“Not our problem,” said Maybeck. “All we’ve got to do is ride the float and wave to the guests. Let’s stick with the program.”
At that moment, music started and the first float moved toward the open gate. The five holograms came to life, as if a switch had been thrown. They formed a line at the front of the parade, waving to the bushes, as if guests were waving back.
“Sometimes our DHIs look so stupid,” Willa said.
“Sometimes?” Philby said sarcastically.
“They paid us well,” Maybeck reminded them, “and we got Gold Fastpasses for our families. We’ve got nothing to complain about.”
“And they’re having a parade to celebrate our DHIs returning to the Kingdom,” Finn said, “and we get to be part of it. Things could be worse.”
“Who here doesn’t miss the way it used to be? Before they patched the source code?” Maybeck met eyes with each of them.
Finn had been the first to “cross over” during his sleep: to wake up as his own hologram in the Magic Kingdom. Initially it had seemed impossible, but encounters with pirates and witches had made him reconsider what was real and what was make-believe. Soon, all five kids had come to the same realization: when they went to sleep at night they awoke inside the Magic Kingdom as their DHI holograms. In reality, it had not been a corruption in the software’s source code but the ingenious work of a veteran Disney Imagineer named Wayne, who had needed their help. But no one at Disney knew this other than them, so recently programmers had inserted a software patch to correct “the problem.”
None of them knew if Wayne could, or would, undo it, allowing them to return to the Magic Kingdom as nighttime holograms. But all of them secretly hoped he would.
“Here we go!” said Finn. “Hang on!”
Their float jerked and climbed up the sloping asphalt just behind another float carrying Aladdin and Jasmine. With all the floats strung out in a line, the kids had lost sight of their matching holograms out in front, leading the way.
The music swelled, and a man’s voice dramatically announced, “Welcome to DHI-Day at Magic Kingdom!” The sound of applause rose above the lush jungle landscaping.
“Keep your smiles on,” said Maybeck, “and hang on tight.”
But at that moment, all five kids lost their balance and stumbled into each other. Jasmine and Aladdin also slipped off their pillows as their float accelerated to close a sudden gap that had appeared in the parade line.
It took Finn a moment to spot the problem: one of the floats—the villains float—had been pulled out of the line and off to the side. The Aladdin float, and the one carrying the DHIs, had sped up to close the gap.
“What’s with that?” said Maybeck. “Broken down?”
“No,” said Philby. “It’s empty.”
He was right: the float’s platform lacked a character or Cast Member. It was just an empty wooden rectangle. Below it, the Cast Members responsible for preparing the floats scurried around frantically, hurrying to get the empty float out of the way and to fill the void created by its absence.
“What happened?” Finn called down to one of the Cast Members just before reaching the gate and the adoring guests.
The man didn’t answer immediately. But his face gave away his concern. “He was right there a minute ago,” he mumbled, nearly drowned out by the music. “I swear he was!”
“Who?” called Finn. “Which character?”
He and the others had long since learned to take nothing for granted. Not when there were Overtakers in the Park, who wanted to gain control of the Magic Kingdom. There were no accidents here: everything happened for a reason, even if the other Cast Members didn’t recognize it.
“That float should have Chernabog on it!” said Philby shouting to be heard above the music. “Only he’s not there.” He turned and looked back at the empty float as they passed fully through the gate and into the Park. Finn had turned around as well. So had Maybeck.
“Who’s Chernabog?” grumbled Maybeck.
Philby answered, “Only the most powerful villain Walt Disney ever created.”
Finn’s voice was overpowered by the joyous music and the crush of applause. “And he’s gone missing? That can’t be good.”
2
FINN FELT THE QUICKENING BREEZE of the lightning storm bearing down on the Park. He hoped the weather would hold off at least until the parade finished. It was an evening parade with fireworks to follow. He didn’t want it canceled. It wasn’t every day he was asked to ride a float in Disney World.
He kept checking the sky as the line of floats reached a view of Tom Sawyer Island. He noted that the water looked oddly green and mysterious. His four friends waved and smiled at the crowds—big crowds. All but Maybeck, who nodded with his whole body but never actually waved, his head bopping and moving to the parade music.
As their float moved through Frontierland, Finn caught sight of a girl among the crowd. She was like a beam of light or a bright star in the night sky, the way she stood out. Amid the hundreds of guests—thousands?—she had appeared almost magically. Nut-colored skin, thanks to an Asian mother and African American father; a tangle of dark hair bouncing as, running now, she kept up with the steady movement of the parade. She seemed almost to float above the ground. Immediately behind her followed Jezebel. And though they claimed to be sisters, it had to be by adoption. Amanda’s skin was a rich caramel, her hair so dark brown it was mistaken for black. Jez had once had jet black hair as well, though it was no longer so. But her pale, translucent skin set her apart, not just from Amanda, but from every girl Finn had ever met; it had depth, as if you could see into and through the first layer to some part of her that lay beyond.
“Amanda!” Finn shouted, breaking a strict rule that required silence of any Cast Members on a float.
The other kids hurried over and waved enthusiastically at both girls.
Amanda and Jez waved back, glad to have been spotted. Amanda gave Finn an enthusiastic thumbs-up—or at least he thought she’d intended it for him. He hadn’t seen or heard from her in weeks. She hadn’t been in school. She’d disappeared the same day her sister had somehow been transformed by Finn—an event he still didn’t fully understand. Jez had gone from evil twin to a sweet, even angelic, girl, all in less than a minute. Only then had Amanda dropped the bomb that Jezebel was her sister, an explanation that had never been fully clarified.
“Where did they come from?” Charlene asked. Even now Finn heard a tinge of jealousy in her voice. Or was that suspicion? There was a lot unanswered about Jez and Amanda. “And check out that hair color. Since when is she a strawberry blonde? Last time we saw her she had hair like my granny’s.”
“What the heck are they doing here?” Philby called out. He didn’t mean the sisters.
Two big monkeys were moving in the bushes, swinging and keeping perfect pace with…was it possible?… the float. Their float.
“Since when are there monkeys in the Magic Kingdom?” Maybeck said.
“Are they wild?” Charlene asked, having noticed them as well.
Finn saw something his friends apparently didn’t: the monkeys weren’t following the float; they were following Jez and Amanda, keeping perfect pace with their movements.
“There aren’t any primates in the wild in northern Florida,” Philby said, ever the expert. Philby was a walking encyclopedia—he knew everything, and what he didn’t know he knew how to research. His red hair and rock-climbing, thrill-seeking mind-set played against the geek he really was. A favorite of the girls at school, he wanted nothing to do with them. He spent his weekends with a climbing wall and a laptop.
The parade turned just then, making a graceful arc past the Hall of Presidents. The crowds thickened. Amanda’s efforts to keep up with the DHI float failed. She and Jez stopped, caught in a bottleneck of Park guests. Finn waved, and Amanda waved back, but it wasn’t a pleasant or friendly wave; it was more like panic.
Growing smaller now and being absorbed by the crowd, Amanda pointed to Cinderella Castle. Then sharply up. Finn nodded, hoping to communicate that he too was aware of the oversize gray balloon. But Amanda shook her head violently, as if he didn’t understand. He nodded, again trying to say that he did understand. He felt constrained by not being able to shout down at her. Amanda frantically pointed toward the sky. Then she tore a leaf off a plant and pushed it against her face. Again she pointed toward the castle. Then the float rounded the corner, and Amanda was gone.