“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.”
3
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 bee
n 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.
“I remember this part,” Philby said. “This is where we go down the stairs in order to go back up.”
“Are you sure?” Finn tested the “up” staircase: it was real. He thought Philby had it wrong.
But Philby waved his hand across the step four steps above this first step, and then punched his hand right through the illusion—the stairs stopped midflight, nothing but a projected image. He led the way down a staircase and then back up a longer staircase, which would make it appear to anyone standing below as though the boys were walking upside down.
“You two!” a low voice called out loudly. “Come down from there!”
Finn caught sight of an upside-down Cast Member. He was dressed as a barbershop singer, in white pants, a red-and-white-striped shirt, and a straw hat: a Dapper Dan Cast Member.
“Security,” Finn whispered to Philby. “I faced Dapper Dans just like him that time Amanda and I were here taking pictures of everyone’s DHIs. They were trying to catch me.”
“You are not permitted in this area!” the man hollered. “Come down at once.”
“I don’t think we should trust him.”
They reached a third platform and ducked behind a false wall with two windows. “You think he’ll come after us?” Philby asked.
Thunder cracked high above them.
“I think there’s something going on here,” Finn answered. “The weather balloon, the monkeys, Amanda and Jez showing up for the first time in forever. And personally, I don’t trust anyone dressed up like he’s selling fried chicken. He could be anybody. That’s an easy costume to fake.”
“So we ignore him?”
Another crack of thunder. It was getting close.
“Outrun him,” Finn said, “is probably more like it.”
“And if we’re caught?” Philby said. “You ever read those contracts we signed? They’ll remove our DHIs from the server. They’ll replace us with other kids. We’ll no longer be Disney Hosts, no longer have the Gold Fastpasses. We’ll lose it all.” He hesitated. “All that for some weird balloon? You sure it’s worth it?”
“You’re the one who saw it, not me. Listen, I’m not sure of anything,” Finn said. “You want to head down, I’m not going to stop you or anything.” He added, “But I’m going after that balloon, Security or no Security. Amanda was pointing at the castle, and that’s good enough for me.”
“How could she possibly know anything about it?” Philby asked.
“How can we possibly go to sleep at night and wake up as DHIs inside the Park? When was the last time any of this made sense?”
Philby pursed his lips. He nodded. “Yeah, okay. You’re right. If they toss us, so what? We go down fighting.”
“Exactly.” Finn peered around the edge of the wall.
“What do you see?”
The man in the straw hat was gone.
“I think he’s coming after us.”
4
MAYBECK DUCKED INSTINCTIVELY as the sky flashed, and, only moments later, thunder boomed and rolled in a long series of endless echoes. A few early raindrops splattered in huge globs onto the footpath, and the air smelled dusty and sweet—ozone—foretelling the electrical charge it carried.
Charlene stiffened with the crack of thunder. “I…do…not…do…lightning,” she said.
The Park guests scattered for cover, quickly emptying the paths.
“Then forget what Finn said and come with me!” Willa said, taking Charlene by the hand. “The parade blocked Jez and Amanda from coming over the bridge. They’ll probably head past the Haunted Mansion and through Fantasyland to reach the castle. We’re going this way,” she said, pointing in the direction of Cinderella’s Golden Carrousel, “to cut them off. Maybeck, you go around past the Mansion. Hopefully, one of us finds them before we meet up somewhere near Peter Pan.”
“See you in a minute,” Maybeck said.
“It’s hard to see much, so pay attention,” she said. The swirling clouds had brought an early darkness.
“Never fret. Eyes like a hawk,” said Maybeck.
“What about the monkeys?” Charlene mumbled. “What if that was some kind of omen?”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Maybeck.
They split up, Willa dragging Charlene by the arm. Maybeck jogged off.
Park guests waved at Willa and Charlene. Some braved the increasingly steady rain to chase after them, calling for autographs. Willa pressed on.
Charlene said, “We’re getting wet.”
“That’s what usually happens with rain,” Willa said.
“We can’t get wet!” she complained. “DHIs don’t get wet. The rain runs right through them. We can’t disappoint the kids like that!”
“Are you worried about the kids, or your hair?”
“Both, I guess.”
“Okay. So let’s run faster.”
5
AMANDA AND JEZ RAN THROUGH the light rain, dodging clusters of guests who were determined to stick it out and wait for the fireworks.
“It’s not far now,” Amanda said, spotting the spires of Cinderella Castle.
Jez didn’t answer.
Amanda glanced back. It wasn’t like her sister to avoid a chance to make a snide comment. “Keep up! You’re falling behind,” she called out. Jez was a fast runner; it made no sense that she should lag. She seemed to be running at a steady pace, no faster, no slower, no matter what Amanda said or how fast she ran.
The rain made the walkway more slippery. Amanda slowed and shortened her strides to avoid falling. When she looked back, Jez was still running at the same pace, the same stride. She apparently had magical footing—she didn’t slip.
Amanda stopped and turned fully around and stared at her sister. How could she not slip even a little bit?
Despite the falling rain, Jez’s shirt was…dry, her hair perfectly in place.
What a princess, Amanda thought.
But then she tensed.
Jez’s feet landed on the wet walkway. No splash.
“Jez? Stop! Answer me, Jez!” Amanda cried out.
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