Kingdom Keepers III(107)

“Huh?” Maybeck grunted.

“The Overtakers are targeting rides with seat belts. Maintenance problems on Soarin’. Finn would have been killed by being stuck in that Test Track car if he hadn’t been able to go all-clear.”

“Seat belts,” Maybeck said, with obvious cynicism.

“I think their plan is to hold hundreds of guests hostage by locking them into seat belts that won’t come undone. Trapping them on rides. Making the rides do dangerous things they aren’t supposed to—just like what happened to all of us. Maybe they plan to make demands. Maybe they just plan to hurt everyone. But if we don’t stop them at Fantasmic!—if we don’t change things—bad stuff is going to happen. The seat belts are going to fail—that’s the message. That’s what Wayne found out.”

Finn, aching over the loss of Wayne, suddenly found his legs. He didn’t just catch up with his friends, he ran past them. It wasn’t only Philby’s discovery that put a fire under him, or the near miss at saving Wayne, but something much bigger.

The sky was beginning to soften in the east.

Morning was fast approaching.





38


THE MEETING AT THE rendezvous had gone quickly. Everyone was overtired, irritable, and anxious. Finn had found himself sitting on a couch in the Nemo lounge next to Amanda and, as the discussion had dragged on, she’d reached down and found his hand and given it a squeeze. It was a small gesture of confidence, but to Finn he imagined this was what drinking a double-shot espresso latte must be like. His fatigue vaporized; his heart raced out of control.

With his racing heart came racing thoughts. Amanda had opened some creative gate in his brain and a dozen ideas came spilling out, most of them finding their way to his tongue. For a moment he babbled at the others, having little idea what he was actually saying. Then a memory popped into his head and he realized that this was where his mind had been leading him for the past several minutes.

“Five AM,” he blurted out, interrupting Philby who was, for the third time, attempting to explain why he believed the Overtakers planned to take park guests as hostages. But Finn had won the attention of everyone in the room, and went quickly about explaining himself.

“When I got stuck at the Studios I kind of hitched a ride with some Imagineers—at least I think they were Imagineers. One of the guys was the pyrotechnics crew chief, a guy named Pete. He was talking to the driver and mentioned that all this week they were doing run throughs of Fantasmic! at five AM. He was bummed because he had to get up so early to be there.”

“That would make sense,” said Philby, ever the philosopher. “It would have to be dark to conduct a tech rehearsal of Fantasmic! with all the projectors and fireworks and lighting. They wouldn’t need all the Cast Members, but maybe there’d be some. And they certainly couldn’t have anyone in the audience in case something went wrong with whatever they’re testing.”

“It’s our chance,” Finn said. “No audience. Maleficent and Chernabog using it to hide. They act out the parts and the rest of the day no one bothers them.”

“We attack them there,” Maybeck said.

“On their turf,” Philby said. “I don’t love that.”

“It’s where it’s supposed to happen,” Finn said, resigned to the idea. “Wayne told us as much. The sorcerer’s hat. The symbol I found scratched into the chair. He wants us to challenge them at Fantasmic!”

“He wants us to defeat them,” Philby said, correcting him. “You to defeat them.”

“Us,” Finn said. “Even if I’m the one carrying the sword, it’s going to take all of us.”

“And how exactly are any of us supposed to get there?” Maybeck asked.

“He’s right,” Philby said. “The monorail and buses don’t start running until two hours before opening. That’s seven in the morning.”

“Yeah,” Finn said, “but Pete has to be there. And so does his buddy, the driver.” He checked his watch: 4:24 AM. “We can still make it.”

* * *

Locating a pickup truck with a bobblehead Mickey Mouse on the dash in such short order required them to split up. They kept their direct-connect phones at the ready as they snuck backstage. The “backstage” side of Epcot, as at the other parks, looked entirely different from the side the public saw: flat-roofed, steel-framed buildings housed the rides and attractions, the food storage, the costume and prop storage, the maintenance and administration facilities. There were large parking areas and a network of roads connecting it all. The kids fanned out to search for the pickup truck.