Kingdom Keepers VII (30 page)

T
OONTOWN ACTS LIKE THE SWIRLING
mouth of a tornado, drawing everything nearby into its turbulent funnel. First the Segways are swallowed up.

The conflicting currents within Toontown rotate clock-wise. A crowd mentality, spreading outward from the small number of families escaping Mickey’s House, morphs the guests into a large group moving quickly toward the exit. Few know exactly why they’re fleeing, but if five families are running, they think theirs should be as well.

On the opposite side of the vortex from Mickey’s House are the Segways, Philby and the Fairlies—and a stream of Kingdom Keepers fans who have recognized their idols.

An instant later, Finn and Willa emerge from within Mickey’s House and are caught up in the circular flow. Despite their DHI status, they instinctively work to avoid collisions, spinning and dodging what has become a panicked stampede. The heaving movement of the crowd spits them into the quieter center of the spinning mass, near the small fountain.

Emerging from within the crowd is a woman in an elaborately crocheted brown dress. She has a full head of long dreads and…
bare feet
. She turns.

It’s Tia Dalma.

Finn’s heart stops. His mouth goes dry. This woman, who has apparently followed him into Toontown, tricked Finn into killing his best friend, Dillard Cole. If she’s here, does that mean…? He tingles from head to toe, losing his DHI.

Tia Dalma is flanked by Cruella and Judge Doom, with the all-weasel Toon Patrol just behind. A murmur sweeps through the masses. The swirling storm stops. Philby and the other Keepers step into the empty center behind Willa and Finn.

There’s a collective hush as the crowd awaits a street performance.

“Bring us the Legend!” Tia Dalma shouts, sweeping her arms outward.

Finn holds up his hand, halting his fellow Keepers. He steps forward.

Cameras flash. A child’s voice from the audience rings out, “Give it to her, Finn!”

The top of the fountain is adorned with a statue of Mickey Mouse and his
Fantasia
conductor’s baton. Finn’s breath catches.
The Legend.
Does she mean Mickey—or Wayne?

Finn says the first thing that comes to mind. “Do you think these people are ever going to let you destroy the magic? No matter what you do to us, what you try to do to
him
, you will never win. It’s the one thing you’ve completely underestimated: the power of good. This is their park,” he says, gesturing to the crowd. “
Theirs.
Not yours, not ours.”

“Do you pass out a collection plate now?” Tia Dalma says, her voice a mocking croak. “Those others with you, are they your choir? Take your preaching elsewhere, boy. We take what is ours. And if you believe it ends with this park, you have another think coming.”

“Throughout history, evil self-destructs,” Finn says. “It’s an unsustainable force.”

“Oh, really?” Tia Dalma shouts. “You bring him to us, boy, or we will walk over you to get him.”

She glances at the oncoming Segways then, and does the strangest thing: she sings. It’s only a few lines, but they are unexpected—beautiful, soaring notes. Finn might respond more fully if he were not mostly DHI. To his dismay, he sees all the men in the large crowd turn toward the voodoo priestess, including the Security guys riding Segways, who immediately lose control and crash.

With a fierce cry, Charlene leads the Keepers into battle, Maybeck right behind her. She cartwheels, executes a back handspring, and lands atop Psycho, knocking him to the pavement. Maybeck blocks an attempt by two of the other weasels to grab Charlene, and the fight is on.

Jess hangs back as Philby and Finn march toward Tia Dalma and Cruella. Finn has no plan beyond focusing himself into full all clear. Cruella looks concerned. In contrast, Tia Dalma’s internal confidence rattles both boys.

Doom and his Toon Patrol are fully engaged by Maybeck and Charlene. Willa joins in; never much of a fighter, she’s battling as fiercely as she can.

Amanda walks steadily behind Philby and Finn, wishing there were a clear lane through which she could use her power to push.

Cruella shouts a single word, “Come!”

Tia Dalma’s lips are moving. Finn spots two tiny, rag-limbed dolls clutched in her tattooed hands and a long row of similar figurines tucked into a crimson scarf tied around her waist. As she squeezes her hand, his knees give out and he drops. Philby spins, buckles over at the waist, and falls, writhing in agony.

“Must…go…all…clear…” Finn groans, squinting his eyes closed, searching for darkness and that pinprick of light. All he sees is red, the color of his anger.

Amanda never misses a stride. Head held high, her vision locked on Tia Dalma, she raises her arms, pulls back at the elbows, and shoves.

Cruella and Tia Dalma catapult up and back, flying ten yards through the air before they crash hard to the ground. The crowd cheers, celebrating what they believe is a masterful special effect.

Finn screams. Philby throws up. Tia Dalma’s right hand squeezes the dolls so tightly that her fingers are white and bloodless.

“Hands in your pockets, young lady!” she roars.

Amanda, whose hands are in fact raised and ready to heave the two witches into another zip code, sees Finn shaking, Philby retching. She nods slowly and complies.

Behind them, Maybeck, Willa, and Charlene are losing ground to Doom and his Toon Patrol. No matter what the Keepers throw at them, the weasels barely feel it. Doom’s icy calm doesn’t help matters. He strolls casually over to Willa and grabs her from behind, holding a knife to her neck.

Jess stands to the side, observing.

“There, there,” Doom whispers. “You’ll barely even feel it.”

The cold pressure of the blade on Willa’s throat causes her limbs to tingle, and she’s afraid. Deathly afraid.

Amanda’s eyes sweep forward again. Tia is badly shaken from her fall. Cruella doesn’t appear to be moving.

The sound of rapid scratching comes like a powerful wind on all sides. The crowd screams, and chaos breaks out; park visitors scatter in every direction, revealing a rampaging horde of animals, mostly from the Jungle Cruise. Tigers, lions, leopards, monkeys, hyenas, and crows converge on Toontown from all sides, teeth bared, hackles up. They’re responding to Cruella’s summons, answering her call,
“Come!”

Among them are the stray cats and dogs that must hide inside the park all day and only emerge in the wee hours of the morning to hunt for food in the trash. They look prepared to devour everything in their path.

Among the shrieks and cries, the patter of running shoes slapping pavement surround the Keepers, stroller wheels spinning, lungs wheezing, feet flying. The retreat from Toontown is an exodus on an epic scale, a flight of all guests and Cast Members, scared off by the influx of wild animals, the flying witches, and the writhing boys.

Ignoring the chaos around them, Maybeck and Charlene are too engaged to see Doom’s hold on Willa. Jess is screaming at them to pay attention, but heedless, they continue to fight.

The flow of human bodies fleeing parts and spreads into two distinct streams. In the center of the split, a caped woman appears. She carries herself with the stature of a queen. An Evil Queen, carrying a shoulder-high scepter.

Every living thing in Toontown seems to take a collective breath.

“Willa!” Philby moans, seeing the knife at her throat.

The flow of people is finally exhausted; the area is empty.

Maybeck and Charlene hear Philby’s shout and stop fighting, even as the Toon Patrol moves toward them.

“All clear!” Charlene cries to Willa. It’s her friend’s only chance for survival.

Finn is shaking visibly, pain shooting through him, but still he sees the Evil Queen’s approach. A pinprick of light…A pinprick of light…But it eludes him.

Philby, tucked into a ball, forces one eye open.

The Queen advances at a slow, eerily calm pace. A dark smile splits her beautiful features.

Jess steps up alongside Amanda. “Can you—?”

“No,” Amanda whispers. “If I do, that creep’s hand will move. I’ll kill Willa.” Her voice tightens. Breaks. “Jess, this time…I think we’ve lost.”

“Y
OU WILL NOT WALK OVER ANYONE!”

The booming voice carves a path through the scene of battle and separates the crowd of Kingdom Keepers and Overtakers gathered in front of Mickey’s House. It belongs to an unimposing figure: an old man with wispy white hair, wearing khakis, a polo shirt, and leather-topped deck shoes. He looks like he belongs at a marina or on a golf course. In his right hand, he carries what appears to be a pad of paper.

“We are tired of you and your kind,” he says. “I find this all quite tiresome.”

Finn can breathe again, and move. Color returns to Philby’s face. Tia Dalma, an observer like the rest of them, has relaxed her grip.

“Some people know not when to give up,” the Evil Queen says in her calm, regal voice. “Such a pity.”

“And some nonpeople like you just plain take things too far,” Wayne counters. “Pitiful.” He holds up something in his left hand, a slender black object. “Looking for this, are we?”

The Queen cannot hide her surprise at the sight of the talisman. The other Overtakers seem to take their cue from her; clearly, they don’t understand the significance of Wayne’s offering, but they follow her lead just the same, with surprised expressions.

Finn’s body tingles as he mentally focuses on and achieves all clear. The blue outline reappears around Philby and the other Keepers as well—all but Willa, who, with a knife to her throat, has a sputtering blue outline.

Tia Dalma’s authority seems to have been usurped by the Evil Queen. The return to Disneyland appears to have rearranged the Overtakers’ hierarchy, and Finn wonders how this might affect him and the other Keepers.

“And look! What have we here?” Wayne says, motioning to Jess to approach him. As she comes nearer, he whispers to her,
“The past and future are always present.”

“I
dream
the future,”
she whispers back.
“But I’ve lived the
past.”

“Correct. Listen carefully now, young lady, and believe it
all.”

As Wayne turns his attention to the Evil Queen, he hands Jess the pad of paper along with a black fountain pen, the mere sight of which runs chills through her.

“This young woman can see the future,” Wayne says. The Overtakers are well aware of Jess’s paranormal abilities; they have tried repeatedly to capture her and prevent her from aiding the Kingdom Keepers. Now they hiss angrily among themselves. “What she doesn’t know,” Wayne continues loudly, “is something you have feared all along. She cannot only dream it, but with this pen—
Walt’s pen
—she can draw it as well.”

Walt’s pen! Jess studies the pen in her hand, wishing it weren’t there, wishing he had handed it to someone else. She has no idea how to use it.

“Draw what you see!” Wayne instructs Jess.

Trembling, Jess uncaps the pen. Is this indeed Walt Disney’s original pen, the same pen that saved the Kingdom after the Keepers solved the riddle of the Stonecutter’s Quill? Wayne’s declaration of her own powers is news to her. Is it a ruse to stall the Evil Queen? Jess has never considered herself a witch, but Wayne is talking about her as if she were one. She feels a burden she has never felt before.

Jess touches the nib to the paper, only to discover that the pen draws by itself. Ink spreads out into dozens of fine lines depicting the scene in front of her. As she lifts the pen from the page, the illustration animates. She can imagine Walt Disney seeing his mouse come to life.

A border forms around the illustration and the image splits in half, separating Willa from Judge Doom. The knife falls to the ground: in the picture, Willa is safe. But Doom seizes the knife and charges Wayne.…Jess jerks her eyes away from the image, unable to watch.

Her eyes meet Wayne’s, who nods slowly and deliberately.

She shakes her head. “No.”

Wayne nods again. “You must!”

“I…can’t!” Jess complains.

The Evil Queen casts a sideways glance at Judge Doom.

Jess knows what’s coming.

“Bring me that pen, Old Man!” the Evil Queen demands. As Jess steps forward, the Queen begins to rant. “Not you! Him, and him alone!”

Finn, Philby, and Maybeck exchange telling glances. Beside Maybeck, Charlene nods. Without speaking a word, they all know: inaction is not an option. They will not stand idly by while Wayne puts himself in danger.

Amanda’s hands, now out of her pockets, shake as strongly, as surely, as if she’s fighting back hurricane-force winds.

Wayne steps over to Jess and extends his hand, requesting the pen.

Jess reluctantly hands it over.

“You can stop this,”
he whispers.

“Silence! What did he say?” The Queen sounds childish. “What did he say?” Finn makes eye contact with Amanda; with a glance, he indicates Willa—a silent command.

Wayne walks confidently toward the Evil Queen. As he passes Finn, he whispers,
“It’s about time.”

He waves his left wrist and hand, casting his ice-blue eyes onto Finn in a way that freezes the boy in his tracks. Finn’s emotions get the better of him. That look of Wayne’s is a message; Finn’s brain attempts to process and decode it, but he does not recognize the signal and helplessly delegates the job of translation to his heart. Finn has had dreams in which he is desperate to run but can barely move, his limbs heavy as buckets of water, his engine sluggish. Now it feels as if he is there again in such a dream, the wide-awake dream of his DHI existence, with the world swirling around him in slow motion. He shouts, but his words come out as gobbledygook.

Wayne reaches the Queen and proffers the pen. As she reaches for the pen with her thin, impeccable fingers, she looks again to Judge Doom, blinking once. Jess watches the muscles in the man’s hand flex where he grips the knife. With one flutter of her eyelids, the Queen has sentenced Willa to die.

The Toon Patrol starts a slow-motion turn toward Maybeck and Charlene. It’s to be a slaughter—all the Keepers will fall on this night.

Wayne snatches back the pen, spins, and tosses it to Jess, who rips the sheet of paper in two, exactly as she saw the drawn image tear moments before. Before her, Judge Doom and Willa separate. The knife sails from Doom’s hand. Jess sprints toward Wayne to stop what she knows is coming, but it’s like trying to run in the ocean.

As the knife falls, both Finn and Philby dive for it. But Judge Doom recovers it first and without hesitation plunges the blade into Wayne’s chest.

With a scream, Amanda pushes telekinetically so hard that the Mickey statue atop the fountain bends. The Overtakers and Wayne lift off like errant leaves caught by an autumnal breeze.

Wayne lands near the gas station, flat on his back, the knife still stuck fast in his chest. Finn screams as he hurries forward, with Philby right behind.

The Queen, Cruella de Vil, Judge Doom, what’s left of the Toon Patrol, and the savage herd of wild animals are pushed together by Amanda’s power and driven down an alley that dead-ends in a closed gate—down but not done.

Philby takes Finn by the arm, but Finn tries to shake him loose.

Wayne’s eyes are open and unmoving.

Finn sobs, “He’s––”

“The most amazing man that ever was,” says Philby. “He did it for Willa. He did it for us!”

Finn turns and shoves Philby to the pavement.

Finn remembers that first night in the Magic Kingdom, an old man sitting next to a statue of Goofy, his ice-blue eyes and scratchy voice, so calm and knowing. He recalls how it felt to be trusted with secrets of a kingdom that outnumbered him in years by nearly five to one, how this old man knew the beginning and feared the end. It feels as if they have lived whole lives in these few years, as if Wayne has been grandfather, father, and partner to Finn, all in one. Finn cannot imagine a world without him—
will not
imagine a world without him.

“Honor—that!” Philby chokes out, the wind knocked out of him.

Amanda is at Finn’s side. “I’m sorry, Finn…I’m so sorry!”

Finn looks back and forth between her and Wayne. It’s not her fault. Somehow, Wayne foresaw what was coming.

As the first
boom!
sounds and the fireworks begin, Finn screams into the night sky. Images of his mentor’s face flash before his eyes; he is overwhelmed by memories of Wayne’s kindness and concern, his humor, their shared history. This can’t be true. First Dillard—now Wayne? The sounds coming from Finn are inhuman.

Jess joins Maybeck and Charlene. Willa seems steeled by her ordeal—a new strength resides within her.

Beneath the colorful flashes and blinding light, amid the deafening drumming of explosions overhead, Amanda reaches out to Finn and takes his hand. She holds on to him, as hard and fast as their DHI form allows, pulling him into a walk, then a flat-out run.

The Keepers race from Toontown, real tears running down their projected faces, real hearts torn from digital bodies, overwhelmed by real pain that dogs their heels as they hurry toward the Plaza, Philby in the lead, brandishing the Return as if it alone might represent salvation.