Warmer,” Wayne said to Philby, though he engaged Finn with his eyes.

  “Space Mountain,” Finn said. “Pitch-black and superloud.”

  Philby sat forward excitedly. “Is he right? Is that where they’ve got him? Brilliant!”

  Wayne sipped his tea, looking over the cup. “I have no idea where your friend is being kept. It’s a big park. Very big.”

  Finn thought for a moment and then said, “More important, it might be like the teepee inside there. A DHI shadow. That would make Maybeck invisible—easy to hide, to say the least.”

  If Wayne knew any answers, his face revealed nothing.

  “It’s a place to start,” Finn said. “We have to start somewhere.”

  Wayne said, “They’re keeping you from solving the fable. You see that, don’t you? Distracting you.”

  “And if we solve it?” Philby asked.

  “When we solve it,” Finn said, looking right at Wayne.

  “Rescue your friend. Solve the fable. Only then will we know what’s expected of you.”

  Finn and Philby wouldn’t be entering Space Mountain through the front door. Wayne told them of a trap door that existed in the very top of the pointed dome roof. The roof hatch was used by Maintenance, and to his knowledge had never been locked.

  If the boys could climb to the first level of the dome—about fifteen feet up—they’d reach a metal ladder that ran up the back of the dome to the pinnacle. From there, they could enter the ride’s interior.

  At Wayne’s suggestion, the boys borrowed some ropes from the firehouse. They then snuck through shadows, carrying the heavy ropes over their shoulders, and reached the backside of the attraction.

  Crouching in some bushes, looking at the steepness of the roof and the small metal ladder that led to the top, Finn said, “The Overtakers have got to assume we’ll come for Maybeck.”

  “But to them we’re kids, don’t forget.”

  “They’ll have patrols. Cameras, maybe.”

  “So when we do this, we do it quickly.”

  The roof was shaped something like a magician’s hat, with a wide brim and a conical peaked crown. There were antennae on top.

  Philby proved his climbing skills by tossing one of the ropes over a metal railing on the brim part of the roof. He tied it off. “We’re set,” he announced, waving Finn over.

  Finn, who was not big on heights, shinnied up the rope. In short order he reached the brim of the roof. He threw a leg over and pulled himself up.

  Philby followed silently and without incident.

  They kept away from the edge of the roof, where they might be spotted, as Philby pulled up the rope and stashed it out of sight. Quickly they ascended the white metal ladder that ran to the peak. Attached to the roof, it ran at the same steep angle as the cone.

  They reached the top, and sure enough, there was a metal trap door, exactly as Wayne had described it.

  Finn reached for the handle and pulled. It lifted open. He peered down into a black square, completely void of light.

  “Who’s going first?” Philby asked, his voice breaking.

  Finn led the way down the metal ladder. Philby followed and they descended silenty. After a moment, Finn’s eyesight began to adjust. They were way up inside the pointy-hat part of the domed ceiling, a gigantic space that contained the entire Space Mountain roller coaster track. He made out a few red exit signs, but they were not bright enough to see by.

  The track was a tangle of metal fringed by catwalks and supported by towering I-beams and steel columns. Finn felt as if he were inside a complicated clock. They reached a catwalk—a path that led along the roller coaster track, with a metal mesh floor—and followed it to a set of metal stairs leading down. This connected to another catwalk. Suddenly it felt as if they’d entered a maze.

  “This is crazy,” Philby whispered. “The place is huge. Maybeck could be anywhere.”

  “I’m not so sure about that,” Finn said. “Agreed, it’s huge, but look around. Where are you going to hide him?” Now that his eyes had fully adjusted, he could make out the size and scope of the complicated track. But it was all exposed and open—not a good place to hide someone.

  “Hey!” Finn said, holding out his hand. Seeing his hand.

  “Yeah,” Philby said, “I know.” But he moved his own arm around to show Finn that the metal broke up the imaging. His arm appeared to be in pieces, separated by black stripes. The DHI projection in here was spotty at best.

  “You take that side,” he instructed Philby. “We’ll meet in the middle over there.” He pointed out a low spot in the ride where the track turned sharply left.

  “If something goes wrong,” Philby cautioned, “we get out of here and meet at the apartment.”

  “Got it.”

  Finn descended yet another ladder and then followed a catwalk toward one of the exit signs, using it as a beacon. The catwalks reminded him of submarine movies.

  If he were hiding someone, Finn thought, he’d stash his hostage close to where guests made the most noise—in a place where any shouts for help would likely go unheard. Finn searched the track overhead for just such a spot. Then he leaned over the rail of the catwalk and looked below. Not far below him, and slightly to his left, he noticed an indistinct dark shape that, as he approached, he realized was geometric: a large rectangle. Now he recognized it as a booth or storage room. Like the catwalks, its walls were of heavy wire mesh. Finn climbed over the rail, lowered himself and dropped to a catwalk below. He reached out and touched the wire mesh—it was covered in a greasy dust that stuck to his fingers. It looked like a large garden shed, about six feet tall, ten feet deep, and fifteen feet long.

  On the front of the shed a heavy canvas was hung that prevented Finn from seeing inside. The canvas was tied down on the inside. Finn located the only door, which was wood-framed and also covered with wire mesh. He felt his way down the door and struck a piece of heavy metal: a padlock.

  Locked out.

  “Pssst!” Finn tried to signal Philby but got no answer. Finn looked around, off into the dark, realizing he’d completely lost track of his friend. He tried again. “Pssst!”

  A muffled voice made him spin around: it was coming from inside the screened shed.

  “Philby!” Finn tried again, a little louder. He heard the scuffle of feet.

  “Mmms…hmmm…heggg…warfff,” said the muffled voice behind him.

  “Maybeck? It’s me, Finn!” Finn struggled with the
lock again, and then remembered: he didn’t need to unlock the door.

  Finn closed his eyes and concentrated on his being made of light, nothing but light, and he walked through the wall, just as he’d swum through the water without feeling the effect of the current.

  Once through, he realized how much darker it was inside the shed because of the canvas. Finn felt his way around, stepping over boxes and coils and pieces of metal.

  The muffled calls for help became more urgent.

  “I’m right here,” Finn said, turning toward the sound.

  Close by now, Finn squatted, felt around, and touched an arm.

  He jumped back, fell over and knocked something loose, making a loud sound.

  “Nnnnnnnn,” said Maybeck. Wiggling as he was, a piece of Maybeck’s DHI, his left side, suddenly showed. Finn lunged forward and untied the gag.

  “Oh, man,” Maybeck said, the gag slipping off.

  “You okay?”

  “No, I’m famished! And I’m thirsty. But thank you, man, thank you!”

  Finn untied Maybeck’s wrists and ankles.

  Maybeck said, “Let’s book it.”

  “We gotta find Philby. He’s in here someplace, looking for you too.”

  Maybeck pulled on the locked door, but it didn’t budge. “But how’d you…?”

  “Right through the wall,” Finn explained.

  “That’s fine for you, but what about me? I can’t go through a dumb wall.”

  “Sure you can.”

  “No, I can’t.”

  “You’re going to have to.”

  Maybeck stared at the dark canvas and the locked door. “Are you telling me I could have just walked out of here all along?”

  “Not if you’d convinced yourself you were trapped,” Finn replied.

  Maybeck reached out. His hand struck the canvas.

  “You’ve got to lose the attitude, Maybeck,” Finn instructed. “You’re only hitting that wall because you think that’s what’s supposed to happen.”

  “I don’t have an attitude.” He waited for some support from Finn. “Do I?”

  Finn demonstrated. First, he reached out and touched the canvas; then, he reached over a second time, and his hand and forearm passed right through up to his elbow.

  “I do not have an attitude,” Maybeck repeated.

  “Prove it,” Finn said. He was worried about the noise Philby was making trying to get over to the shed. The bumps and bangs seemed amplified in this echo chamber.

  On Maybeck’s sixth try, he walked through the wall of the enclosure. Once on the other side, he bent over, as if in pain.

  “You okay?” Finn asked.

  Giddy with the accomplishment, Maybeck started giggling. “What a dumb jerk! I could have walked out of there all along.”

  “Not with your hands tied. That rope is from this side. The rope would have stopped you from getting through the wall.”

  Maybeck blurted out. “It was Jez.”

  “What was Jez?”

  “She called,” Maybeck said.

  “Called your house,” Finn said, having figured out some of this on his own. “Last night, just before you crossed over.”

  “Said she’d meet me.”

  “When you checked your watch…” Finn said, speculating. “The line you fed us about having a hot date…You really did have a hot date.”

  “I ditched the girls at It’s a Small World. We were going to meet—Jez and me—at the carousel. But all of a sudden I was so cold. I could barely move—like slow motion.”

  “Yeah, cold,” Finn said. He was thinking: been there, done that.

  FOR NEARLY A WEEK, the kids met inside the park after going to bed, but only for a matter of minutes. As quickly as possible they would use the button to return home, having looked for no more clues. They caught up on sleep. They did their homework. They rejoined their families. Maybeck’s abduction had worn them out and frightened them to the point of not wanting to continue. They overcame their reluctance only when Philby showed up at one of their meetings telling of a newspaper story he’d read about an electrical company power station that had been “attacked” and drained of all its power.

  “It’s not a coincidence,” he told the others. “This is spreading beyond the park.”

  On Saturday morning, the girls decided to use their complimentary passes to enter the Magic Kingdom legally. As kids, not DHIs. That felt safer. They wore disguises in order to keep fans from spotting them and carried 3-D glasses to wear on the rides.

  As they stood outside, waiting to board The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, a cartoony voice came over the speakers saying, “Happy winds day.” It was this, and other references on the ride, that had led them to pick it as the most wind-oriented ride in the park. Wind was the third clue in the Stonecutter’s fable.

  They sat down in the car, and the ride began. Black lights made their teeth glow white and their skin and clothing almost disappear.

  “Glasses,” Willa announced, donning hers. Charlene followed. “You look right. I’ll look left,” Willa coached. “If we see any letters—big letters in an unexpected place—we’re supposed to write them down.”

  Charlene said, “I’ve got it.” She sounded nervous, and Willa understood her concern. The rides had been anything but friendly since this hunt had begun.

  As they traveled along, doors swung open to admit their car into each new scene. Reaching the third scene, Charlene realized she heard no one talking. She looked back and saw there was no one in the car behind them. Rising to her knees, she saw no one in the car behind that one either.

  Yet the line out front had been packed.

  “Willa…?”

  “Over there!” Willa said, pointing out a large, colorful tree drawn onto a panel. She lifted and dropped her 3-D glasses onto her nose in order to make sure—but yes, there was a single letter drawn into the leaves of the tree.

  She called out quickly, “It’s an S!”

  “S?” Charlene asked, puzzled. “But look behind us!”

  Willa was too excited to look back.

  “There’s no one behind us,” Charlene announced. “No one in the cars behind us. Why not?”

  Willa pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket and scribbled down S. As she did, a drop of water appeared on the paper. Then another. And another.

  “Behind us!” Charlene cried urgently.

  Willa looked back. She looked up.

  More water.

  The doors to the next scene popped open and shut. They were in the rain scene. Rain drawn in long lines down the walls. Rain falling from the ceiling.

  “Since when is this part of the ride?” Willa complained, stuffing the paper into her pocket.

  At that moment, their car stopped moving.

  “What’s happening?” Charlene whined. “Why are we stopping?”

  The few light raindrops changed into a downpour. At first it seemed funny. But then it wasn’t simply rain, it was a torrent. Buckets. Both girls gasped for breath through a steady stream of water pouring down onto them. It was hard to breathe without coughing.

  “This isn’t right!” Willa cried.

  Now the water beneath their car began to rise. The car lifted, floating. Charlene lunged forward nervously, nearly capsizing them. She leaned out of the car and pushed against the large doors to the next scene.

  “They’re stuck! They won’t open.”

  As the water rose at an astonishing rate, the car floated higher and higher. Sparks flew as electrical wires were submerged.

  “Stay in the car!” Willa hollered. Light sockets sparked and zapped. “We could be electrocuted!”

  The car floated quickly toward the ceiling. Willa understood the worst of it: the higher they rose, the less available the air would be. They would either drown or suffocate.

  “Willa…” Charlene moaned.

  “I know.”

  The car rose higher still.

  Sparks flew again as more lights went und
er.

  “We’re in trouble,” Willa said, surprisingly calm.

  “Duh!”

  “We need a way out.”

  “Just now occurred to you, did it?”

  The rain fell like a waterfall—the car was now less than three feet from the ceiling. Another foot or two and the car would be pinned with the girls inside it.

  Why won’t the doors to the next scene open? Willa thought.

  “Sit still,” she warned Charlene.

  Studying the large scene doors, Willa stood up in the car. Charlene hollered at her to sit down as the car threatened to tip over.

  Willa grabbed the overhead pipes to stabilize the car. She then pulled hand over hand to draw the car closer to the doors. But as the water rose, with so little room, Willa was forced back down into her seat.

  No time!

  Water streamed down her neck and shoulders as she spotted a sawed-off length of pipe jammed across the top of the large doors, blocking them and holding them shut. The “rain” was nothing more than the emergency sprinkler system gone wild. All this trouble could be easily explained: the sprinklers malfunctioning. Maleficent had done her job well.

  Willa pulled on the sawed-off length of pipe but couldn’t budge it. She called for a stunned Charlene to help as the water rose steadily higher.

  Together they pulled.

  Water spilled over the side of the car, quickly filling it.

  Willa chanted, “One—two—”

  On “Three!” both girls heaved on the pipe, pulling it free.

  The doors blew open. The girls fell back into the car as a few thousand gallons of water rushed into the next scene, and the car rode the leading edge of the wave like a surfboard.

  The plume of water spun and turned and twisted its way out toward the ride’s finish, leveling off as it reached the exit. Their car lowered and settled into the track, right where it had started.

  The waiting guests stood there drenched head to toe. A lake of water had flooded the pavement outside the attraction.

  In all the confusion, the two girls hurried from the car and ran for their lives.

  LATE THAT AFTERNOON, nearing the dinner hour, the DHIs met in Finn’s guest room in the Virtual Magic Kingdom. This had become something of a routine for them. Lately, Charlene’s and Willa’s characters took the couch while Finn, Maybeck, and Philby stood and moved around the room.