Lucas Whitman

The last bell rang. I grabbed what supplies I needed from my locker and headed to the bikes to wait for Sophia and Alex. Both of them had their last period on the other side of the school, meaning that I usually had to wait at least 5 minutes before either of them showed their faces.

I leaned against my bike, pulling out the new book I had for power research. I know Sofia thinks I'm a bit obsessed, but how could I not be? How could she not be? We have powers that only appear in comic books and movies. It's like living in a fairy tale. Not only are our powers opposites, but they also affect our personalities. Or maybe it's that our personalities chose our powers? Fire heats up quickly, and I can't say I don't get fired up. Sofia on the other hand, doesn't. Water is tranquil and peaceful, but can also be powerful. It plays a hand in tsunamis and hurricanes, showing its destructive side.

My thoughts were cut short by the book falling to the ground, swiped out of my hand. I spun around and faced Noah Luowski and his band of thugs. It was as if they had nothing better to do than mess with us.

"Hey, Whitless," Luowski said, smirking as he picked up the book and flipped through it, "Want to be a superhero? Don't you know villains have all of the fun?"

"Give it back, please," I said, trying to lower my blood pressure.

"Actually, I think I'll keep it,"

"Lay off, Luowski," Sofia and Alex had finally appeared, unsurprisingly together.

Luowski smiled even wider. Whether Sofia knew it or not, I could see he had a major crush on her. But instead of being overly nice, like anyone would expect when trying to impress a girl, he went the opposite direction, choosing to be a jerk. Besides that stunning lack of judgement, it was also clear Alex and Sof had feelings for each other, even if neither of them could see it.

"Look who came to your rescue," he said to me, "Another Whitman and a Philby. You just can't help sticking together, can you?"

"Nope," Alex said, popping the 'p'.

He walked up to me, so close I could smell his breath. He was in serious need of a mint. "You can't hide behind them forever. When you're ready to fight your own battles, I'll be here."

He pushed the book back into my chest and walked away. Sofia came immediately up to me, while Alex followed, glaring at their backs as they retreated.

"Are you okay?"

She said it softly, but it didn't make me feel any better. I can't control my emotions nearly as well as I can control fire, and the thought of bursting into flames gets stronger every time I get into conflict. Sofia always seemed so under control. She probably never thought of using her powers in these situations.

"He's a jerk," Alex said, his eyes still glued to Luowski as if he could make him drop dead at the look.

"Yeah," was all I could manage.

"Let's just get going," Sofia said, prompting her and Alex to start unlocking their bikes.

I paused for a moment, observing her. She is just so… different. She handles things in ways I wouldn't have even thought of. Whereas my first instinct is to increase the heat, an emotion I have to constantly fight against, hers is to defuse the situation, take the high road. I wish that was mine.

Before either of them could notice my brief hesitation, I quickly got to work getting my own bike ready. We headed home, where movie night would hopefully take over my mind. At least for a moment.

Sofia Whitman

Walking inside the house, I didn't expect to see Uncle Dell and Aunt Willa sitting with my parents and another, unfamiliar woman at the kitchen table. Normally, Alex rode his bike with us on movie night, meaning there was no need for his parents to come over. Eli and Emma weren't here yet, not surprisingly as Lee High got out 15 minutes after Winter Park did.

"Hey, how was school?" my mom asked, like she did everyday.

"Fine," Lucas and I said in unison.

"What are you guys doing here?" Alex asked his parents, "I thought you had to work late."

"Not today," Uncle Dell said.

"Oh,"

Uncle Dell was usually working late at the Company, with Aunt Willa sometimes joining him. Alex claimed he didn't mind, giving him more time alone, but we knew that wasn't entirely true. Alex was the eldest of his siblings, meaning he was in charge of them until his parents got home. Thankfully, his younger sister Amelia, who just turned 12, helped him out a bit with Abraham and Aria, so Alex could get some research time in. Uncle Dell was usually super hard on Alex whenever he found out that Alex had spent more time on the computer than helping his siblings, something we found a bit hypocritical as Uncle Dell was well known for being 'the computer guy'.

"I ordered pizza," my dad said, after a somewhat awkward pause, "Should be here soon,"

"Um, Sofia, Lucas, Alexander, this is our friend Wanda," my mom introduced the older woman.

Wanda was probably 20-30 years older than my parents, maybe in her fifties or sixties, but she had a young vibe to her. She was dressed nicely, but not too nicely, as if she put a lot of thought into her outfit. She smiled at us, holding out her hand, which Lucas shook. He was good with adults in that way, knowing just how and when to use his manners.

After stiff greetings, the three of us went downstairs to await the arrival of Emma and Eli. I plopped down onto the couch immediately, relishing in the blasting cool air. Even though I've lived in Orlando all my life, I still couldn't get over how incredibly hot it could get, even in October. Lucas didn't seem to mind the scorching temperatures however, sometimes even asking if we could turn on the heat.

"I wonder who that woman was?" Alex asked abruptly.

He was currently laying upside down on one of the older reclining chairs, his dark brown eyes focused on a random spot on the wall and his ginger hair hanging from the top of his head. He says he thinks better inverted, though how exactly I wasn't sure.

I couldn't say I wasn't also curious about who Wanda was. We didn't often have people over who weren't family or practically so. Our parents weren't exactly the type of people to bring home coworkers or invite neighbors over for dinner, so the thought that Wanda was important enough to come was intriguing to say the least.

"Her name sounds familiar…" Lucas said, busying himself with setting up the old DVD player.

"Yeah," Alex agreed.

Her name didn't sound at all recognizable to me, but I didn't spend nearly as much time as Lucas and Alex did on the internet or otherwise engaged in learning.

I didn't have much time to dwell however, because Emma came bounding down the steps, her nearly white blonde hair still in a bun from her last dance class, and hauling two bottles of soda. Eli followed, carrying two large boxes of pizzas and a bag of what I assumed to be french fries.

"Since when do our parents have friends other than each other?" Eli asked, half-jokingly as he set the pizzas on the coffee table.

"Isn't it odd?" Alex questioned in response, sitting back upright.

"I think it's more odd that they all decided to have dinner together on a weekday," Emma said, placing the sodas next to the food and heading to the closet to grab cups.

Our basement was, if I do say so myself, totally awesome. It was a full-on entertainment area, with a large flat-screen TV, couches and armchairs and bean bags, a closet with a microwave and mini-fridge, and pool, foosball, and air hockey tables. I wouldn't call us spoiled, but I can't say our parents don't make money. They didn't have to worry about college debt because they all got scholarships through their Disney status, so the money they made off of being models went towards whatever they wanted.

"Wait, your parents are here too?" Lucas asked.

Eli nodded, his mouth already full of pepperoni. He chewed and swallowed, quickly taking a cup from Emma as his mouth burned from the hot pizza. Eli was the type of person who never stood down from a challenge, including not waiting until the pizza cooled down to stuff his face.

"Just my mom," Emma said, shooting Eli a look of disgust.

"So, what are we watching?" Eli said, his tonsils once again burning off as he talked with his mouth full.

"We have options," Lucas said, choosing not to comment on Eli's manners.

Lucas always had choices. I didn't really care one way or another what we watched, and neither really did Alex, but Eli and Emma were both incredibly stubborn and opinionated, especially if it was against each other.

"Sleeping Beauty, The Game Plan, or Jurassic Park."

"I vote Jurassic Park." Eli said, not surprising any of us.

"I think we should do Sleeping Beauty, it's a classic."

"We watch princess movies all of the time." Eli complained.

"We do not!"

We have this argument every week. I wasn't sure Emma and Eli could agree on anything. Despite both going to the same school, and having more in common than they care to admit, they both outright refused to get on the same page. Dad says Aunt Charlene and Uncle Maybeck used to be like that, constantly one-upping each other or debating anything they could think of.

"Jurassic Park is scary," Emma said, "I promise you I will freak out."

She was right. Emma is a very jumpy person, which Eli takes full advantage of. Lucas shot me an exasperated look, which I returned. Alex was scrolling on his phone, no doubt reading up on something his brain just thought of, not even paying attention to the argument.

"Why don't we watch The Game Plan then?" I reasoned, trying to find middle ground, "Not scary, but still action packed."

They both glared at each other, and I knew I won. Lucas put the disk in, and Emma and Eli settled back into the couch, not talking to one another, but not arguing either.

Finn Whitman

Silence. Very rarely could anyone get our group to be quiet, even as adults.

Wanda had just finished explaining what had happened at Wayne's apartment, which only Amanda, Philby, and I knew.

"Your children are wonderful," she said, as if trying to defuse the obvious apprehension in the room. It didn't work.

"What are we supposed to do?" Charlene asked.

It was a genuine question. Philby was right, Charlene and Maybeck both looked ready to dive right in, as if they had been waiting, hoping, for things to heat back up again. For one more adventure.

Willa, on the other hand, looked terrified. I could see she was trying not to, but her eyes betrayed her confident posture. Philby, of course, didn't look surprised. He was looking right at Willa, though she refused to look at him and give away her emotions.

"I talked to Brad today," I said, "He's working on re-programming our DHIs."

"Can he even do that?" Amanda asked, her eyes piercing into his.

"It's possible." Professor Philby stepped in, saving me from my wife. "It wouldn't be too difficult to re-launch our holograms. Of course, without updating, we would be stuck as our 1.6 versions."

"We would have to be 1.6 anyway," Willa pointed out, "But the difference being if we re-modeled-"

"Re-modeled?" Maybeck interrupted.

"If they update us," Willa continued, "If we didn't, we would go in as our teenage selves."

Silence. Again.

Sofia Whitman

"Emma, aren't you thirsty?" I asked.

We were about 20 minutes into the movie, most of the pizza was gone, but Emma had barely eaten and hadn't drunk anything at all.

"Too much sugar," She said, her eyes not leaving the screen.

Eli and I exchanged looks. Though they fought over everything, it was obvious they cared about each other in some capacity.

"I'll get water,"

She needed to drink something. I knew she had taken a dance class today, so she was probably dehydrated. Of course, Emma wouldn't ever say anything, for fear of burdening someone. But none of us felt it was a burden to get someone something to drink.

I got up. Alex glanced at me, questioningly. I shook my head a little, signaling nothing was wrong. Movie night wasn't exactly going as normal. It was usually an excuse to escape reality for a few hours, but tonight it seemed the arrival of Wanda had too much significance to ignore.

I reached the top of the stairs. Before I opened the basement door however, something in the back of my brain told me to stop. Our parents were deep in conversation, and against my better judgement I listened in.

"I wouldn't bother you guys if I wasn't so worried," the woman, Wanda's, voice sounded like she was on the verge of tears.

"Hey," Aunt Jess's voice was soft, comforting, "We're going to do everything we can to find him,"

Find who? Who was missing?

"But how are…" she paused, "they even back?"

"They have come back before," Uncle Dell reasoned.

Who are "they"? Why are they so worried about them? What does this have to do with whoever's missing?

"But they were destroyed in the final battle in Disneyland. And we didn't bring anyone else back from 1955." Aunt Willa said, unconvincingly.

Disneyland? 1955?

The kitchen sink erupted. Oops. A pipe had burst. Now seemed like a great time to reveal myself. I tried looking surprised as I pushed open the basement door. My dad ran to turn off the water while Uncle Terry tried to stop the flow. Everyone looked on edge. While the water gave a cover for them to exchange worried looks, it also gave me the opportunity to see those looks.

I slowed the water until my dad turned it off. Grabbing a pitcher of water from the fridge, I headed back downstairs.

I told my friends about what I overheard. Lucas shot me a knowing look when I told them about the sink flooding.

"Why would they hide something like this?" Emma asked, always the one to defend them.

"I believe it," Eli said, always the skeptic, "Think about it." We all looked at him. "None of us have ever been to any Disney park. And really, the only time we've ever been allowed on property was at the Polynesian."

When we were 10, for some reason we had to stay at the Polynesian hotel, close to the Magic Kingdom, for nearly a week. This was the only time we'd ever been on the resort property. We didn't see our parents for that entire time, with Uncle Oliver taking care of us.

"We don't even know what they do in the Company," Eli continued, "But they are high-up. Probably Imagineer status. And I know for a fact that other Disney-employed parents let their kids go into the parks. You can't tell me you guys aren't interested?"

Noone contradicted him. Of course we all were interested, obsessed even, with all things Disney. We lived in Orlando, maybe 20 minutes from Walt Disney World. Especially given that our parents were a part of Disney lore, we had every reason to want to know about Disney. I'm pretty sure Alex and Lucas navigate all of the parks despite never setting foot in one.

Eli was right. When we told some of our classmates we hadn't ever been, they couldn't believe us. However, Eli was always quick to mistrust any sort of authority, a trait he shared with his dad. I wasn't exactly wanting to go back up there and confront them about what I overheard. That could only end in a grounding and more questions.

"Okay, but who has gone missing?" Alex asked.

He was totally engaged, which was difficult to get him to do on a regular basis. But now his eyes weren't glued to his phone or computer. He asked actual questions. Usually, he only asked rhetorical questions in an attempt to be socratic, for us to figure out things on our own, rather than him telling us.

"I don't know," I said.

"The bigger question," Alex continued, "I think, is what Disneyland and 1955 have to do with anything? And who did they refer to as 'they'?"

"That's two questions," Eli pointed out.

"Let's find out," Lucas said, leaning in to explain his plan.