Hey guys! I hope the wait hasn't been too bad :P There's just a few quick things I wanted to say first before you read.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Homer's Odyssey, or anything else I've referenced in this. Or the Kingdom Keepers either. I do apologize for any grammatical/spelling errors. It is late at night when I am posting this.

Kenzie: You weren't rude! I know I've neglected Finn for the past couple of chapters. But it was for a good reason. It was intentional, but it leads up to a great twist.

her-eyes-fiery-pinpricks: I love how you say every chapter is the best so far. It makes my day! Thanks :P

Neon Trees: "Keep it up, because like always, girly, you are superb awesomeness, dipped in talent, wrapped in perfection, and sprinkled with YES!" is possibly the best quote...like ever. I love it! I laughed so hard reading that. You went into such detail. :)

Thanks for all of the great reviews! I love them all! I hope this chapter lives up to all the hype of the last few!

Chapter 38: Don't Finish That Sentence

August 1st, 2015
2:14 P.M.

"The room where you lost your sock and Jess found the new link in the strip. That is where true love reunites."

Willa glanced at her phone once more before opening the door to the IMAX room at Soarin'. There were two theaters and the other room had been empty. This random, anonymous text was her only hope to finding Philby.

She glanced over her shoulder. Despite it being the middle of the day, there was no one on the catwalks behind the seats to the ride, keeping her out of sight. At a moment's notice, any one of the workers could come up and discover her, but she had a feeling no one would.

She tried the doorknob. Locked.

She glanced over her shoulder again. No one.

She pulled out a bobby pin tucked away in her messy braid—not caring about the strand of hair that fell onto her face—and started picking the lock with it. It took her a minute to finally hear the click that was music to her ears.

Yes!

Willa swung the door open and dropped the bobby pin. Her eyes went wide with what she saw.

Amanda trudged along Main Street, watching every person, looking for a specific shade of green. Not the Overtaker spell shade. The shade of green that she loved: Finn's.

Later she couldn't recall what drove her to believe that he would be in Magic Kingdom that day. A strange feeling, perhaps? Jess hadn't had one of her dreams in a while. She hadn't heard anything from her friend Mattie in the longest time—who was adamantly searching both worlds for him. She didn't know what was left to do. She didn't want to accept the fact that he was dead. He just wasn't.

She felt the baby kick and had to stop. The pain was getting worse with each kick. The doctor had told her earlier that morning that she was fine for today. Tomorrow would most likely be the big day. She came to Magic Kingdom, not only on a hunch, but to enjoy her favorite place one last time by herself. She could sit on one of the benches and stare at the beautiful sights all day.

Thinking of benches, Amanda looked for one to sit on. Every one in sight was taken. A tap on her shoulder made her turn around in fright.

Eyes wide, she saw a man, slightly taller than her, with a Tampa Rays baseball hat standing in front of her. The man had brown hair that looked a little rough, as if he hadn't had a proper haircut in a while. The scruff lining his jaw was an obvious sign. He had giant Aviator sunglasses blocking his eyes from view. "Are you okay ma'am?" He asked her, changing his accent in the middle of the question—sending red flags to her. She looked for a Cast Member badge, but found none. This guy could very well be an Overtaker…but she couldn't be sure.

"Yes, I am," Amanda answered carefully. "I was just looking for a bench to sit on. My husband…he's…he's supposed to meet me somewhere around here." The lie was almost true, a half-truth per se. She had this strange feeling that Finn would show up, but she didn't want to get her hopes up. This stranger didn't know anything about her. A little white lie couldn't hurt, right?

He looked her over, when noticing her stomach, he seemed to cringe, as if he wasn't expecting to be helping a pregnant lady. "There's…" he swallowed the lump in his throat. "There's a bench that's free right over there." He pointed toward the Hub, where, believe it or not, a bench was free of people.

Amanda looked over the suspicious man one last time. Something about him screamed familiarity, but she couldn't place a finger on it. "Thank you, uh…uh…Mr.—"

"Ever heard of the Odyssey?" The confusion must have shown on her face, because he continued. "You know? Ancient Greek classic? Odysseus? Killing suitors? All that jazz?"

She nodded slowly, not sure what to say. Yeah, she had read it in high school, and in that English class in college. But she still couldn't figure out what that has to do with him.

"You know what's funny about him? He finally gets home but he chooses to disguise himself. He actually talks to his wife and she almost recognizes him. Crazy, huh?"

Amanda narrowed her eyes at the strange man. Something about him seemed familiar. "What does this have to do with your name?"

He smirked. "Consider me Odysseus." After a few seconds of awkward silence, he cleared his throat and pointed to the bench. "Would you like me to help you over there…Mrs.…"

"Mrs. Whitman," Amanda answered quickly.

He cleared his throat again. "Mrs. Whitman, yes. We wouldn't want to keep your husband waiting, now would we?"

Amanda shook her head and the man left his arm out for her to take. She reluctantly took it, not sure if she even had a choice. Right before they made it to the bench, she felt the baby kick again…this time harder. She let out a little gasp from the pain.

The strange man helped her into the bench and kneeled in front of her. "Are you sure you're okay, Mrs. Whitman?" He asked her. His voice laced with concern.

Amanda closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, like her doctor taught her, and nodded slowly. She could feel his watching eyes on her, but she did not open her eyes, not until the pain subsided.

"I'm going to have to leave you alone now, Mrs. Whitman. I've got to go...uh...take care of some things. Are you sure you're going to be okay until your husband comes back? You look like you're pretty far along in your…well…you know…" He motioned to her stomach.

Amanda opened her eyes and placed a fake smile on her face. "I'll be fine. Thank you…uh…Odysseus…" She narrowed her eyes at him. "I have a feeling that's not your real name."

She couldn't see his eyes, but based off his body language, he wasn't fooled by her fraudulent smile. He smirked and stood up. "It's not. You know me too well."

Before she could say anything, he walked off toward the castle, glancing back only once to wave at her. Amanda had honestly never felt so confused by a person in her life.

Willa took a deep breath, a smile growing on her face.

"Mmmhmmmhmmmm," Philby tried to say through the gag in his mouth. Willa closed the door quickly behind her and pulled his Swiss army knife out of her pocket.

"Stay still sweetie, I've got to get these undone." She pulled the gag out of his mouth before getting to work on the ropes binding his wrists and ankles to the chair.

"Willa, I can't tell you how glad I am to see you," he spat out the second the gag was out of his mouth. "It's been a crazy couple of days."

Willa let out a laugh. "I'm sure it has been." She cut through the first ropes on his left wrist. While moving over to the right side, she leaned in for a quick kiss. "I missed you," she whispered.

He held her gaze, willing her not to move away with his eyes for a few seconds. "I missed you too."

She pecked him on the cheek and moved to the right wrist, sawing away at it with his pocket knife.

"You'll never believe who I saw earlier," Philby said as he started to work on his left ankle with his free hand.

"Who was that?"

"It was…Finn."

Willa stopped what she was doing and raised an eyebrow at her husband. "You saw Finn? The guy who's been missing since October?"

Philby's eyebrows knitted in frustration. "He sure did look like him. I can't be sure…"

That's when she heard it: footsteps. Willa glanced over toward the door and hurried to place the ropes back on her husband's wrists.

"What are you doing?" He whispered.

She placed the recently cut ropes back onto his left wrist. "Somebody's coming."

"You have to get out."

Willa searched the room and found a closet. She took a risk and went in for one, last kiss. She reluctantly pulled away, putting the gag back into his mouth, mouthing a "sorry" as she headed over to the closet. She wasn't sure who was coming, but if he was being moved, she wanted another kiss to survive off of until she found him again. Or another anonymous text gives her another clue. Both work.

She went into the closet, propping the door open at the smallest interval possible. She wanted to be able to hear what was going on…and she probably didn't want to see what was going on.

She heard the door open and shut so loud that it shook the closet door.

"Long time no see, Dell Philby," a seductive female voice said. In the small amount of room she had to see, Willa saw a young woman with dirty blonde hair walk up to her husband. He knew not to look in her direction, so his eyes were fixed on the woman in front of him. Willa didn't know who she was. Nothing about her seemed familiar.

"I'm going to have a lot of fun with you," the mysterious woman said as she moved around to the back of the chair.

Willa moved back, further into the closet, to avoid being seen by the mystery woman. She stepped on something, almost causing her to trip. She crouched down and sat a stick lying on the ground. What is a stick doing on the inside of a closet on the inside of this building?

"Maleficent has given me this little bottle of a wonderful potion that contains one of the most powerful spells," the mysterious woman continued.

Willa reached out to pick it up and noticed it wasn't a stick, but a wand. Okay, now I'm seeing things.

She saw a piece of paper on the floor. It had been sitting underneath the wand. Willa picked it up and read the note.

"Willa. I believe a flick of the wand will do. You watch Harry Potter, right? You've got to embrace the weirdness of what I'm asking you to do. Otherwise…we'll have some serious problems. See you soon—FW."

Willa stared at the wand in her hand. There was no way Finn wrote that note. There was no way Finn believed she had magical powers. That is, if I assume he's still alive.

She shook her head, getting rid of that thought. Of course he was alive. Who else would be sending her these messages and texts. Why was it so hard to wrap her head around the fact that her best friend has returned?

"Lauren, you don't know what you are doing," she heard Philby say. Willa hurried over to the door, peeking out into the IMAX room. She saw Lauren holding something very close to her husband's lips. Willa figured that was the potion she had been talking about only moment's earlier.

The mysterious woman, apparently Lauren, was standing behind him. She leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "bottoms up." Right as she was about to pour the potion into his mouth, Willa summoned all of her courage and burst out of the closet.

"Not today, Lauren," Willa said before flicking the wand in Lauren's direction. She watched in awe as Lauren flew against the wall, the potion dropping into Philby's lap. Philby's wide, shocked eyes met hers and Willa dropped the wand.

"Bloody hell, Willa!" Philby said as he started to untie the ropes around his ankles. "Since when do you know how to do magic?"

Willa, still standing there in shock. "Uh…since…now?"

Philby stood up and ripped the gag over his head and threw it on the floor. He smashed the potion onto the ground. Willa watched the glass vial shatter into a thousand pieces. Philby scooped up the wand and handed it back to Willa.

"You might need this."

Willa nodded, still shaken up from what had just happened. She took the wand from her husband and gripped it tightly. She looked up at her husband. "I just used magic."

He rolled his eyes playfully and kissed her on the forehead. "I see that sweetheart. Do you mind if we go now? I'd like to leave this room." He glanced back at Lauren. "Especially before she wakes up."

Willa's eyes went wide again. "Oh my gosh. I didn't kill her, did I?"

Philby rolled his eyes again and walked over, placing two fingers by her neck. "She has a pulse. Can we leave now?"

Willa nodded. "Yeah. Sure thing sweetie." Philby grabbed her free hand and helped her out of the room.

Once the door had been closed and double-checked to see if it was locked, Philby pulled his wife in for a passionate kiss. He pulled back and pushed a piece of loose hair behind her ear. "I love you."

"I love you too. And I've…got something I need to tell you." A sheepish smile grew on her face. She glanced down at the ground, trying to gain the courage to tell him. You can do this, she encouraged herself. You found out this morning. You've had all day to prepare for this.

He used a finger to push her chin gently up to face his. "What is that?"

"I…uh…we…ummm…"

Willa's phone rang. She took her phone out, checking the caller ID. It was Amanda.

"Amanda?"

"Willa, you need to come to Magic Kingdom right now!"

"What's going on?" Willa stuffed the wand into her pocket and held the phone so where both she and Philby can hear. "Why are you in Magic Kingdom? You're due tomorrow!"

"I know! I know! But…but something's going on. The castle's being evacuated. It's…it's really strange…and…" Static rang out. Philby and Willa exchanged confused looks. "And I think I just saw Finn…but…I can't be sure…you've…just come now!"

The line cut off. Willa put her phone back into her pocket.

"What is going on in Magic Kingdom right now?" Philby asked her.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling it's out our names written all over it."

"No freaking way."

Maybeck glanced down at his phone and back up at the sight through the window. Things couldn't be this easy. They just couldn't.

He glanced through the window again, shutting his phone without looking and started trying to open the window. It took him a second to get the lock to turn and push half of the window up. It was a tiny space, but he knew he could make it.

To say the fit was a tight one would be an understatement.

He flopped down on the floor of the room, only four feet down. It wasn't as rough of a drop as he thought. He scrambled to a standing position and hurried over to the two girls leaning against the wall. Both had their hands and ankles tied and bandanas wrapping around their mouths as gags. Neither looked to be awake at the moment. That could mean sleep…or something worse.

Maybeck walked over to the one with blonde hair and shook her a little. When she didn't wake up, he tried the other.

"Jess," Maybeck whispered as he shook her. He tried shaking Charlene again. "Charlie. Come on babe. Wake up."

He shook his fiancée a little harder. "Come on Charlene. This isn't funny. Wake up!"

She groaned and mumbled something he couldn't make out. He shook her lightly this time and her eyes slowly fluttered open. Once they focused in on her, he saw her sparkling blue eyes grow wide with recognition. He noticed how one eye was now slowly turning black and purple with bruises and a few tears escaping both eyes.

"It's okay, Charlie. I'm right here." He popped out his pocket knife and got to work on the ropes binding her—and Jess'—wrists and ankles. He removed Jess' gag while Charlene tried to wake her. Once Jess had started to open her eyes, Charlene stood up. She got a huge wave of nausea and almost collapsed right there, if it hadn't been for Maybeck.

He caught her and held her in his arms. She straightened up to a standing position but he didn't let go.

Her eyes met his and the tears flowed a little more. She flung her arms around him, crying into his chest.

"I'm right here, sweetheart." He noticed Jess was waking up and giving them a weird look. He shrugged. Jess rolled her eyes. "I'm right here and I'm not letting you get away again."

Charlene slipped out of his grasp and wiped her eyes. "I'm fine. I'm fine." She took a deep breath and glanced back at Jess. "We need to get out of here. They're…" she looked at Jess for help.

"They're trying something huge today." Jess finished. "I dreamed all about it last night."

Terry reached for Charlene's hand. She took it gladly.

"What are we up against?" He asked his all-knowing friend.

A loud boom shook the building.

Jess pointed to the ceiling. "That."

Maybeck, Charlene and Jess slipped into the Utilidor through a secret entrance they had discovered years ago. They ran, and ran hard. The underground world was chaotic. People were running the opposite direction of the three keepers. They were going toward the castle and everybody was running away.

"There!" Charlene pointed to a door. Maybeck knew it was one of the doors leading to the New Fantasyland.

The three pushed through the people, trying their best to get to the door. They weren't going as fast as Maybeck would have liked.

Jess reached the door first and pulled it open. The scene outside wasn't as pretty as the one underground. People were running away—almost in panic.

Maybeck took Charlene by the hand and took off running through New Fantasyland, dodging people as he went. He glanced over at the castle and saw a flash of green and orange. Maleficent.

They reached the Carousel and Maybeck saw something he swore he had never seen before.

In the area between the Carousel and the back of the castle, was Maleficent. Nothing strange there, obviously. The strange part included Willa holding a wand in her direction…and using it with full force.

"Is she using a wand?" Charlene asked him. Maybeck was too stunned to say anything. He watched as Willa yelled something and a wave of blue electricity shot out of the wand, flying through the air toward Maleficent. It hit her with full force and knocked her to the ground.

"She needs help," Jess said from Maybeck's other side. Her voice was so quiet he almost didn't hear her.

"What can we do?" Charlene asked Jess. Jess contemplated that for a second before running up towards Maleficent and Willa. Charlene took off after her, pulling Maybeck along.

"HEY!" Jess yelled at Maleficent, waving her arms like a crazy person. "Easy prey right here!"

Maybeck stopped in his tracks. "What the—"

"Don't finish that sentence!" Jess yelled as she pushed him and Charlene to the ground. Three fireballs flew over them—right where their heads would have been.

"Who let her into Magic Kingdom?"

Charlene rolled her eyes. "She lives here, Maybeck. Don't be stupid."

"Too late," Jess muttered. "We've got to get closer. Willa can't hold her off all by herself." Jess slowly grew to a crouch and started heading toward the Princess Fairytale Hall. Maybeck knew it better as the old home of Snow White's Scary Adventures. He winced just thinking about the time he almost died at the hands of the Evil Queen there.

He looked just past the Princess Fairytale Hall and saw Sir Mickey's. Maybeck wanted to kick himself for not remembering that place sooner.

"Be right back." He stood up, getting ready to sprint toward Sir Mickey's, but Charlene pulled him back down to a crouch.

"What are you doing?"

A scream could be heard from behind the castle, where Willa was battling Maleficent.

"That was Philby," Jess said, as if she could read her mind. He hated when she did that.

Charlene turned around to face Jess. "How did you—"

"Not now," Maybeck interrupted. "I've got to go get some help."

"What are you doing?" Charlene asked him. Her eyes were laced with concern. He looked into her eyes and it was as if the world disappeared around him. He forgot Maleficent. He forgot the imminent peril. He forgot everything. It was just her.

He snapped himself out of it and cleared his throat. "Finn and I snuck some real swords in there back in high school, just in case we ever needed them. I'm going to go see if they're still here."

She reached for his hand, keeping him there a second longer. "Let me go with you. Safety in numbers and all that crap."

Maybeck glanced between Jess and Charlene. "No. You two stay together. I'll be quick. Stay here as long as possible…if I don't make it—"

"Do not finish that sentence," Charlene spat out.

Maybeck pecked her on the cheek. "As you wish." He patted Jess on the shoulder and sprinted toward Sir Mickey's, praying that the swords were still hidden somewhere in the shop.

Jess watched in horror as Willa fought Maleficent. Now she was standing in front of Philby, who was injured on the ground, pointing a shaking wand at Maleficent. Jess could see, even from far away, that she was trembling with fear. She wouldn't last much longer. Jess glanced over toward Sir Mickey's and knew that Maybeck wouldn't come back in time.

Jess surveyed the scene in front of her and formed the perfect plan: distraction.

"When I say go, you run as fast as you can to the doors of the castle, okay?"

"What?" Charlene glanced in between Jess and the castle. "The doors are closed, which means they've sealed the rest of the castle. We can't go that way."

"That's the point," Jess rolled her eyes. "We need to be the distraction."

Charlene surveyed the scene. She glanced back and forth between Jess and the door multiple times before nodding, a smile growing on her face. "Let's do this."

They fist-bumped and headed around the side of the Carousel to get the longest possible route for the distraction. Jess held up three fingers behind her back, signaling to Charlene. When she had put down all three fingers, she took off running toward the door, glancing in Maleficent's direction every once in a while to make sure she had noticed.

So far, her plan hadn't worked. Obviously the distraction wasn't as good as she thought. She was still looking in the direction of Maleficent when she ran smack into the door itself.

"Jess!" Charlene yelled as she stopped herself, trying not to do the same. "Are you okay?"

Jess shook her head and looked just past Charlene, who was now standing in between her and the door. The door slowly opened and one person was standing there. Jess blinked, unsure that the sight before her was real.

"What are you staring at?" Charlene asked.

Jess turned Charlene without breaking eye contact. Both girls gasped as the person came through the door and into the light. He was wearing khaki shorts and a purple V-neck. He was carrying a sword, with a gun tucked into a holster strapped around his waist like a belt. His brown hair was barely peeking out of the Tampa Rays baseball cap. His green eyes were hidden by a new pair of Aviator sunglasses. He had a goofy grin plastered on his face.

"Miss me ladies?"

I was love that ending. This chapter was kind of long, but I felt you guys deserved to see Finn again. So I'd love to read y'all's reaction in a review, as always! It'd be awesome to get 8 so that this story could get 170 reviews...but you know...I guess it's okay if we don't.

So I have a favor to ask. I was hesitant to ask, but I knew if I didn't say anything, I'd probably regret it. So I've been trying to write my own little story for a while now and I've finally got a big enough chunk done and I thought I would share it with y'all...if you want to read it!

It's on my own little blog-type website. Here's the link, if anybody's interested: (you'll probably have to add www. and all that jazz) vanhabersham. wordpress. com (don't include the spaces)

There's a little synopsis thing telling you what the story's about down at the bottom of the page, so if you want to read that first just scroll on down. I only have the prologue up right now, but the first chapter will be posted soon. I've got to do the final round of editing before I put it up there. If you could be so kind as to read it and comment on it there (everybody should be allowed to do so) or PM me on here and let me know what you thought. I'd appreciate that greatly! Thank you in advance to those who check it out!

Have a great weekend! I'll update as soon as I can! :)