Kingdom Keepers V (9781423153429)

Kingdom Keepers—Disney After Dark

Kingdom Keepers II—Disney at Dawn

Kingdom Keepers III—Disney in Shadow

Kingdom Keepers IV—Power Play

Steel Trapp—The Challenge

Steel Trapp—The Academy

Peter and the Starcatchers

Peter and the Shadow Thieves

Peter and the Secret of Rundoon

Peter and the Sword of Mercy

The Bridge to Never Land

Escape from the Carnivale

Cave of the Dark Wind

Blood Tide

Science Fair

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• Acknowledgments
  

They say the Devil's water, it ain't so sweet

You don't have to drink right now

But you can dip your feet

Every once in a little while

—The Killers, “When You Were Young”

F
inn Whitman held up three fingers, indicating he'd identified the enemy. One wore a full-length black robe with purple piping: Maleficent; the woman next to her, a high, starched white collar—like a nun's habit—her hair perfect, not a strand out of place: the Evil Queen; and the last wrapped in ermine and stoat: Cruella De Vil. He could just make out the backs of their heads and shoulders given his position on all fours and the location of a wooden card index island ahead. The three were huddled together in the darkened library stacks just beyond the central card index. But these were not any ordinary stacks. This was a private library deep within the Imagineers' offices, backstage at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World.

Finn and Willa, the girl to whom he held up his fingers, were not ordinary teenagers either: they were holograms. Projections of light—“flaming photons,” as one of their fellow Kingdom Keepers called them—an invention of Disney Imagineers and technicians with too much time on their hands. By day, their holograms served as guides in the four Walt Disney World parks—the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Disney's Hollywood Studios. By night, it was a different story.

The Kingdom Keepers were full of stories. What had started out as a middle school thrill—being models for Disney World hologram guides and the ensuing celebrity it caused—had matured into something more formidable. Finn and the four others, high schoolers now, found themselves as the last line of defense between the darker forces of Walt Disney's impressive imagination—the villains and witches and fairies now called the Overtakers—and the joy and magic of the Walt Disney World experience.

Willa's dark, confident eyes signaled her understanding. She pointed to herself and gestured to her right, down the library shelving that currently hid her and Finn from the others. Then she waved him forward and around; they would come at the three from either end of the stacks. Like Finn, she'd dressed in all black before she'd gone to sleep, when the crossover of kid to hologram happened. Like Finn, she'd awakened as her hologram wearing the same clothes in which she slept. She blended well with the shadows. One of the three women held a flashlight—the only real light in the room.

Finn nodded. It was incredibly dangerous for him and Willa to challenge these particular three Overtakers by themselves. The Kingdom Keepers were sworn enemies of the Overtakers—but the women before them were like generals, commanders. He and Willa wouldn't be taking on common soldiers. But Finn saw no choice: at the very least he and Willa had to know what the three were up to. They'd been searching the stacks for the past forty-five minutes. If the Overtakers were stealing something, the Kingdom Keepers would get back whatever it was, keeping the Overtakers from expanding their powers.

The three were scary enough as it was. Maleficent had in the past nearly killed Finn and the others with her ability to throw fire; the Evil Queen could conjure spells that crippled and transfigured her foes. Cruella was, well, an annoying nuisance.

Finn reached for a three-ring notebook on the metal shelf and indicated for Willa to do the same. He held the notebook with two hands in front of his chest like a shield. Willa nodded, understanding: defense. With one final nod, they separated.

Finn moved through the carpeted, museumlike space beneath a ceiling of dormant tube lights. A few hours each day the private library was opened to scholars and researchers. Within these walls were records of the early beginnings of Walt Disney World, the creative ideas behind some major Disney characters, and creative templates for films. The Disney Imagineering archives were among the most sought-after records in the Disney empire. The planning. The stages of development. The secrets. Some of the material had recently been digitized and made available on the D23 Web site. But not all. Not by a long shot.

The Overtakers' presence here, the breach of security, seemed unthinkable. The possible results of their gaining insider secrets and knowledge could be devastating, Finn thought: unallowable. Whatever they sought, it was to be used against the Kingdom. That was not going to happen.

He crept up to the island containing the index cards, screening himself. He counted silently, giving Willa time to get into place. The DHI—Disney Host Interactive—2.0 upgrade was still in beta. He worried that if he allowed fear to get the better of him, his DHI might erode, losing its pure state, resulting in some percentage of him becoming solid—material and therefore mortal. Vulnerable to curses and attacks. He could be wounded or even killed. So a big part of his staying safe relied upon his ability to keep fear from his thoughts—not easy when Maleficent or the Evil Queen directed her powers at him. He focused now, pushing away the fear as if leaning against a strong wind.

Time!

He came around the card case, the notebook ex-tended in front of him. Willa had just turned up the narrow aisle between the stacks. Two of the three witches spun to face her: Cruella and the Evil Queen. Maleficent—technically a fairy rather than a witch—started in that direction, but rocked her head over her shoulder to see Finn charging. It was always like that—a disturbing connection existed between the two. She'd sensed him.

Back went her hand, like a baseball pitcher, and a fireball erupted in her palm. Two years earlier, this would have filled Finn with terror—his fear degrading his Disney Host Interactive projection—exposing him to violence. But not this time. Not with 2.0.

He lifted the binder to cover his face and continued forward.

Behind Maleficent, the Evil Queen raised both hands as Willa charged.

Finn suddenly heard a deep growling, and though the fireball did not scare him all that much, he felt himself react primordially to the animal sounds. Fingers of flame burst around him, the ball disintegrating as it impacted the binder. Maleficent wound up for another pitch.

Willa's DHI passed through Cruella, who'd jumped into her path to block her. Willa dropped her shield and snatched a notebook from the Evil Queen. She almost made it past Maleficent, but the evil fairy caught hold of her solid hand holding the binder and yanked her off her feet. Willa let go of the library volume and it skidded across the floor.

Finn deflected another fireball, his skin prickling with the grisly sound of the—dogs? He wasn't sure what kind of animals they were, but they had fast feet and a disturbing growl.

“Finn!” It was Willa, already on her feet. She was looking beyond Finn as she ran toward him and grabbed for his arm, the flames of the broken fireball bursting around them.

She spun Finn around. Hyenas! From
The Lion
King
. Vicious, hungry-looking things. Drooling maniacally. Charging down an aisle between stacks, heads low to the floor, eyes wild and savage.

“Run!” she cried out. Finn needed no encouragement. There were times to stay and fight; this was not one of them.

Willa was a step or two ahead of him as they took off for the door. As a DHI he could, in theory, pass through a library stack or even a wall to put something solid between him and the hyenas, but he wasn't about to chance it. Wasn't about to end up a hyena snack.

Willa, however, reached the door and stepped through it like a ghost as a fireball cascaded over Finn's shoulder and exploded against the wall. The ricocheting flames passed through his hologram. He grinned, loving the new 2.0 upgrade, but he still did not fully trust it. Yanking the door open, he turned and looked back. Something weird was going on. The door was no longer a rectangle, but a square. The walls were covered in a glossy gray paint. There was heavy hardware on the door—hinges and levers. The hyenas raced through the door after him.

Finn continued running, sensing the hyenas at his heels. But if they were at his heels, then what had happened to Willa? He took in his surroundings: not a library. Instead he found himself on a clattery, grated metal catwalk surrounded on both sides by heavy machinery. Some kind of factory, he thought. He faced an oval door, elevated a good foot off the floor. He leaped through.

A hyena snapped at him, caught a piece of his pant leg, and tore his black jeans as if they were made of paper towels.

“Willa!” he cried out, spotting a steep metal staircase on the left. He stretched and grabbed hold of the handrail, nearly dislocating his shoulder in the process. The hyenas scratched at the metal flooring, but couldn't make the turn. They rolled and tumbled in a snarling mass as Finn got the jump on them, bounding up the staircase. He reached the first landing and turned.

The lead hyena had scrambled his way back to the stairs and began climbing.

Finn went faster, pulling himself up using the handrail. He looked through a window in a closed door and saw only a drab hallway. He continued up the stairs. Arriving at the next landing, he peered through the door's window.

This time he saw color and light. Marble. Rich carpeting. Like an expensive office or a fancy movie theater. He tugged open the heavy door and turned to heave it shut, but it was too late—a hyena thrust its head through the gap. He kept the pressure on: maybe he could choke the thing…but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He released the handle and took off toward a pair of big doors. These doors had bigger windows through which shone the flinty blue aura of moonlight on water.

Finn burst through the door into the night air, slipped, and crashed into a metal railing capped with polished wood. It was warm out. The fresh air smelled wonderful.

He heard the loud snap of a jaw. Finn lost his balance and fell, then struggled to his feet and sprinted off, the sound of claws on metal only inches behind him.

The Return. Similar in size and looks to a car's keychain remote, the small device served to end the DHI hologram projection and restore the kids to their sleeping bodies back home. But using the Return had to be coordinated. If he pressed the Return without Willa nearby, she would remain asleep in bed, her hologram locked on this side until a manual return could be arranged—precious time the Overtakers might take advantage of.

As if reading his thoughts Willa appeared, coming through a set of doors to his right and joining him stride for stride.

The hyenas were nearly upon them—jaws snapping inches behind.

“Get…us…out…of…here!” she cried.

The railing arced to the right up ahead. Beyond it, Finn saw only black sky and the twinkling of stars. We're on the roof of some building, he thought.

“We're going to jump!” he announced.

He reached out and took her hand with his right hand, the Return gripped firmly in his left.

“Please…no!” she shouted.

“Hang on to me. One…two…” They ran at full speed toward the rail. On “three!” they left their feet in a dive, flying through the air into nothingness.

As Finn crossed the rail, he pressed the button on the Return and released the device, leaving it behind on the roof.

Finn held to Willa's outstretched hand, not letting go.