Kingdom Keepers(63)

Philby believed the party also provided Maleficent a rare opportunity to use all the costuming to hide herself. A witch would go unnoticed on a night like this. She could meet with the other Overtakers without raising an eyebrow, and could move about the park freely. If she was plotting a way to take over the park, this, of all nights, seemed the perfect time for her to spring her plan.

The kids—kids, not DHIs—had a plan in place to keep both Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion under close watch. They chose the Haunted Mansion because ghosts and goblins would serve a witch well, and if Maleficent planned to take over the park, now or in the future, she would need an army of Overtakers supporting her.

Finn’s mother dropped him off in the school parking lot. He suffered through the usual lecture from her about good and proper behavior. Snore. Over three hundred of his fellow schoolmates, including Dillard, rode school bus shuttles to the Magic Kingdom. These same buses were to take them all back to the school at eleven o’clock, when the party ended and the park closed. Parents would pick up their kids in the school’s lot.

Once inside, the plan was for the kids to meet at the statue of Roy O. Disney outside the fire station in Town Square. From there they would “divide and conquer,” as Maybeck put it.

Having struggled with costume ideas, Finn came dressed in black jeans, a black T-shirt, and a new cape. He wore a black mask over just his eyes. He thought of himself as Zorro, when in truth, he was dressed for any adventures they might encounter.

At eight o’clock thousands of kids and their families poured into the park wearing elaborate costumes that added to the heightened sense of fun. In any other year, Finn would have headed straight to a ride to get in line, ready to scream and be frightened. Despite its name, Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party offered plenty of frights to its guests.

Music was pumped into the park, not the typical Disney songs—most of which Finn could hum from memory—but instead, monster tunes and ghost songs, punctuated by fits of ghoulish laughter. The park came alive with the sounds.

Arriving as planned, a few minutes past opening, Finn found it difficult to pick out his new friends. This was partly because there were so many people flooding into the park, and partly because of the costumes.

“There you are!” Dillard Cole said. He’d elected to come as a crab, wearing a large round shell made of brown paper, his hands in oven mitts for claws, and several sets of springy legs protruding from the shell.

“You look like a giant tick,” Finn said. “Crabs aren’t brown.”

“Grocery bags. It was the only paper we could find.”

From up close, Finn saw that Dillard’s costume was indeed made from dozens of grocery bags cut open and taped together.

“You seen anyone from school?” Finn asked.

“Nah. You?”

“Nah.”

“I hate Halloween,” Dillard said.

“Then why did you come?”

The crab shrugged, all its legs bouncing at once. “The candy. Where you been, anyway? Seems like we never hang out anymore.”

It was true: Finn’s life had changed since the crossing-over had begun. He’d quickly made new friends with the DHIs. Their quest was all he thought of anymore; even his homework was suffering.

“You know what’s going on,” he said. “Or at least some of it.”

“Your super powers,” Dillard teased.

“Yeah. Like that.” Finn hadn’t told Dillard half the stuff he’d been through in the past few weeks. He led a secret life now.

Until this moment he hadn’t realized just how secret. Worse: until he and the others fixed things, until the growing power of the Overtakers was challenged and stopped, his life wasn’t going to get much better. Staying awake all night. Feeling tired all day. Battling his parents. Telling his mom the truth, which she, of course, found unbelievable.

“What ride do you want to go on first?” Dillard asked. “Earth to Finn! Hello?”

Finn couldn’t hear because he’d spotted a witch heading for them. Among all the other costumes, this one in particular stood out. Not just for the costume, but for the girl who wore it.

As Dillard turned to follow Finn’s gaze, his crab body and legs hit kids behind him, drawing jeers of complaint and clearing a space around him.

“Check out Cruella De Vil,” Dillard said, following Finn’s gaze. “Hey, isn’t that—”

“Her name is Jez.”

“From the car wash.”

“Right.”

Jez wore a skintight black-and-white leotard with black-and-white tights. Her hair was half black, half white. She carried a masquerade mask on a stick and wore white gloves that ran all the way up to her elbows. The small mask was black, like Finn’s Zorro mask. She had a black beauty mark drawn onto her cheek to the left of her lips, which were exaggerated by bright red lipstick. She looked like a college girl. Her cape swished dramatically as she walked. It wasn’t made of cheap costume material, but something much nicer. She drew looks from a good number of boys as she passed.