Kingdom Keepers V
Finn Whitman held up three fingers, indicating he’d identified the enemy. One wore a full-length black robe with purple piping: Maleficent; the woman next to her, a high, starched white collar—like a nun’s habit—her hair perfect, not a strand out of place: the Evil Queen; and the last wrapped in ermine and stoat: Cruella De Vil. He could just make out the backs of their heads and shoulders given his position on all fours and the location of a wooden card index island ahead. The three were huddled together in the darkened library stacks just beyond the central card index. But these were not any ordinary stacks. This was a private library deep within the Imagineers’ offices, backstage at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World.
Finn and Willa, the girl to whom he held up his fingers, were not ordinary teenagers either: they were holograms. Projections of light—“flaming photons,” as one of their fellow Kingdom Keepers called them—an invention of Disney Imagineers and technicians with too much time on their hands. By day, their holograms served as guides in the four Walt Disney World parks—the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. By night, it was a different story.
The Kingdom Keepers were full of stories. What had started out as a middle school thrill—being models for Disney World hologram guides and the ensuing celebrity it caused—had matured into something more formidable. Finn and the four others, high schoolers now, found themselves as the last line of defense between the darker forces of Walt Disney’s impressive imagination—the villains and witches and fairies now called the Overtakers—and the joy and magic of the Walt Disney World experience.
Willa’s dark, confident eyes signaled her understanding. She pointed to herself and gestured to her right, down the library shelving that currently hid her and Finn from the others. Then she waved him forward and around; they would come at the three from either end of the stacks. Like Finn, she’d dressed in all black before she’d gone to sleep, when the crossover of kid to hologram happened. Like Finn, she’d awakened as her hologram wearing the same clothes in which she slept. She blended well with the shadows. One of the three women held a flashlight—the only real light in the room.
Finn nodded. It was incredibly dangerous for him and Willa to challenge these particular three Overtakers by themselves. The Kingdom Keepers were sworn enemies of the Overtakers—but the women before them were like generals, commanders. He and Willa wouldn’t be taking on common soldiers. But Finn saw no choice: at the very least he and Willa had to know what the three were up to. They’d been searching the stacks for the past forty-five minutes. If the Overtakers were stealing something, the Kingdom Keepers would get back whatever it was, keeping the Overtakers from expanding their powers.
The three were scary enough as it was. Maleficent had in the past nearly killed Finn and the others with her ability to throw fire; the Evil Queen could conjure spells that crippled and transfigured her foes. Cruella was, well, an annoying nuisance.
Finn reached for a three-ring notebook on the metal shelf and indicated for Willa to do the same. He held the notebook with two hands in front of his chest like a shield. Willa nodded, understanding: defense. With one final nod, they separated.
Finn moved through the carpeted, museumlike space beneath a ceiling of dormant tube lights. A few hours each day the private library was opened to scholars and researchers. Within these walls were records of the early beginnings of Walt Disney World, the creative ideas behind some major Disney characters, and creative templates for films. The Disney Imagineering archives were among the most sought-after records in the Disney empire. The planning. The stages of development. The secrets. Some of the material had recently been digitized and made available on the D23 Web site. But not all. Not by a long shot.
The Overtakers’ presence here, the breach of security, seemed unthinkable. The possible results of their gaining insider secrets and knowledge could be devastating, Finn thought: unallowable. Whatever they sought, it was to be used against the Kingdom. That was not going to happen.
He crept up to the island containing the index cards, screening himself. He counted silently, giving Willa time to get into place. The DHI—Disney Host Interactive—2.0 upgrade was still in beta. He worried that if he allowed fear to get the better of him, his DHI might erode, losing its pure state, resulting in some percentage of him becoming solid—material and therefore mortal. Vulnerable to curses and attacks. He could be wounded or even killed. So a big part of his staying safe relied upon his ability to keep fear from his thoughts—not easy when Maleficent or the Evil Queen directed her powers at him. He focused now, pushing away the fear as if leaning against a strong wind.