Kingdom Keepers: The Syndrome (23 page)

“So? Let them.” He didn’t sound too concerned.

“You could say we aren’t here,” I suggested.

“Why would I do that?”

“So that when they take you away, there are three of us here to rescue you.”

“No one’s taking me anywhere.”

“They may feel differently about that, Greg.” Lifting my palms to him, I asked again for him to unbutton his shirt.

He reluctantly undid the top three buttons, then untucked his shirttail to confirm there was no wire. “Satisfied?”

Mattie was. She had used the distraction to sneak up behind Luowski and place her hand on his neck. Luowski jerked up, waving his arms wildly, barely missing Mattie as she jumped away.

“Out that window,” I informed him, “is a ledge. Where it meets the church roof, you can slide down and grab the pipe that’s sticking up. It’s a drainpipe;
it’ll get you to the ground. Jess and I had to use that a couple of times. Believe me, it works.”

“You first,” Luowski said. The sound of footsteps climbing the stairs was louder now. “This type of guy always leaves one man on the ground. I’d be walking right into
their net.”

“If you insist,” I said. Mattie climbed out, then Jess. Luowski looked troubled; he thought I was bluffing or trying to trap him. I hesitated in the window, just long enough for the
door to open. Long enough to be seen. Luowski jumped up—but I was blocking the window. I slipped out, ran along the ledge, slid, caught on the pipe, swung to the drainpipe, and climbed down.
The part I hadn’t told Luowski about was simple: use the open window halfway down. I climbed through the window I’d opened on my way up. Back in the stairway, I met Jess and Mattie. We
slid the window shut and locked it.

The next step, leaving by the AA meeting entrance and bypassing any “agent” waiting by the cars, was made easier by the fact that Luowski had taken our route, but had ridden the
drainpipe all the way to the ground, falling straight into the hands of the waiting Barracks 14 man at the bottom. The man saw us running; I made sure of that. Preoccupied with Luowski, he had no
choice but to call for his partners.

The trick now was to make sure we got caught—and this part of my plan required Joe’s help.

Halfway up the block, the back doors of a white van swung open, and the three of us piled in. Joe shut the doors behind us.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked. “You have to be absolutely certain.”

The woman on the seat beside him wore purple surgical gloves; there was a tackle box open at her shins.

“We’re sure,” I said, speaking for the three of us.

Joe gave a signal, and the van drove off.

MATTIE

When I placed my hand on Luowski’s beefy neck, I wasn’t sure what would happen. I had never read an individual four times. But it was easy. I had Luowski mapped out.
I channeled his thoughts to the Overtakers and the orders he was following.

Immediately, memories of Tia Dalma that didn’t belong to me filled my mind. Luowski’s impressions of her were clear: furious and sinister. He was afraid of her because she had
threatened him.

Even after Luowski jerked away, the strand of words that haunted him and held him so tightly to his task remained fresh in my mind. It was as though Tia Dalma had spoken them to me herself.

“I must know their secret. If you do not bring me de secret, you will die. We all will die.”

I felt like a cavern, empty, her threat echoing in silence. This seemed terribly dangerous. What secret was so important that it would put someone’s life on the line? So important that the
Overtakers were worried, too?

I slipped out the window, Jess following, wondering if “they” could mean the Keepers. Finn and the others obviously knew something that they hadn’t told us.

Halfway down the drainpipe, I angled myself through the second-story window we’d left open.

Luowski’s thoughts had to have something do with the Keepers being trapped in SBS. Or information that Finn had known before he’d gone comatose.

Amanda slid through the window behind Jess, and slammed the window shut, locking it. From the hallway, we watched Luowski ride the drainpipe to the ground and get caught by the Barracks 14 guy
waiting at the bottom. I laughed.

Lost things often hide in plain sight. Maybe we were making this out to be more complicated than it was.

Maybe the answer was staring us in the face.

AMANDA

By the time Jess, Mattie, and I arrived at the Magic Kingdom’s Central Plaza, the end of the extended hours had pushed tens of thousands of weary guests toward the front
gates. It was past midnight.

We sat together on a bench facing the Partners statue, the area ringed by bronze figurines of famous Disney characters. People watching, one of my favorite things to do in Disney parks, hit new
heights of amusement; strollers seemed to be pulling the parents trailing them, and young children bounded and bounced, not wanting to leave.

“How much longer?” Jess asked. “You think they’ll make it?”

“I’m sure,” I said. “I have no doubts. If there’s anything we can trust, it’s that they’ll get here before we’re thrown out.”

“If you say so,” Mattie said.

“I do. Joe knows what he’s doing.” I paused, and then said, “Are you both afraid?”

“Yes.”

“Me, too,” I admitted. “Good! Hold on to that fear. We’re going to need it.”

“What if this is the last time we see the park?” Mattie asked. “What if that happens?”

“One thing at a time.”

“But if it does?”

“Then we’ll consider it a success,” Jess said slowly. “We’ll have provided the necessary distraction to make the move. What choice do we have?”

“I’ll miss the music,” Mattie said. “I’ll miss it the most. I like having a soundtrack in my life. The parks are great that way.”

“Yes, they are,” I said. “The parks are great in every way.”

“You’re worried about him, aren’t you?” Mattie asked.

“I’m worried about all of them,” I answered. “All of.”

“Uh-huh.” Mattie’s cynicism was beginning to annoy me. Or maybe I was just stressed. Either way, I snapped at her.

“You think I only care about Finn?”

“I think you care more about him. Of course.”

“She doesn’t.” Jess jumped to my defense. “In her heart, maybe, sure. But not in her actions. I’ve never seen you favor Finn that way,” she said, looking at
me.

“Uh-oh,” I answered, looking beyond her. “Company.”

The three of us rose at the same time. Four men in suits, men who did not belong in the Magic Kingdom, approached us. Two of their faces were eerily familiar.

Two more blocked us from behind.

“Does that scare you enough?” I asked my partners.

“Um, yeah!” answered Mattie. “They’re the ones that got me.”

Jess said nothing.

The man directly in front of me shook his head as he saw my eyes wander from side to side. “Don’t make a scene,” he said softly. “The company knows we’re here, and
it knows why. All you’ll do is damage their reputation. Not ours. We have no reputation. We don’t exist.”

“We’re supposed to just…what?” I asked. “Walk out of here?”

“We won’t be joining the others. We’re headed for the parade route gate by Splash Mountain.”

“The Imagineers would never let this happen,” Jess said.

“Don’t be so sure,” the man said.

“We’re no longer minors,” Mattie said. “Taking us against our will is kidnapping.”

“We will be happy to have our attorneys explain it you, Madeline. But that’s for tomorrow. Tonight you will be our guests on a flight to Baltimore.”

“No,” I said, trying to hide my nervousness. “Tonight you will put us up in a Disney hotel on property. Tomorrow morning we will meet with the lawyers. Only then are we getting
on some plane.”

“You are hardly in a position to make demands.”

“Seriously?” I said. “What do think we’ve been doing while we’ve been away?” I raised both arms, each aimed at one of the suits. I clapped my hands. The two
men slid, standing up, like they were on ice, and smashed into each other at high speed. In seconds, they lay groveling on the asphalt. Then I used my left hand to knock the stun gun from the
leader’s hands. It broke into pieces on the concrete.

“Should we go again?” I asked. “If one of you so much as lays a hand on me or my friends, we will not go willingly.”

With four men surrounding us, it made sense that I couldn’t actually win a battle. But I could inflict significant injury, starting with the leader.

The two on the pavement climbed to their knees, stood, and brushed themselves off. I wasn’t good at making new friends.

“Fine,” the leader said. “It will take us some time to make the arrangements.”

“And we will sit here until you do.”

“I’d rather we all get into the vehicle.”

“I’m sure you would, but that’s not going to happen. You wouldn’t like it anyway. My power in a closed space like that? No fun for anyone.”

We negotiated a bit longer, but I surprised myself—and Jess!—with my lack of compromise. All the while, I kept an eye on the leader’s wristwatch, tracking the minutes as they
ticked past. At one point, Mattie allowed a wiggle of a smile to sneak out, but she bit it back just as quickly. I winked at her.

Grown-ups can be pathetically slow. Rather than just booking a few rooms himself, the leader assigned the task to someone at the other end of a phone call. It was probably beneath him to carry
out such menial labor. Thankfully for us, putting a middleman into the logistics and reservations meant killing more time.

The minutes slipped past. The flow of departing guests was down to a trickle. Soon the security guards trying to clear the park would notice us. That would give me a chance to test how honest
the leader had been. I had my doubts about Disney’s complicity in our detainment.

Luckily for the leader, confirmation came before security.

“The Polynesian. One room, two beds. We will be in the rooms on either side of you and across the hall.”

“Show us to the car,” I said. “But as a reminder, if any one of you touches one of us, even accidentally, I will flatten that man and anyone else within twenty yards of
me.”

For the first time, the leader didn’t have a response.

LUOWSKI

I ran from the church, wanting to distance myself from the feeble guy in the suit. I had no idea what might have happened if he’d caught me for real; I had no desire to
find out.

Giddiness swept through me as I pictured the look on the man’s face when I easily fought him off. Whatever had happened to me after I’d become part of the Overtakers, I now possessed
the ability to deflect an opponent’s strength. It wasn’t like I could bench press four fifty, but just try taking a swing at me.

Two miles to the bus stop.

Despite my internal revelry, the near-capture had warned me that nowhere was safe. I had no idea who the suits were or what they wanted. That didn’t help me feel any more secure.

I wasn’t being followed. Maybe the Freaks were telling the truth. Maybe the men were actually after them.

A series of bus rides and I ended up at Downtown Disney. From there, I’d have to wing it.

“We’d better hurry. It’s Central Plaza for us, Greg, ASAP.”
Amanda’s words echoed in my head. Philby’s stupid laptop was proving impossible to crack,
so the Freaks seemed like the only way to find and take out the Keepers.

At eleven forty, I approached Central Plaza in the Magic Kingdom. Keeping my eyes open for the Fairlies, I headed for shadow. I loved shadow.

Ten patient minutes later, I thought I spotted Amanda’s brown hair. She stood, arms akimbo, shaking her head at a small group of the suits. They looked like the same men from the church. I
inched closer, trying to hear what they were saying.

“Show us to the car,” Amanda said. “But as a reminder, if any one of you touches one of us, even accidentally, I will flatten that man and anyone else within twenty yards of
me.”

It’s true! I thought wryly.

I followed the group toward the Jafar row of the Magic Kingdom parking lot. As they walked, Amanda almost seemed to sparkle in the lamplight.

I’d liked her for a long, long time. She knew it. Whitless knew it. And still, they’d treated me like scum for two years at school. Payback time.

The suits led the girls to a black SUV.

I had no way to follow.

Looking around the backstage parking lot, I saw a Disney transport van idling with the lights on. It was used to bring Cast Members to distant parking lots. The driver was busy talking to a Cast
Member, both drinking coffee. I had no choice.

I hurried across the lot, ducking low, using cars to screen me.

I slipped into the passenger door, and climbed behind the wheel.

The SUV was nearly out of sight.

I shifted and hit the accelerator and the back tires squealed. In the rearview mirror I saw the driver drop his coffee.

As the SUV came back into sight, I slowed to keep my distance as I smiled, deeply satisfied.

So far, so good.

Fifteen agonizing minutes later, we pulled up to the Polynesian, a tropical themed resort with eleven longhouses set up like the eleven islands of Polynesia. I parked the van
out on the street and crossed through a parking lot to reach the hotel.