Disney after Dark

“Listen…Fi

“What, just leave us here?” Willa asked, astonished.

“You know anything about the Bible?” he asked Willa.

“A little. Sure.”

“I think I know what’s going on,” he a

“I’m glad someone does,” Maybeck said.

Philby had come wearing a white curly wig and big black glasses, calling himself Einstein.

Maybeck had sprayed his hair gray and wore the flag of South Africa on his sleeve.

“Nelson Mandela,” Maybeck told Fi

“You guys come with me,” Fi

Amanda sat up suddenly, surprising them all. Willa yelped.

“Don’t!” Amanda gasped, looking directly at Fi

She slumped back, in that same lost state again.

“We’ve got to go. Now!” he told the boys.

The three boys hurried down Main Street.

“What about, you know…?” Maybeck asked.

Fi

“Aren’t we going the wrong way? Shouldn’t we be going to the fire station?”

“Don’t ask me how, but Jez did this to Charlene and Amanda. Made them sick.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Maybeck said, his voice raspy. They were nearly ru

Fi

“Can I just say, you’ve completely lost it,” Maybeck said. “And by completely, I mean one hundred percent.”

“Gloves. Jez is wearing white gloves tonight. They go to her elbow. Amanda and I saw those same gloves at—”

“The car wash,” Maybeck answered. He’d seen them too.

Fi

Following now, Philby said, “What if you happen to be right? In that case, what are we doing chasing a witch and her daughter? I mean, how stupid can we be?”

Maybeck huffed. “I’m going to have you guys institutionalized. Am I the only sane person left?”

“Wait!” Fi

He pointed. Jez and the woman turned left at the plaza, just before the castle.

“How much do you want to bet they’re heading to Pirates?”

Remembering the conversation on the monorail, Philby said, “Amanda told us Jez disappeared there.”

“A figure of speech,” Maybeck interjected. “That’s all!”

As Fi

“They aren’t people,” Fi

“We’re going in there after them?” Philby said. Jez and the woman arrived at the entrance to Pirates of the Caribbean. Sure enough, they headed inside.

“I do not like this,” Maybeck said. “What happened to voting?”

“All in favor?” Fi

Maybeck groaned.

They stopped short of the entrance and stared warily at the old Spanish-style building.

“Okay,” Philby said, “now I’m scared.”

30

At night, in the midst of a Haloween costume party, Pirates of the Caribbean took on a more menacing feel, something each boy felt as he entered. Flamenco guitar music echoed from walls that flickered in the light of dim lanterns. And while the mood was festive, the Halloween party was a special event, so the crowds were much smaller than usual. The result was an attraction with deserted hallways and a hollow echo to every sound.

The boys hurried down a stone corridor. Fi

This was followed by a slight squeak of metal, a door swinging on hinges, and a resounding clang that reverberated off the walls.

“You hear that?” Maybeck asked.

The trio slowed. As they reached a sharp turn in the hall, Maybeck bent down, pretending to tie his ru

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 ca

Philby, ever the academic, explained, “It’s a mock-up of a battlement, with twin eight-pound ca

Fi

He tested its door, which swung open, making the same eerie squeak they’d heard only moments before.

Excited voices rang from the entrance to the attraction. More people coming.

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 Fi

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

Fi

Philby found a weighted rope co

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.

“Okay, this is really weird,” Fi

He knew this figure from the laser battle. Looking more carefully, he realized that he recognized both pirates. He dared to reach over and gently poke the arm of the nearest pirate. Thankfully, it was a model, like a ma

They emerged into a long, straight hallway that lay in shadowy twilight. Jail cells lined both sides.

“It’s a…prison,” Maybeck said.

Fi

Fresh weld marks abounded.

“This has all been fixed up,” Philby said. “And recently. What’s with that?”

“Padlocks,” Fi

Philby handled one of the padlocks. “You’re not saying—”

“You want to explain it? Go ahead!” Fi

Maybeck said, “Listen, this makes 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?”

Fi

“They’re pla

Fi