Here's chapter 19 guys! Not gonna lie...I love this chapter. I decided trying out a new style for this chapter, so let me know what y'all think!

Chapter 19: I Suggest We Stick to the Shadows

November 29, 2358
Magic Kingdom
Adventureland—Pirates of the Caribbean

10:30 A.M.

Maybeck ushered Jess and Charlene into the old abandoned building housing the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Even though it had been over twelve years since he had gone down to the jail cells, he remembered it like it was yesterday. Once all three were inside, Maybeck took the flashlight out of his pocket, using it to illuminate the path they were taking.

The only thing that was missing were the faint sound of Flamenco guitars and the dimly lit lanterns. Despite that, the ride was the same as it was before. He remembered riding this ride as a kid, then coming here with Finn and Philby at age twelve, and now with Charlene and Jess.

If I had known the DHI was a life-long job, I definitely would have thought twice before signing up, Maybeck thought to himself.

The trio reached a sharp corner and Maybeck peered into one of the displays below. He shined the flashlight into the display and had a sudden flashback.

Maybeck bent down, pretending to tie his running shoe, to let a group of eager teens race past them. When the hall was empty again, Philby pointed to a short staircase set into the wall, cordoned off by a chain.

To the right of the hall was a pit, a jail cell holding a pair of pirate figures engaged in a game of chess.

Maybeck hurried forward, jumped the chain, and climbed the short stairs. He reported back down to the others, "There's a pair of cannons and a kind of turret thing. Looks like the top of a fort or something."

Philby, ever the academic, explained, "It's a mock-up of a battlement, with twin eight-pound cannons and their shot in woven baskets." He'd done his homework, as usual.

Maybeck walked over to the chain, looking for the staircase set into the stone. With the light of his flashlight, he could see the edges of it below him. He slowly maneuvered his body over the chain and beckoned for the girls to follow.

Charlene and Jess exchanged a look and followed. Neither of them looked happy to be here. Despite their worried looks, they followed him down the short staircase into the display.

At the bottom of the staircase, Maybeck saw the outline of the large door built into the stone wall.

Maybeck whispered softly, "If we're going in, we're going in. We can't stand around staring at it."

The boys stepped inside the heavy jail cell door and Finn pulled it shut.

They ducked into shadow as several groups of kids hurried past toward the start of the ride.

Step by step, he followed the memory down toward the jail cells.

Philby found a weighted rope connected to an overhead pulley. "Care to take the elevator?" he tested the rope, held on tightly, and stepped off. He floated to the bottom of the pit. A moment later the other boys had reached the jail's floor.

Maybeck reached the bottom of the pit and helped Charlene and Jess. Maybeck looked to his right, where the pirates used to be, and saw nothing. He almost laughed at the memory of watching Finn poking the pirates to see if they were "awake."

"Okay, this is really weird," Finn said," But I know this guy."

Maybeck made his way into a long, straight hallway. Jail cells lined both sides.

"Its…a prison," Jess said quietly. Charlene walked over to one of the cells and looked at the old padlocks. Most were rusted to the iron bars holding the cells upright. They were brand new last time Maybeck had been down here.

"This has all been fixed up," Philby said. "And recently. What's with that?"

"Padlocks," Finn said. "A hundred padlocks stolen. Remember what Wayne said?"

Philby handled one of the padlocks. "You're not saying—"

"You want to explain it? Go ahead!" Finn said.

Maybeck said, "Listen, this make sense. These cells are huge. Each cell could hold what, ten, maybe twenty people?"

The boys continued through the gloomy jail.

Philby did the math. "That means you could lock up hundreds of people down here. You realize that?"

Finn said, "Park employees."

"They're planning a takeover," Philby said. "They stole the locks. They fixed up the cells."

Finn stated, "They obviously plan to use these."

"This is exactly what Wayne is afraid of," Philby said. "Now I get it: if they organize and if they have real powers, it's possible they could take over the park."

"And once they did," Finn said, "what would happen to the guests who arrived?"

"It's not just a jail, guys. Welcome to the dungeon." Maybeck pointed to a door at the end of the jails. The door hung open, revealing a tomblike darkness beyond. "And yes," he added quickly, "I realize how stupid this sounds."

"Is this where they were going to lock up all the park employees?" Charlene asked Maybeck. "Back when we first started out as keepers?"

Maybeck glanced warily at Jess, remembering Jezebel, and continued walking down the hallway. "Yeah, this is it."

Charlene walked ahead of Maybeck and Jess. Once she reached the last cell, she gasped. Maybeck hurried over to her, shining the light into the cell. On the floor inside was a puddle of dried blood—big enough to say that without a doubt, someone died there. Maybeck looked over at Charlene and saw the horror in her eyes. He wrapped an arm over her shoulder and directed her away from the cell.

"They're okay," he reminded her. "That blood might belong to a guard."

"You don't know that," Charlene wiped a tear away from her cheek and buried her head in his chest. Maybeck wrapped both arms around her and let her cry for a few seconds, for he didn't know what to say. He couldn't guarantee their friends' safety.

"Hey guys. I think they went this way." Jess called out from the end of the hallway. Charlene let go of Maybeck and wiped a tear off her cheek.

"Are you going to be okay?" He asked in a whisper.

Charlene nodded. "We all just got back together…and now four of us are gone…and…and…" Another tear escaped her eye and streamed down her cheek. She reached up with a shaky hand and wiped it away.

Maybeck pushed a loose hair off of her face and put it behind her ear. "We'll find them, Charlene." He kissed her on the forehead and walked over to Jess. Maybeck noticed the trail of blood leading from the jail cell to where Jess was standing, but decided against pointing it out. Charlene was already emotional enough right now.

They reached the end of the hallway and Maybeck opened the door, revealing the tomblike darkness he had seen only once before. He shivered as he took a step into the room. Charlene reached forward in the darkness and grabbed his hand. He gave it a light squeeze and made sure to keep her behind him, just in case something was lurking in here.

"I suggest we stick to the shadows," Jess whispered.

Maybeck turned around so fast, Charlene stumbled into him. He pushed her off of him and stared at Jess. "What did you just say?"

Philby whispered, "I suggest we stick to the shadows."

Jess shrugged. "I just said we should stick to the shadows, that's all." She shifted on her feet uncomfortably. "Nothing to make a big deal about."

Jess pushed past Maybeck, taking Charlene with her. For a brief second, her image flickered and Maybeck saw Jezebel.

Maybeck added, "Jez is so nice, it's hard to see her as dangerous. That's when you start losing power, when the cold really gets going."

Maybeck pushed away the memory and continued after the girls. He caught up to them at the end of the room. He opened up the door and knew there was a stone staircase headed. He descended without thinking twice about it.

"Watch your step," he warned the girls.

Halfway down the staircase, the stones started drifting to the left and a dim electric light appeared above them. Through the light they could barely see the walls, which were still dripping with green slime.

Maybeck reached the bottom of the staircase and stepped into a puddle. He lowered the flashlight to his feet and noticed there was a series of wet footprints on the stone floor.

He followed them into the same square room that Maleficent and Jezebel had led them through twelve years ago. It was a square room supported by four stone pillars, each one sporting a different, ghoulish animal head carving. Maybeck shined the flashlight around the room and saw the three wooden doors, just like before. The one in the middle was slightly ajar. Maybeck crossed the room toward the door.

From there, the trio entered a dark, narrow tunnel, with walls close enough that one could touch them both at the same time. Maybeck placed his left hand along the wall and held the flashlight with his right as they walked through the tunnel.

At the end of the tunnel, there was another short stone staircase, leading to a second room—this one carved from sandstone. There had to be at least half a dozen columns connected by carved arches. The artist in Maybeck immediately made the connection between this room and Escher's Keep—yet another place Maybeck had yet to see in years.

Maybeck stood there, gaping at the beauty of the room, when Jess grabbed the flashlight out of his hand. She shined the light on the floor, following the blood trail to the left. She continued to follow the trail without a word. Each footstep echoed through the sandstone room.

"Temperature alert," Charlene said through chattering teeth. "Arctic air mass."

Maybeck spun around and stared at her. "What did you just say?" He realized the harshness of his tone a little bit too late.

Maybeck crossed his arms tightly. "Temperature alert," he whispered. "Arctic air mass."

Charlene crossed her arms, half from the cold, half from the insecurity she felt because of his harsh stare. "It's cold, that's all, Maybeck."

Charlene started walking past him, but he put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. "That's exactly what I said when I came down here twelve years ago."

Charlene scoffed. "That's really interesting, Maybeck, but we have friends to find."

Charlene pushed past him, but he let her go this time. Something about this wasn't adding up. How come both Jess and Charlene were acting out the memory almost exactly how it went twelve years ago? How come they were saying the exact same things? Was he finally losing it? Was it Maleficent trying to manipulate him?

If she wanted him to be paranoid, she sure got her wish.

At the thought of her, a cold wind blew through the room, shutting the door they had used to enter with a loud THUD! Charlene gasped. Jess turned around, shining the flashlight at the door.

"That's strange," she murmured. "There's no way wind could blow through here like that."

Losing her patience, Maleficent asked, "Or do you prefer fire?"

Her left hand suddenly held a ball of flame. She blew it out.

"Or wind?" The room swirled with a gale force that blew dust into their eyes and knocked the boys off their feet. Neither Jez's robes nor her mother's so much as fluttered.

"Want to play some more?" she asked.

Maleficent lit another ball of flame in her hand. She blew on it, sending it rolling directly for Maybeck. It exploded in a puff of black smoke just before reaching him.

"It's Maleficent," Maybeck muttered under his breath.

"What?" Jess and Charlene blurted out in unison.

Maybeck cursed. "She knew we would come here. She wanted us down here." He turned to face the now shut door. "It's a trap."

"But…the blood trail, it led down here!" Jess turned around, shining the light on the blood trail. Maybeck noticed how it led across the room into the corner.

Maybeck heard a groan come from that direction.

"Why don't we just go back? It's obviously a dead-end!" Charlene blurted out. She went over to the door and opened it. "I'm sure there's an explanation for the—"

Maybeck hurried over and clasped his hand over her mouth. He heard the groan again, this time softer, since he was further away from the corner. Maybeck placed a finger over his mouth, signaling Charlene and Jess to be quiet. He slowly stepped across the room, trying to eliminate all sound from his footsteps.

He motioned for Jess to shine the light on the blood trail. She kept it just ahead of him. When he was a foot from the corner, she moved it up on the wall, and all three of them gasped.

Curled up in the corner was an unconscious Dell Philby.

Maybeck and Jess set down Philby on the couch in Wayne's apartment. Charlene hurried into the kitchen and filled up a glass with water as fast as she could. She walked back over to the couch, knelt beside Philby, and inspected his wounds.

He had a bunch of cuts and bruises all over his body. Charlene assumed he had more underneath his shirt and pants, but she didn't dare look. Right now, he was still unconscious. As long as he was breathing, she was happy.

They had scoured the room, and the jail cells above, for any sign of Amanda, Finn and Willa, but found none. Only Philby was underneath Pirates of the Caribbean. He had been beat up and left to die.

Based off his wounds, the blood puddle in the jail cell couldn't have been from him. It had to have been from a guard or one of their friends. Whoever it was, they didn't have a lot of time left, unless treated. Charlene figured if it was one of their friends, they wouldn't get the luxury of medical treatment.

Philby groaned again and Charlene figured he was about to wake up. She decided to take action.

"Get me a bucket half full of water and a few washcloths," Charlene blurted out. "I'm going to need a First-Aid box too. We're going to need a lot of band aids."

Jess and Maybeck set off to go find the things that she had asked for. Charlene repositioned herself so that she was sitting on the couch.

Philby's eyes fluttered open. He muttered something along the lines of "Willa," and his eyes focused in on Charlene.

"Hey Philby," Charlene said with a smile. "Want some water?"

Philby nodded, wincing in pain as he tried to sit up. Charlene helped him to a sitting position and handed him the glass of water.

After taking a few sips, Philby turned to face her. "Where's Willa?"

Charlene's gaze went to the floor. "We don't know. We were hoping you would know."

"What about Finn?" Philby coughed. "Amanda?"

"Same," Charlene took the glass of water from his hand and set it on the coffee table. "What do you remember?"

Maybeck came in with a bowl of icy, cold water and two washcloths. Charlene soaked one of the washcloths and started washing off Philby's cuts on his face. The longest and deepest cut ran from his left eyebrow to his chin. Charlene placed the washcloth over it and told Philby to hold it there for her.

"I…I don't remember much," Philby stuttered out, wincing at the cold washcloth on his face.

Maybeck sat down next to Charlene, putting a hand on the small of her back. "Anything about where they're hiding the others?"

"They were holding all of us there at first," Philby began. "Then Finn and Amanda were taken away. They were trying to take Willa away when I attacked one of the guards." He made eye contact with Maybeck. "Well, you see how that worked," he joked.

Nobody laughed, though Philby and Maybeck did both crack a smile.

"Any idea on where they might be holding them?"

"All of them will be in different places." Philby coughed again. Maybeck left to go refill his glass of water. He returned shortly and gave it to him. Philby drank the whole glass and continued. "I heard something about Animal Kingdom Lodge, though."

"Who do you think would be there?"

"I…I don't know."

Charlene placed a hand on his knee. "That's okay, Philby. We'll find them all, I promise."

Jess came back in with a First-Aid kid and started sifting through it for band aids. The front door opened and Wayne and Lizzie walked in.

"Daddy!" Lizzie ran across the room and jumped into Philby's lap. Philby winced at the pain, but said nothing. He chose to put a smile on his face instead.

"Hey there Lizzie. Did you…" Philby coughed, again. "Did you have fun with Wayne?"

"Yes! We went to the grocery store, and the toy store…" Lizzie went on and on about her adventures with Wayne, but Charlene tuned her out. She couldn't help but notice how happy Philby seemed to have his daughter in his arms again, despite the huge amount of pain he was in. The joy he had being with his daughter again almost brought tears to her eyes. They had been separated for a year but you wouldn't know that looking at them today. Philby kissed her on the top of her head as she rambled on about the toy store.

Charlene stood up and made her way to the kitchen, not wanting to cry in front of them. She opened the cabinet and grabbed a glass, filling it with water in the sink. After taking a sip, she placed the glass on the counter and took a deep breath. She couldn't help but feel a little jealous of Willa and Philby. They had the one thing she wanted more than anything, but couldn't have: a child.

Charlene felt two arms wrap around her waist from behind, but she didn't jump. Maybeck leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. "Are you alright, Charlie?"

"Fine," she moved her finger around the top of the glass, avoiding his eyes.

"What's wrong? You look upset."

Charlene sighed. "It's nothing."

"Obviously not," Maybeck's grip on her got a little tighter. "What's up?"

Charlene glanced over toward the living room, where Lizzie was still talking Philby's ear off. "It'd be nice to be a mom."

Maybeck followed her gaze and let out a little laugh. "You're jealous of Philby and Willa?"

Charlene shrugged, returning her gaze back to her glass of water. "Yeah, a little."

Maybeck kissed her on the cheek. "You're going to be the best mom, Charlene, when the time comes."

He kissed her on the cheek again and left to go back into the living room. Charlene grabbed her glass and leaned against the empty door frame that separated the living room from the kitchen. She watched as Terry became Uncle Maybeck, playing with Lizzie. He was so good with children, she couldn't help but feel the pang of guilt in the pit of her stomach.

She would have to tell him eventually, but things were going so well between them now, she didn't have the heart to ruin it. For now, she stuck to the shadows of the room, avoiding him and the child. She couldn't face reality right now.

The quotes from this chapter come from: Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark, pages 275-86.

So they found Philby and somebody's in Animal Kingdom Lodge. Any ideas of who is there? Any ideas on how they're going to get he or she back? Any thoughts in general? How did y'all like the new way of writing the chapter?

Please review! I'd love to read what y'all have to say! Have a wonderful week! I'll try to update as fast as possible!