“No way. No one knows how serious a threat it is besides us. I mean, Wayne would, but he’s not here.”
“We could tell him.”
“And we will if we get the chance, but he’s one guy. There are three thousand paying passengers. ‘The show must go on,’” he said, drawing air quotes. “Besides, for now it’s just a video. Since this is a DHI cruise, they’ll think it was planned. At best, someone’ll call it in and it’ll take a day or two before anyone realizes it wasn’t. At worst, it’ll be seen as a prank. No matter what, for now, we’re on our own.”
“And Jack Sparrow? He could have killed you!” Charlene said.
“Noted,” Finn said.
“Nearly did kill you.”
“Doubly noted.”
“And was that—?”
“Dillard,” Finn answered, though couldn’t explain. “The really weird thing is, I called the operator and asked to be connected to his room, and they didn’t have anyone by that name.”
“Seriously?”
“He’s not registered. And I would have known if he’d been planning to be here.”
“But how’s that possible?”
“How’s any of this possible?” he asked. He paused. “You know how often I ask myself that? How this ever happened? If this is even happening at all?”
“Me too,” she said. “I think we all feel that way. We keep waiting to wake up and find out it was some kind of bizarre dream.”
“A very long dream.”
Charlene became pensive. “I don’t think Maleficent’s message was meant for the passengers as much as for us.”
“She wants to scare us,” Finn said. “She probably doesn’t know that 2.0 gets around that element of fear. We can take advantage of that. We need to cross over tonight and get a look around as DHIs.”
“The refrigerators,” she said.
“Yeah. Maybeck didn’t get the chance to follow up on that.”
“You think that since taking over the parks didn’t work out for the OTs, they’re trying for something more manageable? Something smaller?”
“I assume the battle for Base is a setback for the OTs. If not, we have to hope the volunteers can hold them off. What you and Maybeck pulled off with the brooms and the capture of the Green Army Men, collecting some of that goo—we’ve definitely set them back.” He paused, his mind whirring. “Besides, you can’t call the Dream small,” Finn said, thinking of the ship and looking around the teen center. The area, where no parents or adults were allowed, consisted of several large, colorful sections. One with a giant television. Another with a dozen beanbag chairs. Yet another filled with gaming consoles. The Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love” played loudly from overhead speakers. Outside, there was a private pool and sports facilities for basketball, volleyball, and soccer. Finn typically hated stuff dedicated to “kids,” but this was the exception. It was open until one—although he and the others would have to leave before that.
“I suppose it’s all relative,” Charlene said.
“I suppose.”
“Don’t look now, but that hottie is checking you out.”
Finn stole a look toward the door. He had to fight to keep his jaw from dropping. The Asian girl was maybe a year or two older than he was. She wore her soft dark hair like a china doll, her bangs cut level at her eyebrows, her hair falling in twin sheets to her square shoulders. She looked familiar to Finn, and yet not familiar at all. He wondered…
“Is she on TV or something?” he said, looking away.
“Not that I know,” Charlene said. “Though she could be. She’s pretty enough.”
“There are Disney Channel actors on board, right?”
“That’s what we were told.”
“So maybe that’s who she is.”
“Maybe.”
“Like Lemonade Mouth or something like that?”
“Hayley? No, I know her. It’s not Hayley. But she’s crushin’ on you.”
“Give me a break.” Hearing the word “crushin’” reminded him once again of Typhoon Lagoon—in a bad way. And Ursula. Amanda. It seemed like a year ago.
“Don’t look now, but here she comes,” Charlene said. “Don’t forget about Amanda.”
Finn tried to make a face at Charlene, but she’d already turned her back on him and was walking away. He stood there not knowing what to do with himself. He was such a klutz when it came to girls.
“Hey, there,” the girl said. If you put hand cream all over a Nerf ball, that’s how smooth her voice sounded. “You’re Finn, right?”