Kingdom Keepers V(99)

By the time she looked down, with an expression of terror overcoming her, she was in too deep to retreat. Knee-deep, to be precise—all in a matter of seconds. She sank into a hole dug beneath her by ten thousand furious beach crabs, the seawater roiling around her like a giant white inner tube. She put out her hands to tread water, to stop her descent, but screamed wickedly as the crabs bit her.

Her eyes found Finn and filled with venom.

Finn swelled with pride and confidence. He’d lured her out here; he used the code to defeat her. There was one last barrier to overcome: all clear. Philby was extremely smart, ridiculously capable, but he wasn’t superior. Software was software. If 2.0 all clear were achievable, then Finn possessed the tools necessary to achieve it. He didn’t need a light at the end of a dark tunnel. That process required thinking. The point of 2.0 was its transparency. You didn’t think your way, you trusted.

He cleared his head and walked through the glowing wires, unharmed.

Crossing her arms—her hands bloody—she continued to sink lower.

“Release my mother, and I’ll call them off.”

Maleficent was waist deep and sinking quickly. “I—” She snatched the journal from her waist and held it above the water.

“You are in no position to argue!” he said, suddenly worried Triton’s crabs would drown the fairy. In all his dreams of defeating her, he’d never thought of actually killing her. The idea sickened him. No matter how he hated and despised her, he would take no satisfaction in her drowning.

He said, “Release my mother!”

“She’s human, you fool!”

What was that supposed to mean?

“Who did this?” she asked, now chest deep. “Was it Ariel? That little bi—”

Finn shouted. “You can save yourself! Release my—”

“You do so underestimate me.”

She vanished. One moment up to her chin; the next, the journal fell toward the water as a black cormorant appeared on the surface, shook water from its feathers, cawed loudly at Finn, and flew off toward the ship.

Finn ran through the knee-deep surf and snatched the journal from the surface.

The foaming water subsided, and through the calming waves Finn saw ten thousand crabs disperse.

Charlene arrived, out of breath.

“Look at you!” she said, seeing Finn up to his knees in beautiful water. “You know, some of us are working!”

“I…ah…” Finn pointed at the waves. At nothing. His fingers gripped the journal tightly.

“Philby and Willa are in the plane.”

“What plane?”

Charlene said impatiently, “Come on! Let’s go!”

* * *

His Wave Phone in hand, Maybeck ran west toward the island’s landing strip, responding to Philby’s summons. Fireworks punctuated the sky to his left, the pace of the explosions increasing: the show was nearing its frantic finale. He hurdled a fallen palm tree that blocked the narrow path. Two abandoned Pargos were trapped on the near side of the fallen tree.

He’d added up the propane tank and Luowski’s igniter: spark to gas, gas ignites. He’d wanted to tell Luowski that there was no gas to ignite—he and Tim had dismantled the tank’s connection to the CO2 lines. But Philby’s rule was to never share intel with the enemy; such arrogance nearly always backfired.

He arrived at the eastern end of the landing strip, a wide swath of asphalt between him and the stage-set airplane tucked into the jungle at the corner. The other plane—an actual, functional, twin-engine plane—was the center of a flurry of activity, as Cast Members crowded around its rear door, all struggling with something Maybeck couldn’t see. Warning beeps signaled as the micro truck backed up slowly toward the airplane’s rear door. The Cast Members were hissing orders at each other; no one seemed to be in charge.

He smelled burning rubber and saw a faint line of smoke smoldering at the edge of the runway’s blacktop, then realized he and Tim had found only half of whatever system had been engineered. The discovery enraged him. He regretted leaving Luowski locked inside the shed. The headphones meant a radio. A radio meant he’d left Luowski with the ability to communicate.

At nearly the same instant Maybeck came to this realization, the pilot signaled a Cast Member and shouted something at him. The Cast Member immediately spun around, searching the runway’s jungle perimeter. He then shouted at the others, his voice carrying through the percussive detonations in the sky.

“We’ve got company! Hurry it up!”

What to do, and how to do it? Maybeck wondered, scanning the scene. The presence of Cast Members confused him. Cast Members had proven themselves to be allies of the Kingdom Keepers—facilitators, support––even though Wayne had once warned to be wary of them. There was no way they would side with the Overtakers; they loved the parks and the Disney magic more than anyone.