He kept checking the sky as the line of floats reached a view of Tom Sawyer Island. He noted that the water looked oddly green and mysterious. His four friends waved and smiled at the crowds—big crowds. All but Maybeck, who nodded with his whole body but never actually waved, his head bopping and moving to the parade music.
As their float moved through Frontierland, Finn caught sight of a girl among the crowd. She was like a beam of light or a bright star in the night sky, the way she stood out. Amid the hundreds of guests—thousands?—she had appeared almost magically. Nut-colored skin, thanks to an Asian mother and African American father; a tangle of dark hair bouncing as, running now, she kept up with the steady movement of the parade. She seemed almost to float above the ground. Immediately behind her followed Jezebel. And though they claimed to be sisters, it had to be by adoption. Amanda’s skin was a rich caramel, her hair so dark brown it was mistaken for black. Jez had once had jet black hair as well, though it was no longer so. But her pale, translucent skin set her apart, not just from Amanda, but from every girl Finn had ever met; it had depth, as if you could see into and through the first layer to some part of her that lay beyond.
“Amanda!” Finn shouted, breaking a strict rule that required silence of any Cast Members on a float.
The other kids hurried over and waved enthusiastically at both girls.
Amanda and Jez waved back, glad to have been spotted. Amanda gave Finn an enthusiastic thumbs-up—or at least he thought she’d intended it for him. He hadn’t seen or heard from her in weeks. She hadn’t been in school. She’d disappeared the same day her sister had somehow been transformed by Finn—an event he still didn’t fully understand. Jez had gone from evil twin to a sweet, even angelic, girl, all in less than a minute. Only then had Amanda dropped the bomb that Jezebel was her sister, an explanation that had never been fully clarified.
“Where did they come from?” Charlene asked. Even now Finn heard a tinge of jealousy in her voice. Or was that suspicion? There was a lot unanswered about Jez and Amanda. “And check out that hair color. Since when is she a strawberry blonde? Last time we saw her she had hair like my granny’s.”
“What the heck are they doing here?” Philby called out. He didn’t mean the sisters.
Two big monkeys were moving in the bushes, swinging and keeping perfect pace with…was it possible?…the float. Their float.
“Since when are there monkeys in the Magic Kingdom?” Maybeck said.
“Are they wild?” Charlene asked, having noticed them as well.
Finn saw something his friends apparently didn’t: the monkeys weren’t following the float; they were following Jez and Amanda, keeping perfect pace with their movements.
“There aren’t any primates in the wild in northern Florida,” Philby said, ever the expert. Philby was a walking encyclopedia—he knew everything, and what he didn’t know he knew how to research. His red hair and rock-climbing, thrill-seeking mind-set played against the geek he really was. A favorite of the girls at school, he wanted nothing to do with them. He spent his weekends with a climbing wall and a laptop.
The parade turned just then, making a graceful arc past the Hall of Presidents. The crowds thickened. Amanda’s efforts to keep up with the DHI float failed. She and Jez stopped, caught in a bottleneck of Park guests. Finn waved, and Amanda waved back, but it wasn’t a pleasant or friendly wave; it was more like panic.
Growing smaller now and being absorbed by the crowd, Amanda pointed to Cinderella Castle. Then sharply up. Finn nodded, hoping to communicate that he too was aware of the oversize gray balloon. But Amanda shook her head violently, as if he didn’t understand. He nodded, again trying to say that he did understand. He felt constrained by not being able to shout down at her. Amanda frantically pointed toward the sky. Then she tore a leaf off a plant and pushed it against her face. Again she pointed toward the castle. Then the float rounded the corner, and Amanda was gone.
Finn looked up at the swirling, dark clouds. They’ll cancel the parade, he wanted to shout. Maybe she was concerned that he and the others were so high above ground when lightning threatened. But surely the Park authorities had it under control. He wasn’t worried about their safety—he just didn’t want the parade canceled.
Maybeck edged closer to Finn, pushing past Charlene, who was waving two pom-poms. “What do you suppose they’re doing here?” Maybeck asked, while bobbing his head and trying to keep a smile on his face.
“No clue.”
“AWOL all this time, and they suddenly reappear for our reopening celebration. Doesn’t that strike you as just a little bit odd?”
“Everything about them is odd, if you ask me,” said Charlene, overhearing.
“What was with the leaf?” Finn mumbled. No one heard him.
“I like them both,” said Willa, joining in. Willa looked constantly on edge. She had chocolate-colored, captivating eyes and a somewhat grating voice.
“You like everybody,” Charlene said.
“So what?” Willa complained.
“It just doesn’t work. You can’t like everybody,” Charlene said.
“Why not? Of course you can!” Willa said.
“Oh, forget it,” Charlene said, shaking her pompoms. She looked more eighteen than fourteen.
“Amanda knows where I live,” Finn said. “Otherwise I might have said that they came here to catch up with us after reading about the grand opening.”
“If she’d wanted to catch up with you, she’d have come by your place,” Maybeck said.
“So it’s you, I suppose,” Finn said. Maybeck believed every girl was in love with him. “She knows where you and Jelly live, too, don’t forget.”
“I’m just saying the timing’s kind of interesting,” Maybeck said. “We know there’s something strange about those two, and there just happens to be a pair of monkeys following them.”
Both Jez and Amanda reappeared, staying with the parade float once again.
With Amanda stabbing the sky and looking worried, Finn pointed back, behind her, trying to show her the monkeys. But before he could tell if she saw them, he lost sight of Amanda.
“She could have been pointing to the balloon,” Finn said. “Even though it disappeared, maybe they saw it too. Whatever she saw, she was…I don’t know…agitated. I don’t think they came here to celebrate. I think they came to warn us.”
“Warn us?” Charlene said.
“About the weather?” Maybeck said skeptically. “I doubt it.”
“Could have been about the primates,” Philby said.
“Yeah. A couple of monkeys,” snapped Maybeck sarcastically. “Now, there’s something to set your legs trembling.”
“Maybe they were running from the monkeys,” Willa said.
“I’m not even sure they saw the monkeys,” said Finn.
The parade kept moving, and their float along with it. They crossed the lagoon, heading for the Hub, the density of the crowds increasing. Cheers arose. Kids screamed out their names.
“We’re rock stars,” said Maybeck.
“Our DHIs are the rock stars,” clarified Finn. “Let’s not confuse the two.”
Finn caught a lightning flash out of the corner of his eye. The storm was moving closer. He looked up at the sky to see that it was far darker than even a few minutes ago. Was this what Amanda had wanted him to see? His mind reeled with possibilities. Why had she seemed so agitated? The low clouds and swirling fog obscured any sight of the gray weather balloon. Would anyone believe him now?
Suddenly the music was interrupted. “Ladies and gentlemen!” the booming voice announced. “Welcome to the Magic Kingdom’s DHI-Day celebration! Please direct your attention to Cinderella Castle, where the fireworks will begin shortly.”
“Look!” Philby said, “they’re cutting the parade short!”
Sure enough, the parade now hooked around the Hub, and instead of heading down Main Street, USA, for its final segment, it went fully around the Hub and back the way it
had come. Finn briefly saw the five DHIs far ahead, leading the way.
Whoever was in charge didn’t want the parade caught in the storm.
“Don’t you think we should tell someone about that balloon?” Willa asked. “That’s got to be dangerous in an electrical storm.”
“They must already know, don’t you think?” said Finn.
Philby said, “The string or wire holding it is tied to that window. Maybe it’s some kind of experiment.”
“Isn’t that the window to the apartment?” Finn asked. As DHIs, the kids had previously used the castle’s penthouse apartment as a hiding place.
“What if that’s what Amanda was pointing to?” Finn continued. “What if she was trying to show us the balloon?”
“But why?” Willa asked.
“What’s so important about a balloon?”
“Nothing the Overtakers would like more than to ruin the DHI celebration,” said Philby. “What if they’re trying to use lightning to set Cinderella Castle on fire or something?”
“I wouldn’t put it past them,” said Finn.
“We don’t know if the Overtakers exist anymore,” said Maybeck. “If they do, don’t you think Wayne would contact us? Has anyone heard from the old dude, by the way?”
The Overtakers were a group of Magic Kingdom characters, rebels led by Maleficent, the evil sorceress from Sleeping Beauty. Their goal was to overthrow the good and take control of the Park for themselves. Wayne and others believed the Overtakers intended to imprison any characters and Cast Members not part of their group. They had been caught preparing vast dungeons beneath Pirates of the Caribbean, which were said to be for this purpose.
The DHIs were now also known as the Kingdom Keepers—one of the most popular attractions in the Park. The last thing the Kingdom Keepers could afford was for Maleficent to gain power again. They had barely stopped her the first time, and she now considered them among her greatest enemies—a distinction they could have done without.
“We should probably tell someone about the balloon,” Finn said, moving to the back of the float and the small ladder there. “At the very least, it shouldn’t be up in the storm.”
The peculiar phenomenon that had been discovered shortly after the Disney Host Interactives had been installed in the Magic Kingdom had carried all five kids into a struggle with the Overtakers and the evil fairy Maleficent.
Wayne had shown them an astonishing three-story maze called Escher’s Keep in Cinderella Castle, which led to the little-known penthouse apartment, now a secret hideaway used by Wayne.
Finn wondered aloud if the balloon might be something Wayne was responsible for.
“If Wayne’s up there,” Philby said, “we should go see him.”
“You can’t leave now,” complained Charlene, waving her pom-poms eagerly for the cheering crowd.
“Cover for me,” said Finn. “No one’s going to notice if one of us isn’t here.”
“They’ll notice if you aren’t,” Willa said. “They won’t notice if I’m not.”
“That’s not true. Besides, I’m the one going, so I don’t think it really matters.”
“We never go solo. Remember what happened to Maybeck?”
Finn stopped, one foot over the rail and on the small ladder leading down. Maybeck’s DHI had once fallen into a trap that had prevented the real Terry Maybeck from waking up. The so-called “Sleeping Beauty Syndrome” might have killed him.
“It was your rule,” Willa reminded him. “And it was a good one. We’ve had no trouble since we started pairing up.”
“Okay,” Finn said. “So?”
“Someone’s going to notice if you leave,” Maybeck warned.
“Just keep moving,” said Finn. “The more the three of you move around up here, the less likely I’ll be missed.”
“You don’t actually think we’re going to let you do this alone, do you?” Maybeck said.
“We’re all coming,” Philby said. “Here’s the plan….” He pulled them all into a huddle at the center of the float. “The fewest number of guests will be on the bridge to Liberty Square. We get off and start shaking hands and signing autographs like it’s all part of the parade. That’s also the closest we’re going to get to the castle. When we make our break, we all go at once—again, like it’s scripted. If we get separated, we meet inside the castle in Escher’s Keep.”
Lightning flashed again. A few seconds passed before the first rumble of thunder rippled through the air.
“That lightning is still some distance away from here, right?” Charlene asked anxiously.
“Closer than it was. You couldn’t hear thunder a few minutes ago,” Philby said. “I’ll bet they’re closing the rides—the mountain attractions and roller coasters. That’s going to mean a whole bunch of the guests in and around the Hub for the fireworks.”
“If we really saw a balloon, whether they believe us or not, we’ve got to convince them to check it out before that lightning gets here.” Finn couldn’t stop thinking about Amanda holding up that leaf to her face. Green skin? Was that the message? More than anything, he hoped they might find the two sisters. He sensed they had some of the answers.
“And if they don’t care about the balloon?” Willa said.
“We’re approaching the bridge, people,” Philby announced. “If we’re going to do this, now’s our chance.”
“Okay,” Finn said, working his way down the ladder. The others followed.
He happened to look up at Charlene just as she blinked furiously to protest leaving the float. “We can’t do this!” she said.
Her blinking revealed a subtle green shadow on her lids, which enhanced the color of her eyes.
Finn spoke what he’d been thinking—what Amanda had been trying to tell him by putting the green leaf to her cheek.
He called out to the others, “Maleficent is inside the castle. That’s what Amanda was trying to tell us.”
THE KINGDOM KEEPERS MET UP AGAIN at the base of Escher’s Keep, a confusing maze of interlocking staircases, mirrors, and doors that crawled up the inside of Cinderella Castle. It had been built years ago as an attraction but had never opened to the public, as it had proved too dangerous. One misstep, and you were dumped into chutes or slides, some of which landed you in the castle moat.
“I tried to tell a Cast Member about the balloon,” Finn said. “But he thought I was my DHI playing some kind of trick on him. I shook him, and he said, ‘Amazing technology! That feels so real!’ What a jerk! I tried to point out the balloon, but with the clouds, you can’t even see the string or wire or whatever.”
“We’ve got to get up there,” Philby said, “Maleficent or not.”
“But what if Amanda was trying to warn us?” Charlene asked nervously. “Wouldn’t that mean we might be walking into a trap?”
“She’s got a point,” Maybeck said.
Finn quickly reorganized them: he and Philby would ascend Escher’s Keep to the apartment; Maybeck and Willa would try to find Amanda and Jez while Charlene stood sentry on the path to Fantasyland, giving Philby and Finn eyes on the castle from the outside.
They said their good-byes, Maybeck uncharacteristically wishing them luck, his dark, troubled eyes expressing concern. They agreed to meet after the fireworks in front of Cinderella’s Golden Carrousel, immediately behind the castle.
“And if you guys don’t show up?” Willa asked Finn.
Thankfully, Maybeck dragged her out the door and into the castle gift shop’s storage room before Finn had to think of something plucky to say.
“You okay with this?” Philby asked nervously, his foot on the first step of Escher’s Keep. It was a route that had to be memorized, and neither boy had attempted to climb it in several months.
“Let’s do it,” said Finn.
Philby stepped aside, allowing Finn to lead the way. It was no picnic. Sometimes stairs led nowhere. A single misstep would mean falling down a slide to the ground floor or into the moat. The route up
to an elevator that accessed the penthouse apartment included invisible bridges, upside-down staircases, and trapdoors. The illusions were the result of mirrors, projections, and trick lighting, their combined effect overpowering.
“Do you remember the way?” Finn asked. He faced four doors, all in different colors. They formed a semicircle on a small platform of polished floor tiles. He and Philby were fifteen feet above the ground floor, having ascended the first staircase correctly—skipping every other tread.
“I want to say second from the right: blue. But it’s your call,” Philby said.
Turning the wrong door handle caused a trapdoor to open.
Philby stayed off the platform in case Finn chose incorrectly. The plan was to take turns until they got it right.
Finn tried the blue door, and the floor fell out from under him. Down, down, he raced, the slick slide spinning him in tight coils before throwing him out onto the floor. He headed to the slanted stairs and began climbing again.
Philby tried the yellow door. The trapdoor opened beneath him.
Green—for “go”—seemed too simple a choice, so on Finn’s next attempt he tried the purple door, and it opened.
“Purple,” Finn called down to Philby, who was gingerly skipping steps as he made his way up the slanted staircase.
Once through the purple door, Finn started across an invisible bridge—an effect so convincing he would have sworn there was nothing beneath his feet. He moved across it in tiny steps, just barely sliding each running shoe forward, making sure something solid was beneath it. Philby, behind him, took the novel approach of getting down on hands and knees and breathing low onto what turned out to be glass, and then following the orbs of fog.
“It’s a mirror,” said Philby, sneaking up behind the slower Finn. The trick was compounded by the fact that a false destination—a second purple door—was projected at the other end of the invisible bridge, making Finn want to head in that direction. In fact, at its midpoint, the bridge veered right, arriving at what looked like a solid wall, which wasn’t solid at all. The two boys ended up on a second small platform.
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