Kingdom Keepers(8)

Finn hurried past several displays, deeper into the store. He passed shelves of princess costumes. A rack of hats and caps. A poster hung from the ceiling by a string, announcing the Virtual Magic Kingdom. He stopped and used a mirror to watch the store windows behind him. There he saw a uniformed band musician enter the store.

Coincidence? The band musician glanced to his right. Finn followed that line of sight—to another band member. They exchanged a look, and then they turned and scanned the store.

Finn felt sick with fear. He’d blown it, entering the park without the proper authorization. His family would probably lose their comp tickets. He supposed his DHI might even be terminated. They were coming for him: quickly, and with great determination. Finn worked not to be seen. He found himself cornered in the hat section.

“Hey,” said a little boy, looking up at Finn with awe and wonder. “Are you him?”

“Go away!” Finn told the kid, not wanting to be bothered.

“But it’s you, right?” the little boy asked. He stepped closer, sucked in a chest full of air, closed his eyes, and marched right into Finn. Finn stumbled back as the boy fell over.

“Wow!” the boy said, recovering and coming to his feet. “You’re real!”

The little boy’s attempt gave Finn an idea.

The Emporium sold clothing. Finn spotted a rack of DHI merchandise, including the outfit that his own host character wore.

He snagged a pair of loud purple shorts and a green surfing shirt and pulled them over his own shirt and shorts. He didn’t like leaving his Devil Rays cap behind, but saw little choice.

He placed his sunglasses into the empty pocket of his own shorts.

Two of the band members saw him and turned. Finn squeezed between them and ran.

Several kids spotted him at once. Shouting for autographs, they followed after him. Parents played catch-up, hollering after their kids, “Stop!” and “Get back here!”

Finn led the children out onto the sidewalk and into Main Street. An alarm sounded loudly as Finn left the store in clothing that hadn’t been paid for. Anxious parents clogged the door, blocking the security guys.

“Hey!” one of the kids shouted above all the others. “Check it out! Two of them!”

Finn glanced over, only to realize he was standing twenty feet from his own DHI. His host self was surrounded by a pair of families and was answering questions.

The two band musicians stumbled out onto the street. They looked back and forth from one Finn to the other. Which was which?

The real Finn pointed to the castle. He recited the memorized tour information recorded during the filming at Disney-MGM Studios. The DHI Finn, the hologram, not far away, mimicked the same moves and recited the same words from the same script.

Unable to determine which Finn to pursue, the band members froze. The real Finn then moved his small group of followers up the street at the exact same pace as his DHI. The two were perfect duplicates of each other.

Then, with enough distance between himself and his pursuers, Finn slipped down a side path. He quickly shed the DHI-Finn T-shirt and dumped it into the trash. He hopped out of the ugly shorts, slipped his sunglasses back on, and made off at a run, headed for the Haunted Mansion.

Ten minutes later, Finn spotted Amanda waiting on a bench near the Haunted Mansion’s exit, as planned. A neat apron of lawn surrounded the towering brick Victorian-style structure. The paved area in front of the entrance was divided with chains and stanchions into three lanes, including one for the holders of the Fastpass. Parked against the mansion’s front wall, equidistant between the entrance and exit, stood a gleaming all-black horse-drawn hearse—even the windows were black. The harness hung in midair; the horse was invisible.

Finn waited briefly before approaching Amanda, taking time to determine if either of them had been followed.

“Hey, there you are,” Amanda said.

“I was spotted. I got away, but just barely.”

“Will they bust you?”

“Not sure they can without catching me first, without proving it’s me.”

She glanced around. “So what now? How do we get you out of the park without your being caught?”

Finn hadn’t thought through this possibility when forming their original plan. “I suppose they might watch the exit.”

“You think? Get a life! Of course they will.”

“There’s a guy…an old guy. I think he might help, if I can find him.” Finn spotted a pair of clean-cut young men approaching the Fastpass entrance, not thirty feet away, just on the other side of the hearse. He and Amanda moved a few feet to be screened from view.

Finn said, “Okay. Look over my shoulder. See those two tall guys in line? They’ve got wires in their ears, and I’ll bet they’re looking for me. And guess what? We’re trapped.”