"When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable." -Walt Disney
This story is dedicated to my friend Jo, and my mother; both of them have made a real difference in my life. I write this for you.
"It's about time." -Wayne Kresky, Kingdom Keepers VII: The Insider
CHAPTER ONE
Annabeth's POV
The blinding gold light left our eyes as we landed in a heap onto the ground.
Where were we?
I rubbed my eyes and stood up, taking in my surroundings.
France?
Based off the architectural designing of the buildings, I was positive they were French. The sign I was under read "ARCADE". And was that . . . The Eiffel Tower?
I heard groans and more people stood up beside me.
"Epcot? Why are we in Epcot?" Willa confusingly asked to no one in particular. Ahh, the building would make sense now.
Maybeck groaned, "Beats me. God, anyone else got a bad pain in their back?"
Now that I thought about it, there was this throbbing pain in my mid-back. It also didn't help that a pen was poking me from inside the small grey backpack I had on.
Surprisingly, everyone nodded.
"Well, that's not strange at all." Maybeck said, rolling his eyes.
"Maybeck, strange is the definition of our lives." Amanda scolded.
Nico asked, "What time is it?"
"What the-?" Maybeck stared with wide eyes at his black watch. "It's frozen!"
Sure enough, Maybeck's watch was stuck on 6:49 PM, the exact time we traveled back.
"We need to readjust it." Willa said.
"We need to know what time it is first. Because it sure isn't 6:50 PM if the park is closed and employees would be starting to work 6:50 AM." I said. We all nodded in agreement.
"There's a clock at the front of France. We can set your watch there." Willa told Maybeck.
We all followed Willa towards the front of the "country". From the view, we could see the huge lake with all the buildings and things surrounding it. It was kind of amazing. She took us to the left and towards some bushes made to look like a maze. In front of it was a pole and on top was the clock. We walked to the front and saw the time: 11:52.
"What's blocking the four?" Amanda asked. Long behold, a yellow square was stuck up on the glass, blocking the Roman numerals IIII (which is incorrect, might I add since its supposed to be IV). It was something most people would ignore, but for these teens, every little detail was paid attention to.
Willa walked up and peeled it off the clock. It was folded in fourths. Willa opened it and smoothed it out. We all looked over her shoulder and read it.
Today is June 17.
hey jude, dOn't make it bad
take a sad song and make 2 it better
remember to let her into your heart
then you can start to make it better
hey jude, don't be afraid
you were Made to go out and get her
the minute you let her under your skiN
then you begin 4 to make it better
and anytime you feel the pain, hey jude, refraIn
don't carry the world upon your shoulders
for 6 well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool
by Making his world a little colder
hey jude, don't let me down
you have fOund her, now go 9 and get her
remember to let her into your heart
then you can start to make it better
so let it out and let it in, hey jude, begin
you're waiting for someone to perform 3 with
and don't you know that it's just you, hey jude, you'll do
the moVement you neEd is on your shouldeR
-W
"Well that's not weird. Thanks Wayne," Maybeck deadpanned.
"Hey Jude is written so weirdly." Amanda stared at the note.
"He's trying to tell us something," both Willa and I say at the same time.
Nico looked around cautiously, "Well, maybe lets look at it closer somewhere private and not in the middle of everywhere."
"Let's go to Morocco. They have good places to hide and no rides for OTs to show up and attack," said Willa. The group of us quickly ran to Morocco, the country before France.
We ducked into Morocco, towards the back that was totally out of view from the rest of the park, yet still outside. We all sat against the walls and relaxed for a moment before Willa placed the note in the middle of the group.
"Hey, did you all read the date?" She asked. I took a closer look and gasped. The night of June 18-19 was the Battle for the Magic Kingdom.
"You guys," Maybeck said. We all looked at him. He held up his watch right as it hit 12 AM.
Tonight was the night Finn Whitman died.
I looked up and made eye contact with Amanda. Her glossy blue eyes shined in the limited moonlight. "We need to save him."
I replied, "I know."
"But how do we get to the Magic Kingdom?" asked Nico.
Willa answered, "We need to hide out in the bathrooms until at least 11:30 AM. That's thirty minutes after the World Showcase opens and it takes awhile for people to get back here. Then we can leave. But typically, buses don't pick up in the morning. So that's an issue."
"I can call my Aunt Jelly. I left early this morning because I had to go see you guys at Finn's. I can just tell her we had to go to Epcot for 'Kingdom Keeper' reasons. She'll buy it." Maybeck told us.
Amanda rolled her eyes, "Great, so to the bathrooms we go."
Let me tell you, hiding in a bathroom for over eleven hours was no fun.
At first everyone was in the girls bathroom. We decided to not use our time focusing on the note from Wayne, but instead to just chill and sleep. We already had enough on our minds as is. The note could wait until the morning. So we were all on our phones or napping on one another.
I saw the time was around 6:30 AM and decided the boys should go into the Men's Room while there was still a bit of darkness in the air. Because it would be extremely awkward if a group of three girls and two guys walked out of the Women's all together in broad daylight.
Later, I felt bad because I had to put on my Yankees cap and scare off an older lady who was trying to clean the bathrooms since Amanda and Willa were crouched on a toilet seat hiding together.
Finally, it was around 11:32 AM and tourists' voices were getting louder when Willa fired off a text to everyone, saying for the girls to leave then five minutes later for the boys to go.
At 11:38 AM, we were all together walking towards the boats' dock. A boat finally came, and we all piled on, being the only 5 besides the cast members to ride back.
"Maybeck, Willa, you guys need disguises." Amanda said.
"I'm covered," Maybeck whipped out a pair of aviator sunglasses that had to have been purchased at a Walgreens or CVS drug store.
Willa rolled her eyes at him. "I don't have anything." She turned to Amanda and me.
"Wait," I said, pulling off my backpack. "I might just have something." I dug through my bag, pulling out a hair band and big sunglasses. "Here," I handed Willa the items.
"Those can't be yours." Amanda stared at the sunglasses.
"They are my stepmother's. I don't know how they got in there so don't ask me."
Willa slicked her straight dark brown hair back into a tight ponytail, leaving only her bangs out. Then she slid on the huge sunglasses, concealing most of her face.
"Perfect!" Amanda exclaimed. Willa smiled at Amanda's giddiness.
The boat pulled into to the dock finally and we all got out, heading straight for the entrance/exit.
We stopped by Mouse Gear and looked around while Maybeck called his Aunt. When he gave us a thumbs up, we once again made our way to the bus stops. There, we had to wait about twenty minutes before Maybeck told us she was in the parking lot and went to her car. It was an old navy blue mini van with many dents and scratches, or as Jelly called them, memories.
She was pulling her car out when she stopped. "Terry, weren't you wearing different clothes?"
Maybeck looked at her. "Huh? No." I tried to give him the look of "yes-you-did-you-stupid-time-traveler" but he paid no attention to the backseat.
"Honey, I knew I was old, but I didn't know I was that old!" She laughed to herself. "All I'm waiting for now is for you and Charlene to gimme some grandbabies!"
Maybeck blushed. "Aunt Jelly!" We all snickered in the backseat, causing Maybeck to glare at us, only to make us laugh even more. "Can you just take us to Downtown Disney?"
"Sure sweetheart." Jelly finally pulled out and drove to Downtown Disney, dropping us off by the new parking garage, the Orange Garage. Everyone said our goodbyes and headed into Downtown Disney.
We passed by Planet Hollywood that was on our right, maneuvering around the many tourists. Disney is normally crowded, but even more so during the summer like now. Through this, we kept bumping into each other. Amanda, being a bit on the clumsy side, kept running into Nico. By the seventh time, Nico was annoyed beyond belief.
"Can you stop?" He snapped.
Amanda raised her hands in defense. "Gosh sorry," she said with a tinge of annoyance in her voice. She sped up to walk beside me. "How about we sit somewhere so we can go over the note?" Amanda offered. We followed her to the new Starbucks on the West Side, ordered so drinks, (luckily, I had a good amount of cash on me), and sat down at a corner table.
"Okay, so what's up with the Hey Jude lyrics?" Amanda asked.
Willa said, "I think it's some type of message."
"I agree," I told her. "Lets look at similarities in the letters."
"They are all normally lowercase and normal," said Nico.
"There are some that are uppercase," Maybeck added.
"Some are bolded," Amanda observed.
Willa pointed out some of the letters, "These are all italicized."
"And there are random numbers throughout the song," I said finally. I grabbed my backpack from under the table and pull out a pen and notepad.
"Mary Poppins bag, much?" Willa smirked at me.
"Hey! Never go anywhere unprepared. Plus I only pack light items so it doesn't drag me down." I placed my backpack down again and clicked the pen. "So, lets start with the uppercase letters first."
"There's an O in don't, a M in made, a N in skin, an I in refrain, a M in making, an O in found, a V in movement, an E in need, and a R in shoulder." Willa told me as I wrote down the letters.
They spelt out:
OMNIMOVER
"Omnimover?" I said questionably.
"Its like the Shells in Voyage of the Little Mermaid or the Doom Buggies in the Haunted Mansion," Willa answered.
"Why does Wayne need us to know that?" Maybeck questioned.
I shrugged. "We'll have to check out the rides later. Can you pass me the note?" Nico slid it over to me and I placed it in front of me. "I'll work on the bold letters, do you want to do the italicized?" I asked Willa who sat to my right.
"Sure." I tore a blank sheet of paper, handed her it and one of my pens, and moved the yellow note in-between the two of us.
There weren't a lot of bold letters, so it didn't take me long.
"I got 'CASEYS'. Anyone have an idea?" I asked the group.
"Maybe the food place on Main Street?" offered Amanda.
"That would make sense. Willa, how are you-" I stopped when I saw the pale look on her face.
"Willa, what does yours say?" Amanda asked, nervousness creeping up in her voice.
She looked Maybeck straight into his eyes. "It's A Small World After All." Maybeck looked utterly terrified.
"What's a matter with a kiddie ride?" Nico asked.
"Memories, dude. And not good ones either. Two words: Dolls Bite." Maybeck shuddered at the recall of that one night.
"I'll add another word to his declaration: Smile." Willa added.
"Oh yeah! I remember seeing some of the dolls on Main Street that night. So, OTs?" I asked.
Willa, Maybeck, and Amanda (who had her own experiences with the demon dolls) nodded strongly.
"Oookay then. Moving on." I looked back down to the yellow note. The numbers were left. "We just have five numbers: 2, 4, 6, 9, and 3. Anyone?"
No one said anything. We were all stumped.
"When in doubt, Google!" Willa pulled out her iPhone and started typing ferociously. "Nothing. I've googled those numbers in everyway possible. I even put Disney at the end! Nothing useful!"
"Not even a Disney address?" Amanda asked. Willa shook her head.
"Well, that sucks." Maybeck grumbled.
"We need to go soon." Nico said. "It'll give us time to solve this hell of a mess."
"You would know." Amanda retorted. He glared at her but she just high-fived me across the table.
"Gods, you guys are so annoying." Nico groaned, dropping his head of floppy black hair onto the table.
"Someone's just upset that their sunshine isn't around," Nico glared at Amanda.
"At least I have a boyfriend," gasps went around the table.
Amanda stood up, angered. "You know what! At least I'm grateful for what I had!" she snapped, shocking us all. "You never appreciate what you have until it's gone and blame everyone else! I'd rather appreciate the love I had than not and blame everyone else for Finn's death! Gods, I can't believe you." She stomped away, leaving a tense, quiet table. Nico put his head back down onto the table. We all knew not to talk much about Finn around Amanda, but we never knew she would snap like that.
"Great, we just came back and the group is already falling apart." Maybeck sighed. "I'm going for a walk."
"I'll go with you," Willa got up with him and left.
"Nico-" I began.
"I don't need a lecture, Annabeth. I know I screwed up. So go stick your nose into other peoples' businesses and leave me alone." Nico faded back into the shadows, disappearing.
I let out a long, dragged-out sigh and ran my hands through my hair. "Schist," my ring got caught in one of my knotted curls. With it finally unstuck, I got up and threw my empty cup of coffee away, leaving Starbucks and entering the hoard of sweaty tourists.
This was not how I imagined saving the world would start out.
Back in time five of them go. A group of half-bloods and children that glow. To save a friend from the hands of the fates. Only together can they keep the timeline straight. One by one, people will start to become missing. The only way to break a spell is true lovers kissing. Green eyes on the watch everywhere. Can they be able to save not one, but the pair? The Overtakers rule over the parks. The leaders of them all bear the mark. With responsibility, comes a price. The villains can only be destroyed with a sacrifice. Only the magic will lead you on, To fight or Disney shall be gone.