Kingdom Keepers: The Return Book Two: Legacy of Secrets (35 page)

A
N EXHAUSTED
T
IA
D
ALMA,
who had not slept for five nights, strained to reach out and take the hand of the looming figure swirling ephemerally before her. Part smoke, part colorful form, part human, part wraith, the green-skinned shape came and went.

“Stay,” Tia Dalma whispered. “Rise, and remain in the land of the living.”

The figure had grown to the size of a real woman, though she hid now within the smoke. Her fingers twitched as if desperate to grab hold.

Tia Dalma understood she had to come to her; there was no point in lunging out and trying to snag that glowing hand. All such efforts over the past twenty minutes had failed.

“We need you,” Tia Dalma said. “We miss you, sister. You will be whole again. A dark fairy once more. You will be more powerful than ever before.” She inhaled deeply and called, “Rise and remain!”

The figure’s head moved as if she could hear. Not the words, exactly, but the voice. Or perhaps she sensed the presence of the living.

“Come to me. Remain with me. Your home is here.”

Again, the long green fingers twitched, seeking purchase.

“They are here, the Children of Light. They are gaining great power. We…need…you….”

A painful cry cracked the air. It might have been heard for miles around. It might not have left the station. The hand jutted out and found Tia Dalma’s.

The two women held hands and slowly, carefully, Tia Dalma drew the other through the small slit in time that had opened, delicately pulling her through unscathed.

T
HE CAROUSEL STILL DIDN’T MOVE.
Positioned at compass points around the carousel’s circle, Amanda, Jess, Nick, and Tim waited for Emily to restart Walt’s music box from Walt’s apartment.

“What’s keeping her?” Jess mumbled to herself.

“I hope she’s all right,” Tim called out, his voice thin and tense.

“Same,” Amanda said.

A woman’s high, painful scream split the air. It came from somewhere nearby.

“What the heck was that?” called Nick. He suddenly looked young, and very scared.

“No idea,” answered Jess. “But I don’t like the possibilities.”

“Whatever happens,” Amanda said, “you and Nick keep back, Tim. Jess and I can’t be hurt as DHIs, and the software we’re running allows us to do all sorts of amazing stuff.”

“We’re kind of superhuman,” Jess said. “If there’s trouble, let us handle it.”

“I’m not real comfortable with that,” Tim said.

“I am!” Nick said, winning a laugh from both girls.

The first wave of attackers came from Mr. Toad’s Ride. The Three Little Pigs were not little. They looked like wild boars. They were followed moments later by a drooling wolf with intense, angry eyes.

Amanda
pushed.
The first of the pigs wiped out, but the next two continued charging. The new leader headed directly for Amanda. He lowered his head and rushed
through
her hologram, crashing into the carousel and knocking himself unconscious. Piggy number three backpedaled, fell, and did a convincing impression of a hockey puck before colliding into the brick wall outside the ride.

The carousel began moving. Quickly, it gained speed.

“It’s moving faster this time,” Tim shouted.

“Hopefully that’s a good thing,” Amanda said. They held their positions around the carousel, watching for any changes in Jingles, searching the dark for more Overtakers.

Three boys appeared—the same three thugs from the Cone Shack. No Jason Ewart.

“You’re out past your bedtime,” the lead boy said. An absurdly good-looking blond guy with a surprisingly gentle voice, he looked like a surfer.

“We’re going to have to punish you for that,” said the boy at his side. A skinny, dark-haired kid, his face pained, he looked like a poster child for runaways. Jess took note of him—he was the one who’d hurt you big-time and apologize later for overdoing it.

“Go easy,” Tim said. “Take a step back, pal.” He couldn’t help himself, Jess realized. He was going to make himself a part of this no matter what she and Amanda said.

“Tough boy?” Skinny taunted.

Jess kept her eye on the revolving carousel, mentally urging Jingles to deliver something.

Skinny went down hard, like a rug had been pulled out from under him.

Emily!
Jess thought.

Though the surfer chuckled, he looked inwardly terrified. His arm was yanked invisibly up behind his back, his body forced to the asphalt. He cried out.

Skinny had eyes as wide as a five-year-old lost on Halloween night.

“You’ve seen our magic,” Amanda called out. She was at Jess’s side now. “Go, and we won’t hurt you.”

The third teen, younger and far more innocent looking with his kind blue eyes and boyish face, helped Skinny to his feet. Surfer dude tried to work the pain out of his shoulder as he joined them. The three boys put their backs together without any kind of signal, covering themselves from all directions. They waved their hands in the air, as if they
expected
to be battling something invisible.

A second later, the surfer connected, and Emily cried out. As she hit the asphalt, her right leg appeared—only her right leg, clad in a Mylar suit, the torn fiber-optic wires suddenly visible. Where the leg stood, alone, the invisibility suit began to spark and show flashes of Emily. The effect was chilling, like a specter or ghost.

“Run!” the surfer shouted. The other two needed no encouragement. The three scattered at full speed.

As they fled, two wraiths burst from Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and soared into the night sky like smoke. Jess cried out, pointing upward.

“I see them!” Amanda said, her voice quavering.

“What…are…those…things?” Tim called out.

“Overtakers!” Jess’s limbs tingled. “Have to be!” She fought against the tug from her hologram’s all clear. She would not allow fear to corrupt her.

“How is that possible?” Amanda groaned, straining to keep an eye on the wraiths.

Emily’s suit failed completely, and she became fully visible again. At that moment, the two wraiths dove, skeletal arms at their sides, their bodies aimed directly for Amanda and Jess.

“Separate!” Amanda shouted. She needn’t have—Jess knew the danger of standing too close and making themselves an easy target. She was already moving away.

Amanda stood her ground as Jess hurried around the carousel counterclockwise. The wraiths fell, two rockets aimed right at her. Just as they split apart, Amanda
pushed
as hard as she could. The wraiths flipped over like they’d been hit by a hurricane wind, blown so high into the sky that they vanished in the dark.

“Guys!” Nick shouted. “Package delivered!”

Something rectangular was clinging to the neck of the Jingles carousel horse.

Tim bravely charged the one remaining pig. He kicked it in the snout. It squealed, turned, and ran. “Nick! I’ll cover you! Go for it!”

Nick jumped the rail and jogged alongside the moving carousel until his pace matched its speed. He leaped onto the spinning platform and ran clockwise, shortening the distance to Jingles.

“More…of them!” Jess shouted.

Overtakers emerged from all sides: snakes, a warthog, a pair of skeletons from Haunted Mansion.

It didn’t make sense, Jess thought. The Keepers had finished off the Overtakers. There had to be some explanation. But the wraiths…the Haunted Mansion skeletons…She strained for some kind of answer.

And there it was. There she was.

“Not…possible,” Jess muttered. “Mandy, look!”

The dark vision before her wasn’t like the villainess’s former self. It was like she’d been put back together by a five-year-old. Her shoulders slanted drastically to one side like the Hunchback; one of her legs was shorter than the other. Her eyes were not level on her face; in fact her head looked as if it had been sat on and squished. But her green skin and black clothing, with its purple lining, identified her clearly. Unmistakably.

The crippled Maleficent limped toward the carousel, her longer leg dragging roughly against the ground, a black raven perched on her shoulder, a staff in her left hand supporting her. Behind her, stepping like a bridesmaid, came Tia Dalma, the Creole witch doctor.

The apparition glowed green. She looked as if every step hurt, and moved like a female Frankenstein—something incorrectly, improperly reassembled and resurrected.

The approach of the creatures continued, unrelentingly.

“Nick, make it quick!” Tim said, his voice breaking in terror.

Nick reached for the package attached to Jingles.

“WAIT!” Jess cried. “It has to be one of us!” She didn’t know if she’d dreamed this, or if seeing Maleficent had caused it, but
she knew.
“Hologram to hologram!” she called out, already up on the moving carousel. “I’ve got it!”

She met up with Nick and pulled the device from the neck of Jingles. The package had been cross-taped and was difficult to dislodge, but soon Jess had it in her hologram hands. The carousel spun. She ran to the edge. Nick followed. They jumped.

“I don’t think they want Tim or me,” Nick called out for all to hear. “I think we can hold them off for you.”

“Not how we roll!” Amanda called. “We go together. And now! We do
not
want to tangle with that thing.”

Working fast, Jess unwrapped the package. “It’s a phone and a note. From Philby!”

“We need to go now!” Amanda said. The wolf was slinking closer, nearing her hologram at a steady pace.

Maleficent continued her slow approach. She waved her staff; the wolf yipped and backed away from Amanda.
Interesting
, Amanda thought. The dark fairy wanted the girls for herself.

“Boys first!” Amanda called. “Then Jess and Emily. I’ll
push
and buy us time to get through the castle. Go!”

From the Keepers, Jess had learned the importance of working as a team and the role of leadership. In situations like this, you didn’t stop to argue. She ran toward the castle, Philby’s package in hand. The two boys got ahead of her. Emily was at her side.

Amanda pushed,
hard
. Maleficent arched her back but did not stumble. The raven blew off her shoulder and tried to fly, but tumbled. Amanda felt her strength tapped. First the wraiths, now Maleficent. She didn’t have it in her to run, to catch up with the others.

Jess looked desperately over her shoulder. An unsteady Maleficent fought to regain her balance. By the carousel, Amanda slouched. Jess stopped, the others halting with her, at the entrance to the castle tunnel.

“Mandy!”

The creatures closed in on Amanda.

“Mandy! RUN!!!!” Jess tearfully cried.

Amanda looked at her. Then at the creatures and Maleficent, drawing ever closer.

I love you
, she mouthed silently to Jess. She struggled toward the spinning carousel, fell onto it, pulled herself up, and moved toward Jingles.

“MANDY!!!” Jess was on her knees. Maleficent was nearly to the carousel.

Amanda climbed onto Jingles. As the platform spun, she lost sight of her friends.

And they, of her.

When Jingles next appeared, the horse stood empty.

Amanda had vanished.

Into the past.

A
FEW MINUTES PAST
2
A.M.,
Finn and Philby walked away from King Arthur Carrousel in a somber mood.

“We should have talked him out of keeping the ink around,” Philby said.

“That wasn’t going to happen. He’s Walt Disney. He’s not about to hand over a vial of magical ink to some kids he barely knows.”

“But if it’s here…if Hollingsworth has any shot at getting it—”

“I know!” Finn said. “Believe me, I know.”

“If my phone doesn’t reach them,” Philby said. “If the Cryptos don’t allow the girls to be DHIs, we’re never going home.”

“We’ve been over this. We can’t be negative. We have to stay positive.”

“I thought Charlene was the cheerleader.”

“Ha-ha! Have you wondered why Walt didn’t try to lock up Hollingsworth?”

“For what? Trespassing? I think he’s had enough. I don’t think he wants anything to do with him.”