“We have a favor to ask,” Finn said.
“We?”
He lowered his voice. “The Keepers.”
“Which is?”
“We’re not allowed to go into any of the parks without permission.”
“I know that.”
“We’ve looked all over MK for our friend, but we got nothing. The abandoned truck was found near Epcot, so we want to check out Epcot next. Most of the others are afraid to go without getting permission, and they don’t want to ask their parents for permission, because they already know the answer. I’m willing to go, but apparently I’m alone.”
“You? You’re like only the most famous of all of the hosts.”
“Am not.”
“Are too. You’d be recognized in a nanosecond.”
“It’s too big a job for one person.”
“Count us in,” she said.
“I haven’t even asked yet.”
“How dumb do you think I am?” she said. “You want to ask me and Jess to do it for you, but you’re worried about Jess because of what happened last time, and yet you’re worried about our friend even more, and so you don’t know exactly how to ask without seeming selfish, when in fact it’s not selfish of you at all, because it’s all about our friend, not about you.” She pushed her plate to the side. “Are we done here?”
“Jeez,” he said.
“And the answer is yes. And the second answer is no: you can’t come along. You’re a liability—look it up if you don’t know what it means.”
“I know what it means.”
“But how are we supposed to find him?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Philby has this theory that if we get close to him—”
“The temperature will drop,” she said. “Yeah, I heard that one. Like it did last time. Because of her.”
“Her and him,” he said. Maleficent and Chernabog, he was thinking. “They both need the cold. Yes. But who knows? Either that, or the Overtakers will react to our snooping around.”
“I thought you said the Overtakers chased you in the park last night.”
“They did.”
“So why doesn’t that count?”
“I can’t tell you that we’re right about any of this,” he said. “But there was no sign of her. No cold. Nothing felt right. It felt much more like we’d stepped into a snake hole than a beehive.”
“You’re really weird. You know?”
He didn’t comment.
“Good weird,” she said. “But weird.” She picked up her tray and stood from the table. “Check your e-mail,” she said. Neither she nor Jess had cell phones like the rest of them. “I’ll let you know what we find out, if anything.”
Good weird, Finn was replaying in his head. He hardly heard the rest of it.
And there was Greg Luowski staring him down from across the cafeteria. Big, tough Greg.
Once again Finn debated the unthinkable. This time Amanda wasn’t there to warn him off.
* * *
Finn was able to check his e-mail during last period study hall.
wer goin 2day aftr skool. c u 2nite
Knowing their plans made things easier for Finn. He grabbed a baseball cap from his locker and donned a pair of shades on his way out of school. He biked to a bus stop, locked up, and rode the twenty minutes out to the Disney Transportation Center, where he hopped a bus to Epcot. He couldn’t use his Magical Memories Pass to enter the park (a rare VIP pass issued to his family because of his status as a DHI) because it would alert the computer system that he’d entered the park, and he was forbidden from doing so without applying for permission beforehand. But Wayne had given Finn and the other Kingdom Keepers fake employee passes during their search for Jess in Animal Kingdom, and he’d used the pass twice since, and it still worked.
Finn used it now, entering Epcot through a special turnstile for employees and guests and then hiding himself among Leave a Legacy’s rows of stone monoliths, which were covered with one-inch-high metal plates bearing photographs of faces of former park guests. Leave a Legacy had always given Finn the creeps—instead of feeling futuristic, it felt more like the cemetery where the ashes of Finn’s grandparents had been buried.
He knew that Amanda had P.E. last period on Tuesdays, which meant she would shower and change afterward. He felt confident he had a head start on her and Jess. So he waited it out, pacing among the marble markers and keeping a sharp eye on the gate entrance to the park. Five minutes passed. Ten minutes. It was dizzying trying to study the faces of the hundreds of people who entered Epcot each minute. He didn’t spot either of the girls, but he did jump back as he recognized the face of an adult.