Kingdom Keepers II: Disney at Dawn

by Ridley Pearson

  “That research thing—Dr. Grant Seeker,” Wil a said.

  “Dinosaur. Remember anything special about it?”

  “Only that it was real y cool,” Wil a answered.

  “Not cool—wel , yes, it’s cool—but it’s also cold. And it’s computer control ed. Majorly computer control ed. There have to be some serious computers running that ride.”

  “The second server,” Finn whispered, “could be hidden among them.”

  “As good a place as any.”

  “Listen to you!” Maybeck sniped. “We don’t know any of this for sure!”

  “No…” Philby said. “But there might be a way we could find out. If I can get back on VMK, and

  Wayne gets me into the control center, I may be able to track network bandwidth usage.”

  “Speak English,” Maybeck snapped.

  “Think about it: if we go after Jez, how is Maleficent going to come after us?”

  “With birds,” Maybeck said.

  “And monkeys,” Wil a added.

  “And lions,” said Finn.

  “And DHIs of al of the above,” Philby said. “The more DHIs she uses, the more bandwidth

  usage on the network. What I’m saying is this: we want her to come after us with everything she’s got, because when she does, I can probably locate the second server. And if I do, then maybe I

  can cut it off the network. That would take al the DHIs of animals out of the equation.”

  “So we split up,” Finn said. “Maybeck, Wil a, and Philby wil team up to take out the second

  server, to destroy it if possible. Charlene, Amanda, and I wil get inside the tiger yard and get into that hatch.”

  “Oh, yeah, like that’s going to happen,” snipped Maybeck.

  “Philby said the tunnel makes sense for maintenance. If that’s the case, do you think the maintenance workers go through the tiger yards every time there’s a problem? I don’t think so.

  There’s going to be another entrance—a hatch, a manhole, something—probably hidden in the jungle. Something that Jez can’t get to, or isn’t strong enough to move. Philby can check it out when he gets into VMK. There must be a way to open the hatches in order to move the tigers.

  Philby can look for that, and we’l be in position, ready to move.”

  “There are stil a few sketches in the diary that we haven’t run into,” Amanda reminded everyone. “We shouldn’t forget about them. There’s the hairy goril a and the owl on the branch.

  There’s the elephant and the hunchback guy who looks sort of Indian.”

  “Everyone wil stay alert for those,” Finn said.

  “Alert?” Maybeck said. “I’m half asleep on my feet.”

  “No sleeping!” Philby warned. “Wil a and I messed up things by getting caught. We’re both

  sorry and appreciate everything you did for us. But the Park is closing soon: six o’clock. And that means the animals wil al be moved backstage, including the tigers. If there is a tunnel between

  the tiger yards, and Jez is down there…” He didn’t have to finish the sentence.

  But apparently Maybeck felt obliged to. “Then she becomes kitty chow.”

  51

  CHARLENE INSISTED THAT she could slip over the wal of the upper tiger yard with no one the wiser.

  “I don’t think so,” said Finn. He, Amanda, and Charlene were assembled along the edge of

  the Jungle Trek, very near the tiger yards.

  “I can stay close to the wal , like I did at the bat enclosure,” Charlene said. “No one’l see me, and that includes the tigers.”

  “Tigers are fast,” Amanda reminded her. “Very fast. And they can jump, let’s not forget.”

  Charlene nodded. “But also lazy. I’l be on the opposite wal . If the tiger moves or shows any

  interest, you can warn me. I can vault the wal in a nanosecond. It’s not as if it’s going to get me.”

  “No, probably not,” Finn said. “But it’s also not worth the risk. At the very worst, we wait until they try to move the tigers. If we’re right, they’l open the hatches at that point. Jez wil get out of there. Our jobs wil be to distract the tigers so Jez doesn’t get attacked.”

  “Tiger bait?” Amanda asked, horrified. “Your plan is to use us as tiger bait?”

  “My plan is to rescue Jez. At the very worst, we wait out the Park’s closing.”

  “Let’s look for a maintenance entrance,” Amanda encouraged. “If it actual y exists, it can’t be

  far from the bridge.”

  “Agreed. And Charlene promises not to jump the wal ,” Finn said, looking up at her. “I would

  suggest you scout the perimeter looking for other hatches, gates, or anything else we should know

  about.”

  “I can do that. But I can also—”

  “Don’t even think about it,” Finn said, interrupting her.

  Amanda and Finn set off down the path toward the tiger bridge. At Finn’s suggestion, they

  kept a few yards apart in case they came under attack from the Overtakers. They sharpened their

  senses, alert to what was overhead and al around them for anything out of the ordinary—

  especial y monkeys and orangutans.

  They scouted both tiger yards from an old Indian temple made of stone and plaster, which

  was at the top of the tiger bridge. Amanda stared out the window that matched what Jez had sketched in the diary. An enormous tiger was stretched out in the shade about twenty feet below

  and across the yard. She couldn’t see the trapdoor from where she stood but could place it just to her left in her mind’s eye. She switched sides and kept looking around.

  Finn patrol ed the center of the bridge, also switching sides and looking into both tiger yards.

  He’d hoped to see a manhole cover in the path—some indication of maintenance access—but

  there was none.

  “I think I have something,” Amanda said from behind him. She faced some plants and a beautiful section of the wal , where four large stone panels had been carved, each depicting a unique scene. Finn recal ed these from having seen them earlier, and he said so.

  “I don’t think we should be seen staring, so I’m going to turn my back, but check out the second panel,” Amanda said, spinning around.

  “The owl!” Finn said. “And the elephant with the headdress.”

  “Both of which she sketched in her diary,” Amanda reminded.

  “It’s a secret panel,” Finn said. “The access to the tunnel.”

  “We don’t know that,” Amanda protested.

  “Screen me,” Finn said. “I’m going back there and looking for some kind of switch to open it.

  The way it’s on the corner, it’s perfect for maintenance, because you’re hidden to start with. No

  one’s going to see me, but just to make sure…”

  “I’ve got you covered,” Amanda said.

  Finn slipped into the vegetation and stepped into shadow. The ground here was disturbed,

  and he noticed several large shoeprints in the mud, convincing him al the more that they were right about this.

  He ran his hand along the edge of one of the large stone panels, hoping to find some kind of

  trigger. Nothing. He tapped on it lightly. It sounded hol ow. “This has got to be it,” he hissed. “But I can’t find anything to open it.”

  “Try the owl,” Amanda cal ed over her shoulder.

  Of course! he thought. He stretched to reach the owl, opened his hand, and pushed. The tile

  with the owl moved. The panel clicked and popped open an inch. Finn threaded his fingers behind

  it and pul ed. It was incredibly heavy.

  “I’ve got it!” he announced.

  But behind the panel he saw a metal gate. And the gate was padlocked. This helped explain

  why, if Jez had found this entrance, she’d been unable to get out.

  He didn’t hesitate for a m
oment. Understanding the risk he took, Finn flushed al thought from

  his mind. He was neither anxious nor excited. Neither angry nor tired nor hungry. He felt the now

  familiar tingling in his arms and legs and witnessed a slight glow on the back of the stone panel

  that hung open: he had crossed over. He stepped through the wrought-iron gate, his glow il uminating a dank, stone stairway that spiraled down to his left. He turned around, his DHI already fading as fear crept into him. Fear of the dark. Fear of the unknown. He was himself again. He

  reached through the gate and grabbed a heavy iron handle on the inside of the panel. He pul ed

  with al his strength, and the massive stone door clicked shut.

  He’d acted a little too hastily: it was pitch dark.

  He couldn’t see a thing.

  52

  FINN FELT HIS WAY DOWN the damp stones as the stairs beneath him fel away in a spiral to his left. It smel ed at once of dust and mold, like his grandparents’ basement. He counted the stairs as he

  went: ten, eleven, twelve… before they leveled off. He walked on the flat now, straight ahead, his left hand skimming a rock wal , the occasional cobweb tangling in his fingers and making him jump. Finn didn’t like spiders.

  The sound of his running shoes scraping the concrete changed; he could feel he was in a more open area. His vision, which had shown him nothing but sparkles and curlicues, improved to

  where he could make out a haze both to his left and right. It hung in the air like a gray mist. And now, slowly forming, a lump, an interruption in the mist. An imperfection in the horseshoe-shaped

  glow that continued to define itself.

  “Jez?” he cal ed out softly.

  The lump moved. He thought it might have turned in his direction.

  He cal ed her name again, this time a little more loudly.

  “If you’re a dream, go away!” Jez’s voice!

  “It’s Finn,” he said, taking steps toward her, his hand stil guiding him along the wal .

  “Why can’t I wake up?” she muttered.

  Finn felt good. His heart swel ed in his chest. It was not simply the pride of success, of beating the odds and final y finding her. It went beyond that, to something more. He felt an importance in being here. A significance. He was saving Jez. He was doing something that real y

  mattered, not just studying or wasting time on his computer. It gave meaning to al the effort they had gone to, al the risks they had taken.

  And then the tunnel fil ed with a colorful glow, like a light warming up. And it was a light warming up. His light. His DHI. It fil ed his end of the tunnel, and what had been a lump of darkness transformed into Jezebel. She stood up from her slumped position looking almost angelic and came toward him slowly, as if she were floating. He couldn’t sustain his DHI, and it vanished. He

  pul ed out the BlackBerry, using its glowing screen as a flashlight.

  He thought of her as having jet black hair and bone white, almost translucent, skin. Intriguing

  eyes. That had been how she’d looked when he’d first met her on the Sports Complex soccer field, what seemed like years earlier. In fact, it had only been a matter of months. But Jez had made a radical transformation when Maleficent’s spel had been lifted. Her hair was now a shocking blond—almost white. Her thin lips shined luminously red.

  She came into his arms, like a young child hugging a parent, and then let go.

  In the BlackBerry’s weird light, they both looked vaguely blue.

  “I didn’t think…” she stammered. “I hoped and even prayed, though I’m not very good at praying…I wired up the iPod but couldn’t be sure…”

  “Amanda found a page in your diary,” he explained. “We fol owed your sketches.”

  “I don’t even remember what I drew.”

  “Dreams,” Finn said. “Amanda said it was what you dreamed.”

  “Nightmares is more like it. I’ve had them here as wel —down here in the dark.”

  She explained the ordeal she’d been through. It was much as the Kingdom Keepers had

  come to suspect: her detention on the savannah; her escape, which turned on a mistake made by

  one of the monkeys; her flight across the savannah and over a wal that turned out to be the tiger yard. The early morning release of the big cats and her finding herself fol owing one down a wooden hatch and into the tunnel while being stalked by another left behind in the upper yard.

  “The hatches both closed at the same time, and I was trapped. At first I realized how lucky I

  was, because the Overtakers would never think to look in such a place, but then as time went on, it occurred to me that no one would look down here. That I was not just hidden, I was trapped. And that’s when I realized that a dream I’d had—of a landscape, but from above, like from a plane—

  made al the more sense. I was in the tunnel, under the C in the photo.”

  “It was a satel ite photo,” Finn said, explaining. “One of your sketches led us to it.”

  “And that’s when I realized the song on my iPod might help you find me. I used my earbud

  wire to connect to a box.” She turned the glowing iPod, revealing a series of three junction boxes mounted to the stone wal and a number of wires leading from them. “I couldn’t be sure it would

  work, but I thought it probably should. And maybe you’d hear it. If you were even here in the Park.

  And so I decided to save the battery and only play the song every few hours.” She pointed at the

  glowing face of the device. “It stil has some power, though not much, I’m afraid.”

  “We need to get out of here. Amanda and Charlene are up there waiting for us. Philby is on

  VMK with Wayne—”

  “But VMK is closed!”

  “Wayne fixed that. The two of them are monitoring network traffic and also trying to see if they

  can control the hatches in the tiger yards.” Finn had nearly forgotten about the DS. He checked

  that it was turned on.

  No signal. He tried the BlackBerry: no bars, no signal.

  “To get down here,” Finn said, “I had to cross over to get through a maintenance gate. You

  can’t turn yourself into a DHI the way I can. You can’t cross over to get back out.” He paused, trying to think clearly. “We’re kind of stuck down here.”

  “You can stil get out.”

  “That’s not going to happen. I’m not leaving without you.”

  “You don’t happen to have a hamburger and fries in your back pocket, do you?”

  “I’m going to try the DS again, closer to the hatches.”

  “I’l take that as a no.”

  She disconnected the iPod and carried it in front of her as a very dim flashlight. Finn did the

  same with the BlackBerry. The tunnel’s floor was concrete, its wal s, stone. The tunnel was longer than Finn expected. Nearing the far end—the end leading into the upper tiger yard—the tunnel floor began to rise, forming a ramp. The space became lower and tighter, ending in a box of concrete three feet square, a space Finn could just tuck himself into.

  “It’s exactly the same on the other end,” Jez said.

  Finn already knew their situation had improved: the static in his ear had lessened. “Have you

  tried opening it?”

  “Yes. Of course. It doesn’t open.”

  “What if two of us pushed?”

  “It’s not that it’s heavy. It’s latched shut. Tigers are much stronger than either of us. I’m sure it’s constructed to stop a curious tiger from opening it.” She paused a moment. “Why do you keep

  checking your watch? It’s only a few minutes later than when you first looked.”

  Finn said nothing. But he checked his watch again. She was right, it was 5:18. He’d last checked at 5:15.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “The Park closes at six.”

  “So Amanda and the ot
hers wil have to leave. That’s not the most awful thing.”

  “It isn’t just that,” he said. “They move the animals—al the animals—out of the Park at closing.”

  “Including the tigers.” Jez made it a statement.

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “And if we’re down here when they move them Her voice trailed off.

  Finn caught himself nodding.

  The DS beeped, indicating a connection.

  philitup: Finn? Finn?

  Finn: i’ve got jez!!! she’s ok!

  Messages started to compete, but Philby cut everyone off with an announcement.

  philitup: found the virtual switch, i think i can open the hatches, want me 2 try?

  Finn looked up at Jez. “What do you think?”

  “Do we have a choice? I’d rather get eaten running for my life than trapped in a tunnel.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

  angelface13: ten apes just entered the tiger yards, looks like someone knows what we

  know.

  Finn explained to Jez, “A guy saw us take the satel ite photo. It’s possible that the Overtakers

  heard about it and figured out you were down here the same way we did.”

  “There are monkeys out there?” Jez asked, unable to keep the tension out of her voice.

  “Mean monkeys,” Finn confirmed. “Though the orangutans are the worst.”

  “Wel , that’s certainly reassuring. And we’re going out there?”

  “I’m not sure we have any choice.”

  53

  MAYBECK AND WILLA stood guard at the Dream Vacation kiosk in Camp Minnie-Mickey. With their

  backs to Philby, who occupied the computer terminal, they kept their eyes on the crowd as wel as

  on the jungle, acutely aware that the last attack had come quickly and without warning.

  Philby had his hands ful . While he was negotiating an intricate set of networking cables, represented on-screen by a rainbow of wires that spidered out from various network hubs to the

  myriad attractions, security cameras, and cash registers throughout Animal Kingdom, Wayne had

  worked his way through the virtual schematics to find a switch he believed responsible for the tiger-yard hatches. Philby had double-checked Wayne’s work and, agreeing with him, had cal ed