“Must be.”
The girls kept to the front of the buildings and worked their way around to the entrance to a second, more elaborate courtyard. This, too, had gardens and gas lamps, shops and fountains. The plaza ended at a formidable structure behind which rose the needle of the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Just then, Jess heard the scuff of footsteps and pulled Charlene down with her, behind a large trash can and some potted plants.
A pair of court jesters appeared, clownlike in their colorful costumes and facepaint. They danced and leaped up on benches beneath a row of trees, with comical movements.
But Charlene recognized them for what they were. “Overtakers,” she whispered into Jess’s ear. She motioned for Jess to stay still. The two jesters were unpredictable, turning this way one moment and that way the next. Suddenly one of them, with powdered sugar all over his lips, approached the trash can behind which they were hiding. He crunched up a piece of paper and threw it away. If Charlene had reached out, she could have touched him.
“Pardon!” he called out to the other in French.
“Oui!” answered the other.
“T’entends un ronronnement?”
Charlene looked at Jess with a puzzled face. Jess leaned in so close that her lips touched Charlene’s ear. “‘Do you hear a hum?’” she translated.
“Non!”
“Viens ici.”
“‘Come here,’” Jess whispered.
The other jester bounded over, still playful and childlike in his movement.
Charlene held her breath and tried to calm herself, knowing the closer she got to all-clear, the less of a hum her DHI would emit.
The second jester, unable to leave his character, held his hand to his ear in a silly way, overemphasizing the effort.
“Aha! Je l’entends!”
“‘I hear it!’”
“Qu’est-ce que t’en penses?”
“‘What do you think it is?’”
“Je pense qu’il y a quelque chose qui ronronne!”
“‘I think there’s something humming!’”
“Mais qu’est-ce qu’il y a qui pourrait ronronner ici? Je ne l’ai jamais entendu avant. Et toi?”
“‘But what could be humming here? I’ve never heard it before. Have you?’”
“Moi non plus. C’est un des fluos, peut-être? Comment pourrais-je savoir?”
“‘Me neither. Maybe it’s one of the fluorescent lights? How should I know?’”
Charlene nodded, appreciating the translation. Then she shook her head and made her fingers walk, indicating they had to move.
The jesters, only a few yards away, were going to find them. She felt certain of it. At the same time, she felt her hands and feet tingle, and the same odd sensation pass all the way through her until warming the center of her chest, just below her ribs.
All-clear, she realized, having heard Finn describe it so many times. She motioned for Jess to stay down, as close to the trash can as possible.
Then she stood up, looked right at the two jesters and said, “Looking for me?” There was no sense reciting DHI lines as she might have had they been Security guards or Cast Members; these two were Overtakers, patrolling for only one reason: to find and capture Kingdom Keepers.
As she moved toward them, the jesters lunged for her—and ran right through her. They fell to the path and turned their faces back toward her, clearly jolted by the experience.
Charlene, glowing more brightly with the thrill of having achieved all-clear, ran off, leading the two away from Jess’s hiding place, where she was crouched behind the trash can. She vaulted over a bench, just as she ran hurdles for the track team, and heard one of the jesters crash into the bench behind her. She leaped up onto the edge of the fountain and across the water, landing a foot on the retaining wall, springing off it, and ducking under a tree.
She heard a splash—the second jester had gone down in the fountain.
Charlene cut left and vaulted over a second wall through a narrow gap between young trees. She was in a courtyard, blocked to her left by the same line of trees. She ran right and then sharply left as she reached a street between two French buildings. She never looked back, having learned from her coaches that to do so cost precious time in a footrace. The jesters were no match for her agility and speed. If she had looked back she would have seen the two a good twenty yards behind, and slowing as she continued to develop more speed.
She faced more gardens and trees—knew she could lose them for good here and circle back around, with any luck, in time to meet up with Jess.
But just as important, she needed to keep the jesters busy, to give Jess time to enter the pavilion and look for any clues. She fought the urge to be rid of these two. For the moment, she needed them to follow her. She slowed just long enough for them to see her enter the landscaping, just long enough for them to think they had a chance in following her.
Back in the courtyard, Jess stood and watched the footrace under way. She ran toward the pavilion, remembering the importance of getting inside. She entered and stopped abruptly, overcome by the magnificence of the exhibition hall. Ahead of her was the empty waiting line for the film Impressions de France. There was a model of Notre Dame in Paris, and a huge gargoyle crouched on a pedestal. She felt paralyzed, wondering what she was supposed to do. She wasn’t about to go in and sit down and watch a movie. What clue had Wayne intended for them?
She closed her eyes, wondering if she could make herself see one of her visions. She heard a cracking sound and chunks of something, like rock, striking the floor.
She opened her eyes to see the gargoyle breaking apart from his recoiled pose. Small cracks appeared in his neck, widening as his head moved and swiveled toward her. Pieces of concrete and particles of dust fell away from him. His eyelids cracked and began to open.
She felt light-headed. She stepped back and knocked over a stanchion.
The gargoyle’s ugly monkey eyes ringed with spikes locked onto hers, hypnotizing her. The small wings on his back began to flutter, sending more dust into the air. He wrenched his unseen legs up and out of the pedestal to stand four feet high, crouching and craning toward her as he blinked his dusty eyes in an effort to clear them.
“Over here!” came a girl’s voice.
Jess, spooked with the surprise, let out a short cry, and glanced over to see Willa, drenched head to toe.
The gargoyle pivoted toward Willa.
“Over here, monkey-man!” Willa said.
“Or here!” Jess said.
The gargoyle jerked his head in Jess’s direction, unable to decide which way to go. More dust flew, and Jess could see more cracks appearing in his body.
The beast’s wings beat more furiously, and he lifted into the air, flying toward Willa. She dove to the floor and slid. The gargoyle landed heavily, shaking the entire building, but missed her. Willa came to her feet, grabbing onto the waiting-line rope.
“Help me!” she said.
Jess grabbed the other end of the rope. The girls dragged the stanchions with them as they charged the gargoyle. It struggled to turn around, moving slowly, like someone trying to get out of a chair.
The waiting-line rope caught the beast on his side and wrapped his wings tight against his body as the girls continued around him and met on the other side. They tangled the rope clumsily as the gargoyle fought off being captured. But his wings were caught and ineffective.
The more he struggled, the more cracks appeared in his body. Dust was everywhere, like a thick cloud. The girls ran for the exit.
“He’s coming apart!” Jess said.
“Out of the way!” shouted Charlene.
The girls turned in the doorway to see the gargoyle in silhouette. They reacted instinctively. Charlene charged like a sprinter, left the ground, flying at the strange creature, feet first. She hit hard, driving the beast over onto his back. He smacked the floor and, as he did, broke into a hundred pieces.
The cloud of dust settle
d. Charlene scrambled to her feet.
“Everyone okay?” she asked.
“Where did you come from?” Jess asked.
“What was that?” Willa said.
“Gymnastics,” Charlene answered. “A vault without the follow-through.” She smiled widely. “I always wondered if I’d get a chance to use any of it.”
Willa said, “We’d better get out of here.”
“And fast,” Charlene said, agreeing. “I left the jesters halfway to Morocco. At some point they’ll figure out I circled back.”
“We just leave?” Jess asked.
“Not enough excitement for one night?” Charlene teased.
“We find the others,” Willa said. “The Overtakers know we’re here now. There isn’t much time.”
“We’ve got to warn them,” Charlene added.
“If we can,” Willa said.
* * *
“What’s going on?” Amanda asked. She and Finn had been on their way around the east side of Epcot—past the Universe of Energy pavilion, Mission Space, and the abandoned Wonders of Life—when Finn had grabbed her by the wrist and jerked her down behind a gift cart.
“Look low to the ground.”
She gasped.
“Our friend the python.”
“Where’s it going?”
“Away from Wonders toward the east side of the park.”
“Jess!”
“Yes…France is over there.”
“But then—”
“They’re in trouble.” Finn took out his phone and texted Charlene.
snake comin ur way
They stayed hidden, awaiting Charlene’s reply.
ovrtkrs evrywehr need help tell me when da snake croses da bridge…
“We need to follow him.”
“I was afraid you were going to say something like that.”
“At a distance. It’ll be all right.”
“Why don’t I believe you?”
“I can leave you off at the arrival point, if you want.”
“Alone? Hello? I don’t think so!”
“Okay. Stay low.”
Finn and Amanda followed the snake for the next several minutes, staying well behind him. Finn kept licking his finger and holding it up when they paused.
“Wind direction,” he explained. “He’s going to smell us before he hears or sees us. But with the wind coming off the lake as it is, we’re fine.”
They reached the central fountain, and tucked behind its low wall.
“He’s just so disgusting,” she said of Gigabyte.
“He’s a twenty-foot snake. What’d you expect?”
He hurried out across the plaza and Amanda followed. They turned right toward Canada, from where Finn had a good view of the bridge to France.
Gigabyte slithered along, moving with astonishing speed.
snakes crosin da bridge…
tell me wen hes ovr
“Finn…to the left…” Amanda said.
Finn looked across the water, where he saw the pair of Segways at Showcase Plaza coming toward them.
uhoh more ovrtakrs…dont move
He hoped he’d sent the text in time.
But suddenly Charlene appeared from under the bridge. Then Jess. Then Willa.
“I don’t believe it!” Amanda said. “Where’d they come from?”
“They aren’t going to make it!”
At that moment, the two dummies on the Segways changed course, spotting the girls.
“They’re going to get caught!” Finn said, standing up. He looked around trying to think what to do.
Amanda stepped out alongside of him. She closed her eyes, raised her hand, palm up.
The Segways briefly lifted off the asphalt as if they hit a speed bump, but then continued to scoot along normally.
“Not the same,” Amanda mumbled. Finn could feel her concentrating. Being a DHI had lessened her powers. She was trembling as she squinted her eyes and lifted her outstretched hand for a second try. This time the Segways rose and floated, went off-balance and fell to the asphalt. The two dummies went flying and broke into pieces as they landed. One lost a leg and an arm. The other, both arms.
The one that still had its legs stood back up, turned its head back around a hundred and eighty degrees to face the front again and went off in search of its missing arms.
The girls took off at a sprint, joining Finn and Amanda, who were already running away. Finn glanced back to see the two dummies piecing themselves back together. It would be a few minutes before they were able to ride the Segways again.
“Was that you?” Jess asked Amanda.
“Sorry. It was a little bit strong,” Amanda said.
“It did the trick,” Finn said.
Charlene was well out in front of the others, since she was a much faster runner.
“Where to?” she called out.
“Norway!” Finn shouted, suddenly concerned that he hadn’t heard from either Maybeck or Philby.
* * *
“Those who seek the spirit of Norway face peril and adventure,” a Norwegian man’s voice cautioned from inside a dark tunnel.
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Maybeck said.
“Me, neither,” Philby agreed. “Especially since it was Wayne who sent us here.”
The boat worked up a long incline, then leveled off, facing an Audio-Animatronic figure of a woman standing at the door of a cabin. She said something, but Philby missed it. Two men were working by a burning log.
“There!” Maybeck said.
Leaning against a rock were two axes with a sword in the middle.
Philby hadn’t been expecting it so soon.
Maybeck stood.
“No!” Philby cautioned. “The alarms!” He’d studied Maelstrom. It had dozens of autostop features to keep guests from the danger of leaving the boats.
But Maybeck jumped anyway. It was a brilliant jump, nearly straight up. He came down four feet into the display. By jumping so far, he avoided tripping the light beam that would have caused an autostop—if the autostop was even in effect after hours, which Philby wasn’t sure of.
Maybeck grabbed for the sword and pulled, but it didn’t come free. Philby and the boat continued moving, now pulling even with the two men by the log. Maybeck would soon be left behind.
“It’s wired to the rock!” Maybeck struggled to free it, pulling the sword and then untwisting the wire.
Philby heard the ring of metal, like the sound of a sword coming out of its sheath. Maybeck, sword in hand, came running around the two male figures, vaulted over a pile of logs, and landed on a large boulder. He timed it perfectly, sliding down the rock and back into the boat, onto the same bench where Philby sat.
“Ta-da!” he declared, making the sound of a brass fanfare.
They passed more rocks, and some guy with a cape holding a horn. The horn sounded.
“That isn’t supposed to happen,” Maybeck said. “That’s not part of the ride.”
Philby looked worried.
They approached another gateway into the next scene.
“That was way too easy,” Philby mumbled, half expecting the next Audio-Animatronic mannequin to spin around and challenge them.
“Agreed,” Maybeck said. He passed the sword to Philby, who took a quick look at it, then passed it back.
“We’ll deal with that once we’re out of here,” he said.
As the bow of the boat passed the gateway a creepy voice called out.
“What’s this?” came the voice from a white-bearded old man in white clothes. He didn’t look like any robot; he looked real. “How dare you come here! Stop! This is Troll Country. Begone! I cast a spell…”
At mention of “a spell” Maybeck snapped his head around to check with Philby.
“I heard it,” said Philby.
The scene’s events were happening quickly now—too quickly.
An incredibly ugly troll appeared at the old man’s side.
“Yes,
yes. You’ll disappear. Disappear! Bye-bye!”
“It’s them,” Philby said, for it seemed to him the script had to have been written by the Overtakers themselves. Spells. Disappearance. Everything the Overtakers wanted for the Kingdom Keepers.
“‘Bye-bye,’” Maybeck quoted the man. “That can’t be good.”
The boat suddenly spun around to face backward. They fell away fast, falling down a surging waterfall.
“I hate going backward!” Philby announced.
“Makes two of us,” Maybeck said.
“GURR-OWLLL!” roared an animal from behind and above their left shoulders. Maybeck instinctively ducked. “I am not seeing this!” Philby declared as a live polar bear slashed his huge paw through the air—right where Maybeck’s head would have been.
The bear came back the other way just as Maybeck found the wherewithal to lift the sword. He sliced the bear’s left arm nearly in half. Smoke rose as sparks zapped from it. A bunch of wires dangled from the stump.
“But I could have sworn it was real…” Philby said, realizing the bear was no longer alive, but just an Audio-Animatronic.
Another roar, ten times as loud as the first. Philby dove into the bottom of the boat. Maybeck leaned away.
A second polar bear, standing eight feet tall on its rear legs, bent over and shoved its teeth right into Maybeck’s face and snapped, trying to get a bite of him. Maybeck screamed and dropped the sword. It rattled around in the bottom of the boat, and Philby grabbed hold of it.
The bear’s mouth bit into the side of the boat and stopped. The bear’s left paw grabbed the boat as its right clawed for Maybeck, and caught his shoulder.
Maybeck screamed horribly and reached for the wound. Philby reacted instinctively, doing the one thing he’d always been told not to do: he stood up in a moving boat. In part, he was trying to save Maybeck. In part, he was trying to be Maybeck.
He jabbed the sword at the bear. The beast saw it coming and reared back, taking a swipe at Philby. Only then did Philby realize that the bear’s rear legs were fixed to the display—it couldn’t come after them. But the bear hit the sword. Philby clutched his left hand around the grip to hold onto it and was spun like a turnstile.
He flew out of the boat.
Kingdom Keepers Boxed Set Page 62