The girl climbing out, Mattie Weaver, was embarking on a quest that might, with any luck, take her away from this place forever. If caught, she wasn’t sure of the consequences. She was only sure of one thing: that when a friend calls needing a favor, and that favor can be accomplished without physically hurting someone, it’s a friend’s duty to respond. It was part of the code of Barracks 14. Just as she assumed it was at the half dozen other barracks on the abandoned military base—although she rarely, if ever, got the chance to talk to any of those kids.
She crawled out and pulled the half-window carefully shut behind her. Tera Bergstrom had promised to close the window by morning. The window was valuable to everyone in 14. Mattie couldn’t go wrecking it for others by doing anything stupid.
She lay in the damp grass for an impossibly long time, chilled to the bone by the time she dared raise to her knees.
She stood and ran. Building to building.
The gate would be guarded, but if her information was accurate there was a place to crawl under the fence by Building 7.
She moved in that direction as carefully as she’d ever moved.
In the glow of warm sunshine, a magnificent vessel rose fifteen stories from the water’s blue surface, towering over the four-acre cruise terminal. A combination of rich black, vivid red, and royal blues, the ship glistened and sparkled like an unwrapped gift.
Inside the terminal, the pulse of excitement rippled through the thousands of Disney enthusiasts, young and old, who were waiting to board. Reporters and film crews worked through the massive crowd interviewing and photographing those lucky enough to be on the Disney Dream’s Panama Canal passage. The Dream was to be the first commercial cruise ship to pass through the upgraded Panama Canal.
“So tell us what it’s like,” a Spanish-speaking reporter asked a young couple who appeared surprised by the television camera shoved in their faces.
“Incredible!” the man answered in Spanish.
“What makes this trip so special, other than it’s Disney?” the reporter asked.
“We are to be on the first ship to cross through the new locks of the Panama Canal,” the man answered. “The very first ship. Such an honor! It is history we are making.”
“Did you know the Disney Dream was chosen out of seventy vessels that were submitted to be the first through the new canal?”
“No, but it does not surprise me the Dream was chosen. This is good. The family. Everything Disney stands for.”
“Was it difficult to get tickets?” the reporter asked.
“Are you kidding? It was a lottery. This is the only way. I heard over ten thousand people applied.”
“Fifteen thousand, yes. And you were among those chosen. How does that make you feel?”
“We are blessed,” the young woman said. “We feel very blessed.”
The reporter thanked them and started to move on. The man being interviewed asked for and took a photo of his wife with the reporter. Others pushed forward trying to get on TV.
Smartly dressed Cast Members passed through the crowd offering bottled water and thanking the waiting passengers for their patience as preparations were made for boarding. At the entrance to the gangway, hundreds were cordoned off behind crowd tape, cheering for the parade of Disney celebrities and VIPs currently boarding as cameras flashed and names were called out. Among them were Disney Channel stars, film actors, Radio Disney hosts, pop stars, and five teenagers known as Disney Hosts Interactive.
Finn, Maybeck, Philby, Charlene, and Willa waved to their fans and smiled for the cameras. Among the many highlights of the inaugural passage was the introduction of the shipboard Kingdom Keeper Quest, a scavenger hunt that had been wildly successful in the Magic Kingdom and was being unveiled aboard the Dream for the first time. The only major concern for the Keepers was that the Quest included Cast Members playing the parts of Overtakers. For the first time, Maleficent, Emperor Zurg, the Evil Queen, Cruella, and Chernabog would all be represented on board. The villains followed the Keepers as part of the grand entrance. The crowd jeered and booed them. Maleficent stuck her tongue out and everyone laughed.
Everyone but the Keepers.
“Hey, isn’t that—?” Willa said, nudging Finn and pointing to the VIP waiting area.
Finn rose on his toes, but couldn’t see anyone familiar. The villains continued forward, forcing the Keepers to present their key cards at the electronic readers at the final check-in.
“What? Who?” he asked.
“Never mind,” Willa said.
“Tell me.”
“It’s just…it looked like your mother to me.”
Finn jumped high, trying to get a look, but the angle was wrong. He saw nothing but the adoring crowd held back by the tape. His mother was supposed to accompany him; every Keeper was required to be in the company of a parent or guardian. Wayne was supposed to have rigged the system so that Finn would have a connecting stateroom to Philby and his mother. Supposedly his mother would soon discover she was electronically blocked from boarding. Wayne was to erase her from the ship’s manifest. “If it is,” Finn said, “she’s in for a surprise.”