Disney After Dark (15 page)

Silence.

“I think my parents are suspicious,” Willa announced.

“Mine are, too,” Finn added. “They think I’m sneaking out.”

“My mom’s al uptight,” Charlene confessed.

“Going to bed at eight doesn’t help things,” Maybeck said. “My aunt thinks I’ve total y lost it.”

Finn asked Philby and Willa what, if anything, they’d learned about clouds, the next clue in the fable.

Philby explained, “There are clouds in so many rides. Pooh. Peter Pan. But the ride with the most clouds, and the biggest clouds, is Splash Mountain. That’s where Finn and I wil start.”

“Start what?” Charlene asked.

“When we’re inside the attractions,” Philby announced, “we al wear the glasses. We’l ‘gain a better perspective.’ Let’s meet back at the apartment at ten. The button is up there. Use it if you have to.”

“Listen up,” Finn said, moving invisibly toward the teepee door and eventual y into the area where he could be seen. “Majority rules. If you guys need to leave the park, then use the remote.”

Maybeck asked, “What if it takes al of us at the same time? What if we’re wrong about needing to be close to it?”

“Then we’ll find out the hard way,” Philby said.

“We should get going,” Maybeck said anxiously.

“What’s the matter?” Charlene asked Maybeck. “You got a hot date?”

Maybeck smirked. “Not with you I don’t.”

The four others booed him. Maybeck went right on grinning, unperturbed.

19

F
inn and Philby climbed into Splash Mountain’s waterway carefuly. The dark water was cold.

Finn didn’t like the feeling at all. “Are we sure,” he whispered to Philby, “that this is worth it?”

“Do we have a choice?”

They slogged their way through the first part of the ride, around some turns, and soon encountered a rubber conveyor incline that proved a tough climb. It grew darker the deeper they went into the ride. Aside from his cold, wet legs, Finn felt a different chill all through his body. He considered mentioning it to Philby, but he didn’t want to sound afraid like Charlene.

They climbed through a second tunnel, much longer and darker than the first. It had stairs on either side for maintenance and emergency evacuation. Only the orange night sky, and a slight glow from their holograms, offered any light. Once through this second tunnel, they rested briefly before passing a massive tree on their left. In one scene there was a ladder hanging from a branch, with a laundry line to their right. Here the water current was strong and the going more treacherous.

Philby said softly, “I think we ought to float.”

“What?”

“Float,” he repeated. Philby lowered himself fully into the water and leaned back. The water current quickly carried him away from Finn.

Reluctantly, Finn did the same, not wanting to be left behind.

Both boys maintained their balance and direction by keeping one hand on the steel rail meant to guide the ride’s boats.

“I’ve taken this ride a zillion times,” Philby said, “but this is pretty cool.”

Finn didn’t love being soaking wet, but he too was enjoying himself.

Then they entered a dark scene, a cavelike space filled with Audio-Animatronic figures. The characters, turned off for the night, all stood frozen in midgesture.

“Kinda creepy,” Finn said. He’d had enough. The going was perfectly flat here, the current slow. He grabbed the rail and prepared to climb out.

Philby dove forward, splashing them both, and grabbed hold of Finn.

“You can’t do that!” Philby warned him. “If we climb out, we’ll trip the alarm.”

“What alarm?” Finn challenged.

“They use infrared sensors to detect anyone who tries to get out of a log car during the ride.”

“But the ride’s shut down.”

“But is the infrared shut down?” Philby asked. “I doubt it. Besides, there are thirty-six hidden cameras along the ride. If we climb out, we’ll be photographed.”

“It’s pitch-black!”

“But we’re not,” he said, indicating his own glow. “We’ll be photographed, trust me. And if we’re photographed, we’re identified and busted,” Philby said.

“How do you know any of this stuff?”

“Can you spell
Google
?”

“And you waited until
now
to tell me this?” Finn asked.

“I wasn’t going to write you a report,” Philby snapped back irritably.

Finn’s fear grew more intense the deeper they ventured into this cave. They floated faster now as the route twisted and turned. The waist-deep water in the ride’s chute was getting deeper; and the water was flowing faster.

“If I remember right, we’re going into a small —drop,” Philby announced.

Both boys rushed down the drop. Finn’s head went underwater, and he heard something grinding. Something mechanical.

He bobbed to the surface. “Did you hear that?”

“The ride’s turned on,” Philby declared, his voice unsteady. “That means the log cars are moving.”

Finn recalled the marching dolls. He had no desire to try to outrace metal boats shaped to look like logs.

Another drop.

The water tried to swallow them. Both boys remained on their backs, arms extended to stay afloat. At the bottom, Finn looked ahead to see another tunnel approaching.

“I don’t like this!” he said.

As they neared the tunnel they saw lights and heard music playing. Voices sang, “You gotta keep moving along.”

The robot characters were moving; giant creatures with long noses and big bugged-out eyes rocked and danced. One threw a fishing line at the water.

Finn said, “I’m starting to think getting busted wouldn’t be too bad.”

“Not yet!” Philby announced. “We’ve got to hang in there.”

The two boys swam and bounced and bumped their way along the water route. They passed fake green hills and low-hanging tree branches, and a six-foot-tall rabbit holding a paintbrush.

These things looked devilish to Finn as he saw them looming above him.

“The ride takes a total of eleven minutes to complete,” Philby said. “If we’re halfway along—

and I bet we are—then the first log car shouldn’t arrive for another six minutes. By that time, we’ll only have a couple minutes to go.”

“Why doesn’t that sound terribly reassuring?”

Next were mountain backdrops and twelve-foot-high bears. Finn looked away, cold and shivering, and anticipated the arrival of a steel log.

“Clouds!” Philby announced.

Finn saw them in the backdrop. They were painted behind a mountain range. He wormed a hand into his pocket and donned the pair of 3-D glasses, just as Philby did.

Nothing. The clouds looked perfectly normal.

Finn squeezed the glasses back into his pocket with difficulty. “This is crazy,” he said. “What are we doing here?”

“The more important question,” Philby answered, “is who knows we’re in here, and why was the ride turned on?”

“If you’re trying to cheer me up, you’re not doing such a great job,” Finn fired back.

A giant rabbit jumped across the scene, and called out loudly, which caused Finn to splash in self-defense. Okay, Finn thought, now I’m defending myself against mechanical rabbits. What if these robots come alive the same way the dolls did? “Okay,” he said. “I would like to get out of here!”

“More clouds!” Philby announced.

Finn fumbled with his glasses again. Wearing them, he took in the clouds and sky. Still nothing.

nothing.

Presently, there were chipmunk voices singing something at such a high pitch and volume that Finn couldn’t understand a word. But he could
feel
the logs approaching. Philby kept glancing over his shoulder. He could feel them too.

A low male voice began narrating the ride. The scene became as dark as the inside of a stomach. The boys bounced off the rails and the chute walls. Bruised and cold, Finn grew increasingly desperate. “Exactly
what
are we doing here?” he asked as his head came up from underwater again.

“My bad, Finn,” Philby said. “But keep the glasses on. Okay? And keep an eye out for more clouds.”

A large wolf wearing a cowboy hat and holding a rabbit was saying something that was probably funny, though Finn wasn’t listening. His ears were tuned to the steady groan of the system—the approach of the log cars.

“Maybe we risk the cameras,” Finn suggested.

Philby said, “And have our DHIs removed from the park? I don’t think so!”

Finn knew this was right. He felt his courage gathering and was glad to have it back.

They slipped down a dip, traveling ever faster in the dark, churning water. Finn saw light up ahead. He felt a profound sense of gratitude. The end of the ride, in sight at last! But then he remembered where they were in the ride. Next up was—

A really
big
drop. The ride’s biggest drop of all. Its biggest thrill. Thrill or kill? Finn wondered.

He back-paddled, fighting the current.

“That baby’s about four stories, straight down,” Philby said. “Forty-five degrees. A million gallons of water driving you like a freight train.”

Their bodies slapped forward—closer to the edge—despite their vigorous splashing.

“It’ll either crush us,” Finn said, “or we’ll drown.”

Philby didn’t disagree.

Finn said more loudly, “I said: it’ll either crush us, or we’ll drown!”

“Yeah,” Philby said. “I think you’re right.” He rolled onto his stomach and tried to swim away from the drop, but it was no use: the water was too fast.

Finn also rolled over and started swimming. He tried for the edge, happy to climb out, even with the risk of getting busted, but the strong current prevented him from reaching the side. He panicked.

Though the two boys swam frantically, they were actually moving with the current toward the drop.

Philby said between strokes, “If we—could get—into a log—”

Was that possible? Finn wondered. It did seem the perfect solution.

How much longer until a log arrived? Finn wondered. He twisted his watch while flapping his other arm in an awkward crawl. Any moment, he decided. Between gulps of disgusting water he said, “Sounds like a plan. Keep swimming!” They were both still slipping backward despite their efforts. The ride’s dramatic plummet drew near.

It felt to Finn as if he were being sucked down a giant drain.

“We’re not thinking right!” he said. The first log appeared. It looked big and powerful, and it was coming right for them.

Still thinking out loud, Finn said, “We’re made of
light
, Philby. Holograms! We’re half light. We aren’t solid. Wayne talked about Einstein. About how we’re more space than atoms.” He couldn’t see Philby through all the splashing.

A voice surfaced. “I don’t think this is the best time to discuss physics,” Philby said. “Besides

—I probably know more about it than you do.”

They heard a loud
bump
! and
whack
! from the dark as the log grew closer.

“If we’re mostly light,” Finn proposed, “then water current can’t affect us. Light moves
through
water; it doesn’t get carried off by it.”

Driven by his newfound confidence, Finn rolled onto his back and stroked more gently.

Slowly, he pulled away from Philby, and with half the effort.

It’s all what I’m thinking, he realized.

Philby watched as Finn’s glowing body—brighter now—swam past him upstream. In doing so, Philby allowed himself to relax for a moment.

A moment too long.

Philby was sucked down the throat of the final plummet.

Time slowed. Philby tumbled through space and water, holding his breath and then sucking for air. His lungs burned. He couldn’t tell what was up or down. Then, amid the swirl of black, a hand appeared. A human hand. Glowing, as if it had been plugged into the wall. Behind that hand another shape formed. That shape was an arm, Finn’s arm.

Finn was inside the log car leaning over. The two boys locked hands, and Finn dragged Philby up and into the log. The log threw out a tremendous splash as it reached the bottom of the chute.

By the time Philby had righted himself, now sitting up, the log had snaked through the chute and entered yet another scene. This was the last scene, the most exotic of the attraction.

Finn and Philby scrambled for their glasses.

“How did you do that?” Philby asked.

“I’m not sure. But I think it was all in my head,” Finn replied.

Behind the paddleboat, Finn spotted large pink clouds in a big blue sky. His head swirled with the sounds of voices singing “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.” He slipped on the eyeglasses.

There, behind the Showboat, he saw a bunch of clouds. In the middle of one of the biggest clouds he saw several big letters. They appeared to have been spray-painted:
FME

When Finn lifted his glasses, the letters disappeared.

“Our first clue!” Finn whispered, looking for the exit.