“I said not yet!” The Queen appeared ready to throw a spell at Hugo, if he wasn’t already under the effect of one.
Hugo made adjustments, and the pitch in the room climbed higher. The red lights stopped flashing. The holograms and their outlines returned.
But by the time the DHIs strengthened, two things occurred: first, Maybeck used the moment of his faded image to slip past the gorillas, who no longer had hold of him; second, Charlene stepped out from behind the pipe and picked up a shining stainless steel sheet, part of a metal box connected to the turbines. She held it behind her like a surprise gift and moved bravely toward the Queen, who turned in her direction at the last second.
Maybeck vanished into the machinery. The gorillas appeared dumbfounded; to them it was like he was suddenly invisible.
Just as the Queen raised her hand to throw a spell while saying, “Well, what do we have here?” Charlene pulled the stainless steel panel from behind her back and held it up like a mirror in front of the Queen’s face.
“Oh…my…what a beautiful, beautiful face that is.” The Queen reached out to vainly take the mirror and, as she did, loosened her hold on the fob.
Like a magician or pickpocket, Charlene swept the fob out of the Queen’s hand, replacing it with the edge of the mirror, and pocketed the fob.
Maybeck appeared from behind her, grabbed her arm, dragging her into the control room. He closed and locked the door.
“We can’t allow them to kill the power,” he said. “I just realized what they’re trying to do.”
* * *
Just as Finn caught up to Amanda, he lost her: she shimmered, sputtered, and disappeared. As quickly as she’d vanished, she reappeared.
“That was so weird,” she said. “You just kind of broke up and disappeared.”
“You, too,” he said, holding his hands in front of his face. “They look okay now.”
“Very strange.” She reached out and pulled him down hard, behind a rock. “Careful,” she said, pointing. “Another pirate. This side of Superstition Bridge.”
“What was that about?” Finn said. “What just happened?”
“The projectors?” Amanda said.
“I guess. Or maybe Philby tried to Return us, but we’re too far from the hub so it didn’t work.”
“Might be.”
“Never seen anything like it.
“The pirate’s significant,” he said, turning back to the issue at hand. “Too many of these guys, too much going on for it not to mean something.”
“I agree.”
“The fort,” he said.
She nodded.
“You don’t have to go with me.”
“I want to,” Amanda said.
“It could be…it’s probably dangerous.”
“I know that.” She paused. “Two is better than one.”
“Isn’t that a song?”
“Shut up.”
“We don’t know what we’ll find. It could be nothing,” he said.
“You don’t believe that.”
“No.”
“Then don’t say it.”
“Aye, aye,” said Finn.
“It’s just…” She sounded frustrated. “We both know this is it. A fort? How perfect is that? A remote fort at that, and on an island? Give me a break! You guys should have figured this out a long time ago.”
“We were close. We just didn’t know it. We didn’t figure it out.”
“Stitch,” she said, remembering the story.
“Yes.” He considered this a moment. “The thing is…I like Stitch. Stitch is cute. Mischievous, but cute. I could never quite see him looking so mean and chasing me and Maybeck like that. But now, I’m thinking: spell. I’m thinking the Evil Queen can make us do just about anything she wants. Cute or not. Look at what’s happened to Luowski and the others! She feeds off people’s ambitions and desires.”
“Makes sense to me.” Amanda sneaked a peek around the rock. “How are we going to do this? Alligator-infested water. A pirate the size of the front door of Mrs. Nash’s house.”
“How are you and your arms doing?” he asked, knowing that each push weakened and tired her.
“It’s pretty lame when I’m a DHI. Not much push to the push. But I can try.”
“There are rocks down there,” he said. “If he hit his head on the rocks, it wouldn’t bother me one bit. Better than into the water where he’d make a lot of noise.”
“So we want to come at him from over there,” she said, pointing to the right of the bridge.
“We want you to,” Finn said. “Me, maybe not so much.”
They quickly worked out the details of their attack. Amanda waited as Finn crept down the hill and came at the pirate from straightaway.
“You there!” the pirate called out. He snatched an ancient pistol from his belt.
Guns? Finn thought, wondering if it was from a gift shop or for real, and having no great desire to find out.
“You take another step,” the pirate said, “and you’ll eat lead, palsy-walsy.”
Only then did the pirate’s head swivel as he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Before he ever saw Amanda, he was airborne. The pirate crashed into an outcropping of rock and did not move. For about ten seconds.
Before Amanda could ask, “Is he…dead?” the pirate was twitching and reaching for his head.
“Run!” Finn said, grabbing Amanda’s hand and scurrying across the rickety Superstition Bridge.
* * *
Philby, entrenched at his computer, accessed the server remotely and typed in his backdoor password, waiting for the remote connection. A printout of Jess’s latest sketch sat alongside his keyboard. He didn’t understand where it was, but there was no mistaking who: Maleficent!
Excitement welled within him. His mother’s cooperation stunned him; secretly he still thought that at any moment she might come storming into his room, shouting at him to shut down everything and go back to bed, that she’d suffered a moment of weakness and had come to her senses.
So he worked fast, frustrated by a slow Ethernet connection that was as unpredictable as the weather.
In the background, he registered a sound, an unmistakable sound, from inside the house: the sliding-glass door opening. The one to the Florida room—a large screened-in porch at the back of the house. Why was his mother going out in the middle of night? Maybe she was sleepwalking. Maybe the entire conversation he’d had with her had been with a woman sleep-talking.
He typed faster, urging the connection to speed up.
Elvis meowed from the living room. There was one thing about Elvis: he only made that particular sound when he wanted to be picked up or petted. When he made it for a second time, Philby actually looked out his bedroom door as if he could see through walls. (He could not.) Because there was one thing about his mother: she could not resist Elvis. She spoiled the cat like it was a rich uncle who might bequest his entire estate someday.
It was a family joke: if Elvis meowed twice, Mom wasn’t home. Had she really fallen asleep so quickly? She’d seemed pretty worked up—
The screen changed, and Philby pulled his attention back to his computer.
He was in.
* * *
Thankfully, gorillas knew nothing about broken glass. As the first of the three explored the broken hole through the control room’s glass door, he cut his hand. Jumping back, he stuck his hand in his gaping mouth and whimpered like a baby. The injured gorilla then showed the other two his blood, and all three stepped away from the door as if it possessed powers.
Behind them, the Evil Queen could not stop adoring herself in the stainless steel mirror. She seemed oblivious to everything going on around her.
“You might be wondering what a dame like me is doing in a place like this,” Cruella De Vil said to Charlene. “And to tell you the truth, I hardly know!” The way she laughed made Charlene wonder if that hadn’t been what had shattered the glass. “It’s because I know the wa
y of the world—our world, the modern world. Think about it: Queeny out there is from a world lit only by fire. She can hardly be considered worldly, like some of us. Eh, girly?”
“You’ll never get away with this,” Charlene said, holding up the Return fob. “One click of this button…”
Hugo spun around in his chair, his hand on a lever. “I wouldn’t be so sure. If your friend there takes one more step toward me, it’s lights out, everyone. If you push that button as the power fails, there’s no telling what will happen to us—to all of us. We might be gone forever.”
“Is that true?” she asked Maybeck, who looked ready to pounce.
He looked over at her with a terror-ridden, perplexed expression, his usual confidence sapped.
“Now, now, little girl, don’t be foolish,” Cruella said. “Hand that over to me this instant.” She flicked the ash off the burning cigarette at the end of her ebony-and-ivory holder, aiming the ember at Charlene’s face. “You wouldn’t want to see me when I’m mad.”
Maybeck scooped up an office chair, holding it above his head threateningly. “Whoever you are,” he said to Hugo, “you’re new at this. Let me tell you something about being a DHI: the slightest bit of fear and you’re partly human, partly hologram. It’s a glitch in the system that’s never been worked out. So if you think this chair is going to pass through you, you’re mistaken. Now, let go of that switch.”
Charlene matched each advancing step Cruella took, backing away from her.
“Drop the chair!” Hugo shouted, his hand still on the switch. “Do it, or we all go poof! And if Goldilocks there pushes that button, we might just…evaporate.”
Maybeck’s eyes darted. Cruella’s burning cigarette was closing in on Charlene’s face.
“Do it,” Maybeck said. He wanted her to push the Return.
If I push the button, I drop the fob and we’ll lose it again, Charlene was thinking. She banged into the counter behind her. Her hand felt a drawer handle. She hooked a finger into the handle and pulled the drawer open slightly. If she knew where to find the Return, they could come back to get it. She held it in her hand over the open drawer.
Cruella eyed the Queen through the office windows, clearly wanting her powers to throw spells. But the Queen was still struck by her own reflection.
Hugo Montcliff’s hand remained on the oversized switch. “You hit me with that chair, pal, and you’re going to be the one who throws this switch.”
“I suggest we all calm down,” said Cruella. “This is what we call a stalemate.”
* * *
As they crossed Superstition Bridge, Finn and Amanda heard the voices from within Fort Langhorn. They hurried to the left to avoid being seen.
“I can’t believe it!” Finn said.
“It sounds like a convention or something.”
“Of Overtakers.”
“You think?”
“I promise.” Eager to get a look inside, Finn moved toward the fort’s open gate. He sneaked a peek, his heart beating painfully in his chest with what he saw. The Horned King from The Black Cauldron. Gaston. Prince John from Robin Hood. He’d seen all three in a single glance. Milling throughout the center courtyard were pirates and a dozen other characters Finn had seen before but couldn’t name.
He slipped back next to Amanda, breathing hard. “This is it,” he said, winded by nerves. “Their hideout.”
“What now?”
“If the Queen and Cruella are asleep, there’s a good chance they’re in there,” he said.
“We’re going in there?”
In the distance, across the bridge, the pirate was stirring. He’d be on his feet any minute. He’d sound the alarm. The bridge was the only way off the island.
“We’ve got serious problems,” Finn said. “Follow me.”
He led her around the side of the fort so the waking pirate wouldn’t spot them. “They’re all in there,” he told her. “You can’t believe how many.” Then he said somewhat desperately, “There are only five of us. Seven, counting you and Jess.”
“Ariel told Willa there are many, many more. That they’re waiting for a leader.”
Finn skidded to a stop.
“What?” he gasped. “Why didn’t I hear about this?”
She shrugged. “Girl talk,” she said. “She knows…we all know how hung up you are on living up to Wayne’s expectations.”
“That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it?” said Amanda.
“Who said I’m the leader?”
“You see?” she said. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
They continued along the fort wall, sneaking past the door leading to Pappy’s Fishing Pier and kept following the wall as it turned again.
“Don’t be mad.”
“I’m not mad,” said Finn.
“You’re stewing.”
“What’s that?”
“That’s what Mrs. Nash calls it when you get so mad you won’t talk. She doesn’t let us stew. Everything gets out in the open.”
“I’m not stewing,” he said.
“If you say so.”
Then he stewed some more, not knowing what to say. They rounded the third corner.
“Are we just going to go around in a full circle, or what?” she asked.
“I remember coming here with my family years ago,” he said. “And maybe I’m mixing it up with the tunnels on the other island, but I’m pretty sure there’s a secret escape tunnel running from the fort.”
“That’s what we’re looking for?”
“That’s what I’m looking for, yes.”
“And if we find it?”
“I’m going in there.”
“No way, Finn.”
“Not you, don’t worry.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about! You can’t go in there with a zillion Overtakers inside.”
He stopped. They pressed their backs to the logs as he said, “Listen…Look…I don’t know exactly how to explain this, but I’m not even sure you’re going to wake up tonight. Okay? I’m freaking out here. These people, these things are ruining everything, and they’re only getting stronger. We…the five of us…the Keepers—and you and Jess, and Wayne and Wanda—we either stop them or…that’s just the thing: I don’t know what. I don’t know if any of us will be around, or if we’ll be lying in bed unable to wake up, like you are right now. I’m not playing hero here. I’m afraid. I’m afraid to go to sleep. Afraid to go to school. I can’t live like this. I’m going to find those two and stop them. Obviously, they’re only the tip of the iceberg,” he said, the voices of Overtakers rising over the wall. “But I’m not losing you. I’m not running away.”
She leaned across and kissed him, and despite him being a DHI, it felt to him as amazing as it had in front of Mrs. Nash’s.
When she pulled her lips off his, he said, “See? There’s still magic in the Parks.”
“Is that it?” she asked, pointing.
At first he thought she was disappointed in the kiss. Then he saw a rock wall coming out from below ground.
“The escape tunnel!” he said, greatly relieved.
* * *
Philby found his loyalties tested. He didn’t want to leave the connection to the server, but Elvis was still out there meowing. Philby had definitely heard his mother open the sliding door to the Florida room. So what was going on? What if it wasn’t his mother? What if Hugo had returned?
Blood overcame photons. He sneaked out into the living room to check it out. The room was dark, as was the outside. It was late. Neighbors’ houses were shuttered for the night.
In the greenish glow of some of the kitchen appliance displays, he spotted Elvis rubbing up against the open sliding glass door and meowing. The fan in the Florida room spun lazily. A breeze blew outside, clattering the palm fronds.
Philby walked on his toes, slinking forward.
“Hey, pal.” A low voice. Not his mother’s.
Philby jumped and banged against
the sliding door’s metal doorjamb.
A kid—a giant of a kid—had his hand over Philby’s mother’s mouth and her arm wrenched up behind her back. Her eyes were bulging, pleading to her son through palpable terror.
“You must be Luowski,” Philby said, his voice eerily calm. He’d never truly hated before. He’d never had the urge to hurt someone like he had now. The boy’s size meant nothing; what he’d heard about him meant nothing. He was hurting his mother, and that was all there was in the world—the only thing that existed.
“You will let her go right now,” Philby said.
“Oh, yeah? Or else?”
“I will rain down a world of hurt on you the likes of which you’ve never known.”
Luowski spit out laughter, but Philby sensed concern lingering down under the boy’s calm exterior.
“I don’t think so,” Luowski said. “I think you will do exactly as I say, or the world of hurt will be on your conscious, pal. And it won’t be raining down on me, believe me.” He goosed Mrs. Philby’s arm up more tightly, and Philby watched her strain under the pain.
“It’s ‘conscience,’ nimrod. You’re out of your depths…beyond your pay scale…” Philby said, as he edged closer. “You have stepped so far over the line that I’m not going to let you go back. You can beg, but I won’t hear you.”
“Tough? You, nerd boy? Think so? You’re going to show me your Internet modem, and we’re going to shut that puppy down. Then, we’re going to give it…” he stole a glance at his wristwatch, “…fifteen, twenty minutes, and I’ll be on my way.”
He’d told Philby much more than he’d meant to. Whatever was going down with the Overtakers, it was happening this very minute. Right now! In fifteen minutes it would all be over.
“Got to pick on girls, big guy?” Philby said. “Big Mr. Greg Luowski picks on a mother because he’s too afraid of a Kingdom Keeper.”
“Am not!”
“Have they told you what we can do? What we’re capable of? I’m guessing not. I’m guessing the Queen either put you under a spell or made it sound like a really cool thing to take us on, to join up with her. But she left out a few details, I’m willing to bet. Like the fact that I can walk through a door or a wall when I’m a DHI. Like I can walk into your home and find you, or your mother, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. You might want to think about that before you continue down the road you’re on, Greg. You will never hear the end of this. This will never go away.”
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