Finn Whitman

"They're back."

Wanda's words felt like a balloon inside of me had been popped by a pair of scissors. As she explained what had transpired at the firehouse, I tried to control my breathing. I had to keep the panic rising in my throat from showing itself in my voice.

It couldn't be possible. The Overtakers had been defeated. Maleficent and Chernabog were dead. The OTs hadn't reorganized since their defeat- almost 20 years ago. Now all of sudden, Wayne is kidnapped right out of his home? They were the only explanation, but my brain didn't want to admit it.

"Finn," Wanda's voice snapped me back to reality.

"We'll find him,"

The promise came out of my mouth before I could stop it. How could I promise that? We weren't as young as we used to be, and we hadn't crossed over in years. We had kids, responsibilities. We couldn't just go running around the parks like we used to. Right?

"I have a meeting with Brad today, maybe we can cross over and ask around. Do you want to come over for dinner? Alexander, Elijah, and Emma are already coming over to watch a movie with Lucas and Sofia; I can invite Philby, Willa, Charlene, Maybeck, and Jess over as well."

The plan came together without much thought. My head was still spinning from the news. Amanda leaned against the door frame, with the kids all off to school via bus or bike. She looked concerned.

"Finn," Wanda's voice trembled, as if she was just holding back tears, "Thank you."

Finn looked right at Amanda, "We're going to find him."

"How are we supposed to do this?" Philby asked.

After all of these years, I could still see the gears turning in his head as if we were solving the Stonecutter's Quill or one of Wayne's riddles.

We were eating lunch at a small diner near the Disney property. Philby and I both had a break around the same time today, something that doesn't happen too often as he tends to work longer hours than the rest of our friends, developing some software or another.

"I just talked to Brad," I said, swallowing my food, "He agrees this is important. He's going to look into what it would take for us to cross over again."

"Willa's going to love that," Philby said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"It's for Wayne," I said, trying not to let my anger seep into my words.

"I know," he said quickly, "And that's why she'll come around. But crossing over was always dangerous, and now we have to consider how our holograms will be affected. It's a lot to figure out."

He took another bite of his food, "Have you told Amanda yet?"

"She knows Wayne's gone, but not about crossing over." I paused, "She's not going to take this well either, is she?"

"Probably not."

I groaned. I knew everyone would help, but I didn't want to have to deal with the reluctance of crossing over again.

"Charlene and Maybeck will be excited." Philby said, in an attempt to lighten the mood, "They're always down for an adventure."

It didn't help. The weight of this mission came crashing down on me, even more so than before. Every bit of confidence that I could find Wayne spilled out of me like candy out of a piñata. Even if we did find him, that meant the Overtakers were back, and I couldn't bring myself to admit that. But I had made a promise to Wanda and I planned to keep it.

Sofia Whitman

The lunch bell rang. Thank goodness.

Walking into the cafeteria you would think the student body hadn't eaten for weeks. Hundreds of students milled about, each grade mingling together.

I had quite a few looks thrown my way, mainly because of my dad's reputation. A good number of the parents of children at Winter Park worked in the Company, but the "Kingdom Keepers" still held public interest, and therefore, unwanted popularity fell upon Alex, Lucas, and I.

I grabbed an inedible looking tray of slush and headed towards where Lucas sat in a secluded corner of the warehouse-like room. He was reading another book about powers, this time titled "Rumored Oddities of the Past".

"Did you know there was a guy in the 19th century who claimed to be able to set hay on fire?" He asked as I sat down, his food laying forgotten on the table.

"How would I have known that?" I asked.

"Known what?"

Alex slid into the seat next to me, our backs to the wall. He had come to Winter Park because of its newly acclaimed STEM program, while Eli and Emma both went to Lee High, known for its performing and visual arts program.

"Nothing," I said to him.

Lucas and I had agreed that we weren't going to tell anyone about our powers, because, as most superhero movies warn: as soon as someone knows, it all goes downhill. Not even our parents know. I've thought about how that conversation would go, and it wasn't well. Until we could figure out how we have them, no one will know, and we will keep living as seemingly normal teenagers.

Alex dismissed it, he lets go of things pretty easily, or so it seems on the outside. I doubt that he actually forgets anything. With his memory, he probably just files it away until he can figure out how to use the moment later.

"Did you get any of that in Walters' lecture?" He asked Lucas, changing the subject.

Just like that, the attention was off. Lucas and Alex were both in the STEM program, but I just don't see myself doing anything in those fields. Being a regular student also gave me the option to try a bunch of things out, though nothing had caught my attention so far.

A crumpled piece of paper hit the back of Lucas's head. Clearly, Noah Luowski is very original. I try not to let him bother me, but he seriously gets on Lucas's nerves. In fact, on impact, I could see Lucas visibly become angry. I smelt the smoke before I could see it. The top of Lucas's head had started to steam, hopefully not too noticeably. I had to defuse the situation.

Lucas started to turn around, but I grabbed his arm, giving him the 'let it go' look. He turned back around, exhaling deeply.

"Hey Whitless," Luowski snarled, his blue eyes sparkling with malice, "Can't fight your battles? Too scared?"

Noah Luowski wasn't much in comparison to some of his friends, but he was definitely an alpha type. He had dirty brown hair, pale skin, and stood about 5'8", having had a growth spurt last summer. But his real power was in how he could control people, situations. While the three of us had fame or popularity by association, Luowski earned it by terrorizing those he didn't like, namely us.

He approached the table, just behind Lucas, who refused to turn to look at him. He bent down and I realized a few of the tables nearest us had gone silent. Luowski's goons towered over him, two being the "I failed the past few years of school because I have the brain cells of a fish" type while the other boy, Will Horton, stood next to them. Horton is the "brains" of their little group, as neither Luowski nor his goons are smart enough to come up with half of the shakedowns they do.

"What do you want, Luowski?" I asked, hoping my tone sounded just threatening enough.

"Just for you to know that no matter who your parents might be," he said, his hand crunching the ball of paper, "You have to work for your popularity."

He walked away, and the tables around us erupted back into conversation. Lucas stopped steaming and engrossed himself in his tray. Alex and I exchanged looks, wondering if we should take our own advice and let it go.

"You shouldn't let him bother you so much." I said to Lucas, carefully. "He's the type to be working in a gas station ten years from now."

"He just gets on my nerves, I don't know why I let myself get so riled up,"

"Just forget about him," Alex said, "Let's focus on this math test."

I almost rolled my eyes. It was just like the both of them to put all of their energy into something as meaningless as a test. But if it got Lucas to stop worrying about Luowski for a few minutes, I wasn't going to argue.

Several minutes of boring nerd speak later, the lunch bell rang. We hurried to continue our endless day of school, with the only thing worth looking forward to being movie night.