Kingdom Keepers III(130)

“He’s still alive!” Finn said, and a cheer went up among them.





47


“IT’S THE SAME SMELL as the match,” Willa said, placing her face into Wayne’s sweatshirt again. “It’s sulphur or something.”

“Let me try,” Philby said, sitting in front of the keyboard. He placed the sweatshirt in both hands and sank his face into it. He drank in a huge snort.

“Cordite,” he said, pulling his face out. “Black powder. Fireworks.”

“Fireworks,” Finn echoed.

“IllumiNations,” Willa said.

They all faced her.

“When I fell onto that barge from the bridge, it went all the way across the lake, under the drawbridge by China and around backstage to where they store that stuff until the next show, I guess. There are a bunch of the barges back there. Guards and all sorts of security. They were complaining about the Earth Globe. It was malfunctioning—‘flashing’—they said.”

“Wayne,” Philby said.

“We don’t know that!” Maybeck objected.

“Flashing? Are you kidding me?” Philby said.

“Flashing as in Morse code? Flashing as in SOS or ‘somebody save me’? Flashing as in: somebody come try to fix this thing and find me hidden on the barge where my sweatshirt got all smelly from the fireworks?”

“Do you think?” Jess said.

“No,” Philby said. “I know.”

“He wanted his sweatshirt found,” Finn said.

“As a clue,” Willa added.

“Well, I’m tired,” Maybeck said. “If we’re going to do this, let’s do it before we’re all discovered in the Syndrome and put through what Philby’s going through.”

“But if Willa’s right,” Finn said, “then there are guards. That works for the Overtakers—no one’s getting in there who doesn’t belong. But it’s not so good for us.”

“One if by land, two if by sea,” Philby said.

Maybeck groaned. “We’ve got to get him crossed back over before he hurts himself.”

Philby said, “They’re guarding the docks. The explosives. But Willa, you got out of there.”

“I swam,” she said.

“She swam,” Philby said. “Two if by sea.”

“She swam,” Finn said.

* * *

The sun had just cleared the horizon as Finn, Amanda, and Charlene—the three best swimmers of the group—lowered themselves into the chilly water north of China.

They stayed near the edge of the canal and swam slowly and silently through the dark water until facing a view of the dock area where all the barges were tied. Near the back of the group, on the right, loomed the Earth Globe.

The dock appeared empty. Finn assumed it was a trick. He motioned for them to stop swimming and the three grabbed hold of rocks on the wall of the canal and waited.

And waited.

Charlene began shaking from the cold water. Her lips were blue.

“Are you going to make it?” Finn whispered.

“I hope they hurry,” she answered.

As if on cue, the dark shape of a guard appeared onto the dock. He’d come from the Earth Globe, something that Finn took as a good sign.

“Now?” Amanda asked.

“A little more,” he answered.

“Who goes there?” shouted the guard.

His calling out prompted the door of a Quonset hut to open. Pete appeared—the pyrotechnics chief Finn had first seen when he was smuggling himself into Epcot. Pete appeared to speak to the guard, who then pointed off toward a grouping of several storage containers.

Pete motioned the guard forward and he headed slowly in the direction of the containers.

“Okay,” Finn said. “Here we go.”

The commotion behind the containers was Maybeck.

Willa appeared on a Segway from the guard’s left. She came at him fast, and turned at the last moment, keeping out of reach. The guard shouted at her as well.

Finn, Amanda, and Charlene swam the sidestroke, the quietest of all the strokes, drawing closer to the flotilla of pyrotechnics barges. Maybeck and Willa took off, the guard chasing after them.

As the three reached the water side of the Earth Globe barge, the Quonset hut door opened and three more guards appeared. Pete directed one to pursue the kids. The two others separated and began a thorough search of the area.

Finn pulled himself up the side of the barge slowly, making as little noise as possible. He lay flat on his stomach. Amanda arrived next, and Charlene last.

At the base of the huge globe, which glowed in a color map of the world at night, was a metal box about the size of a desk standing on its side.

About the size of a person, Finn thought. There were cables running into the box. It looked to be some kind of control room, encased and enclosed to keep whoever was in there safe while fireworks rained down all around it.