SEVEN DHIs-THE KEEPERS, along with Amanda and Jess-sat along the catwalk surrounding the water tower in Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Their DHIs shimmered slightly against the night sky, but even from several feet away they looked perfectly real. The technology improved with every software upgrade.
“What now?” Charlene asked.
The mood was not good. Despite the Keepers’ control of the fob and their preventing a takeover of the power plant, the Evil Queen had engineered Maleficent and Chernabog’s escape. Right under their noses.
“We find them,” Finn said. “And we find wherever they’ve moved their hideout to.”
“We can help,” Ariel said. “But we need a leader.”
All eyes shot down the metal railing at Finn. “We want to help,” Finn said to her. “But I can’t see the characters following one of us.”
Ariel laughed. “One of you? Oh, no!” She covered her laugh. “I’m sorry! I don’t mean it to sound like that. But we have a long and storied history.” She giggled, self-amused. “Our leader. There’s only one leader.”
Finn thought back to Shan-Yu’s comments about emperors and leadership.
“Mickey,” he said.
Ariel’s face sagged. “Yes.”
“Where is he?” Willa asked.
“Minnie is so sad. No one knows for sure. He might be in hiding. He might be…We just have no way of knowing. They’ve taken down his house, you know? Minnie’s, too. ‘Updating,’ they call it. Don’t believe it. It’s all because of ‘the Night.’ ”
None of the Keepers had ever heard of a particular night or event. As a group, they looked at her curiously.
“We heard noises from his house on that night,” Ariel continued, oblivious to their confusion. “A struggle of some kind. He’s not been seen since. The family will listen to him. Our family. What you call the characters. He can bring us together. We thought…You see, we understood…We believed you were sent here to find him for us.”
“Us?” Philby said. “But we never knew he was missing!”
“We’ve guarded the secret. Not even the white-hair knows.” She meant Wayne.
“But why?”
“He’s too important. He is the magic. The Green One knows. She understands his power.”
“Maleficent,” Charlene muttered.
Amanda squeezed Finn’s hand unseen. He squeezed hers back. For a very long time, no one spoke. The crickets and night animals made a buzz that filled the air. A breeze blew. Somewhere down there was Frollo. The Green Army. There was much to learn, Finn thought.
“What frosts me,” Philby said, “is that three weeks later and still there’s been no kind of discipline or investigation into Luowski and Hugo.”
“They stopped wearing the contacts,” Amanda said. “There’s no proof of any of it.”
“They’re building an army,” Maybeck warned. “Just as we thought. We’d be wise to do the same.”
“Is this their general, I wonder?” Jess reached into her pocket and passed down the sketch of the uniformed officer. It reached Ariel and stopped. She studied it, looked up, and studied it again.
“What is it?” Finn asked.
“This is no general,” she said. “It’s Captain Peter.”
“WHO?” Philby, Finn, and Maybeck said in near unison.
“Captain Peter Roseman. The Disney Magic. The cruise ship. I’ve worked with Captain Peter before, several times.”
“The cruise ship,” Philby said.
“They want to steal the Magic,” Willa said. “Not the magic-small m. The Magic-capital M.”
Finn stood up so quickly, his DHI knees went through the chain banister. “That’s the next Keepers installment! The cruise line! We have that opening scheduled for what-?”
“Two weeks,” Maybeck said. “A Saturday. Grand opening is Port Canaveral.”
The other Keepers clambered to their feet. Only Ariel was slow in getting up.
“We’ve got to say good-bye for now,” Finn said to the mermaid.
“I hope you’ll come back and visit?”
“Actually, we may need you.”
“And your other friends,” Charlene said.
“We’ll see if Wayne can arrange some kind of character spectacular on the cruise,” Finn said.
Ariel nodded, not knowing exactly what they were talking about. “Sounds lovely.”
Finn thought of Minnie and Pluto. He pulled the fob out of his pocket and held it before them. “Everyone ready?”
Nods all around.
“How strange that a thing so small possesses so much power,” Finn said.
“But it does,” Philby said. “That thing is the key to it all.”
Finn nodded. He held his hand over Ariel’s and said, “Will you hide this for us?”
“Of course,” she said. “Willa knows how to find me.”
Finn looked around at the faces of the Kingdom Keepers, thinking: We’re not done here.
And then he pushed the button.