Kingdom Keepers III(22)

Since Philby had been working with Wayne when Wayne had been captured, he blamed himself for it. He’d dragged around for the first couple of weeks after the event, only snapping out of it when Finn had suggested they start trying to find him by crossing over into the Magic Kingdom.

Philby had supported Finn’s call for the sisters to become DHIs because it promised to keep him busy. He acted impatient, picking at the grass behind Maybeck, sitting with the low metal fence between them. He was the first to spot Charlene and Willa. “All here,” he announced.

“How are we going to do this?” Maybeck asked.

The others gathered around, all five kids standing in front of the statue.

“You mean leave the park?” Willa asked.

“We’ve never done that before,” Maybeck reminded her. “Not as DHIs. We don’t even know if it’ll work.”

“There are DHI projectors in Hollywood Studios now,” Philby said. “They project us there as guides. It makes sense that we should be able to see ourselves, see each other, once we’re there. When we’re away from the projectors, I don’t know, it’s like when we’re inside the teepee, I think. We’re there, but we’re in shadow so we can’t be seen.”

“We’re invisible,” Maybeck said. “How cool is that?”

“Totally,” Philby said, agreeing. “But being invisible is not going all-clear the way Finn can. We’re still physically there…here…whatever. That’s why we can pick up sand and throw it. And if we can touch stuff, then stuff can touch us…”

“As in the Overtakers,” said Charlene.

“That’s my point,” Philby continued. “We’re still at risk. And we’ll be in Epcot, whether in projection shadow or not. Who knows if the Return—the remote button—is going to work anywhere but here? This is where Wayne brought us. This is where we were when he sent us back. Maybe the fob will work inside Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom or Epcot, but who knows until we try? We’ll bring it with us and try to Return from the Studios. And if we get separated, if we can’t all get back here to cross back over together…”

“Then whoever was stuck here would be stranded,” Willa said. “The Syndrome.”

The DHIs glowed slightly. More static sparked off Philby. It went away as he set the paper down. Finn set down the history book and his static stopped as well. Finn tucked Philby’s sheet into the book and showed the others that he was leaving the remote there as well. He hid them beneath a bush within reach of the path. He double-checked that everyone knew the location.

“Let’s face it,” Finn said, “there’s a lot more that we don’t understand than what we do. This stuff…we’re not going to figure out any of this stuff until we try.” He looked around at the others. “The buses and the monorail run until midnight. We can get from here to the Transportation Center, and from there to Hollywood Studios.”

“We need to get back as well,” Charlene reminded. “So we’ve got to be back here by midnight.”

“I would suggest we don’t touch anyone. We don’t bump into anyone. We don’t speak,” said Philby. “Chances are we won’t be able to tell who’s where or what’s going on once we’re outside the range of the projectors. So if we get split up by accident, we meet by the Kodak shop just inside the Hollywood gates. No one leaves there until we’re all there together.”

“Agreed,” said Finn.

The others nodded.

“I’m a little scared,” Willa said. “I’m not so sure I like this.”

“We’re all a little scared,” Finn said.

“Speak for yourself,” said Maybeck.





10


AMANDA SAT UP IN HER BUNK, Mrs. Nash’s voice ringing in her ears.

“Did you just hear that?” she asked Jess.

“Yeah,” Jess said, swinging her legs off her lower bunk. Her voice signaled her mutual surprise. Mrs. Nash never called for them. She scolded them. She bossed them around. But she never barked their names up the stairs—shouting at Nash House was strictly forbidden and universally punished.

Jess slid off her bunk. Both girls hit the floor at the same time. Jeannie, who had been given DS privileges, looked up from the device.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“Who knows?” Amanda said, unable to keep the terror out of her voice. She didn’t know how to respond to Mrs. Nash calling them this way. The girls looked at each other; Jess shrugged; they both finger combed their hair (Mrs. Nash was a stickler about appearances) and hurried out of the room.