Back on the sidewalk now, in full DHI shadow, Willa picked up the pace, walking faster. She approached a family coming at her and moved into the grass to avoid them.
One of the two young kids, a girl no older than eight, let out a yip.
“Ghosts, Mommy! Ghosts! I heard a ghost!”
“Oh, shush, Ginny,” the woman said. To her husband she complained, “I told you that ride would scare them!”
He mumbled something as they continued on.
A chill passed through her. How many times as a child had she felt a ghost in the room? How many times, when taking the trash out at night, had she felt someone watching through the dark? For how long had DHIs been around? she wondered.
Her hologram began reappearing as she neared the BoardWalk. Her image sparkled and sputtered. Some kids pointed at her, making fun of her pajamas. A couple of girls recognized her as a Disney Host Interactive from the Magic Kingdom. They approached her for her autograph. Willa explained DHIs couldn’t sign autographs, and allowed the girls to wave their arms through her.
Free of fear and still in her DHI state, she strayed off course a few minutes later and walked through a fence, joining a roadway behind the Eiffel Tower.
It was only a matter of reaching the fob now. Dusk had settled. It would soon be dark. She was perhaps a quarter mile from the fountain plaza. From the Return. From home.
She set off in that direction in determined strides.
WITH ONLY AN HOUR TO GO before the Magic Kingdom closed for the night, Finn, Philby, and Maybeck used the employee passes to enter, which didn’t register on the computer system and allowed them to avoid the front gates. Operations Management prohibited them from entering any of the Parks as themselves without prior approval, and now they risked being spotted. For camouflage, all three wore as close to the same clothes as their projected DHIs wore. This way, they’d be mistaken as their own Disney Hosts. But they weren’t perfectly identical costumes: Maybeck had, for some reason, chosen a pair of dark socks; Finn no longer owned the running shoes he’d worn when modeling for his DHI so he was wearing the black ones he’d colored with a Sharpie.
They walked slowly, side by side, behind the buildings on Main Street in the direction of Cinderella Castle. They appeared relaxed and self-confident, never a problem for Maybeck.
As they happened past other Cast Members they heard comments trailing behind them like, “Can you believe how real those things look?” The three fought to keep smiles off their faces.
The Magic Kingdom had been built atop a series of interconnecting tunnels called the Utilidor. Through these tunnels passed Cast Members and electric golf carts that served as small trucks. Control of the Park’s technology was handled from offices in the Utilidor, which included a massive computer server room, the brains of the Park. This was the Keepers’ destination.
Multiple backstage Cast-Member-only entrances to the Utilidor existed throughout the Park. As the three approached the entrance just behind the Main Street ice cream parlor, Maybeck blocked Finn and Philby, pushing them back against the wall.
“Pirates!”
Finn and Philby spotted them: a pair of pirates casually talking in front of a double doorway up ahead.
“That’s the door to the Utilidor,” Professor Philby said.
“Overtakers?” Finn said.
“Must be,” Maybeck agreed. “They’re guarding the entrance, just in case we come along to spoil all their fun.”
“We could try the entrance by Splash Mountain,” Finn suggested.
“We’d have to cross the entire Park to get there,” Philby said. “And if these guys are guarding this one, others are probably guarding that one, too.”
“We need another way in,” Maybeck said.
“How do you guys feel about getting filthy dirty?” Finn asked.
He led them through the crowded parking lot, staying as far away from the pirates as possible. As they neared a full-length mirror at the Cast Member entrance into the Park, a foul smell overpowered them. A message on the mirror read Make it a magical day for our guests!
* * *
“What the…?” Maybeck said. “Stink…eee!”
“Shh! Keep your voice down,” said Finn. But the constant roar to their right covered their voices. He led them toward that noise: an area just before Cast Members entered the Park, tucked behind a plywood screen with empty cardboard boxes piled in a corner and a large pipe, three feet in diameter, sticking out of the concrete.
“Brilliant!” said Philby as he realized where they were.
Maybeck focused on the pipe. It had a weighted lid and was surrounded by warning signs. “No way,” he said. “You are not getting me down there.”