Author's Note: Hi again! Thanks for the reviews, and feel free to give me feedback!
CHAPTER THREE
"Hey," Charlene greeted as her sister entered the kitchen.
Her mother smiled. "Bonjour, ma petite puce." She greeted, giving her younger daughter a hug. "It's nine thirty, and your sister has yet to fall asleep. I'll give you the benefit of doubt and assume you went for fun."
"Of course I did." Holly said, running her fingers through her hair.
"Where did you go?" Her mother asked her.
"Hall of Presidents." Holly answered. "Learned about some good, old-fashioned history." Her mother laughed.
"Honestly, mon chaton, you don't have to lie to me." Her mother told her. "I understand teenagers better then you think. Seriously, where did you go?"
Charlene had to cover her mouth to stop from laughing.
~.~
Jess woke up on the grass near the Emporium. As she got up, she saw her sister run towards her. "Hey," Jess greeted. "Where's your boyfriend?"
"Finn's not here yet." Amanda answered. "What took you so long?" Amanda had crossed over twenty minutes earlier.
"I was held back by the-roommate-who-shall-not-be-named." Jess answered, making a face. "'Jess, c'mon!'" She whined, doing an almost perfect imitation of their roommate, Jeannie. "'You have to do laundry tonight. Everyone else does, it's not fair if you don't. Do you want me to get Mrs. Nash?'" Amanda rolled her eyes.
"Not surprised." She said. "C'mon, let's go."
"Where are we going, again?" Jess asked.
"Tomorrowland Speedway. According to Philby, that's where we'll find the next clue."
~.~
They met up with Finn ten minutes later. He woke up next to the Partners Statue and found them by the Tomorrowland entrance. The three of them made their way to the racetrack.
Tomorrowland Speedway, formerly called Grand Prix Raceway and Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, was large racetrack, 2112 feet in length. Shiny, multi-colored cars were parked by the loading area. To the side of them was a big electronic scoreboard. During the day, it would keep track of which cars were in the lead. At the moment it was turned off like the rest of the ride.
"Where should we look?" Amanda wondered out loud. She turned to Jess. "Did the others mention where they found the clue? Like, was it in the theatre or around the building?" Jess shook her head.
"Nope, they just told us to go here."
They climbed down the stairs to the racetrack. Finn took the lead, while the girls held back. Amanda wandered around, carefully avoiding the metal guide rails that steered the cars around.
"So," Amanda began after a few minutes of silence. "We're supposed to search this ride until we find a clue."
"Yep." Jess answered.
"With no indication of where to look or how to find it." Amanda continued.
"Uh-huh."
"We also have no idea of how long this could take us. For all we know, we'll be searching here all night." She pointed out.
"Pretty much."
"And even when find this clue, whatever it is, it could take us hours trying to decipher it." Amanda stated.
"Basically."
"This sucks." Amanda said with a sigh.
"Tell me about it."
~.~
"What time is it?" Adam, the youngest of Willa's three older brothers asked her again.
"12:56." Willa answered with a yawn. "There's a clock right over there." She pointed to the digital clock on the oven next to her.
"Thanks, sis." Adam answered, completely ignoring the last part.
"What are you waiting for?" Willa questioned, suspicious. Adam had been asking her about the time for the last twenty minutes. Adam grinned.
"That's none of your concern, little sister." He told her. Willa groaned. She didn't know what he was up to, but it definitely wasn't something good.
"Whatever." She told him, and stood up. "I'm going to bed."
"Aw," Adam cooed. "Is little Willa off to dream in Disney?"
"Oh, shut up." She muttered. When Adam had found out about the DHIs crossing over, he didn't believe it at first. And once he did, he thought it was the most hilarious thing in the world. Willa couldn't blame him-the idea of a bunch of kids fighting fairytale characters for the fate of Walt Disney World did sound pretty ridiculous. Willa would have laughed at it too, if she hadn't experienced it herself and knew just how dangerous it was. Still, she wished he wouldn't tease her about it so much. "For your information, I haven't crossed over in months."
"But you went today, didn't you?" Adam asked. "When you told mom you were going to the park." Willa's eyes widen. How did Adam know that?
He laughed as if he had read her mind. "Your such a bad liar, Wills."
"So does mom know?" She asked, biting her lip.
"She knew you weren't telling the truth." Adam answered. "I don't think she knew where you went."
"Well, good." Willa said. "Because her finding out would be very, very bad." She narrowed her eyes at her brother. "You're not going to tell her, are you?"
"Me?" Adam asked. "Nah, I won't. But don't expect me to cover for you if you get in trouble."
"I'm not going to get into trouble." Willa insisted, though she didn't really believe it. They were pretty much asking for trouble, running around the Magic Kingdom searching for clues. She was surprised they hadn't been attacked back in
Liberty Square. Sure, there was the dog, but it's only goal had been to steal from them, not hurt them. It wasn't like the Overtakers, and it put her on edge thinking about it.
"If you say so." Adam replied, looking just as unconvinced as she was.
~.~
"What time is it?" Jess asked. Finn looked at his watch.
"1:08." He answered. Jess sighed.
"Shouldn't by now something have happened?" She asked. "Usually, the second we enter a ride, all hell brakes loose."
"Do you really want that to happen?" Amanda questioned.
"I don't know." Jess answered with a shrug. "It's just weird, is all. It seems so easy."
"Not really." Finn disagreed. "We still haven't found what we're looking for."
"Um... What exactly are we looking for again?" Jess asked. "I know it's a clue, but how do we even know it's still here? I mean, after thirty years no one found it? No one wondered what exactly what it was and ever thought about moving it? We were lucky the first time, but how do we know we're not hitting a dead end looking here? How do we know this isn't just a wild goose chase?"
"We don't." Finn answered. "But we really don't have a choice at the moment. We have to try." Jess sighed. She knew he was right.
~.~
Holly couldn't sleep. Not that that hadn't happened before. Insomnia had been a problem for her for years. Usually, she could lie in bed and think until she got tired. She thought about lots of random things—stuff that had happened at school, people she knew, memories she had. The last one was the rarest—she was very forgetful. Most of her memories happened after second grade. The ones before that were extremely fuzzy, mostly just snapshots in her head. It used to annoy her, but she had gotten used to it.
Tonight, however, she was restless. She climbed out of bed and, as quietly as she could, crept out of her room. Her parents didn't let her wander around at night. If they caught her in the act, they would send her straight back to her room, usually making her put back whatever food she had stolen from the fridge.
She felt her way through the dark hallway while her eyes adjusted.
She reached the Family Room and sat down on one of the brown couches. She stared at the coffee table next to her. There was something furry on it...
"Hey, Smudge." Holly greeted, scratching Jade's chin. The kitten purred in response. "Must be lonely, being the only one awake." Jade mewed and climbed onto Holly's lap. She lay down and rolled on her back. Holly pet her absent-mindedly.
"Shouldn't you be asleep?"
Holly turned her head around. Jade looked up as well, curious.
"It's one in the morning, Holly." Her father informed her.
"I'm not tired." Holly argued. To her surprise, her father nodded.
"I'm not either." He agreed.
"So... Are you going to send me to bed?" Holly asked. Her father shook his head.
"It's Friday." He said with a shrug. "Well, technically, it's Saturday now. But you're not going to school tomorrow, so I'm not worried." He sat down on the couch beside her and picked up Jade from out of Holly's lap. "So, what's going on in your life? Anything interesting?" An idea formed in Holly's mind. It probably wasn't the smartest...but she had to try it.
"Not really." She lied. "Today, during lunch, my friends and I were talking about the Magic Kingdom."
"Where you went this afternoon?" She nodded.
"Yeah. We all agreed it was our favorite of the parks. Someone mentioned how they loved Stitch's Great Escape, but said there was something there before it, a couple years ago. An alien thing."
"Yeah, I remember that." Her father told her. "It was pretty much the same thing, but not as kid friendly. One if the reasons why I never took you or Charlene on the ride was because I was afraid you would get scared." He looked at her. "Why are you asking?"
"Oh, I was just curious." She answered, shrugging. "I was wondering... If that's changed, what else has?"
"Tons of things." Her father answered. "I didn't move to Florida until after your mom and I got married, and that was about twenty years ago. The park's been open twice as long, so I don't know everything that happened. A lot of it was just updating current rides. I remember when they closed Mr. Toad's Wild Ride... It wasn't the most popular decision."
"When did they close it?" Holly asked. She hadn't remembered the ride being open when she was there.
"Late 90s." He replied. "You would've been about two years old. It's Winnie the Pooh, now."
"What was it about?"
"Disney made a movie based on a book... The Wind in the Willows, I believe it was called. A British story. Well, the ride was based off of one of the characters, Mr. Toad. I don't remember it very well... I only went on it a few times." Holly yawned and stood up.
"Thanks." She said and hugged him. "'Night." She left the room, Jade trailing behind her.
~.~
"I think I found something." Jess said. Bellow her feet, on the black pavement; a narrow rectangle was formed in the asphalt. It reminded her of the wooden panels in her room at the Nash House. The panels could easily be lifted up, revealing a small space to hide things in. It gave her an idea...
She ran her fingers around the edges of the rectangle, searching for a place to lift it up.
"What are you doing?" Amanda asked when she and Finn had reached her.
"Trying to pull this up." Jess answered. "Help, please?" The two bent down and helped her. Just as Amanda managed to start lifting the piece, Jess let go, surprising her. Jess closed her eyes. "Vision..." She murmured as an explanation, trying to concentrate. "Need something to write with." Amanda's eyes widened. She hadn't brought anything with her when she had crossed over.
She hadn't thought about Jess's visions. She glanced at Finn, but he shook his head—he didn't have anything either.
"Amanda." Jess warned. "I'm... I'm going to loose it."
"Just try to remember." Amanda said to her. "You'll get the vision again later." Jess nodded and opened her eyes. She resumed in picking up the rectangle. Amanda and Finn joined in again, and the three of them finally managed to pry it off.
Sure enough, there was a hole underneath it, an old book resting in the dirt. Finn picked it up.
"'The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.'" He read. "What's this got to do with Disney?"
"Why don't you tell us?" A deep voice said from behind. Startled, the three teens turned around to see five pirates standing behind them. A tall one with a red costume stood closest to them. He was the one who had spoken them, and was currently pointing a finger at Jess.
"How did you know to come here?" She demanded. The pirate laughed.
"What, didn't think we'd figure out that stupid poem simply because it was outdated?" He asked, rolling his eyes. "We're older then all of you stupid kids. If someone's going to have trouble with this race, it's you three." He glanced at the book in Finn's hand. Finn backed away instinctively, hiding the cover from view. "Oh, don't bother." The pirate told him, still looking at the book. "We've already got all of the information that we need." He looked up at the teens. "We were only ordered to get the next clue." He informed them. "We could leave after that if we wanted to. But why, when we had such a great opportunity to get rid of a few... What do you call yourselves? 'Keepers'?" He laughed again. "No, I think we'll fight." He drew out his sword, and the other four pirates followed his lead. As they began to charge at the kids, the three DHIs turned around and ran away.
~.~
They reached the apartment ten minutes later, each of them gasping for air. Finn set the book on the table. "We'll talk tomorrow morning." He told the sisters.
"Come to the Frozen Marble at ten thirty." The girls nodded.
"What time is it?" Amanda asked, feeling like a broken record.
"2:11." Finn answered. "We should get back." He found the return and pushed the button.
