Peter and Catie saw the stricken look on the boy’s face just as the lights went out. Moments later the piercing scream was heard. When the lights came back on, Rebecca had already worked her way up to the front of the mass of people and had left her terrified cousin all alone. After looking frantically around to find her, pushed along by all the guests, Tim slowly shuffled to his doom down the Portrait Gallery. His fear of the Mansion became something that would stay with him a long, long time.
“Oh, that poor boy.” Worried, Catie tried to spot the girl as they followed a ways back. “Do you think he’ll be all right? He looks pretty scared.”
“I wonder if I should try that on Andrew.”
“Don’t you dare!” She spun on him, her eyes flashing. “That was really mean. I’ll…I’ll never speak to you again if you do something that.”
Peter looked at her, surprised by her outburst. He could tell she was really upset. “I was only kidding, Catie. I wouldn’t do that to Andrew. It’d probably give him nightmares.” Plus, Mom would kill me.
The ride went too quickly for Peter. He couldn’t seem to sit still and turned this way and that in the Attic as he tried to see everything. “There’s the piano! That’s her second husband. Oh, that was the vase! Hey, the wings are still out on the crow!” He pointed out different things to Catie as if he was familiar with them. With an amused shake her head, she just figured he had ridden it a few times too many.
“Let’s go again.” They had just exited the crypt with the haunting ‘hurry back’ still in their ears. Peter was about to head to the entrance gate when Catie stopped him.
“Already? How about Big Thunder first and then we’ll come back if you still want to.”
As good natured as his dad, Peter shrugged and said that would be fine. But, when they came back to the Mansion two hours later, the iron gate had been closed to block the entrance. The cast member positioned inside the gate told everyone the ride would be down for the rest of the day and if they cared to ‘drag their mortal bodies back tomorrow,’ they could ‘ride to their doom’ at that time.
Curious, Peter hung around to see if he could learn what had really happened inside. It was unusual to close a second popular ride on a busy weekend. When another Ghostess came to relieve her friend, Peter found out it was some mechanism that ran both of the Stretching Room elevators. Without the elevators, there was no way for the guests to get down to loading dock of the Doom Buggies.
Catie expected Peter to be disappointed since he had made it so obvious he wanted to ride through the Mansion at least once more before they left. However, he seemed pleased as he led her around to the crypt—the exit of the ride.
His green eyes were bright when he leaned in closer to her. “Catie! See? There aren’t any more guests coming out the exit, so the whole ride must be empty now. Look, here come the rest of the cast members.” He pointed at the somber-dressed employees who had come from the back of the Mansion and walked toward them past the old Pet Cemetery. As the women pushed through the small metal gate, they carried their purses and Peter heard them talk about what they would do with their free time. Now he knew for sure the ride was down for the day.
“Why are you whispering?” Catie was confused and wasn’t sure why she felt she needed to whisper too. He looked just about as happy as he had when the secret door opened in the Court of Angels. Suddenly remembering this was Peter after all, her eyes got wide and wary. “What are you planning?”
He looked to the right and left to make sure no one was nearby. That was pretty difficult to achieve since it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and they were close to the popular Splash Mountain. There were just too many guests.
Once it was clear enough, he pulled something part way out of the pocket of his jeans. He hadn’t left it in his backpack to possibly be seen at the security check-point. “Remember this?”
She stared suspiciously at the brass key. “That’s the Key to Disneyland! What are you doing with it? I thought you weren’t supposed to get it for a couple of years.”
“Yeah, well, there is that. I, uh, know where Mom hid it.” He pushed it back in his pocket when two security guards recognized him and stopped to say hello. “Hi, Maggie. Hi, Rob. Yeah, Dad’s around somewhere. We’re meeting him later for dinner. Okay, see you later.”
“Why are you so nervous?”
After the guards had walked off, he stared at the crypt and, for a brief moment, forgot she was even standing there. His head jerked back to Catie. “What? Nervous? Ha, ha. No!” He sounded guilty even to his own ears.
Catie’s brown eyes narrowed at him and she folded her arms over her chest. “What are you going to do? I don’t want to get in trouble, Peter Brentwood!”
“No, we won’t get in trouble.” If we don’t get caught. “I just want to check out something inside the Mansion. That’s all. I can’t do it when everything’s running.”
“I…I don’t think I want to do that. We’ve never done anything like that.”
Peter just stared at her. He never imagined she wouldn’t want to go with him. “Oh. I guess. Well, if you don’t want to, we can probably find out where Dad and Michael are. Probably riding Dumbo again.” He took his backpack off and dug around for the two-way radio. “I can call him if you want.” His hand hovered over the connect button as he gave her a questioning look.
Catie knew him well enough to know he just called her bluff. She was torn. She wanted to stay with Peter, not ride Dumbo with Michael and Uncle Lance. After she looked from the radio in his hands to the Mansion, she looked him straight in the eye. “Are you sure we won’t get in trouble?”
”Absolutely.” He sounded a lot more confident than he felt. There were so many things that could go wrong with his…. Well, he knew he couldn’t even call it a plan. It was an unexpected opportunity to do something he had wondered about ever since his visit to the real Gracey Mansion: He wanted to play the organ in the ballroom to see if there was a secret panel here too. He also wanted to go to the attic and say hello to the mannequin of Constance. He hadn’t forgotten her kindness and wanted to do something, even if it was just touch the veil of her wedding dress. The Key to Disneyland had been borrowed again just in case a possibility presented itself. Or if he found a locked door he really wanted to try and open—like that one in the arch of the Castle….
“Absolutely,” he repeated. “Are you with me, Catie?” He tried the charming smile he had seen his dad use on his mom many times.
As he had hoped, Catie’s expression did change. Except now she looked wary. “All right.” After agreeing, she poked him in the chest with her finger. “But, I’m blaming you if anything goes wrong.”
Peter smile was more genuine this time. “Deal. But, don’t worry. What could possibly go wrong in an empty mansion?”
Peter slid the Key to Disneyland into the lock of the small gate between the crypt and the steps that lead up to the handicap parking nook. The lock opened with a soft click of the tumbler. “Ha! It works!” His exuberant smile faded when he noticed the expression on his partner’s face. “Catie, you can’t look so guilty. Dad always said to act like you know what you’re doing and people will believe you. Let’s just slowly walk to the Pet Cemetery and start from there.”
With a heavy sigh as if the weight of the world was on her slender shoulders, Catie followed him through the gate and closed it. Testing the knob, she found it had locked itself. “I’m doing the best I can, Peter. You don’t have to yell at me!”
Peter knew he hadn’t even raised his voice. He could tell she was nervous and managed to refrain from rolling his eyes. It would probably be best to apologize. Girls. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. Look! There’s Bully the Bullfrog! Just like at….” He broke off when he again remembered that Catie knew nothing of his trip with Wolf and meeting the real Gracey’s.
“Just like what?” She barely heard him as she repeatedly looked back over her shoulder to see if they would get cau
ght and thrown out of the Park. Her eyes widened and she stepped closer to Peter and began to whisper. “Oh, no! Somebody’s watching us, Peter. We’d better get moving or something.”
Not aware that she was distracted, Peter tried to get his foot out of his mouth. “Uh, just like nothing. I, uh, like statues. That’s all. What’d you just say?” Peter glanced over Catie’s shoulder and saw a woman back at the little gate. Dressed casually in a pink tank top, shorts and flip-flops, she looked like any of the thousands of guests enjoying a warm spring day at the Park. As Peter watched, she tried the knob and gave the gate a shake when it didn’t open for her. A frown crossed her face when she looked directly at the two kids. When she noticed Peter’s stare, she quickly pulled a camera out of her large purse and took a picture of the white hearse that stood next to the main entryway. She then dropped the camera back into her purse and began to walk slowly toward New Orleans Square.
Peter thought her movements looked pretty weird, but he just figured she saw someone doing something different and wanted to try it too. There were other, more important things on his mind so he motioned for Catie. “She’s gone. Come on, Catie. Let’s get around to the back of the house and see what’s back there.”
Glad to get out of sight, Catie pushed him to move faster when he took another backward glance at the gate. They followed the walkway as it turned the corner behind the Mansion. A thick row of trees lined the path and defined the borders between the Mansion and Splash Mountain. They did find an entry door back there that was locked—just as Peter had expected. With another huge grin on his face, the master key to all of Disneyland did its job.
Catie was relieved the door was well oiled and made no noise as it swung inward. The screams from Splash Mountain became dim when the door soundlessly clicked shut behind them.
“It’s all white!” The two stood for a moment and looked around the small area in which they found themselves. Not really sure what to expect, they had at least hoped it would be decorated somewhat like the interior of the ride itself. “It’s just like backstage on almost all the rides. Bummer. I see stairs going down. Want to try those?”
Catie wasn’t sure at all if she wanted to try the stairs. She stepped closer to Peter and strained to hear any kind of noise inside the building. It seemed completely quiet. “Yeah, I guess.”
Peter knew the Stretching Room elevators took guests down to the ride’s loading area, so he figured they needed to go downward to get to where he wanted to go. He took the lead and found two more stairways. The next level down brought them to a fork in the road. He chose to go down another level. When they reached the bottom and could hear voices, they shrank back against the wall to listen.
Peter leaned close to Catie’s ear so she could hear his whisper. In any other circumstance she would have welcomed the closeness. Now she was again afraid of getting caught. “You hear that, Catie? They’re talking about the elevators. We must be on the lowest level near the Portrait Gallery. Both elevators must’ve been stuck in the down position. We need to go back up and try that other passage.”
Careful not to make any noise, they tiptoed their way up the stairs and came across the empty control room. Some kind of dark curtain had been pulled to the side allowing them to see the row of Doom Buggy ride vehicles stopped on the track. “This is so cool, Catie! Look at the monitors! This is where they watch everyone on the ride. Too bad they’re all turned off.”
As she peeked inside the office, she saw something next to console. “There’s another door, Peter. Do you want to try it?”
“I don’t know. I want to get to the Ballroom and we aren’t back far enough yet. If I remember the track’s layout and haven’t gotten turned around, I think we’re pretty close to the loading area. I know the empty Buggies make a loop after unloading before they get the next load of guests. This office must be on that loop. I’d rather try that other stairway first. We can always come back here later.”
Catie started to relax once she saw the control room was empty. If the workers were concentrating on just the elevators, the rest of the mansion should, hopefully, be empty too. “Okay, let’s try that one.”
Glad to hear his partner was more enthusiastic, Peter found that the other stairs led to the beginning of a long passage. Undecorated and white, it too was a disappointment. “Look at the walls. Not even one scary picture. It’s just like this behind Pirates.”
“Oh, I haven’t been there yet! How did you get backstage?” She figured his dad or Wolf must have taken him.
“I jumped out of the boat.”
Catie gave a small laugh. Nothing Peter did should surprise her. “And you didn’t get caught? Nobody saw you?”
“I’ll show you where I jumped next time we ride Pirates. Wow, how long is this hall?” They had already gone around one turn and came to another. There was a door at the junction. “Not sure which way we should go.”
“We aren’t still in the Mansion, are we?”
It took him a minute to figure out what she meant. To answer her, Peter tried to recall a map he had seen online a couple of months ago. The aerial shot of Disneyland showed the large outbuilding that housed the main part of the attraction. “Well, if you mean the actual building in New Orleans Square, then, no. We’re probably way past the train tracks by now.”
“Where do you think we are in the ride?”
“No clue. They turned off all the sounds so I can’t really tell.”
Catie gave a little shudder. “I’m kinda glad the sounds are turned off. It would sound pretty weird to hear all that spooky music and screams on the other side of the walls. Which way do you want to go? The passage or the door?”
“I want to go through the door. Okay with you?”
Catie gave him a bright smile. Now that they hadn’t encountered anyone, she felt safe. “Can I try the key? Oh, it’s dark in here.”
“Let me see. Oh wow, we must be behind some of the scenes or something. Come on. I think we’re going in the right direction.”
A small beam of light suddenly played over the black wall on her left. “Hey, where’d you get that flashlight?”
Peter handed it to Catie. “In the bottom of my backpack. I have two. I grabbed another one when I heard you were coming with us. Just being prepared, you know.”
After they had found the dark passageway in the Court of Angels, Catie figured Peter would probably always have a flashlight with him. She knew his goal was to locate every hidden tunnel in Disneyland. “Well, I’m glad you brought them. This makes it not so scary.”
Peter gave her a playful nudge. “Didn’t think you were afraid of the dark after what we’ve been through!”
“Didn’t say I was afraid of the dark.” Just spooky old houses and spiders and stuff.
“Hey, I know where we are. This is somewhere near the end of the Graveyard Scene!”
“Oh, I didn’t want to be in here, Peter. If one of those popping heads came up, I’d probably freak out and scream.”
“Well, if you did yell, it’d just sound like one of the effects. I think we have to stay next to this wall to get to the Ballroom. Sorry.”
“I can’t see any of the Doom Buggies. Why is it so dark back here if you wouldn’t be seen?”
Peter had to think on that for a minute. “I dunno. Maybe if a cast member needed to so something while the ride was running, it wouldn’t be obvious.”
They found another door on the left side of the wall. “Maybe this won’t be as dark,” Catie mumbled.
“Maybe it’ll be Madame Leota’s room! It would be so cool to see her head!”
Catie didn’t agree to the coolness of that prospect and was extremely relieved when the door opened into the Ballroom. They were at the far end of the room near the organ. “Look up there, Peter. There’re all the Buggies! Want to waltz? I always wanted to dance in here!” They had taken some dance lessons together at the urging of their mothers. She was a little more eager than Peter to t
ry some of the steps they had learned.
Peter actually hadn’t listened to a word she said once he saw they were indeed in the room he had wanted. Excited to finally be in this mansion’s ballroom, he didn’t know what he wanted to do first. The organ—his main interest—was right next to him, but there was so much more he wanted to see. He headed toward the banquet table. “Catie! Look at this!” He pointed to the small staircase that went up the back of the room under the duelist’s portraits. “Oh, wow, look how small the steps are. Wonder why they did that? And the back of the wall is just a huge picture. It isn’t even wood.” His fingers lightly ran over the fabric backdrop that rippled at his touch. He remembered all the elaborate carvings and decorations throughout Gracey’s mansion. This was something of a let-down.
“Peter?”
Catie’s voice came through his recollections and his head snapped around to face her. He wished he could tell her what he had experienced and share it with her, but knew it wasn’t a good idea. “What? Did you say something?”
“You didn’t hear a thing I said, did you?”
“Uh.” Faced with the same dilemma men had gone through in all the ages, he knew he was in trouble no matter what he said. “Sorry.” His charming smile didn’t work.
Hands on her hips, she just stared. She knew not to ask him to dance again. “I just wondered where the dancers were, that’s all.”
He could tell by her posture that it wasn’t all, but had enough of his dad in him to not ask. “See the Buggies up there? I’ve heard they’re somewhere behind them. I think there’s also an identical set-up of the whole room so the Pepper’s Ghost effect will work just right.”
“Want to go look for it?”
After putting a finger on the Hidden Mickey plates, Peter just shook his head as he headed for his main goal: the organ.
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