Kingdom Keepers Boxed Set

by Ridley Pearson

  “Will you do it?” Finn asked.

  “What’s the costume like?” she asked the driver.

  But it was Willa who answered. “It’s amazing. With the makeup, she blends into the jungle so well you can’t even see her when you’re only a few feet away.”

  “There’s makeup involved?” Charlene asked. “This is so totally my thing, I can’t believe it. Of course I’ll do it.”

  “Wayne wanted me to tell you,” the driver said, “that Maleficent can transform herself from human to animal. It doesn’t last long, and it exhausts her, but any animal you see in the Park could be her. He said it’s incredibly important to keep that in mind: any animal.”

  “And remember about the security cameras,” Philby reminded. “The whole Park is watched. Only the washrooms are absolutely safe. No cameras.”

  He yawned a massive yawn. It was contagious: each of them yawned in succession.

  “The hardest part of all of this,” Maybeck said, “at least for all of you, is looking older than you really are. Thankfully that’s not such an issue for me.”

  Philby cringed. “Give me a break,” he muttered.

  “It’s true,” the driver said. “We can use some makeup to try to help, but those of you in costume must remember that Cast Members are eighteen and up. So act it where possible, and avoid encounters with Park visitors as much as you can. Whatever you do, don’t talk to other Cast Members. It’s a family here—even as big as it is. Cast Members know the other Cast Members. You will be found out.”

  “That’s encouraging,” Maybeck said sarcastically.

  “That’s reality,” the driver said.

  “Yeah?” Maybeck snapped a little testily. “Well, that would be the first time we’ve dealt with reality in a long, long time. So pardon me if I don’t recognize it.”

  “Any questions?” the driver asked.

  He hoisted the truck’s rear door. And while the sun had not yet risen, they found themselves in a vast, empty parking lot, alongside several steel-sided, mostly windowless buildings that looked like warehouses. The sky was fully aglow with the push of dawn as the kids climbed out of the truck and hurried to follow the Dapper Dan.

  THE DRIVER SHOWED THEM into the Cast Services building. Even if the lights had been on, it still would have been gloomy and creepy inside, with its rows of hundreds of abandoned lockers. But under the hazy glow of the dim, off-hours lighting, the place looked positively haunted. Not one locker had a person’s name on it, nor did any of them look used—no scratches, decals, graffiti, or dents. Nothing like the lockers at school.

  “This was originally going to be where Cast Members changed for work,” the Dapper Dan said, “but it became impractical because of the distance to the Park. But if anything goes wrong—a missing button, a broken zipper—it comes here. The building’s only open a few hours a day.”

  The six kids stood just inside the building. The driver walked past and unlocked an interior door to the left of a narrow counter, behind which was a retractable metal barrier, padlocked shut.

  “Make sure this is locked behind you. When you’re ready, you cross the roads out here. Stay to the far left of the parking lots. There’s a pedestrian entrance on West Savannah Circle. Philby, if you find you need anything mechanical, any tool of any sort, the adjacent structure is the maintenance facility. The animation training lab is in that building as well. Parts for anything you can dream of to do with the Animal Kingdom can be found over there. You can use these IDs to access it and any other facility,” he said, handing each of the kids a plastic ID card. Finn’s card had his picture on it and a fake name, Finnian Thomas, with a fake address. “Each of you is in the system as an employee of the company—and you’re all in there as being eighteen. So if anyone should ask…the department you work for is on there as well. Memorize it. These will get you into and out of the Park via the pedestrian entrances, allow you to charge food, buy merchandise. But don’t abuse them. In most cases, you don’t need them to go backstage. But in certain buildings, certain facilities, you may, so keep them handy. They get you past the electronic security. Whatever you do, don’t lose them. I’ll need them back, and I’ll need to destroy them.”

  There was a noise then, like the wind: a swishing, whooshing sound, as if someone had left a window open. But no one felt a breeze, and not a hair moved on anyone’s head. However, quite a few hairs raised on the back of Finn’s neck.

  “What was that?” he asked.

  The driver turned to the door they had come through. “I’ve got to go,” he said. “You’re on your own from here on out.” He was gone in an instant. His hurrying off so quickly added to the sense of impending danger.

  He closed the door a little loudly on his way out. The boom echoed around the building.

  “Check it out,” Maybeck called to the others. He was holding open the door that the driver had unlocked. The others stepped forward and peered inside. The ceiling was thirty feet overhead, steel beams with cross supports—all unfinished and basic. Displayed before them were fifty or sixty rows of clothes hanging from steel pipes. The rows stretched from where they stood to the far side of the building, fifty yards or more.

  “Oh…my…gosh,” gushed Charlene.

  There had to be thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of garments—every kind of Animal Kingdom costume and Cast Member outfit, in every size. And accessories: hats, boots, belts, buckles, backpacks, clipboards, pointers, pens, notepads—in containers on shelves just above the clothing that matched their theme.

  “Wow…” Willa said.

  “You all know how you’re dressing,” Finn said. He spotted the signs across the room. “Women’s locker rooms to the right, men’s to the left. The sooner we’re out of here the better. Philby, Amanda, and I will stand guard.”

  “Against what?” Willa asked.

  “Use your imagination,” Maybeck said.

  “If I whistle like this,” Finn said, emitting a whistle that sounded a little bit like a sick bird, a little bit like a leaking balloon, “then hide until you hear it again.”

  “If you whistle like that,” Maybeck said condescendingly, “you’re going to get me laughing so hard I’ll never be able to hide.”

  “Your problem, not mine,” Finn said.

  That silenced Maybeck for the moment, just long enough for Philby to say he’d look for a door at the back where he could stand guard. Amanda would stay basically where they were. Finn would patrol the general locker area where they’d entered.

  No one had a good feeling about this. No one but Charlene, who was acting like she’d just unlocked her grandmother’s attic.

  * * *

  Suspended above the impossibly long rows of clothing and costumes were large hand-painted signs done in the Animal Kingdom’s African-style lettering. They divided the space into sections, a system used to organize a hundred thousand Cast Member costume pieces into something manageable.

  While Maybeck cruised ANIMAL CARE and Willa PARK RANGERS, Charlene browsed the area marked PERFORMERS, searching for DeVine costumes.

  The first suggestion that they might not be alone came in the form of noise: the familiar sound of hangers tinkling like dull bells. Charlene noticed it first, or was at least the first to voice her concern. She hurried to find Willa and whispered hotly, “Did you hear that? The hangers? Coming from over there?” She pointed.

  “What?” Willa was busy trying to find a shirt that would fit her.

  “Hangers. Like someone else is in here,” Charlene explained in a conspiratorial hush. “Don’t forget Small World.”

  As DHIs, the kids had once ridden through It’s a Small World late at night only to have all the dolls come alive and attack them. It was a memory—more like a nightmare—none of them cherished. Other parts of various attractions in the Magic Kingdom had come alive as well, often threatening them, or outright causing them harm. It had instilled a reluctance in them all, a distrust of what might happen next, that had stayed with the
m long since, and whether they spoke of it or not, haunted them.

  “You’re just buggy because it’s dark in here.”

  “I’m not buggy! I heard hangers banging around over there. What’s with that? You think I should tell Finn?”

  “Boys? We don’t need boys.”

  Some hangers rang out quite near them. Charlene jumped back. Willa stood her ground but peered inquisitively into the room’s twilight. “It’s got to be Finn or Philby playing a joke,” she told Charlene.

  “Ha-ha.”

  Willa stood taller and spoke with authority. “Okay, you guys! You got us. Ally-ally-in-free.”

  The ting-ting of hangers faded, like a clock running down. The girls waited for someone to jump out and surprise them, but it didn’t happen.

  “Are you going to check it out?” Charlene asked, partly hiding behind Willa.

  Together the girls explored the rack in front of them, pushing clothes aside. They did so cautiously, a few garments at a time. Willa grabbed a bunch of shirts and slid them to her right.

  A large bat dropped from the rack, unfolded its wings, and flapped violently to gain altitude. Willa ducked. Charlene screamed and went over backward, falling to the floor.

  The bat spiraled into the upper reaches of the warehouse and, because of Charlene’s scream, got the attention of everyone on the floor.

  It was a big bat, an ugly bat, with a wingspan of at least two feet, but it moved through the air as fast as a cat after a toy, fluttering and flying, weaving and diving, one moment up high near the ceiling, the next dive-bombing down one of the endless aisles.

  The commotion drew Finn and Amanda, running. Philby hurried from the back. But it was Maybeck who proved to be the shrewd thinker. He grabbed a butterfly net from the props section and came after the bat like a lacrosse player, swinging the billowing net with remarkable agility.

  “Find the lights!” he shouted, following the bat down a row of grass skirts. “Bats don’t like light!”

  Where the others might have been satisfied with scaring the bat out of the building, Amanda and Finn understood the tension in Maybeck’s voice. Finn had seen a huge bat at Amanda’s. The same bat? Not a great believer in coincidence, he, too, wanted to catch it. Clearly Maybeck also believed it was no ordinary bat.

  “Philby,” Finn shouted, “the lights!” He had no idea how to turn on the lights in a building this size, but if there was a switch, Philby would find it before anyone else.

  True to form, the overhead lights came on only seconds later, and the warehouse lit up like the school gymnasium. As the lights flashed on, the bat dove as if it had been shot, and there was Maybeck, lunging through the air. He swung the net. The bat swooped. The two met in a tangle of nylon mesh, high-pitched squeals. Maybeck skidded down the smooth concrete floor like a base runner diving for home plate. He twisted the net, throwing it over itself and trapping the prize inside.

  The kids let out an unplanned cheer.

  They had taken a prisoner.

  MAYBECK APPROACHED the employee pedestrian entrance to the Animal Kingdom holding a pillowcase that wouldn’t stay still. The Cast Member entrance—employees only—was a revolving door of steel tines that moved only clockwise and required the employee card to open. The unattended entrance—he was grateful for that—required him to swipe the ID card the driver had provided. A red light turned green, and Maybeck pushed through the turnstile. Use of the pillowcase prevented the contents from being seen: the bat. Still, it was too close for comfort, and he was only too happy to dangle it away from his side as he cleared the entrance.

  The pillowcase danced again.

  “Settle down!” he said harshly, aware that he was speaking to a white pillowcase. Or more precisely, its contents: a Rousette fruit bat.

  To his surprise, it quieted.

  Willa, an animal lover, had identified the bat the moment Maybeck had caught it. This led to a group discussion of what to do with the thing. Charlene wanted it released and out of the building as quickly as possible. Philby suggested doing something to it that wouldn’t have been approved by the SPCA, and while Willa thought it was “cute” and that it might make an interesting pet, Maybeck and Finn came up with a solution that seemed to please everyone—except Philby, of course, since it meant keeping it alive.

  “We can’t let it go,” Finn had said. “I know it’s completely ridiculous to think it might be Maleficent…” Willa groaned at the mention of this. “But what if it is? Or what if we’ve captured Maleficent’s spy? Amanda and I saw a bat at her house. What if that was this same one?”

  “If it is Maleficent, don’t you think she’d turn back into herself and do something bad to us?” Willa suggested sarcastically. “I’d say this would be a good time for that.”

  “Good point,” Charlene said.

  “Wayne told me the heat slows the powers she uses to transform herself. It’s like her kryptonite. We don’t know what she’s capable of,” Finn said. “I just don’t see how it’s worth taking any risks.”

  “It’s not,” said Maybeck. “We’ve got to lock it up…do something with it, so it can’t follow us.”

  “You all know what I think we should do,” said Philby.

  Everyone ignored him.

  “It’ll be light out soon. Bats don’t fly around in the daylight. The main thing is: we don’t want it to find us or Maleficent.”

  “Why can’t we just hide it among the other bats?” Maybeck said. “Have you even seen the bat enclosure? This thing won’t be going anywhere. And it’s not like Maleficent can walk in there and take it out.”

  Finn said, “That’s brilliant!”

  “Earth to Maybeck. It’s just a bat. It is not Maleficent, or she’d be in our face right now,” said Willa emphatically.

  “So you’d just let it go?” Finn asked.

  “Not me,” Maybeck said, speaking directly to Finn. “At the least it deserves a bat jail. I can bluff my way into the bat enclosure.”

  Maybeck rarely lacked self-confidence.

  “And if you’re stopped?” asked Charlene, always the cautious one.

  “I’ll tell whoever stops me I’m returning a bat that was sick. You think anyone’s going to want to get up close and personal with this thing?” He jiggled the pillowcase. The bat turned and flapped its enormous wings and tried to nip at Maybeck through the fabric.

  “Okay. That’s settled,” said Charlene. “Let’s just get it out of here.”

  And now Maybeck, inside the Park, was telling the contents of his pillowcase to settle down, and much to his astonishment—it obeyed. He told himself that his tone of voice was responsible, that the bat had responded to his anger. But what if it had actually understood him?

  At a few minutes past 6 AM there were more Cast Members in the Park than he would have expected. He realized that employees must arrive between six and seven because they were suddenly everywhere: sweeping, opening up attractions, zipping around in golf carts. It was a frenzy of activity. He followed a road to his left, a road he’d seen a number of Cast Members take, not entirely certain where he was. He’d entered to the left of the main entrance—that much he knew. He sneaked Philby’s map out of his back pocket. Philby had done his homework, supplying both a Disney illustrated map with a key and a Google Earth satellite view of the area. On the satellite map he’d drawn and labeled some red circles, including DeVine’s entrance gate, the two monkey temples, the Conservation Station, the Park’s main entrance, and the group rendezvous spot.

  Once on Discovery Island, Maybeck headed for Asia and the Maharajah Jungle Trek.

  Some birds called out from the top of a tree. He moved a little faster.

  He crossed Discovery Island, to the right of the Tree of Life, aiming for a bridge to Asia. He texted into the DS.

  mybest: i’m inside, on the island.

  Finn: okay.

  With each of the kids checked in to the chat room, they could all follow the conversation.

  Maybeck then wr
ote to warn them about how many Cast Members were already in the Park.

  mybest: until park opens u will stick out unless dressed as a cast member.

  Had Maybeck looked back and slightly to his left, he would have seen that what had started as six or seven birds was now many times that number. They flew to the next tree and settled there. Then more joined them, and they flew to the next tree.

  Finn: will wait 4 park opening, discovered something useful, meet us @ home base?

  mybest: need to play bat boy first, will meet u after park opens.

  philitup: agreed, will meet @ home base after park opens.

  willatree: how’s the bat?

  mybest: quiet for now.

  He was glad the bat had stopped moving so much. He didn’t dare inform the others that he thought the thing understood what he said.

  He crossed the bridge—the entrance to the Maharajah Jungle Trek just ahead. A cacophony surrounded him; he could barely hear himself think. He looked up to see two trees full of birds. For a moment, it seemed as if they were following him.

  Na…he thought. Couldn’t be…

  Finn had heightened Maybeck’s curiosity. What had they discovered in the short time it had taken him to enter the Park?

  More obnoxious bird noises overhead.

  He looked up.

  Four trees. Hundreds of birds.

  What the…?

  PHILBY SWIPED THE ID through the card reader at the door to the AK Maintenance facility. A small red light turned green, and Philby pulled on the door. It opened, and no alarms sounded.

  Finn held out his hand to Amanda, who looked down at her sister’s diary and then reluctantly gave the book to him.

  “I’m not sure she’d want me doing this,” Amanda said, still keeping one hand on the diary, unwilling to fully let it go.

  “I promise, only the pages we talked about,” Finn said.

  “We don’t know that they have anything to do with this,” Amanda protested.