Power Play

“Both,” all three boys answered, simultaneously.

Finn said, “We need to be DHIs. It’s way safer.”

“These are just Disney villains,” she said, as if trying to convince herself. “They are fictional characters.”

The boys said nothing. Unless you’d met Maleficent face-to-face, there was no explaining it.

“I thought they locked them up,” she said.

Philby said, “There’s no real way to know, but, yeah, we’re pretty sure they’re locked up.”

“Then who’s doing this?” she asked.

“You wouldn’t believe us if we told you,” Finn said.

“Try me.”

“The two we’ve seen so far are Cruella and the Evil Queen. There are probably more.”

“Oh, I hate the Evil Queen,” she said. Then she started laughing, and the boys joined in. She cleared tears from her eyes as they stopped. “What are you going to do? How can I help?”

“Seriously?” Finn said, wondering if the Overtakers had gotten control of his mom. This was his mom, right? “For one thing, you could call Jelly and Philby’s parents and tell them they’re spending the night.”

“I can do that. What else?” she asked.

Philby explained: “We have to get Finn and Maybeck to cross over and find her. As long as they can get her to the fob, we’re good. If something’s wrong with the fob-which seems possible-they need to get her to what we call ‘the landing’-the center of the Park, the fountain. Then I can bring them back manually, without the fob.”

“We could use a parent on our side,” Finn said. “If the parents gang up on us…it will not be good.”

“Meaning, you could use a parent in case something goes wrong?” she asked Philby.

“Uhh…”

“What could go wrong?” she asked. “You’re saying Finn and Maybeck might not Return? Like Willa?”

“I suppose.”

Finn held his breath. Think of Willa, he was chanting to himself. “Her mother’s really freaked out,” he reminded. “We know we can get her back.”

Mrs. Whitman put the car in gear and peeled out, throwing the boys back in their seats.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” she said.

* * *

Philby’s mother wouldn’t let him spend the night. Having lost her son once to the Syndrome she didn’t approve of his spending time with his Keeper friends. Despite the newspaper stories spreading rumors that the Keepers had defended Disney World from its villains, she had a limited view of their purpose. She didn’t give two cents about Disney World keeping its magic. Not if it put her son at risk. It wasn’t like he was saving the world or something. It was an entertainment company. Some theme parks. She wasn’t about to sacrifice her son for the sake of larger profits. Her resistance to anything Kingdom Keepers was tempered by an appreciation for the money Disney continued to contribute for Philby’s future college expenses; she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, but she had limits.

So Mrs. Whitman had dropped Philby home, taking Maybeck and Finn with her.

Philby had placed a towel at the bottom of his door to block the light from reaching the hallway, so when his mom checked it would look like the lights in his room were out. He sat at his computer.

ready? he texted Finn over Skype.

yes, Finn texted back.

its working. i’m in. good 2 go

Finn texted:

k, 9

Philby returned:

cm

Finn leaned back in his chair, his mother sitting on one side, Maybeck on the other, Finn’s father snoring from the other room.

“This worries me,” his mother said.

“It’s good news.”

“Not that,” she said. “But that I don’t understand half of what you’re texting.”

“It’s like a code.”

“I know that, Finn. Don’t get smart with me.”

His mother got irritable if she stayed up late. This was going to be a long night.

“Once Maybeck and me get to sleep, Philby’ll cross us over.”

“Maybeck and I,” she corrected. He ignored her: way too tired. “What about you getting back?”

“We’ll find the fob. No sweat. If it’s not working, we’ve already set up a time and Philby can manually Return us.”

“The manual override he talked about,” she said.

“Yeah, exactly,” he said.

“What time?”

“One.”

She sat back. “You all have thought it through, haven’t you?”

“It’s what we do, Mom.”

“Yes, but…You’re fifteen.”

“Almost sixteen,” he said.

“It’s a lot to deal with.”

“Not really,” he said. He could hear her rethinking her decision to allow him and Maybeck to cross over.

“It’s dangerous. Risky,” she said. “You both said so.”

“Exaggerating,” Maybeck said. “You know Philby. Remember, Mrs. W., when we cross over we’re holograms. Stuff passes through us.”

“What kind of stuff, Terry? Are you saying they try to hurt you?”

“It’s Disney World. Nothing bad happens,” Maybeck said.

Finn wondered if they’d used this excuse one too many times.

To Finn’s relief, she nodded. She was definitely tired.

“We’ve got to get to sleep,” he said.

Maybeck climbed onto an inflatable mattress on the floor.

“With your shoes on?” Mrs. Whitman said to Maybeck.

“Mom,” Finn said, “we know what we’re doing. Go to sleep. We’ll see you in the morning.”

“As if,” she said. She was even beginning to talk like him.

* * *

The 9 Finn had texted had let Philby know his mother was in the room. The cm that came back from him meant “Call Me.”

Now, with her gone, Finn climbed out of bed and let Maybeck know what was going on. He double-checked that his door was fully closed and returned to his computer. He called Philby, and spoke at a whisper.

“What’s up?” Finn said.