by Kealohilani
Lani shrugged it off— thankful that at least it wasn’t that horrible mirror nightmare she had been having over and over again. That dream had been bothering her for ages as she struggled to find the meaning.
She thought maybe it could make interesting material for her book— if only her dream would continue past the part where she was floating, frozen, looking at herself in the mirror, while a menacing electric current surged around her.
“Hellooooo,” Justin chirped, waving his hand in front of Lani’s eyes. “We’re still here you know. Remember us? The living? You know, your best friends since forever? Wakey wakey… let’s GO!”
Lani playfully shoved his hand out of her face with a bright smile and proceeded to pick up her things so they could exit the plane.
A young woman in her mid-twenties, with flawless olive skin and a sleek auburn ponytail, awoke slowly on a cold green marble floor. She wore a fawn brown shirt with billowing sleeves underneath a brown leather corset.
Formfitting high-waisted tweed pants vanished into knee-high brown leather boots. She heard crackling, like pine logs burning in a fire. The sound was coming from above her.
As she opened her eyes, the rippling blue electric bubble that encircled her came into focus. She jumped to her feet and peered out into the dimly lit room around her, keeping a careful distance from the edges of the bubble.
She reached back and found that her shoulder-strapped sheaths were still there. Both of her swords were missing. Her body was sore and her head ached as if she had suffered a blow. She closed her eyes and put both hands to her temples as she tried to work out the events that had led up to this moment.
A few hazy fragments flashed through her mind. She had been outside the castle on a mission… Prince Keanu… A patrol of maybe fifty of Vranah’s soldiers… they had spotted her in a wooded area outside the fortress… Her memory became more cohesive from this point.
She hadn’t even drawn her swords. Amidst so many trees and such abundant and diverse foliage, she shouldn’t have needed them.
With graceful hand movements, she had commanded the ivy to lift her ten feet into the air— giving her a tactical vantage point of the battle. Still more ivy tripped, enveloped, and immobilized several of the men as they advanced toward her— twisting around their bodies and tightening its hold.
With mere glances, she enlisted every nearby branch to pummel some repeatedly and catapult others deep into the forest. Seven of the men were killed during the attack and the rest had been rendered inert. She was sure she had everything well in hand and would be free to rescue Prince Keanu momentarily.
Then Drakne had arrived.
Every branch that reached toward him stopped abruptly, just short of touching him. The ivy that attempted to bind him was incinerated on contact as Drakne advanced slowly, unblinking.
He calmly struck her down with an electric current from his hand and simultaneously reduced the ivy holding her aloft to ashes. Everything in her world had gone black in that instant, even before she began to fall.
The woman opened her eyes again and paced wildly within the energy field she now found herself trapped in— repeatedly going over the details that had led to her capture. The fall she must have endured explained the pain she was feeling. But that was the least of her problems now.
She was well aware that her fate was to become a martyr, but felt quite irritated by the time it was taking and wanted to get it over with. Why didn’t Drakne just kill me in the forest?
He had definitely had the opportunity. No doubt Vranah derived some sick pleasure from killing victims himself. Either that, or he wished to torture her for information. At least she could be sure he would get none from her.
She turned her head and squinted to locate the source of the voices she now heard, conversing. Two masculine figures stood near the thrones of the former King and Queen. There was no mistaking their identities. Drakne stepped aside and out of Vranah’s path. Vranah walked out of the shadows and into clear view, just outside of her enclosure.
“Hello, Narah. You should not have come here.”
“It wasn’t my intention to come here. Your pet over there is the one to blame for this.”
She spat out the word “pet” like dirt had entered her mouth. Drakne’s eyes narrowed and his black leather gloves creaked as he slowly clenched his hands into tight fists. He faced his lord, bowed, and strode out of the room.
“My ‘pet’ as you say, has served me well. He has brought me you. Narah Deskarin, the famous warrior from Destavnia. Known for her beauty as well as for her skills in battle— although no one can say which is her stronger attribute. My, my, you truly are beautiful…”
Narah’s stomach turned over as he complimented her beauty. How dare he talk of her this way? Vranah continued to stare at her as one entranced.
“It really is too bad. I could have made great use of you… much more enjoyable… but I cannot permit liabilities to live.”
“I figured as much, you disgusting degenerate. So let’s get on with it, shall we? I’d rather die than continue this particular conversation anyway.”
“Such spirit! Such spirit, and yet… no curiosity. You have no desire to know why I cannot keep you alive?”
“None.”
Her breathing and heart rate remained steady and calm. There was no fear in her eyes or in her voice.
She knew that he had no power over her in death. She also knew that there were fates far worse than death and that the sooner he killed her, the less likely she would have to endure one.
“So be it. Die, Half-Heart,” he condemned with a smile as he waved his hand. And with that one smooth motion in her direction, she crumpled to the floor and lay still.
Death came instantly to her— but not before she had learned what she was. For the tiniest infinitesimal moment, a strong desire to live had returned to her— yet in that same fraction of a second she died.
“Drakne!”
Drakne returned through the doors, from which he had exited, with impressive speed, and bowed.
“Take her to her coffin.”
Drakne nodded acquiescence and snapped his fingers to levitate her corpse.
“Good work, Drakne. She truly was a formidable adversary. You will be greatly rewarded.”
“Thank you, my lord.”
Drakne bowed out of the room as he guided Narah’s body in front of him.
Disney’s Magical Express pulled up the drive into what Lani felt had to be the finest hotel on the Disney World property— The Grand Floridian! It reminded Lani of her favorite hotel in San Diego— the Hotel del Coronado— with its red gabled roofs and white exterior.
The Victorian architecture combined with 1920’s elegance was mesmerizing. An old carriage was visible near the entrance, as well as a vintage 1929 Cadillac. The Disney cast members, who staffed the hotel, dressed in perfect 1920’s period wear, completed the illusion. She couldn’t help but instantly relax as the sense of being transported into another time encompassed her soul.
As the bus pulled to a stop, directly across from the double door entrance, Justin made the “Pssshhh” sound along with the air breaks.
“We’re here!” Justin exclaimed. “We’re here! We’re here! We’re here! We’re here! We’re here!”
“We get it,” Jeschelle monotoned sleepily. “We’re here. Yay.”
“Stop acting like you’re older than me, Jezzy!”
“Start acting like you’re older than me!”
“Start acting like you’re older than me,” Justin mimicked loudly.
“Real mature.”
“It’s DISNEY WORLD! The one place you don’t have to act like a grown up! Your Disney age is the two numbers of your age added together, so I’m four!” Justin held up four fingers awkwardly, like he had just learned how, and shoved them in her face.
“Okay, okay,” she said, shooing him away. “Just don’t stand too close to me.”
“That’s an easy promise!”
/> “Be nice,” Raoul chided.
“Thank you, Raoul,” Jeschelle cooed with a warm smile.
“No problem,” Raoul blushed.
“Let’s get off the bus!” Lani exclaimed, bouncing on her toes.
Justin’s mom, Jeschelle, Raoul, Lani, and Justin made their way off the bus and down to where the driver was unloading their bags, curbside. They quickly found the bags that belonged to them, and pulled them out of the pile.
“Lani, Justin, get over in front of that old car and I’ll take your picture!” Raoul exclaimed.
“I’ll take it,” Jeschelle offered. “That way you can be in the picture too.”
“Thanks, Jezzy!” Raoul beamed, as he hurried over to Lani and Justin.
“Say Mickey Mouse!”
“ ‘Mickey Mouse!’ ”
Jeschelle touched the button on his iPhone and the flash went off under the shaded porte-cochere.
“Thank you, Jezzy,” Lani said.
“No problem.”
“Want me to take one of you?”
“Maybe later,” Jeschelle smiled.
“Come help me with our bags, Jeschelle,” Justin’s mom called.
Jeschelle handed the phone back to Raoul and returned to her mother. The three friends picked up their things and headed inside.
Lani, Justin, and Raoul gasped as they walked through the front doors of the hotel. The lobby glowed. In fact the very word hotel seemed inadequate at best. It was more a palace than a hotel.
The ceiling was extremely high with intricate woodwork and exquisite dome-shaped skylights that let the sunlight flood in. Each floor was open with railings so that you could see the lobby from any level.
The final touch was the pair of chandeliers that resembled the one from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. They hung majestically from the ceiling in the center of two of the three Tiffany-inspired skylights.
Lani had been so enveloped by the beauty of the hotel, that she was yet again startled by Justin, who informed her with a couple of snaps in front of her face that she was indeed on Earth, and not in Heaven.
“I checked us in while you were off floating on cloud nine! Do you think you could come back to this planet now so that we can go get our stuff to our rooms and then jet off to the rides?”
Lani nodded absentmindedly.
“Mom and Jezzy are already over there by the elevator, and one week isn’t as long as it seems you know! We have to get going now!”
Lani nodded again, still not moving. Justin continued with his plea.
“The monorail comes right through this hotel on the second floor, so we can go straight into the parks. The last park closes at 1 a.m. tonight for us so that only gives us eight hours!”
Lani smiled and nodded once more— not looking at Justin— and wandered off toward the pianist who was playing Once Upon a Dream on the grand piano a few yards away.
“Maybe I can pick her up and carry her and my bags if you get her bags…”
“What do you mean eight hours for us?” Raoul asked. Justin turned his attention to Raoul.
“Resort guests get ‘Magic Hours’ so it’s open earlier for us on some days and later for us on other days and they kick everybody else out! HA!”
“That’s cool! But now I feel bad for the other people…”
“Get over it! Anyway, let’s go, Lani. Lani? Lani!”
Lani’s feet were still rooted to the floor near the piano. And her eyes left Justin as quickly as he managed to get them focused on him— her gaze flitting from one fantastic feature to another. Justin tickled her to try to bring her back and she laughed.
“COME ON GIRL! MOVE!”
Justin’s normal hyper-energetic state seemed to have been amped up a couple of notches to another never-before-seen level— and they hadn’t even gotten into the parks yet! Lani snapped back into reality and headed off in the direction of the elevator without saying a word to Justin or Raoul. Her sudden departure was so unexpected that the two of them had to jog in order to catch up with her.
Permanent Residents?
Chapter Eight
The days that followed were more magical than even Lani could have ever dreamed— and this wasn’t her first time here, like it was for Justin. The world that Walt Disney had imagined truly was its own world. Here time seemed to fly but not matter at the same time.
Since they were staying on the Disney World property, they never had to leave the fantasy that had been created for them. No skyscrapers. No housing. No supermarkets. No malls. Nothing but Disney as far as the eye could see for all forty-seven square miles. To Lani, this escape from reality was like walking through another author’s book— providing inspiration for her own.
It was day six when they ventured into Disney’s Hollywood Studios. They had already done two days at Epcot, one day each at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, and had taken Sunday off to go to church together at a local congregation and to rest up a little.
Although they primarily focused on one park per day, they had made multiple uses of the park-hopper-pass feature to bounce from whatever park they were visiting that day to different parks— for any activity, ride, restaurant, or fireworks show that suited their moods at that moment— and back again. Everywhere they went in any of the parks seemed to take no time at all thanks to Lani guiding them through the Tyler Morgan Thomas Strategy for Navigating Theme Parks— which Tyler had printed out and autographed for Lani— combined with using fast passes.
On this, the sixth day, Lani donned a pair of sneakers, dark blue jeans, and a TARDIS-blue V-neck T-shirt— underneath a lacy black tank top with corset-like stitching down the front, which revealed the blue shirt beneath. And, of course, she finished her outfit with one of her Minnie-Mouse-ears headbands. Today, she went with the classic velvety black ears and retro red-and-white-satin-polka-dotted bow.
Justin and Raoul were both dressed in sneakers and long cargo pants— Justin’s were khaki while Raoul’s were green-and-brown camouflage. Each wore a Disney T-shirt.
Justin’s shirt was maroon. An image of Mickey Mouse in front of open elevator doors— with a snapped cable dangling inside the shaft— was featured on the front, above the words The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. “I SUGGEST YOU TAKE THE STAIRS” boldly warned those who read the back. Justin’s sister had already been to the Tower of Terror the day before and had stopped in the gift shop at the end of the ride to buy it for him. She knew he’d love wearing it on his first time through.
Raoul wore a simple grey T-Shirt, with a black-and-white photo of Walt Disney holding Mickey Mouse’s hand. On the back of it was Walt’s famous quote, “It’s kind of fun to do the impossible.”
The three of them raced around the park, trying to get a taste of everything. They darted from the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, to everything-Star-Wars-they-could-find, whipped through Toy Story Mania, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith. And then, late in the afternoon— in a surprising ghost-town-like-lull in the crowds— they went on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster about six more times just because they could.
After that, Raoul made them stop for an actual sit-down dinner at The Hollywood Brown Derby because it was close and he wanted lobster— despite the fact that Lani and Justin wanted to just grab a quick service meal and keep going. He used his big kitten-in-the-rain eyes on them— and there was no saying no.
Justin drummed his fingers on the table the whole time— even though Lani could tell he enjoyed his pork chop and blueberry cobbler. While her own food was satisfactory, it was the look on Raoul’s face as he relished every bite of his that made it all worth it for her. But the moment Raoul finally finished— they were out the door.
The day was drawing to a close— and the lull in the crowds inexplicably and fortuitously continued. Moments after leaving the restaurant, they found themselves running once again toward the Tower of Terror for what would be the fifth time that day— mostly because neither Lani nor Raoul
could resist Justin’s begging them to do so. It was completely dark outside already, but they knew where they were going as they rushed beneath the streetlights of Disney’s Sunset Boulevard.
“Come on! There’s no line right now! Run you guys!! Faster!!!”
Justin was already thirty yards in front of them. Raoul spoke to Lani in an out-of-breath voice as they ran.
“I think… I think Justin has been lying to us… He’s not really human… He’s just been masquerading as a human… for twenty-two years… He’s… the Energizer Bunny!”
Lani laughed happily and ran with Raoul through the rope-lined maze of the empty Tower of Terror line to catch up with Justin who had already reached the small queue. He turned to look impatiently at them, tapping his watchless wrist to indicate the slowness of their approach.
When they had still not come fast enough for his liking, he reached into one of the pockets of his long khaki cargo pants and pulled out his brand new golden Mickey Mouse pocket watch, which he had purchased at Mouse Gears in Epcot— at the same time that Lani had bought the identical watch for Tyler— and swung it back and forth like a pendulum to emphasize the fact that time was passing.
When they finally reached Justin, he put the watch back in his pocket and shook his head.
“Wait, where’s your Minnie ears?” Raoul asked, pointing to Lani’s head.
Lani’s hands flew up to the top of her head. He was right. They were gone. “Oh no! I must have left them on Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Either that or they just fell off while we were running.”
“No big,” Justin said with a shrug. “I’ll buy you another pair when we get off this ride.”
“You’re the best! Thank you!” Lani gave Justin a huge hug.
He shrugged once she released him and seemed to blush a little. “You know me.”
“Holy cats! What time is it?” Lani asked, suddenly distracted.
“Eight-thirty-or-eight-forty-ish,” Raoul answered. “Why?”