Kingdom Keepers V(100)
His world was turned on its head. Maybeck tried to make sense of it. Maybe the Cast Members unloading the plane were as afraid of the Overtakers as he and the other Keepers were. But then what about Luowski? The boy’s involvement meant trouble, plain and simple. The Cast Members could be impostors, the same way he and the Keepers had posed as crew members. Too many possibilities.
He watched as a large crate was unloaded from the plane and into the back of the truck. Four of the Cast Members tried to move it, but it required the strength of all six. Two of the Cast Members secured a back gate on the truck and slapped the side.
The truck moved off slowly, the driver careful of its contents.
* * *
“She’s gone,” Finn whispered to Charlene from where they hid beneath Tia Dalma’s cabana. “She and the others must have gotten away when I was with Maleficent.”
“Philby needs us,” she reminded.
“They planned this carefully. All of it at once. The beach party had to be their idea.” The damp journal sat on the sand.
“We can do this later, right? We need to help Philby and Willa.”
“What did she mean about my mother being human?” he asked Charlene.
“Who? What are you talking about?”
“Why would she say that? The ship’s in danger. This journal is why.”
“Are you listening to me? Philby needs—”
“Jafar and Tia Dalma are characters. No one will think anything of them being on board.”
“Did you hear what I said about a plane landing? Willa and I overheard all of it. Some box—”
“There’s a Disney Villain show, isn’t there? Didn’t I read about that in the Navigator? A stage show. That could be it.”
“Are you going to shut up and listen to me?” she said.
“Hmm? Yeah. Sure. A plane. A box. I got it.”
“Being put onto the Dream.”
“Philby’s on it,” he said. “It’s what we do, Charlie. We each take care of our own assignments.”
“You’re just lying here in the sand. How can that possibly help?”
“I was attacked by Jafar’s serpent staff. It’s the real Jafar. The real Tia Dalma. The real Maleficent was trying to kill me out there. She talked about a change of leadership…the natural order. But why the ship? Why confine yourself—your team—to such a limited space? As big as the Dream is, it’s no theme park.”
“It is a theme park, but it’s a theme park that goes somewhere.”
Finn sat up so quickly he threw sand on her. “It does go somewhere!”
“Lots of places. Aruba. The canal—”
“L.A.!” he said.
“They’re trying to get to the West Coast. They’re trying to get to Disneyland,” Charlene said.
He took her face in his hands and kissed her. “Brilliant!” It was an unassuming kiss, but on the lips, and it paralyzed him.
Charlene seemed dazed. She reached behind his head, pulled him to her, and kissed him hard and long. When she let go, when she backed off, she said, “I thought so.” She smiled at him.
Finn could hardly breathe. He didn’t want this. Why had he allowed it to go on so long? He wanted Amanda.
“I don’t know. I just…had to.”
“But that isn’t us.” Again, he envisioned Amanda.
“I know. But…I just knew it would be like that.”
He wasn’t about to ask her “Like what?” because he knew exactly what she meant. It was like the kiss he’d shared with Storey Ming. Definitely not a middle-school kiss. He fought back a smile. What was it with girls, anyway?
“Disneyland,” he said.
She nodded, still breathing hard. She clearly wasn’t thinking about Disneyland.
He brushed sand off the journal. “This is what Wayne wanted. We must protect it.”
“Philby needs us.”
“Go if you want.”
“Come with me.” There was a deeper meaning to her invitation, and they both knew it. She didn’t want to leave him.
He, on the other hand, wanted her out of here.
“I need to keep this safe,” he said. “I can’t risk it being retaken. They didn’t want us knowing what was going on here,” he said, looking up at the floor of the cabana. “Jafar’s staff was supposed to make sure of that. Tia Dalma made them bring the Cast Members to her. Why?”
She said nothing. Her eyes were focused on his lips.
“I’m going inside,” he said.
“What if she’s in there?”
“She’s not. I need to study the journal before heading back to the ship. Maleficent took it off the ship with her. Why take such a risk unless they needed it for something? It’s too dark for me to read. But in there…”