“I think I would.” He leaned back. I wished he’d stayed close. “I see a sky like that,” he said, “and it reminds me of a long, flat beach at low tide. The ripples in the sand like fish bones.”
I was about to tease him about being a poet, but if I did he might stop, and I didn’t want him to. “Nice image.”
“Lit major. Busted.”
“I love books,” I said. “No matter how much I touch them they only give me good dreams.”
“Don’t read Stephen King.”
“Are you kidding? I’ll bet every Fairlie—every kid like Amanda and me, I mean—has read Firestarter five times.”
Another laugh. “I can see that!”
“It’s like an owner’s manual for us.”
“You know, I know you guys get into the parks all the time, so there’s nothing special here I can offer you –– and by ‘you’ I mean you, Jess, not all of you. But if you’d ever like to wander around, get a tour of the changes at Downtown Disney, I’d be happy...I mean, we could do that together or something.”
“Sure.”
“For real?” He gave me his number and I called it from my phone. We both saved the information. Two of us brushing away at our screens on a bench in the Magic Kingdom. For a minute I could imagine that this spark of connection wasn’t as weird as it actually was.
Amanda snorted and stirred.
“Dang.”
That was maybe the nicest thing he’d said to me yet.
JASON, AMANDA, AND I ARRIVED BACKSTAGE near Thunder Mountain a half hour later.
“Am I the only one who’s nervous about this?” Amanda whispered. She had good reason to be concerned: during an early experience as DHI Keepers, Finn and Philby had been attacked by a giant T. rex skeleton in this attraction.
“We’re close.” An invisible string pulled me. I’d felt this same force before and had come to trust it.
Amanda shivered. “Didn’t need to hear that.”
“Where do we go?” I asked.
Jason nodded. “Just FYI: Imagineers don’t admit to the existence of these shapes.”
“But you must, or why are we here? You told us…” My voice trailed off as I saw a look in his eye. “Wait! You’re not going to help me?” I couldn’t believe what he was saying. “What were we doing up on the roof?”
“You directed us there, not me,” he said.
“Really?” Amanda’s antagonism wasn’t going to help anything. “We need your help here.”
“You’re doing fine,” Jason said.
“He is helping, Mandy!” I wasn’t sure why I was defending Jason, but it felt right. “Cut him some slack.”
“Slack? This was his idea!”
“I’m right here,” Jason said. “And technically, it was Wayne’s idea. It’s important to distinguish between ideas and hunches.”
I thought I understood. “As an Imagineer, you’re sworn to an oath,” I said.
The look on Jason’s face gave nothing away.
I told Amanda, “He’s sworn to an oath to never admit the existence of the Hidden Mickeys. Maybe more an understanding than an oath. Whatever, he won’t violate that trust placed in him, cannot violate it.”
Jason did nothing to correct me. On the contrary, his eyes sparkled; he was impressed. I felt that clear down to my toes. “He can help us to a point, but the rest is up to us.”
Jason’s eyes thanked me. Eyes difficult to look away from.
“We’re putting ourselves at risk here!” Amanda complained, touching the dried blood in her hair. “For some hocus pocus? Seriously?”
“The three of us know that what I’ve been dreaming is important—super important—or Wayne wouldn’t have us taking these risks. It adds up to something, means something. I can feel that.”
Jason nodded. “You two are the gifted ones. Not me. You think this is all, what, chance? That chance brought you here five years ago? Seriously?”
I found myself swallowing away a shortness of breath.
“You’re freaking me out now,” Amanda said, winning a smile from Jason.
“Wayne has plans that the Imagineers can’t even imagine. The only choice is to move forward.”
“How are we supposed to do that?” I asked. “What do we do now?”
“Wayne said to tell you it’s a five letter word that starts and ends with the same letter. There’s a piece of old metal in the middle.”
“Are his riddles really from Walt?” I asked. shaking my head.
“Trust!” Amanda said like a proud schoolgirl.
Jason ignored my question. I didn’t like that. He addressed Amanda. “See? Not so tough.” He turned toward me. “Do we start at the beginning or the end?”
“I have no idea.”
“I think you do,” he said.
“Whichever’s closer,” I blurted out.
“There!” He looked at me proudly. I hoped I wasn’t blushing, but feared I was.
HOLDING IN SHADOW, moving slowly, and pausing for long stretches of time, Jason led us to the exit of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This kind of night time searching was more the Keepers’ thing than ours. I was uncomfortable, and I could tell Amanda was as well. She had this overly protective attitude around me; she’d suffered badly both times I’d been abducted by the Overtakers, something I regretted but had no power over. She considered it her mission to keep me safe. Seeing that she had all the physical power and I had the mental weirdness, I appreciated her concern and protection, but it could be suffocating as it was now. She wouldn’t allow more than a yard to separate us.
“Wayne asked me to wait here,” Jason said, at the mouth of the exit.
“Wait a second!” Amanda yipped. “He knew we were coming here?”
Jason raised his hands in surrender. “I do what I’m asked.”
I took Amanda by the hand. “Thank you, Jason. Will we see you again?” I tried not to sound too hopeful.
“I hope so.” He cleared his throat. “Remember, Jess, that solution to the riddle is your best defense.”
“’Trust,’” I whispered. “We’ll remember that. I’ll remember it.”
“Take care of yourself,” he said. Was I reading too much into his concern? “And remember,” he warned Amanda. “Mining tunnels are often fragile, precarious places. Be careful with your power.”
She glared at him as if to say: “I didn’t need to hear that.”
But she had needed to hear that, and I, for one, was glad for the reminder.
“Stick around,” I said to him.
Amanda and I headed off into the gray gloom of the exit line.
“Stay alert,” I warned her.
“I’m not exactly dozing off.”
“You were asleep a while ago.”
“Leave it alone,” she said. “I didn’t see you complaining.”
A geyser erupted alongside of us and I jumped but did not squeal as Amanda did. Tempted to tell her the operating geyser meant the attraction was up and running, not shut down for the night, I elected otherwise. We’d heard so many stories from the Keepers nothing would surprise us. By the way Amanda was moving so slowly, I knew she knew what I knew.
I felt something strong within moments of entering the mine itself and looked around but it was too dark. I put the sensation down to nerves. Amanda was moving like a ninja. We were drawn toward an orange glow deep within.
“You realize,” Amanda whispered, “that if that’s what I think it is—a torch—then someone lit it. It’s not as if they have torches burning during park hours.”
“Hidden Mickeys. Focus!”
“How can I focus if I can’t see?”
“Ha ha.”
We continued ahead and reached what was, in fact, a burning torch. It hung from the wall in a wrought iron holder in the area where the attraction’s train both ended and started.
“What now?” Amanda asked as I removed the torch and held its flame out in front like a flashlight. “Which way?”
The tra
cks went right and left.
“Dunno,” I said.
“That’s helpful.”
“I think we go that way,” I said, pointing with the torch across the tracks.
“The waiting line?”
“I guess so.”
“It’s new, you know?”
I didn’t know. Amanda stayed up with the Keepers and the park news much more than I.
“They’ve made it interactive. Made it longer, I think. It was closed forever. But if you wanted to go to the waiting line, why did we start in the exit?”
I thought back to the pull I’d felt early on. I considered telling her about it but thought she might force me to go back and start again. At the moment that felt wrong; I was being pulled across the tracks. “This way,” I said, lowering myself down and dropping onto the tracks.
“Don’t!”
It was only a matter of a few feet across to the organized slots that held awaiting passengers in neat little lines. I didn’t get what she was so upset about.
As I hit the track, I could hear that voice repeating what I’d heard on the roof.
Amanda jumped down behind me, startling me. I turned to scold her for playing tricks on me when I was so wound up. As I did, I saw a small locomotive coming at me at full speed.
Mandy shoved me across the tracks and I scrambled to get out. But in doing so, she slipped and fell and was sitting on the railroad ties. I froze, one leg up on the platform, my fingers dug in holding me.
I threw my arm to her, willing her to take hold, but her palms were raised, facing away from her and, as the voice cleared from my head, a screeching of metal on metal rose like an animal cry. The locomotive shuddered as it slowed. Mandy shook, head to toe. The train cars buckled behind the straining locomotive. It slowed, but only briefly.
I pulled myself up, as Amanda stood and leapt. She touched one foot down before vaulting up to safety.
The train raced past, indifferent to us. Clickety-clack, it was gone as fast as it had arrived.
Both of us were lying on the platform, face down, out of breath. Amanda gave me a look that pained me.
“I’m sorry,” I gasped.
“We make decisions together,” she said. I recovered the torch, still burning. Amanda looked older, overcome with the fatigue her power could sap from her.
“Together,” I said, sitting to back down to rest as well. We needed a minute to recover.
THUNDER MOUNTAIN’S WAITING LINE had been redesigned with gold bars that glittered, mining mechanisms of all shapes and sizes, gilded canary cages, bright posters, and busy displays. But as far as we could see by the flickering light of the torch, there were no Hidden Mickeys.
“You understand,” Amanda said, “that we’re not supposed to be able to see them?”
“Yeah.”
“So it’s not surprising that we aren’t. Seeing them, I mean. If they weren’t well hidden, they’d have a different name.”
“I got it the first time.”
“No reason to get feisty,” she said.
“There is a reason,” I countered. “You’re treating me like I’m an idiot. I’m always treated like there’s something wrong with me, instead of something incredibly right. You, with your power to push...everyone sees you as a superhero. But because people can’t see what I do, because it’s all in my head, I’m some sort of weirdo. A witch. A savant.”
“Hardly.”
“That’s because you’re over there, and I’m over here.”
We’d reached the end of the inside waiting line. The track was long, and progressing through it took us at least ten minutes. I was glad to be back out in the fresh air; every minute we’d spent inside, I’d expected Overtakers to attack us. It put me on edge. Now I could see below us to where the path started. We’d be there in a matter of minutes if we hurried.
Next to me, though, Amanda was moving so slowly. I could tell the open air scared her more than it reassured her.
“We’ll circle around,” I said, “and meet Jason on the other side.”
“Look!” She pointed at a cactus patch along the path.
“Not a place I’d like to hide.”
She waved the torch toward the cacti. On one of the plants, three discs of prickly pear had grown together, forming the shape of Mickey’s head.
“A place where most people would never touch it,” Amanda murmured.
“Do I have to?”
“I think you do.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that.” I tried to see how I could get in there without getting shredded. “I think I’d rather not.”
But we both knew I was going to.
“This torch is freaking me out,” Amanda said. “It’s like I’m trying to make sure the Overtakers see us.”
“Do not put that thing out. If I can’t see where I’m going, I’m staying put.”
She lowered the torch to the path. “Okay, but hurry.”
“You don’t hurry into a cactus patch,” I said.
Taking a deep breath, I picked a route. I would need to duck, move left, turn right, and come around behind the plant if I were to have any chance. Still, I dreaded the idea.
“You gotta do this,” she said.
I moved one careful step at a time, keeping my face away from the cactus stems, which looked like prickly green ping-pong paddles. I held my hair close to my shoulder. We used to play limbo in Barracks 14—you tried to arch back far enough to pass beneath a bar held at different heights—but I was never very good at it. I didn’t think of myself as limber or athletic.
As if to prove me right, the cactus scratched my shoulder blade, and across my calves.
“What if the Overtakers made these things poisonous?” I asked Amanda.
“Then we’ll know in a minute.”
“You stopped being funny in seventh grade. You know that, right?”
“We were homeschooled in the Barracks. We never went to seventh grade.”
“But if we had.” I moved a few more feet, turned nearly a full circle, and backed up a step. Another few feet and I’d be within reach of the Mickey.
“Shh! Quiet!” Amanda stabbed the torch into the earth, snuffing it. Turning around, she jumped over a chain and disappeared behind some boulders.
I heard them then: at least two men, their voices coming from the darkness of the entrance line.
“I told you,” one of them said. “Nothing.”
Squatting uncomfortably, I held absolutely still. There was nowhere and no way to hide. I was there to be seen if they looked. But it was dark, and I was off-trail, and I hoped that would be enough.
“Don’t matter. We do what we’re told to do,” said the other. “Better than being down the hole.”
“Got that right.”
“’Sides, something tripped the alarms.”
“Characters. It’s always characters. When has it been anything but?”
“How should I know? You trying to trick me with a question like that?” The man sounded angry.
“No, Chad. I am not trying to trick you.”
“I don’t like no one playing no tricks on me.”
“I know. I’m well aware of that.”
“You remember Stu?”
“It was Lou. And yes. I remember.”
They stopped only a few feet away; they had their backs to me, and were therefore facing Amanda’s hiding place. They looked filthy, covered in black, oily grime. Real miners. The map Amanda and I had passed in the waiting line depicted all sorts of interconnecting tunnels beneath Thunder Mountain. I’d thought they were just part of the fantasy. Seeing these two, I wondered.
“I smell mangoes. You smell mangoes?” The thinner of the two sniffed the air like a bloodhound.
Amanda’s shampoo. I’d told her how strong the scent was. Maybe now she’d believe me. I considered trying to distract them, but I was completely exposed. If they turned and looked down, I was busted. Surrounded by prickly pear, I wouldn’t exactly be able to get a
head start.
Slowly, Amanda rose up from behind the rock. She was crazy if she thought she was strong enough to push. I jumped to my feet.
"It's me you want!"
The miners spun around in surprise, their backs to Amanda. She took advantage, ran for them and physically shoved them from behind. They fell into the cactus. The more they wrestled to get free, the more they got pricked.
As they struggled, the big Mickey piece bent toward me. I defended myself to keep it from scratching me, but in doing so, I made contact.
Philby runs across the bridge toward Amanda. He will not make it. He falls like a stone, though somehow he keeps from screaming.
Keepers don’t scream.
There’s the sound of an explosion, but no sparks, no flames...just an epic crash that challenges the shattering heavens for bragging rights.
The trick was staying low. I lay down and slipped free of the cactus patch as the two miners wrestled themselves deeper and more painfully into it.
Together, Amanda and I ran. She was giggling from nervous tension.
“We need to get back in there!” she said. “That’s going to be impossible now.”
“No,” I said. “We’re good.”
She craned her neck to check on me—I was a slower runner—and I nodded.
We circled around and caught up to Jason. I explained quickly about the devastation I’d “seen”, and how it involved a bridge. I included Philby in my description but left out Amanda, not knowing whether or not that was the right thing to do. But I knew how she worried, and I loved her more than anyone or anything. I didn’t want to cause her concern over something as uncertain as my visions.
“The two bridges I can think of for the main railroad,” Jason said, “are the Frontierland station and the Main Street station. They’re not exactly bridges, but they’re elevated. There’s also the monorail, Tomorrowland’s PeopleMover, and Big Thunder Mountain here. What am I missing?” He hesitated. “We’ll start with Frontierland.”
Jason led us backstage via a Cast Member door. Because we knew the miners had spotted us, we stayed alert for other Overtakers. The railroad station was located behind Splash Mountain, and that attraction was known to have serious Overtaker connections.
Unforeseen - A Kingdom Keepers Novella Page 4