Chapter Five: A New Ally...?

"What?!" Dill and Finn yelped loudly, only for the P.E. coach to walk over and glare at them. "Behave boys. I expect you to be a good example for Ms. Lockhart here."

"Yes coach." Finn responded before Dill could, shooting his friend a look that made it pretty clear that he probably shouldn't speak up just yet...

The coach nodded once, before leaving them to go check on a group that were slacking off. Finn cleared his throat as he turned to face Amanda again. "Sorry about that. I just... wasn't expecting that. So far, besides the Overtakers, the only people that I've meet that actually have lived there is Wayne and his daughter, Wanda."

"Wayne Kresky? The Imagineer that created the Items for the Kingdom Keepers to find and use?" Amanda's voice sharpened, an edge entering it.

Finn nodded, a smile twitching on his features briefly. "Yeah. He's still there. Let me give you the rundown on what's going on over there and what we're up to." Finn took a deep breath, before leaping into a rather hurried explanation. "Wayne wants us to solve the Riddle of the Stonecutter's Quill. However, when we were looking for a clue over at It's a Small World, the dolls came to life and attacked us and now we have no idea what we're doing. We most definitely didn't see the clue we thought was hidden there."

Dill cut in, impatience edging his voice. "I think that after what happened the last two nights, that maybe you should call it quits. Find someone else to save the world from the Brooms and Wraiths!" Dill hissed loudly.

Amanda stared at him, as if he were crazy, even as Finn shook his head. "We can't. According to Wayne, he had hidden them in underground passageways that were filled with boobytraps, and only someone, presumably an adult, that could get past all of the boobytraps could retrieve the Items and become the Kingdom Keepers." Finn took a deep breath, worry dancing in his eyes. "That didn't happen. The Items came to us. We can't give up just yet."

Amanda thoughtfully tapped her finger against her chin, staring at Finn. "Uh, when you put it that way, it almost sounds like there is a greater force than the players at work here..."

The three of them looked at each other in surprise over that revelation for about five seconds. "Nah. That's impossible."

...

Amanda tapped her pencil against the desk, staring blankly ahead of her. Part of her knew that she should pay attention, but her mind was in outerspace right now. Well, at least it wasn't in this dimension. Shaking her head, she pressed her pencil against a piece of paper, finally getting around to writing the answer to the question on the board. When things get very difficult, what kind of advise can you expect from your parents. That was way too easy for her. Her mother, before she died, had a saying that she would use whenever Amanda would claim things were too hard for her. Amanda paused, staring at her answer. No way... it couldn't be... and yet, Walt Disney knew what was in style when it came to entertainment. Amanda pulled a loose piece of paper out of her notebook and scribbled a message down for Finn. It was at least a start, better than nothing.

...

Finn was never so glad for school to end. And seeing as he was a teenage boy, that was saying something. Unlocking his locker, he started to pull things out and shove them into his backpack. He most likely would never have noticed a folded piece of paper that had his name on it if it hadn't been for a certain bully. Greg sneered at him as he picked the plain piece of paper up. "What's this here? Someone got a secret admirer?" He sniggered at that, carefully unfolding the note.

Finn felt as if he were paralyzed, certain that this was the end for him. The last thing he needed was a secret admirer... "What! It's just gibberish!" Finn blinked twice, before snatching the note from Greg. Scanning it, a slow smile took over as he read the unsigned message on the paper. He needed to get somewhere safe to contact Philby and Willa with this information...

...

Finn dropped his bag onto the floor, before unzipping it to let the FISH out. "Okay, I need you to call Sorcerer and Strategist."

A minute later, the FISH opened its mouth wide and Philby's voice came through. "Finn? What's going on? Is something wrong?"

Finn took a deep breath, before clasping his hands in front of him. "I have a couple of people that know about us, and one of them happens to be from the Kingdom. She gave me a note that has a wonderful suggestion on how we can find the clues on the attractions...if we're right and they're there. When should we meet up and where?"

"There's a froyo shop near the park, let's meet up there in one hour. I'll contact Charlene, Philby?" Willa's voice came through this time, her voice eager.

"I'll get Maybeck. See you all then." Philby confirmed casually, haphazarding a guess on what it was that Willa wanted.

"Good."

Finn smiled wryly at that, before calmly speaking up. "Bye guys, I'll see you all later."

"Bye Finn!" FISH closed its mouth, cutting off the connection with the others.

Finn flopped onto his bed, pulling his homework out. He had work to get done before his parents will let him go meet up with the others.

A/N: Done! I am soo soo sorry for being so late with this chapter! I just... I couldn't concentrate at all last week! First I had a cousin give a mission report (It's a religious thing... I'm LDS/Mormon), though that was Sunday and didn't really affect my schedule since I try not to update on Sundays, but then my grandfather died and I was gone all day Thursday and most of Friday so that I could attend his funeral. So yeah... that's my excuses for why I didn't work on my stories last week!

I hope you all liked this little snippit! Um... no one's been reviewing... do you guys even like this story? Leave me a review or two please!

Review!

SkyTalon