Her eyes popped open again.
Finn scouted the area for signs of OTs. He felt vulnerable with her apparent inability to move.
“Can you sit up?” he asked, moving over to her and helping to raise her back.
He spotted motion in some shrubs by the ramp up to the castle.
“Don’t move,” he whispered in Amanda’s ear.
He froze. A dog came out of the shrubs. A big dog.
“It’s…Pluto,” he told Amanda. Pluto was no villain. If he’d come to help, it had to be Wanda’s or Wayne’s doing.
Amanda still hadn’t fully come around. Her eyes moved more freely, but she wasn’t speaking.
“Here, boy,” Finn hissed, holding out his hand. Pluto was big, and stronger-looking than Finn would have expected. The dog faced him, sniffing the air. He wagged his tail and sat down.
“We are here to help,” Finn said.
Pluto turned toward the bushes, wagging his tail violently.
“What is it, boy?”
Pluto barked. Just once. But loudly, causing Finn to again jump back. Pluto was trying to warn him of something or someone in the bushes.
“Amanda?” he said softly, without taking his eyes off the bushes.
“I’m here.”
He turned to look. She looked tired, but she was working on smiling.
“I feel a little zoned.”
“I can explain it all at some point. But for now: can you move? We should get away from here.”
Pluto darted over to the bushes, his tail still wagging. Finn tentatively followed, crossing the street and edging closer to the bushes. Pluto’s tail was going like a windshield wiper.
Finn sneaked up and parted the bushes. He couldn’t believe his eyes. “Minnie?” he said in a whisper.
She gave him a sweet, humble look, lowering her head while looking out the tops of her big eyes.
“I’m Finn,” he said. “Over there, that’s Amanda.”
Minnie nodded.
Finn looked around the area. “Mickey?” he asked her.
She lifted her arms and shrugged. She looked crestfallen.
“He’s not here,” Finn said, making it a statement.
She shook her head.
“Not here with you?” he said, thinking aloud, “Or not here in the Magic Kingdom?”
She shrugged for a second time.
“I…” He couldn’t think what to say. He was awestruck. Mickey and Minnie were rock stars. He recalled what Wanda had told him. “Are there more of you?”
Minnie hesitated. Pluto nudged him from behind. He looked back to see Amanda trying to get to her feet.
“Thanks!”
He hurried back to her. Minnie and Pluto followed.
He helped Amanda stand up and held her by the arm. “My friend’s in trouble,” he told the other two. “I, we, need to get onto Tom Sawyer Island.”
Minnie smiled and nodded. She lifted a finger as if to say, “Just a minute!”
Pluto came around and heeled at Finn’s side.
“You’re staying with me,” Finn said. The dog nodded.
Minnie saluted Finn and took off running in the direction of Frontierland.
“I’m guessing,” he said, “you’re staying to protect us.” The dog yipped. “And she’s gone ahead for some reason.” He barked again.
“Are you talking to Pluto?” Amanda asked with a dry voice.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I’ve been better. My head weighs a thousand pounds.”
“We need to go,” he said.
“I can manage. Are you going to tell me how I got here?”
“I kissed you,” he said.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “That’s not something I would forget.”
“I promise. I kissed you. It was a spell, intended for Jess.” He walked her off the hub and toward Frontierland, condensing and summarizing her story into as brief an explanation as possible.
Pluto nudged between them and leaned into Amanda.
“I think,” Finn said, “he wants you to hold onto his collar.”
Pluto’s tail went wild with excitement.
Amanda reached down and took hold. Pluto lifted his head proudly. His tail shot up like a flagpole.
“This is definitely strange,” Finn said.
* * *
Jess was not a mother. She had never even owned a pet. Like the other Fairlies, she had never met her mother, had no idea if she had living relatives. The closest thing she had to a family member was Amanda, whom she thought of as her sister. In fact, she and Amanda often introduced themselves as sisters. So, as the Kingdom Keepers carried out their plan to cross Amanda over into the Magic Kingdom in hopes of reversing the curse, Jess sat by her sister’s bedside.
A few minutes earlier, she thought she’d witnessed the cross over: Amanda had twitched and shuddered and, more encouragingly, her eyes had begun moving rapidly beneath her closed eyelids.