The keepers met the next day at the Frozen Marble. It felt lonely without Finn, but they had to manage.
"So how are we going to break this curse?" asked Amanda.
Their main focus was trying to figure out how to break Finn from the Dark One's curse.
"We could try stabbing him in the heart with maybe an enchanted blade," said Dillard.
"That's stupid!" said Maybeck. "It would kill him!"
"And where are we going to get an enchanted blade?" asked Luowski.
"From maybe…the fairies?" asked Dillard.
Everyone shook their heads.
"It was a suggestion!" said Dillard.
"What if we try casting a spell on him to make him lose his memory?" asked Jess. "Then we make him think he's Finn."
"And then we might never see his shimmering green eyes every again!" said Amanda. "Nope! Out of question!"
Jess sighed and bit into her ice cream.
"Well how about…" Philby began to say before his cell phone rang.
Philby answered it.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Take everyone outside and put me on speakerphone!" said a stern voice.
Philby knew who it was.
"You!" he said.
"Do it!" the Dark One yelled. "And don't even think about hanging up. Otherwise I will kill myself and Finn."
Philby gulped. He told everyone to move to one of the tables outside and they did so.
Once everyone was outside, Philby put his phone in the middle of the table and put it on speakerphone.
"Start talking!" yelled Philby.
The Dark One laughed.
"Well first off how are you today?" he asked.
No one replied.
"Amanda dear," he said. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm still holding back that push!" Amanda yelled.
"Don't get fresh with me!" the Dark One yelled. "Remember I could have chosen not to give you an antidote!"
Amanda snorted.
"So why are you calling?" asked Mattie. "Called to torture us again? Tell us your next plans?"
"A little of both," said the Dark One. "But instead of just telling you where I am going to strike, I will let you try and figure it out."
The keepers were puzzled.
"What are you talking about?" asked Willa.
"Well first off you should obviously know that I am attacking Epcot next right?" asked the Dark One. "I mean if you follow the pattern of parks I've been…"
"We know!" yelled Maybeck. "What do you think we are? Stupid?"
"As a matter of fact, yes," said the Dark One. "You all are very stupid. Stupid kids who think that they can defeat the Dark One."
Amanda gritted her teeth. All the keepers were angry.
"Well anyway," said the Dark One. "I should let you know that I am going, ALL ALONE, tonight."
The keepers leaned in when they heard this.
"You heard me right?" he asked. "I'm not bringing any Overtakers, minions, or OTHs. I'm going in alone."
"Yeah we heard you," said Charlene.
"Loud and clear," said Dillard.
"So, where are you attacking?" asked Luowski.
The Dark One laughed.
"I'm not telling you this time exactly where I am going, but I do have two riddles for you to figure out where I am going," he said.
"Okay," said Amanda. "Show us you bastard!"
"I will you bitch!" said the Dark One happily.
Amanda snorted again.
"Here's the first riddle," said the Dark One. "I have it my hands, but's it not the earth. I can travel through time, even without using a time warp. Past, present, and future are all around you see. Can you figure out what ride I am, before the Dark One infiltrates me?"
The keepers were silent. They thought for a moment.
Philby had the Dark One repeat the riddle again so he could write it down.
"You got it?" he asked.
"Yes," said Philby.
"Good," said the Dark One. "Because I am not repeating it again for you brats!"
"We don't need you to repeat it you beast!" yelled Mattie.
The Dark One laughed.
"So what's the next riddle?" asked Maybeck.
"Oh it's not a riddle," said the Dark One. "It's a clue that I am sending to you right…now!"
Immediately all the keepers phones buzzed. They opened them up. All it showed was a picture of a boat and water with the letter M.
"What is this?" asked Willa.
"Its your next clue!" said the Dark One.
"But this isn't fair!" yelled Jess. "This isn't clear enough!"
"Life isn't fair you stupid fairy!" yelled the Dark One. "Get over it!"
"Hey!" yelled Luowski. "Don't talk to my girlfriend that way!"
"Nor call my sister a fairy!" Amanda yelled. "Besides, its Fairlie!"
The Dark One burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" asked Luowski.
"Correct me if I am wrong, but did you just call Jess your girlfriend?" laughed the Dark One.
"Yeah she is my girlfriend!" yelled Luowski. "She broke me from the OTK curse with true love's kiss."
The Dark One laughed harder.
"Here's your second lesson from the Dark One kiddies," he said. "True love does not exist. It is stupid! Love being the most powerful thing in the world. Love is weakness!"
Everyone was fuming.
"And I never would have expected the bully, aka traitor, to actually become nice," said the Dark One.
"Well it happened!" yelled Jess.
"Whatever," said the Dark One. "I have to go. I have to plan for my attack tonight. Enjoy your ice cream."
"You do know that this will be much easier because you are attacking alone!" yelled Amanda. "We might actually stop you this time!"
"How are you going to stop me when you don't know where I am attacking yet, when you are mixed up with one of the destinations, and when Jess is suffering a temporary freeze curse."
All the keeper's eyes popped open.
"What did you say!?" yelled Amanda.
"Oh I created a freeze curse like the one from Frozen and put it in Jess' ice cream," said the Dark One.
"WHAT!?" yelled Jess.
"Don't worry," said the Dark One. "It will wear off by tomorrow morning. And anyway, if you guys were planning to split up then it would have been uneven. Now you will have exactly two teams of four keepers searching."
Jess began to cough and shiver. Amanda ran over to her sister and hugged her trying to warm her up, but it was no use. Amanda watched as her sister became frozen solid, covered in ice.
"JESS!" Amanda screamed.
"If I were you I would bring her to Wayne's and keep her close to the fire," said the Dark One.
Amanda grabbed Philby's cell phone.
"When I see you tonight I will push you so hard you will be sent to the moon!" she yelled before throwing Philby's cell phone at the wall, breaking it.
"NO!" yelled Philby. He ran over to grab his phone. It was shattered. Broken.
"That was my limited edition satellite cell phone!" yelled Philby. "All of my precious photos were on it!"
"Sorry," sighed Amanda.
"It doesn't matter," said Philby. "At least you didn't damage the memory card. Now let's quickly get Jess to Wayne's before someone sees her frozen solid!"
The keepers nodded and picked up the frozen Jess and ran off towards Disney.
At Wayne's apartment, Wayne had the fire prepared. Amanda placed her sister, completely made out of ice, right next to it.
"She'll be okay," said Wayne. "This curse will wear off by tomorrow from what the fairies said."
"And the Dark One too," said Dillard.
"This is a cruel prank!" said Maybeck.
"It wasn't meant to be a prank Maydork!" yelled Willa. "It was meant to slow us down, just like when he poisoned Amanda!"
"Guys!" yelled Charlene. "We can't focus on this now! We need to focus on figuring out the riddle and message."
"Well the message is obvious," said Mattie. "The boat in the water and the M can only mean either Maelstrom or Grand Fiesta Tour."
"Yeah but which one?" asked Luowski.
"That's what we need to find out tonight," said Mattie. "We'll spilt up and have one group of two search Maelstrom and the other two search Grand Fiesta Tour."
"And what about the other four?" asked Amanda.
"They will search the other attraction once we figure out what it is," said Mattie.
"Impressive," said Philby. "Maybe you should be leader."
"HEY!" yelled Amanda. "I am the temporary leader for the Kingdom Keepers! I am Finn's boyfriend, so that makes me leader!"
"Well actually that doesn't qualify…" said Maybeck.
Amanda glared at Maybeck.
"OKAY! OKAY!" yelled Maybeck. "You're leader! Now let's figure out where this place is."
Everyone sat down and read the riddle again.
"This bastard is a tricky one," said Dillard.
"It talks about the world and time," said Charlene.
"Philby you are the nerd," said Amanda. "Any thoughts?"
Philby thought for a moment.
"I have nothing," he finally said. "I don't know what ride talks about time."
Luowski read the riddle again, and then his eyes popped open.
"Spaceship Earth!" he yelled.
"What?" everyone said.
"The place he is talking about is obviously Spaceship Earth!" he yelled. "It is a ride through time. Don't you remember?"
Everyone nodded, now remembering.
"Hey guys," said Dillard. "I think I know for sure now that the Dark One is attacking Maelstrom."
"How can you be sure?" asked Willa.
"Think about it," he said. "Everywhere the Dark One attacked had like a mountainous or forest like setting. Maelstrom had that."
"You are right!" said Maybeck.
"Good thinking!" said Mattie, walking up and kissing Dillard as his reward.
"Alright then," said Wayne. "We know where the Dark One is attacking, tonight."
Everyone nodded and got up to leave.
Amanda stayed behind after everyone left.
"You're not going?" asked Mattie.
"You think I would leave my sister here frozen solid?" she asked.
"Definitely not!" said Mattie.
Amanda smiled and turned towards Wayne.
"Can you let Mrs. Nash know that I am spending the day and night with my friend, Mattie?" she asked.
Wayne nodded and got right to it.
Amanda bent down next to her frozen sister. Mattie did the same.
"The Dark One will pay for this," she said.
"For everything he has done," said Mattie.
"We just need to find a way to break Finn out first," said Amanda.
"We can capture him tonight probably when we go to one attraction," said Mattie. "When he goes to the next one, we will be waiting for him."
Amanda smiled and put her arm on Mattie's shoulder, letting Mattie read her thoughts.
"Do you really think we will ever see Finn again?" she said in her mind.
"We will," said Mattie. "We just have to have hope. After all that is what saved you guys from being eaten by Chernabog."
Amanda smiled. Hope. Something she believed to be as magical as true love's kiss.
Great! The keepers know where the Dark One is attacking, but could it be some kind of trick. To say he is attacking alone, but in reality it could be just a trap. What do you think? Did you also like my riddles? Will Jess be fine? Is there still hope for Finn? Stay tuned to find out!
See you next update!
From your favorite evil fanguy,
Jacob/Hades/Sonicphantom47