Dozens of guests had gathered to observe the excitement. Some applauded as the Kingdom Keepers dropped to the path, but they didn’t stick around to take a bow.
Charlene said, “This way!” and led the others directly across the formal gardens and into the jungle on a route she now knew well.
But just before they entered the dense jungle, Jez pulled to a stop, transfixed by something to her right.
All the kids stopped and looked in that direction. They saw a snowcapped peak of a towering mountain.
“That mountain was in my dream,” she told Finn. “The dream I told you about.”
“King of the Mountain” Finn said. “Where you and Amanda were under attack.”
“Yes.” Jez reached out and took Amanda by the hand. She said nothing, but the look that was exchanged between the two “sisters” would have quieted even the most cynical person.
“That’s Expedition Everest,” Charlene said.
“Then, like it or not, that’s where we’re headed,” Jez said. “Never once, not once, has one of my dreams lied to me.”
62
HAVING RECONNECTED ON THE DS’S, all the Kingdom Keepers, along with Jez and Amanda, reunited in a small patch of jungle. Behind them towered Expedition Everest, and screams were heard periodically as the roller coaster thrilled its riders. After a quick celebration of Jez’s return, Finn brought up the daydream she had had while trapped in the tunnel.
“But so what?” Maybeck asked. “We had two things we had to do: get Jez back and kill the second server. We’ve done both. I’m so tired I can barely stand. Let’s get out of here while we still can.”
“You all can go. It’s all right,” Amanda said matter-of-factly. “We will never be able to repay you for all you’ve done.”
“But your dream,” Charlene said. “The giant attacking you. Finn in his hands.”
“All the more reason,” Maybeck said, “we should just boogie and forget about all that.”
He looked to the others for agreement but saw only vacant faces.
“Come on, people!” Maybeck chastised. “Quit while you’re ahead. Ever heard of that?”
“Leave no stone unturned,” Finn said, “might be more appropriate. Wayne has gone missing.”
“Philby cut the data lines. Who knows how that affected the data flow in the Park? Besides, it wasn’t Wayne. It was his VMK avatar! Are you kidding me? We’re going to stay and try to find a missing avatar? Are you serious? Half the Park is out looking for us.”
“Maleficent serves Chernabog. We know that Chernabog defeated Mickey at the Fantasmics. Wayne told us that a long time ago. That means he has major powers. He’s the one Disney demon that we know virtually nothing about—”
“And let’s leave it that way!”
“But Jez dreamed something awful. And Maleficent could have hidden in any of the Parks. Why here? Why now? What’s being planned? With Wayne missing, it’s up to us to find out.”
“You’re hallucinating,” Maybeck said.
Philby stepped forward. “Without Wayne we’d have failed. I promise you that. Maleficent’s got him. Don’t ask me to explain that, but I just know it. And if that’s true, it’s my fault—it’s all of our faults. Can you honestly just go home and go to bed knowing that?”
Maybeck hung his head and shook it back and forth. “No.” He sounded so despondent.
“No,” Philby agreed. “I didn’t think so.”
Charlene unfolded the photocopied page of Jez’s diary. She pointed to the sketch of what looked like a gorilla. “What if this isn’t a gorilla at all? What if it’s the yeti?”
Jez spoke up. “You just told us that Chernabog was missing from his float, remember? Maybe Maleficent thought that that was the real Chernabog, only to discover it a fake. The bat…the monkeys…something could have told her the real Chernabog was locked up here in AK.”
“Or maybe this whole thing,” Finn said, “was cooked up by Maleficent to use us to lead her to Wayne. Has anyone considered that possibility?”
He drew stunned expressions.
“What if we did exactly what she wanted us to do?” Finn asked in a softer voice. “We couldn’t have gotten Jez without Wayne’s help. He knew they were looking for him. So Maleficent cooks up this plan to basically use Jez as bait. We think she’s after Jez to keep Jez’s dreams from forecasting what Maleficent is up to—and that could be right. But it doesn’t mean there wasn’t a bigger plan.”
A light breeze broke the silence between them as, once again, it carried the cries from Expedition Everest.
“One thing we know,” Willa said, “is that Everest is cold. At least, it represents the cold.” She indicated the gorilla on Jez’s diary page. “What if this is the yeti, like Charlene said?” The other kids stared at her with puzzled expressions. “What if, like Maleficent, the yeti can’t handle the heat? So Maleficent’s job is not only to get him out of the Park, but keep him cold. Keep them both cold.”
“The ice truck!” Charlene said.
“Exactly!” agreed Willa.
“But to what purpose?” complained Maybeck.
“How do we know? A refrigerated truck can take him anywhere he wants to go.”
“But where?” asked Finn.
“So Expedition Everest was a way for Wayne and the others to control Chernabog?” Charlene asked. “The Imagineers basically locked him up in a deep freeze?”
“It could be,” agreed Willa. “They locked up Maleficent in the dungeons, let’s not forget.”
Philby spoke confidently. “I say we get inside Expedition Everest and check out the yeti. That could be where the answers lie. Jez drew it in her diary. It has to mean something!”
“It means that’s where the danger lies,” muttered Jez.
Finn said quietly, “Chernabog is using Maleficent—maybe to get him off of Everest or even out of the Park. Maleficent used us to reveal and capture Wayne. If they eliminate Wayne, then they take away years of knowledge about all the Parks, all the history of this place. If they’re trying to gain control of the Parks, Wayne has to go. He’s proved that.”
“He has the knowledge and leadership,” said Willa, “to stop them.”
Leadership, Finn thought. Wayne had given him a lecture on how to be a good leader. Had Wayne known what was coming?
“Wayne is not the only one they need to get rid of,” Maybeck reminded them. “I’d say we’ve become a pretty big pain in the—”
“But!” Finn said, interrupting, “there’s obviously stuff we haven’t figured out. Maybe a lot of stuff. It’s pretty obvious we don’t have it all. We can’t make any conclusions without going in there, without knowing more. I’m going in there. And I have a hunch Amanda and Jez are, too, because Jez dreamed about it.”
The two sisters nodded.
“This is stupid,” Maybeck whined. “It could be a trap.
“Which is why you and Willa and Charlene will remain outside of Everest,” Finn directed. “If we get nailed, you’ll have to come save us.” He knew if there was one thing Maybeck loved, it was being the hero.
Maybeck snorted. “Okay,” he said, relenting.
“Philby will come with me because he’s so good with tech stuff, and if there’s one thing we know about Expedition Everest, it’s that it’s high-tech.”
“I haven’t studied it much,” Philby cautioned.
“We’ll take our chances,” Finn said.
“The Park closes in, like, five minutes,” said Charlene.
“That may work even better for us,” Finn declared.
“What about the fact that Jez’s daydream has Ape Man swinging you around like a drumstick?” Maybeck crossed his arms, believing he’d finally found a hole in Finn’s plan.
“But what he doesn’t know,” Philby said, “is that we already know that, and that’s gotta be to our advantage.”