Kingdom Keepers III(28)

“Nope, don’t see it.”

“The first time…the very first time, you ended up on a bench next to Goofy. My dad was there. He drove you around in a golf cart.”

Finn felt as if somehow all the oxygen had been sucked from the air. He thought he might faint.

“I can help you, Finn. You can help me, find him. Please.” She reached into her purse. “I showed this to Jessica earlier tonight. We agreed that you and Philby should see it.”

“I don’t believe you,” he said, but it was a lie. He did believe her—he just didn’t want to.

Her hand came out of the purse and opened.

Resting in her palm was a small white paper box.





12


WANDA ALCOTT PRODUCED a sizable set of keys from her purse and unlocked the door to the soundstage.

If she was Wayne’s daughter, it wasn’t immediately noticeable. She had auburn hair, a pleasant face, and vivid green eyes. She was wearing loose brown pants, a scoop-neck top, and a black sweater. Her earrings were silver cursive letter Ds, the first letter of the trademark Disney logo. Finn had never seen a pair like them. Though her physical presence was anything but that of an eighty-year-old man, she had the same self-assurance as her father. This, among other things, convinced Finn she might be telling the truth about being Wayne’s daughter.

It was the keys that actually sold him: who else but a friend or relative of Wayne’s could possess a ring of so many keys, one of which opened the door to Soundstage B?

And even though his brain processed these qualities about her, making every effort to convince him of her legitimacy, he wasn’t about to go through the door. He advised the other Kingdom Keepers to stay put.

“One of us will go first,” he said. “We don’t all go at once.”

“But this is why we came here,” Philby protested. “Besides, it’s far safer inside. Security could come along at any time.”

“Speaking of time,” Willa added, “we’ve lost a bunch. The Transportation Center shuts down in just over an hour. Whatever we’re supposed to be doing here, we’d better get to it.”

“It could be a trap,” Finn reminded her.

“She does look like him,” said Maybeck, the artist. “Her chin and eyes are the same.”

Wanda’s face warmed. “I’ll tell you what,” she said, working the door’s key off the ring and then returning the ring to her purse. “Finn, if you’ll give the paper box to Philby, my work is done here.” She offered him the key to the soundstage. “Jessica isn’t the only one who has vivid dreams. My father has had some powerful and unusual dreams for decades. Dreams that lead him to unusual discoveries. He constructed this box the day before he went missing. He drew the images. He’d told me about Jessica’s ability to see the future on the same day he gave me the box. Because of this, I know it means something. I showed it to her earlier this evening, and she said to show it to Philby. If I’ve accomplished that, then you can have the key and I can go if you like.”

“No,” said Charlene. “I think you should stay.”

“I agree,” said Willa.

Finn groaned.

“What if it was your father?” said Willa. “If we can help her then we should.”

“We’re already trying to help,” Finn pointed out. “That’s why we’re here.”

“Wayne is counting on you, on all of you—” Wanda said. “On all of us to save the parks. His concern is always for the parks first, and his own safety second. The Overtakers want the parks to themselves. He has taken so many risks over the years.”

“We need to get inside,” Philby said anxiously. “It’s not safe out here. There are no security cameras inside. What they shoot inside is classified, like the DHI work. It would be a lot safer.”

“He’s right,” Wanda Alcott said. “Security doesn’t have keys to Soundstage B, the work done here being classified. Once inside, you’ll be safe.”

Finn tensed. He and the other DHIs were the product of the “classified” work she referred to.

“Give me five minutes,” he said. “If I don’t come back out, take off.”

“I’m coming with you,” said Maybeck.

When Maybeck made up his mind, there was no use arguing.

“Okay,” Finn said. “Let’s go.”

Finn opened the door and the two went inside. There was a second door, meant to block light and sound when cameras were rolling. Maybeck pushed this second door shut behind them and together they entered the windowless, cavernous building. Maybeck found some light switches. It was an area the size of a big airplane hangar. The ceiling had to be fifty feet high. Hundreds of theatrical lights hung suspended from a steel superstructure. A massive green screen lined the entire length of one wall. In front of that green screen was where Finn and the others, wearing motion sensors, had elaborately acted out all kinds of movements in order for the computers to program the holograms. Seeing the space took him back to the auditions and the weeks of work here that had led up to his becoming a Disney Host Interactive. He’d never known then—none of them had—that Wayne had been secretly planning to cross them over and solicit their help in defeating the Overtakers. It seemed like he was a different Finn now than the kid who had first auditioned here.