Disney after Dark

“This is crazy,” Philby whispered. “The place is huge. Maybeck could be anywhere.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Fi

“Hey!” Fi

“Yeah,” Philby said, “I know.” But he moved his own arm around to show Fi

“You take that side,” he instructed Philby. “We’ll meet in the middle over there.” He pointed out a low spot in the ride where the track turned sharply left.

“If something goes wrong,” Philby cautioned, “we get out of here and meet at the apartment.”

“Got it.”

Fi

If he were hiding someone, Fi

Not far below him, and slightly to his left, he noticed an indistinct dark shape that, as he approached, he realized was geometric: a large rectangle. Now he recognized it as a booth or storage room. Like the catwalks, its walls were of heavy wire mesh. Fi

On the front of the shed a heavy canvas was hung that prevented Fi

The canvas was tied down on the inside. Fi

Locked out.

“Pssst!” Fi

A muffled voice made him spin around: it was coming from inside the screened shed.

“Philby!” Fi

“Mmms…hmmm…heggg…warfff,” said the muffled voice behind him.

“Maybeck? It’s me, Fi

Fi

Once through, he realized how much darker it was inside the shed because of the canvas.

Fi

The muffled calls for help became more urgent.

“I’m right here,” Fi

Close by now, Fi

He jumped back, fell over and knocked something loose, making a loud sound.

“N

“Oh, man,” Maybeck said, the gag slipping off.

“You okay?”

“No, I’m famished! And I’m thirsty. But thank you, man, thank you!”

Fi

Maybeck said, “Let’s book it.”

“We gotta find Philby. He’s in here someplace, looking for you too.”

Maybeck pulled on the locked door, but it didn’t budge. “But how’d you…?”

“Right through the wall,” Fi

“That’s fine for you, but what about me? I can’t go through a dumb wall.”

“Sure you can.”

“No, I can’t.”

“You’re going to have to.”

Maybeck stared at the dark canvas and the locked door. “Are you telling me I could have just walked out of here all along?”

“Not if you’d convinced yourself you were trapped,” Fi

Maybeck reached out. His hand struck the canvas.

“You’ve got to lose the attitude, Maybeck,” Fi

“I don’t have an attitude.” He waited for some support from Fi

Fi

“I do not have an attitude,” Maybeck repeated.

“Prove it,” Fi

On Maybeck’s sixth try, he walked through the wallof the enclosure. Once on the other side, he bent over, as if in pain.

“You okay?” Fi

Giddy with the accomplishment, Maybeck started giggling. “What a dumb jerk! I could have walked out of there all along.”

“Not with your hands tied. That rope is from this side. The rope would have stopped you from getting through the wall.”

Maybeck blurted out. “It was Jez.”

“What was Jez?”

“She called,” Maybeck said.

“Called your house,” Fi

“Said she’d meet me.”

“When you checked your watch…” Fi

“I ditched the girls at It’s a Small World. We were going to meet—Jez and me—at the carousel. But all of a sudden I was so cold. I could barely move—like slow motion.”

“Yeah, cold,” Fi

25

For nearly a week, the kids met inside the park after going to bed, but only for a matter of minutes. As quickly as possible they would use the button to return home, having looked for no more clues. They caught up on sleep. They did their homework. They rejoined their families.

Maybeck’s abduction had worn them out and frightened them to the point of not wanting to continue. They overcame their reluctance only when Philby showed up at one of their meetings telling of a newspaper story he’d read about an electrical company power station that had been

“attacked” and drained of all its power.

“It’s not a coincidence,” he told the others. “This is spreading beyond the park.”

On Saturday morning, the girls decided to use their complimentary passes to enter the Magic Kingdom legally. As kids, not DHIs. That felt safer. They wore disguises in order to keep fans from spotting them and carried 3-D glasses to wear on the rides.

As they stood outside, waiting to board The Many Adventures of Wi

They sat down in the car, and the ride began. Black lights made their teeth glow white and their skin and clothing almost disappear.

“Glasses,” Willa a

Willa coached. “If we see any letters—big letters in an unexpected place—we’re supposed to write them down.”

Charlene said, “I’ve got it.” She sounded nervous, and Willa understood her concern. The rides had been anything but friendly since this hunt had begun.