Kingdom Keepers VII (20 page)

Finn stands, facing the lamp. “I guess this is it.”

A voice pleads inside Finn, raw and aching as hunger:
Save Wayne!
He twists and turns internally, wanting so badly to use his wish to this end. He doesn’t open himself up to the possibility that the lamp won’t work; if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Instead, he focuses on what to ask of it, believing his wish might actually be granted. Selfishness needles him: he could wish for personal wealth, for Amanda to be in love with him for life—but these aims are counterbalanced by his being a Keeper. He has no idea if a personal wish would be granted, yet he knows intuitively that if his wish is correct, if it is selfless and for the good of all, it stands the best chance.

Wishing for Wayne is too small. Wayne himself would forbid it. So what to ask? Is Maleficent actually dead? Can Dillard be brought back to life? Is the battle of all battles about to take place? The wish can’t be too specific, and it will fail if it’s too general.

The others are practically holding their breath, waiting for him to do something.

Amanda peers over the edge of the top step. “That guy’s coming. He’s pulled himself out of the water.”

“His musket?” Maybeck asks. “Tell me you threw it into the water, too.”

“I…ah…well…”

“Got it,” Maybeck says.

“I think we should hold hands,” Finn says. “What happens to me happens to all of us.”

“What wish are you asking for?” Maybeck inquires.

“I’m not going to speak it aloud.” Finn extends his left hand. Amanda accepts it. She takes Jess’s. Jess reaches out for Maybeck.

“This could be really stupid,” Maybeck says to the girls. His humor is lost on them.

A musket shot rings out. The Bavarian is firing up the flight of stairs. Given the confines of the cave, the shot sounds like a bomb going off. The bullet ricochets all over the place; overhead the plaster explodes, chips flying everywhere, leaving a white gash exposed by the musket ball. Dust floats down onto the lamp and Finn.

“Push him,” Maybeck orders Amanda.

“I need a minute. Maybe more. Besides, he’s too far away.”

“I’m going to do this,” Finn says.

He closes his eyes. Focuses. His right hand blindly finds the lamp, and he rubs in gentle circles. His lips move silently. He squints: Nothing. He closes his eyes, continues reciting his wish in his mind like a mantra. He feels heat coming from the lamp. A low tone, like a hum. He squints again: steam or smoke, maybe both, emerge from the spout. The gas collects rather than dissipates. Forms into three circles of differing size. Inside the cloud an image appears.

Jess gasps. “I dreamed that, too!” she says.

Within the lamp’s swirling steam and smoke appears a row of tall columns and reddish stone walls that immediately identify themselves as the decor at the entrance line for Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye.

The steam and smoke disperse.

“We’re still here,” Finn says.

“You were expecting something else?” Maybeck says. “What did you wish for, anyway?”

“Get down! I’ve got this!” Jess shouts, winning the others’ attention. The soaking wet Bavarian presents himself, brandishing his musket, then raising the gun stock to his shoulder. He’s too close to miss.

The others drop. Jess remains upright. She marches calmly straight toward the man and right up to him, halting only a few feet away from the barrel of his musket. “You don’t want to do that.”

“Witches! Sorcerers!” the man shouts, lowering one eye to the gun sight.

Amanda draws a breath, about to call out. Finn squeezes the hand he’s already holding, stopping her.

“My friends and I—” Jess begins calmly.

The musket fires, the bullet passing directly into Jess’s chest and out the other side, then ricocheting off the wall. She never breaks stride.

“—are neither witches nor sorcerers. We are—goblins of good, sent to save the kingdom from those of whom you speak.”

“I…shot…” Musket Man says, in a thick Bavarian accent. He looks to be on the verge of fainting.

“No harm can come to us,” Jess says. The Keepers exchange a knowing glance; Jess managed to remain pure DHI, and the musket ball passed through her without injury.

Finn is in awe. Until this moment, he believed that only he possessed such absolute courage under fire. It cannot have been easy looking down that barrel; he’s not sure he could have managed it. Finn wonders once again about the origin of the Fairlies, marveling at the “coincidence” of their arrival in the lives of the Keepers, and the powers they clearly possess.

“We intend you no harm,” Jess says. “You would do us a great favor by putting aside your firearm and your animosity toward us and going back to your village—to all the villages of Storybook Land. You must spread the word that the time for an uprising has come. We goblins of good have been sent to drive back the wolves and restore order, but we cannot do it alone.”

Musket Man sniffs the flintlock on his gun. He seems satisfied that the powder ignited. He studies the thing as if it’s foreign to him, as if someone has just dropped it into his hands. He looks at Jess, then back at the musket. He steps close to her, stabs the gun at her but, making no contact, gasps and withdraws it from her abdomen.

He garbles a confused sentence in a thick Bavarian rural dialect.

Jess grabs the musket, pulls it from the man’s grip without effort, and tosses it down the staircase. Musket Man’s eyes follow his prized possession as it clatters down the stone steps. There is a loud splash.

The Bavarian turns and races down the stairs, stumbling and slipping. He regains his balance and continues running until the sound of splashing in the distant waterfall signals his departure.

“We’d better get going,” Jess says, addressing her friends. “He won’t believe me yet. He’ll call for a militia. Our best bet is to leave quickly.”

Finn is the first to stand. He moves toward Jess reverentially, studying her as if seeing her for the first time. He then does the same to Amanda.

“Who are you?” he asks them.

* * *

Back outdoors, the Keepers don’t see Pumbaa anywhere.

“We need to get to Indiana Jones. And fast!” Finn says.

“‘We’re always good for a laugh,’” Amanda says. “Remember?”

“Yeah? So?”

“So we need to laugh,” Jess says.

First Amanda, then Jess, and then the two boys begin faking laughter. Louder. Louder still.

Pumbaa and Timon come racing around a corner, also in hysterics.

“Only in Disneyland,” Finn mumbles. He makes eye contact with Amanda, and there’s an unspoken thank-you in his gaze. She nods. Her smile is wide, her eyes knowing.

The wacky warthog carries them to the entrance of the Indiana Jones attraction. They slide off his back and down his tail like experts.

“Will you wait for us, please?” Finn says.

“I’m waits for no man!” Pumbaa says.

“It’s not ‘I’m,’ it’s
time
!” Timon says, correcting his friend.

“Time for what?” Pumbaa says, laughing hysterically at his own joke.

Timon slaps him. “We will wait,” he says. The two trundle off, Pumbaa still chuckling.

“What did you wish for?” Maybeck asks Finn again. The group is a few yards into the vacant queue, making time.

“I’m afraid I’ll jinx it by telling you.”

Philby must have tracked their DHIs moving across the park, projector to projector, because all at once the world spins and they all lose their balance and fall. When they stand up, they are full size again. They won’t be using Pumbaa again.

“Philby really should warn us,” Maybeck says, holding his bleeding leg.

“Finn, you won’t jinx anything by telling us,” says Amanda, with uncharacteristic harshness. “The lamp told us to come here. Why?”

Finn sighs. The group collects around him. “My wish was to learn how we could stop the OTs once and for all.”

For a moment, no one moves or breathes.

“Well,” Maybeck says, “at least it wasn’t anything big.”

“Why here?” Jess says. “My dream…I don’t remember.…Not this place. Not exactly.”

“And yet,” Finn says, “here we are.”

“‘Once and for all,’” Maybeck says, quoting Finn, his sarcasm replaced by hopefulness.

“How amazing would that be?” Amanda says dreamily.

“
Will
be,” Finn says.

“Of course,” she says. “That’s what I meant.”

They pass a cordoned-off generator marked
HIGH VOLTAGE
. A cooking area. A small temple; two large gold cobras guard the stairs. Finn pauses below a stone lintel carved with an all-seeing eye and hieroglyphics.

“Suppose this is trying to warn us?” He points to his eyes, indicating that the others should remain vigilant, and silences them again with a finger pressed to his closed lips.

The seriousness of their purpose hangs in the air; it’s not as if the Overtakers are going to let them walk in and end the conflict once and for all. It’s never been that easy. It never will be.

Contradicting himself, Finn speaks softly. “‘Beware the eye of Mara.’ Translation: maybe we’re being watched. Subtitle: we’re outnumbered. Let’s make this a reconnaissance mission. If anything goes wrong we meet up at the Plaza. Stay clear. Stay safe.”

“Nice. I like it,” Maybeck says.

Amanda speaks. Her voice sounds distant, trancelike. “Mara’s a goddess said to grant the seeker riches, eternal youth, or…”

“Or what?” Maybeck asks when she fails to complete her thought.

“Visions of the future.”

All eyes turn to Jess.

Finn speaks first. “Maybe this isn’t the place we defeat them. It’s the place
you
see
how
we defeat them.” Jess shrugs. Finn can see in her eyes that she does not want this burden placed on her.

“Maybe it’s not visions of the future. But granting eternal youth isn’t necessarily any better,” Jess says. “Death is eternal. And
we
are young—as in ‘youth.’”

“It could mean SBS,” Amanda cautions.

“There’s a cheery thought,” Maybeck quips.

“Are we sure we should do this?” Amanda says.

“We’re never sure of anything,” Maybeck says. “We never got around to writing that Keepers handbook we always talk about.…”

The deeper they move down the narrow red-rock throat of the queue, the creepier it gets. Sound echoes, causing the Keepers to jump. As they reach a small circular room with an artifact at its center, Finn turns to Jess and mimes writing: she should take notes. He points to the artifact—a pyramid-shaped stone with animal forms chiseled into its sides—and to the oversized pale blocks of stone that make up the curving walls, some of them also incised with scattered hieroglyphs.

More hallway, more carvings, more hieroglyphs. They round a corner and moonlight streams in from overhead. The area opens up. Rustling stalks of tall bamboo serve as a wall to control the would-be lines.

“We’re in too deep for a quick retreat,” Maybeck says.

Finn nods, a feeling of dread overtaking him.

The ceiling gives way to stalactites that take Maybeck back to the island of Aruba and a near-death encounter with the Overtakers. The walls appear increasingly molten, like cold lava, flowing stone frozen in an instant.

The shapes remind Finn of animal horns and skeletons. He and the others pass a giant millstone upended on its edge, seemingly ready to roll or tumble.

“Remember,” Maybeck says, breaking the silence, “Indy had to avoid all sorts of traps and tricks meant to kill him. We’re in here after dark, after closing. There’s no telling what we might encounter.”

“How reassuring,” Amanda says.

Finn shoots a look at Amanda. Her face is white.

“Sheesh!” Maybeck says. “Freaky.”

The ceiling opens up to vines and a rickety-looking bamboo ladder hanging from a platform. The lighting is dim and casts confusing shadows. The room grows even wider. The path meanders.

Finn nearly says
This feels wrong
, but he knows better. He’s learned to temper his fear, both for the continuity of his DHI and the sake of his partners. But it feels wrong, just the same.

“How can this possibly take down the OTs?” Maybeck says, verbalizing what’s on everyone’s mind. “This ride came light-years after the opening of the park. The OTs had been around forever at that point. I mean, what if the OTs somehow made Jess’s dream happen, tricked us into coming here?”

“One word,” Finn says. “
Wayne.
The things he’s helped us with have never relied on a timetable. This attraction, all the attractions, were dreamed up and built under the direction of the Imagineers. Maybe there’s no big showdown in Indiana Jones, but there’s treasure, right? Indy’s always after treasure, and so are we. It makes sense. ‘Visions of the future.’ That’s got to be it.”

“I saw some of this,” Jess reminds them, reminding them of their purpose. “This is part of our search. Part of something bigger.”

“The Eye on the Globe screen,” Maybeck says, pointing to a dark wall ahead. “We’re nearly there.”

“Where?” Amanda asks.

“Where it all starts,” Maybeck says. He changes his voice to sound like the Sallah character in
Indiana Jones
. “The Chamber of Destiny. Eternal youth; earthly riches; visions of the future.”

“We need to get Jess into that Chamber,” Amanda says dryly.

Finally, they pass a caged office full of artifacts and arrive at the cars. The emergency lights are on. An electronic hum suggests that the ride is running.

“Just like the dolls in It’s a Small World,” Maybeck says. “Ride is turned on. No one here.”

“Let’s hope not,” replies Finn.

“You need to close your eyes,” Amanda whispers to Jess as the first car rolls forward.

Finn and Maybeck have taken the outside seats of the vehicle’s front row, bookending the sisters, who sit in the middle.

“Not going to happen,” Jess says.

“You’ll stay clearer,” Amanda counters. “Maybe with your eyes closed, you’ll see whatever it is you’re supposed to see.”

“We don’t know if I’m supposed to see anything. Finn asked to be shown how to bring down the Overtakers. The answer to that could be anything. Terry and I are the artists here,” Jess says, raising her voice.