“There’s nothing to be afraid of. I’m still in Disneyland. Somewhere….”
He arrived at a point where he felt he had to make a decision: Should he keep going? Or should he turn back? Just ahead he thought he could make out a soft, green glow. It was way ahead of him in a long, straight part of the underground passageway. “That’s weird.”
His indecision was now forgotten as he continued on his way. No matter how far forward he went, that glimmering, dancing light, he found, always seemed to be the same distance away. He never got any closer to it. “So much for an exit sign.”
The dirt path now felt as if it had started to climb. It had actually been climbing all along, but was too subtle for the excited, half-scared boy to notice. As he took his next step, the eerie green glow suddenly stopped moving. Peter stopped in his tracks, unsure of what was happening. The light seemed to be, sort of, waiting for him.
Still on his hands and knees, Peter let out a loud sigh. “Now what?”
Just as he was about to reach his silent, unmoving vision—as he started to consider this strange phenomenon—it leaped straight up and out of sight.
Feeling an unexpected sense of loss, Peter hurried the last few yards to where it had been hovering. There he found a metal ladder built into the wall. The wall, he discovered, instead of being dirt, felt solid, like it was made out of stone or plaster. His flashlight was only able to light up the first few rungs. However, as he looked up, he could see the green sparkle floating at what he hoped was the top.
Glad to be able to stand upright, he took a chance and clicked off his one source of light. The flashlight was almost dead anyway, and he realized he might need it later to retrace his steps. After rubbing his dirty hands off on his jeans, he grabbed one of the rungs and began to climb. At each step, his green companion glowed brighter and brighter. “I must be doing the right thing, then.” Peter shook his head in the darkness. “It seems, um, happy. This is getting more and more curious.”
Once again, time seemed to lose all meaning. Peter continued his ascent up the ladder as each new rung presented itself. He could neither tell how high he climbed or how long it had taken him. He just climbed.
He suddenly found himself face-to-face, if it could be called that, with the bright green object. All motion stopped as he reached out with a tentative finger to touch this strange light. There was a mild sensation that traveled through his fingertips and partway up his arm. “That tickles!”
His hand still surrounded by the shimmer, it moved about an arm’s length higher, taking Peter’s arm with it. It was then he found the end of this part of the journey. His fingers closed around a handle to what looked like a trapdoor.
As he pushed the door upward with his hands and shoulder, the green light, its mission apparently complete, extinguished, leaving him in total darkness.
“And then the fireworks ended and I ran back to the Grotto, but Peter was gone and he hasn’t been answering the radio and I don’t know where it comes out and….”
“Slow down, honey. We’ll figure this out.”
Leaving Alex at the Brentwood’s to play pool with Lance, Adam and Beth had arrived at the prearranged meeting place. At 10 p.m., both Peter and Catie were supposed to be at the pick-up zone on Harbor Boulevard, just outside the entrance. Who they found was a wide-eyed, panicked Catie, near tears and not making much sense.
Beth brought her daughter in for a comforting hug. She was surprised when the girl pushed away from her.
“No! We don’t have time for that! You have to come and help me find Peter! I went all around the hill, but I can’t find him!” Catie took Beth’s hand and started to pull her toward the entrance. “We have to get in before it closes!”
“Okay, okay, sweetie. Just calm down. We’ll find Peter. I’ll take a chance and leave the car here. This is just supposed to be a drop-off zone.” Adam threw a worried look at Beth over the girl’s head. Peter might be impetuous sometimes, but he never left Catie alone like this. “You just take us to where you last saw him, all right?”
Moving against the flow of traffic that was heading for Disneyland’s exit, it was slow going up Main Street. Smaller than her parents, Catie easily dodged and weaved through the crowd of people and strollers. Impatient, she had to wait for her parents to catch up a couple of times.
When they finally got to the empty Grotto, Catie retold her arm-waving tale.
“He went where!?” Beth looked at the statue of Grumpy and couldn’t believe someone could have actually fit into that opening.
“I told you. He went in behind Grumpy. At first we were talking on the radio and then it just went out.” Catie’s eyes filled with tears. “I haven’t talked to him since the fireworks.”
“You said you went around to the other side of the Grotto? What’s there again?”
“Just the bathrooms and a big hill. There’s lots of trees and stuff, but Peter could have gotten down from there. And over the fence if he had to.”
Adam looked up at the Castle looming over them. “Gosh, I don’t know what lights are supposed to be on in those windows and which of them might be Peter. Try the radio again, honey.”
After the radio only produced static, Beth ran a nervous hand against the back of her neck. “Do you think we should call Lance and Kimberly? Kimberly’s been inside the Castle for various reasons. She undoubtedly knows the Castle better it than we do.”
At the mention of Peter’s mom, Catie tugged on Beth’s arm. “Ask Aunt Kimberly to bring the clue with her. Maybe it says something we need to know. Peter said he left it in his room.”
Beth made a grimace as she took the phone out of her purse. “This isn’t going to go over well.”
After a glance at his watch, Adam had to agree with his wife. “They won’t be able to get here for at least half an hour. Lance might have to come in through the security entrance over on Disney Drive. Then there’re all the boys. Do they have someone who can watch them?”
Beth didn’t know. “Maybe they can leave them in the security office. I know Norm is really fond of all the boys. I think he’s on the night shift.”
Adam pulled Catie in for a reassuring hug. “We’ll find him, honey. Don’t worry.”
“I could go through the tunnel and see where he is.”
“That’s really brave of you, honey, but let’s just wait for his parents. I don’t want to lose both of you in there.”
“I can’t just wait. I have to do something!” Not completely leaving the warmth of her dad’s arms, Catie tried the walkie-talkie again and again. “Peter? Come in, Peter. Come on, pick up, Peter!”
The only response was static.
Kimberly ran into Peter’s bedroom while Lance got the boys into the car. After a moment’s grumble at the mess that greeted her eyes, she headed for his desk, looking for the familiar yellowed papers. Partially hidden under his schoolwork binder, she pulled out all the clues he had collected so far. The first clue she had seen. The second and third were unknown to her.
As her eyes quickly scanned the oddly worded clues, something clicked in the back of her mind. Her heart began to pound in her chest. She had to read through the words once more, slowly this time, just so she could make sure.
It wasn’t the clues to the next capsules that made her blood run cold. It was the demands on what Peter was supposed to bring with him. Individually they meant nothing. But, when they were put together….
A red as deep as blood.
A heart of greater value than life itself.
Its gold more brilliant than the sun.
“Oh, gosh! What was Walt thinking? Peter’s never seen it! This…this isn’t right. Something’s wrong.” As she stuffed the clues into her purse, Kimberly ran to the garage and told Lance to get to the Park as quickly as he could. Not wanting to alarm Lance or the boys, she kept her fears to herself.
The trip to Disneyland had never been so long, so slow in her life.
“The boys are in the security office.
Norm promised them they could man the security channel. Didn’t have the heart to tell them Disneyland was almost closed and there wouldn’t be much activity.”
“Were you able to get ahold of Wolf?”
Adam’s question stopped Lance’s recitation. “Wolf?” He glanced at his tight-lipped wife. She had been tense since they left the house and this reminder might not be the best timing for her. “Nope, haven’t seen him in a while. Peter said he came by a couple of days ago, but we haven’t heard from him since. Why?”
“I just thought he might be useful. Since I’m not a cast member, I’m, of course, not that familiar with the workings inside the Castle. Beth doesn’t know that much, either.”
Seeing she wouldn’t have any private time with Lance, Kimberly tugged on his arm. “I need to talk to you. It’ll just take a second. Now.”
“Sure, sweetheart. Just a sec, guys.” As they walked off a few steps, Lance looked into her pale face. “We’ll find him, honey. I’m sure he’s just out of radio range and probably having the time of his life while we worry for nothing.”
“You don’t understand, Lance!” Visibly upset, Kimberly pulled her hand from his grip so she could reach into her purse. “Did you ever see all three of the clues Peter found? Did you see them together?”
Lance could only shrug. “I guess not, now that you mention it. Pete always seemed to have it under control. Adam and Beth have been along most of the time. Why?” His reassurance seemed to have no effect on his wife and he was baffled by the level of her distress.
Without preamble, she thrust the notes into his hands. “Come over by the light and read them. Not the location part. Read the demand part.” Kimberly couldn’t stand still and began to pace while Lance read through the notes. When his breath caught, she knew she had been right. And that knowledge did nothing to still her fears.
Lance’s voice was strained when he spoke. “Peter doesn’t know anything about that. We never told him.”
“And I’ve never touched it again since we returned it to our secret room. It…it scared me, Lance. How can Walt have put such a demand like that in there? How is Peter supposed to take it to him? I…I just can’t figure it out.”
Unable to tear his eyes off the words, Lance put a hand on her arm. “The only logical explanation I can come up with is that these clues couldn’t have been written by Walt.”
Kimberly’s green eyes snapped back to his face. Her voice was almost a whisper. “That’s what I keep thinking. He gave that…that thing to us in a quest years ago. It’s still where we left it. Somebody else must know about it and want it really badly to go through all of this.”
Lance looked over at the Michaels as they waited for them to come back. Beth had said all along that something just felt wrong about the clues or the paper or the handwriting. Something was off. He dug his phone out of his pocket and sent a call to Wolf. It went straight to voicemail. Lance sent two more, just for emphasis. “And this leaves us with one question: If Walt didn’t set up this clue search, and Wolf doesn’t know anything about it, who did?”
“Do you think we need to go get the pendant? If it means saving Peter, I’ll gladly give the cursed thing up.”
“Do you have the master key?” At Kimberly’s brief nod, he glanced back at Adam, Beth, and Catie. They knew nothing of the pendant or the secret room over the Silhouette Studio. “Then why don’t you go alone to the room and grab the diamond. Both of us can’t leave and not explain anything. Hide it in a pocket or something and we’ll see how this plays out.”
Peter shoved the wooden door with all his might. It hit the floor with a dusty bang. Relieved to be out of the dank tunnel, he hoisted himself up into the room. Somehow he knew he was inside the Castle. There were no windows and no decorations in the room to indicate where he was, but he just knew.
It took a moment for him to realize the room wasn’t as completely dark as it should have been. There was a bright glow coming from one of the walls behind him. As he turned, his eyes opened wide with astonishment and his jaw dropped.
On the wall, lit by some unseen spotlight, was a framed animation cel. As he got closer, he could see there was no glass in the frame. From listening to Uncle Adam, he knew the glass would ruin the paints that colored the cel.
The picture was a drawing of the Castle in which he found himself. It was colored all gray, just like it looked when Disneyland first opened, and there were pink and blue spotlights hitting the turrets. Tinker Bell hovered mid-air in front of the castle, her wand raised to shower the Castle with pixie dust. There was even an arc of the sparkling dust all around the top of the Castle. Had Peter been older, he would have recognized that this was the opening scene from the weekly show Walt put on every Sunday, The Wonderful World of Color. What really captured Peter’s interest was the fact that the cel was signed in the lower right corner by Walt himself.
“Oh, wow! This is beautiful!” Peter reached a hand toward the cel, but caught himself just before touching the fragile surface. “This has to be priceless. I’ll bet no one even knows it’s in here. That means it’s mine now!”
He carefully took the sixteen-by-fourteen inch picture off the wall and walked closer to the light source. “It looks like the signature was done with some kind of pen and everything else is paint.” Something caught his eye in the dim light as he held it closer to his face. “Wait a minute. What’s this?”
He could make out small words on the left side of the cel. They appeared to run behind the paint on the Castle. “I can’t see it very well. What does that say?”
Peter had to get out his flashlight to read whatever was written on the cel. “Why would someone paint over the words?” He narrowed the beam on the light and aimed it at the words.
“To find your next clue, you mu….”
“No! That can’t be right. Why would Walt put the next clue under a painted cel he signed? Let me see if I can get the frame off. Maybe I can see the words from the back.”
All thoughts of Catie and his parents and where he was supposed to be were gone from his mind. All Peter could think about was the next clue. Using a pen, he worked the metal ties holding the frame to the cel and its clear backing. Mindless of the damage he was causing to the wooden frame, he kept at it until the cel was loose in his hands. “Now I can hold it up to the light and see what it says.”
Peter was dismayed to find that his theory didn’t work. The words were not visible from the back. “Oh, great. The only way to get the next clue is to scrape the paint off the cel. That will destroy the paint and make the picture worthless. But, I need the next clue.”
Torn, he held the clue out at arm’s length to stare at the beauty of it. “I can’t ruin this cel. It’s probably one-of-a-kind. But I have to. That’s the only way to continue. What am I supposed to do!? This isn’t supposed to be hard!”
Behind Peter, blended into a dark corner of the room, a pair of eyes watched as the boy became more agitated. The edges of the eyes crinkled as the unseen person smugly smiled.
Disneyland – Current Day
Peter tried hard not to panic as he vacillated back and forth. He gripped the cel so tightly that the corners curled. “I can’t ruin this! Walt drew it himself…. But he painted over the clue and then left it for me to find. Why would he do that? What am I supposed to do?”
Pacing in and out of the one spotlight in the high-ceilinged room, Peter attempted to weigh his options, but was too upset to be rational. The beauty and the value of the cel warred against what might be at the end of the clue search. Was it worth ruining the one piece for what might be next? Or, should he keep the animated piece and be proud to own such a rare find?
“I can’t do it.” He was almost in tears now, frustrated by not knowing what Walt wanted him to do. “But I have to ruin it. I have to go on to the next clue.”
With a loud sniff, the distraught boy dug around in the hidden pocket of his backpack until he found a small pocketknife. Blade in hand, his fingers shook as he
lowered the blunt edge toward the pink and blue Castle. “I have to do it. I have to do it. I have to do it.” The muttered words became a mantra as he tried to force his hand to do what he felt was his only option.
As the blade barely touched one of the sparkles over the Castle, the whole top layer of paint—the pixie-dust semicircle—fell to the ground. Realizing what he had done, Peter dropped to the hard floor, put his head on his knees, and wept bitterly.
“Aww, why the tears, my pet?”
Too upset to grasp that he wasn’t alone, that someone had been in the room with him the whole time, Peter jerked a shoulder at the intrusion. “Go away. Leave me alone.”
The voice moved closer. There was an attempt to sound sympathetic, but the hard, bitter edge couldn’t be masked. “Oh, I can’t leave you alone. You see, you’re here because of me. I led you here and you have something that belongs to me. And I want it. Now.”
“What? I don’t understand.” Peter looked up from his position on the floor as he roughly swiped an arm across his eyes and his nose, the cel forgotten at his feet. “Who are you?”
A tall woman moved into the spotlight that had illuminated the now-ruined animation cel. “Oh, I am so sorry. Where are my manners? We haven’t been formally introduced, have we?”
When an actual introduction did not come, Peter, wary now, slowly got to his feet, his eyes narrowing as he stared at the woman. She seemed vaguely familiar to him, but his tangled mind couldn’t place how he might know her. Dressed in the deepest purple, she also wore a pendant with a bright green stone that caught his eye as it shimmered in the light. “Why do you look familiar? Hey, how did you get Lisa’s necklace?”
Not taking her eyes off the boy, a long, slender hand rose to the metallic raven at her throat. “You don’t recognize me? Oh, my. How embarrassing. Here, let me fix that.”
With a graceful wave of her hand, the green light that had led Peter to this room emerged from the pendant. It wove around the woman until she was completely immersed in the glow. When it went out, Peter gasped.
HIDDEN MICKEY ADVENTURES 4 Page 18