Chapter 8

Things were silent at the pottery shop as the Keepers sat around the back room after they had met up after school. Finn called an emergency meeting for all of the Keepers to attend to talk about the issue and how they were going to deal with the Overtakers now that their main leaders had escaped from their prisons.

With them out, the Keepers were no longer safe. They would soon be hunted down. With their controlled Overtakers kids they had, they would find ways to get to the Keepers by spying on them and following them wherever they went. No one could be trusted. Not even their parents.

"So, can you both tell us what happened back there?" Finn's eyes were upon Maybeck and Nikki. To him, it wasn't the Overtaker's release his only concern. But the fact that why Maybeck and Nikki were there first and their strange behavior.

"Look, I can tell you that we're not being taken over by the OTs. I swear of it." Nikki spoke up, putting her hands up in defense.

"That's what a OTK might say though." Philby spoke up, making a good point. Though he wasn't sure either.

"Look, we're not OTKs." Maybeck said in defense. "Nikki jusy found something that can teleport us from place to place…"

"Maybeck!" Nikki shouted out, not believing that he revealed the secret to them. This made everyone quickly turn to her.

Nikki signed before she could explain. "Look, it's not bad. I just found out that our DHIs can jump into the computer data. With this, we can teleport to any computer in the parks. We can even spy on the OTs with this."

Everyone stared at her in shock. A few of them had their jaws drop.

"Yeah, what she said." Maybeck stated with concern on his face.

"Don't you know how dangerous that might be?" Willa spoke up with a worried look.

"Willa's right, Nikki." Philby said, concern filled in his voice. Despite being a computer genius himself, and loving this idea. He knew the many dangers in a computer. "Sometimes computers have dangers in them. Like glitches and viruses. It could mess up your DHI. And worse, if the computer shuts down completely, your DHI would be lost forever. And you would never wake up again."

"But I know how to be careful." Nikki said like she was in a debate. "I can avoid the glitches and such. And I would make it out of there before the computer shuts down because transportation from park to park only takes about a minute. Maybe faster."

"But what about the OTs. They know about computers too. If they knew about our DHIs coming into the computer world, they'll find ways to make sure we don't come out." Philby stated.

"Philby's right on this." Finn spoke up into this subject. "Now that they're getting smarter about our moves, there's no doubt that they'll use that for their advantage. It wouldn't be safe for any of us to use the computers. Even if it's the only way to get information about their whereabouts."

Nikki glanced down at this as she pondered upon her own thoughts for a moment before looking up at him again. "Exactly, we can get information about them. Can't you see that?"

Finn signed. "I know. But it's too risky to do this. I don't want to lose anyone to this. Not even you, and Maybeck."

Now he was sounding like Wayne, as she thought.

"Then, it's agreed." Finn turned back to everyone. "Even though we want to find out where the Overtakers are, we need to do this like Wayne said. Not taking shortcuts and keeping safe."

"Whatever you said, Whitman." Maybeck folded his arms on the table.

Nikki didn't talk anymore in the subject, even though she knew that the idea of their DHIs to enter the computer was still a great idea.

"What should we do with the Overtakers then?" Charlene asked. "Remember? They did almost kill us. Meaning they could be a threat not only to us, but for everyone else."

"Yes, I know." Finn nodded. "And we're not going to get them get away again. We need a plan that can trap them for good. But we need to be careful what we say around here. There's still OTKs out there."

"Like Greg Luowski." Amanda added on. Remembering how much she hated that kid. Especially the way he always treated her and Finn.

"Exactly." Finn agreed.

…..

Nikki stepped through the front door, closing the door behind her. She made her way towards the living room, not realizing that her mother was sitting on the couch.

"Where have you been?" Her mother's voice made her jump a little, turning to her quickly.

"I was with my friends. We had a project that we were discussing." Some of that was the truth, but she couldn't just say the rest. What could she say? That she was a DHI of Disney World that's saving the parks at night from the Disney Villains? There was no way her mother would buy that. Or even if she did believe her, she knew her mother would be overly worried and try to stop her from crossing over.

"You could have at least called me." Her mother's reply came to her as a shock.

"Sorry, I was too busy to call. But I'm alright. Don't worry, mom. I know stranger danger." Nikki said with sarcasm, making her way into the kitchen as her mother stood up from the couch to follow her.

"That's not what I mean, Nikki. And you don't take that tone with me." She narrowed her eyes.

"I'm sorry, mom. I will remember to call next time." Nikki signed, sitting down at the table. She wished her grandparents were home so she wouldn't be alone with her mother. But they were both at the supermarket.

"You know, I worry about you." Her mother softened her tone before going over to the cupboard to grab a mug.

"You always worry about me." Nikki kept her glance away from her mother as she was pulling out her math book from her backpack.

"I know. I should be happy for you that you finally made some friends. But I still worry that you're very distant. Especially to me. It's like you don't like me." These words made Nikki's heart sink.

"Look, I love you, mom. I always have. I'm just busy more often. I don't really have the time to talk." Nikki said, putting the book onto the table.

Her mother signed, putting the mug into the coffee maker to make herself a cup of coffee. Leaning against the counter to look over at her only daughter.

"I know that you miss your father. And it's okay that you sometimes don't like to talk about it…"

Why was her mother doing this? Nikki thought. Some of that was true, but that wasn't the reason why she was distance.

"But, I'm always there for you if you do want to talk about something. It could be about anything. School. Boys. You name it. Is there…anything you want to talk about?" Her mother stared straight towards her.

Nikki lifted her head when she asked that, having her eyes meeting her mothers. Seeing the sadness in her eyes.

"Well…" Nikki signed. "There's one thing…"

Right after she started to say this, her mother pulled out the other chair from the table where Nikki was sitting, sitting across from her.

"Well…" Her mother pushed her to talk.

Nikki hesitated a bit. Regretting the decision to start a conversation with her. Trying to come up with something to say without revealing the truth of her secret job.

"Well, it's about the recent trip to the Magic Kingdom during the weekend. I went to see the Hall of Presidents and I became very interest with the holograms they used for the show. And it made me curious about how they are able to come up with such technology. Because I always wanted to be a Disney Engineer." It was something she came up with, but she hoped that it would interest her mother instead of having her mother know about her other life.

"Oh, I see." Her mother raised her eyebrows in interest. Even though she knew that Nikki was hiding more than she was talking about. But she didn't want to force her to talk about it. Not yet at least.

"Well it is quite interesting. Your father's old friend, Wayne used to show him around the attractions at Disneyland. He almost wanted to be a Disney Engineer, but the military was calling out to him more. Though he did say that once he would retire, he would become a Disney Engineer."

The mention of Wayne peaked Nikki's interest. Remembering the good old days when they used to live in Anaheim, California. When Wayne first appeared in her life with her father. They were close friends. It was all before the day that changed everything. The day when her father died. Making her and her mother move to Flordia to live with her grandparents. Little did she know that she would meet Wayne again, and she would become a Kingdom Keepers like the other DHI kids, including her friend, David.

"Yeah. Dad would have been a great Disney Engineer." Nikki smiled slightly at the thought of her dad. Finally looking into her mother's eyes. "I do miss him. I always think of him every day." That part was the full truth.

There wasn't a day when she didn't think of her loving father. She still remembered the days when he was a way out of the country, he would write letters to her. And she would expect them to come and she would read every single one of them. Always picturing where he could be. Even after his death, she still would expect a letter to come and believed that her father was still alive. When the letters stopped coming afterwards, she had to face reality. With all of this, she was shocked that she finally started to believe in Disney Characters that would come to life at night in the parks and that she was able to access computers as a DHI. It was maybe because she couldn't grip reality as much as she should be.

There was a long moment of silence between the two. By then, the coffee was finished, making her mother stand up and pick up the mug filled with the coffee.

"I have to get ready for my night shift. Remember to finish your homework. Your grandmother will make dinner tonight. Alright?" Her mother turned back to Nikki.

"Yeah, I understand." Nikki nodded, giving her a small smile. She stood up and give her mother a small kiss on the cheek. "I love you, mother."

"I love you too. Stay out of trouble." Her mother joked around a little, but being mostly serious.

"Stay out of trouble. Got it." Nikki took note with a nod. Watching her mother picking up her suitcase and headed for the door. Nikki found herself alone.

Just after her mother left, her cell phone buzzed. She picked it up, reading the text from Finn.

Crossover at Epcot. Meet at Midnight. F.