Kingdom Keepers V(22)

“No question,” Wayne said. “The protection is critical, however. While you are asleep you will be at your most vulnerable.”

“I can work on that,” Philby said.

“Can I ask a question?” A volunteer had his hand raised. Kenny Carlson, a freckled redhead who, at six feet one, could have used twenty pounds. Ninth grade was an unfair time of life.

Wayne nodded.

“Exactly where do we fit into all this?” Kenny asked. He indicated the other volunteers.

“I’m glad you asked that, Mr. Carlson,” Wayne said.

Kenny looked like he’d been slapped. Wayne knew his name. Wayne had done his homework. Clearly, a volunteer wasn’t allowed into the Keepers without a background check.

“First, we need a team at the Base. We cannot simply abandon that battle. While a possible diversion, the Base’s role in the parks is too critical to be ignored. We are in the process of moving significant equipment during daylight hours to reduce our losses if we should lose the Base—but at the same time, we are aware this might be what they want: for us to spread our servers out and make it easier for them to steal them. It’s a shell game.”

“And second?” Kenny said.

“It’s my intention to put as many of you as possible aboard the Dream. This will be more difficult than it sounds and will involve an intense orientation to accomplish. Once on board, you will be a resource for the Keepers to draw upon.”

“Cool,” Kenny said. “I’m down with that.”

“Ditto!” said someone else in the group.

“I wouldn’t get my hopes up,” Wayne said. “Both options come with risk.”

“I think we knew that going in,” Kenny said.

“If I could have a few minutes with the Keepers alone,” Wayne said. “Amanda and Jess, please stay as well.”

“We’ll meet you outside,” Finn said.

The six volunteers left. Wayne and the Keepers clustered tightly around a table. He kept his voice to a whisper.

“The cruise is an obligation we can’t get you out of and, as much as it might have once seemed like a dream come true—pun intended—it now appears much the opposite. There is a great deal to accomplish. The volunteers need training. Everything you can do to school them is not just important, but critical at this juncture. Once on the ship you must take every precaution for your safety. Travel in pairs. Enter your staterooms with caution. You are in a contained space on that ship, a finite space, a situation you’ve not faced before. The journal Finn and Willa saw taken by the Overtakers involves, among other subjects, the lore behind Chernabog.”

Willa and Finn exchanged a knowing glance.

“And there were hyenas,” Finn said. “Angry hyenas.”

“Excuse me?” Willa inquired.

“The chase?”

“What chase? What are you talking about?” Willa said.

Wayne fixed his concentration upon her. “You don’t recall being pursued by hyenas?” He checked over with Finn.

“Of course I do,” Willa said.

Finn said to Willa, “In the factory? Or whatever?”

“What factory? Whatever…are you talking about?”

“But you remember Maleficent. The Evil Queen?”

“In the library? Dah.”

“And then we took off through the factory.”

“No. Then we were backstage at the Studios and we returned.”

A hushed silence as Finn considered not only what she was telling him, but her conviction. They both had two very different memories of the same moment.

Finn met eyes with Wayne. “What’s going on?”

Wayne shook his head, confused.

“I dreamed it?” Finn said, still looking directly at Wayne.

“Well, I didn’t,” Willa said. “The library is backstage at the Studios, after all.”

“Maybe you had a dream like mine,” Jess said. She, who could dream the future.

“More likely just a nightmare,” Finn said. “Or a bug in 2.0.” But he wondered if it was possible. Had he dreamed the future, confused the present, imagined something out of thin air?

“Now you know how it feels,” Jess said. “Unsettling, isn’t it?”

“Not good,” he said.

“Not good at all,” she said. “And yet, they call it a gift.”

“Okay. I get it.” He and the other Keepers were guilty of thinking Jess and Amanda were gifted. The girls had argued “cursed.”

He continued, “It was just like any other crossing over.”

“Surprisingly real,” Jess said. “As real as it gets.”

Wayne appeared troubled by the news. “While I welcome such resources,” the older man said, “this is not a time for personality shifts. We require each of you in full control of your faculties. We cannot have you doubting things.”