“Finn says that’s a good thing,” Willa said. “But I think he only says that. I don’t think he actually means it. I think what he actually means is you can’t help but being scared so you’ve just got to learn to live with it.”
“So you’re scared too?”
“Definitely. As cool as it is to go on these rides when the parks are closed, more often than not something bad happens. I can’t help but be…apprehensive, I guess you’d say.”
“You say apprehensive. I say scared.”
“That’ll work,” Willa said, smiling faintly, her DHI sparking in the dark.
Creepy was more like it. She and Jess entered the Soarin’ pavilion and went up the waiting-line ramp between huge aerial photographs that gave Willa the chilling sensation she was being watched. As they pushed through the door and into the vast chamber that fronted a curved, white projection screen sixty feet high an automated voice spoke into the cavernous theater: “If you have loose fitting shoes, such as slip-ons or sandals, please remove them once you take your seat and leave them on the floor in front of you. If you have any carry-ons that are too large or fragile to fit inside the under-seat compartments, please leave them on the floor in front of you as well and our flight attendants will be happy to store them for you. Thank you and have a nice flight.”
“The ride is about to start!” whispered Willa.
“We’re one minute to go,” said a woman from near the front of the building.
Jess pulled on Willa, wanting to leave immediately.
Willa shook her head, held her finger to her lips, and pointed to the back bench of seats. As far as she was concerned if there was someone in here doing something, then maybe that was what Wayne wanted them to discover. It seemed incredibly late at night to be running tests, although she had no idea when regular maintenance was done on the rides, and she supposed nighttime was the only free time the engineers had. If she and Jess could get into third-row seats, once the mechanism lifted, they would be well back into the dark room. If they held their legs up, and kept them from dangling, they would be basically impossible to spot.
She pulled Jess with her. They took middle seats—more hidden than the end seats—and pulled their legs up into their chests, wrapping their arms around their shins.
“We’re go in thirty!” called out the woman.
“Rachel, let’s watch the sync on the aroma trigger.” It was a man’s voice from off to their left.
Willa caught a glimpse of stairs rising from the left of the hall, something she’d never seen before.
At once the room grew even darker. Loud music started. Willa felt a flutter in her chest. She loved this ride—her favorite in all of Disney World—but something told her this wouldn’t be any ordinary flight. If they were testing the equipment, did that mean there was a problem?
Jess reached over and laid her hand on Willa’s right arm and squeezed. Willa, in the glow from the screen, indicated that Jess should grip her legs with her arms: they had to keep from being seen at all costs.
As the mechanism began to lift and rotate, Willa caught a man’s silhouette passing in front of the screen heading in the direction of Rachel, whom she now could see was standing at a console at the screen’s lower right corner.
The man caught up to Rachel and the two shouted at each other over the roar of the music.
Willa looked up: New York City, not California as she had expected. She and Jess were flying over the skyscrapers and diving down into the avenues. They banked steeply left, then sharply right, and the air smelled of bagels as they reached a bridge. A seagull squawked and Willa had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep her squeal from being heard.
They were changing the location of the flight. Rachel and the man were troubleshooting the timing and the effects. Suddenly the air smelled of hot dogs and mustard. Far in the distance Willa could see a long beach crowded with families in swimsuits. The water was frothing white from thousands more out swimming.
The girls pitched down, diving toward the beach.
“No! No! No!” shouted the man.
The music stopped, the screen went dark. Then a few emergency or work lights came on. Willa and Jess were well hidden, but they were hanging facing down, in the dive position. If Rachel or the man happened to look up, Willa knew she and Jess would be spotted. Making things more difficult, it felt as if she was going to fall out of the seat.
“We need the smell of hot dogs on the Coney Island flyover,” the man said. He called on a walkie-talkie. “Mr. Devlin? We need to move aroma effect number two twenty-one-point-five seconds forward. Something’s wrong with the time code.”