Disney after Dark

The doorknob turned.

Maleficent stood in the doorway. She had not fully recovered from Fi

Fi

“Which server?” Fi

“And we need whatever back-up server they have, as well,” Maybeck said. “Once we’re gone, we don’t want them able to bring us back.”

Maleficent glared at them with her eyelids lowered menacingly. She was either half dead or ready to kill.

“I’m sorry for what I did,” Fi

She said nothing, just stood there blinking, looking devilish. She gathered her strength and said, “Jez likes you, or I would have hurt you last night when I had the chance.”

“That’s comforting to know,” Fi

“First the pens,” she said. “You think I’d trust you like that?”

“And why should I trust you?”

“This is your idea, not mine. Besides, once I have the pen, what threat are you?”

Fi

He withdrew the group of pens and pencils from his pocket and placed them on the ground.

Maleficent approached them like a kid nearing a Christmas tree. She seemed to have more energy. Her eyes flared open in expectation.

Fi

But behind Maleficent, the door to the back room swung slowly away from the wall, and there stood Philby. In his right hand Philby clutched a fistful of pens and pencils tightly.

Maleficent bent toward the pens on the floor, clearly cautious. But as she drew closer she saw modern brand names on the pens. She looked up through fiery eyes.

“Now!” Fi

Philby charged from behind and did just as Fi

At that same moment, she turned around.

A blinding flash erupted as the pens made contact. Maleficent rose from the floor and was thrown violently past Fi

Maybeck sprinted forward into the back room, grabbed the roll of plans, and headed for the main door. Philby, stu

Philby was next out the door.

“What’s going on here?” A big man blocked Fi

Just then a shower of sparks and spurts of flame rose from where Maleficent lay pi

“What—is—that—?” asked the office manager.

Maleficent’s bloodshot eyes flashed open and locked onto Fi

The office manager staggered toward a fire extinguisher hanging from the wall.

Fi

Maleficent pulled herself loose from the metal shelving as a shower of sparks cascaded overhead and cried, “Aaaah! I needed that!”

She flew out the door. Literally.

The office manager fainted.

33

Fi

Closing the distance.

The boys ran side by side now, Maleficent behind them, and closing fast. Like a shell game, the boys passed the plans back and forth between them, then switched positions as they ran and passed the plans again. For someone behind them, where Maleficent now followed, it grew impossible to determine which boy had the plans.

Then, just as Maleficent was nearly upon them, the boys split up, ru

Maybeck mumbled, perhaps a little too loudly for his own good, “I’ve got them! Don’t worry.

Just run!”

Fi

No Maleficent. She’d followed Maybeck.

Fi

A cast member door led out into Tomorrowland. That was wrong! He was out of position. Fi

At midday, the area bustled with activity, a steady stream of guests in a chaotic mass of Tshirts, shorts, and the sweet smell of suntan lotion.

How long would it take for Maleficent to discover their trickery?

The plan had been to rendezvous with Amanda on the bridge between Tomorrowland and the Central Plaza. But which way? Fi

He heard the crowd scream to his right. He was familiar with all sorts of sounds in the Magic Kingdom, but this particular roar sounded out of place.

A second later, Maybeck came out of the same CAST MEMBERS ONLY door. He was out of breath and sweating.

“She’s after Philby,” he told Fi

Another scream broke from the distance.

Some little kids shouted, “Aladdin! Aladdin!” and cut through the thick crowds to reach Maybeck, who they mistook for the character. Maybeck tried to get away from them. Parents called after their kids to be polite. A line formed behind Maybeck as he and Fi

Maybeck said under his breath, “We should have lost the wardrobe.”

“I don’t know,” Fi

He handed Maybeck one of the pens.

“You’re kidding me!”

The children caught up and surrounded them both, their autograph notebooks out and ready.

“Sign some autographs, Aladdin,” Fi

With clenched teeth, Maybeck asked in a whisper, “How do you spell Aladdin?”

Fi

“Head down!” Fi

Maybeck ducked, continuing to scribble out autographs furiously.

The green-faced witch and her following sea of fans passed them by.

Fi

“That’s all!” Fi

Maybeck was suddenly hooked on this autograph writing. He made no attempt to stop.

“Aladdin!” Philby called out. “You’re going to be late!”

Maybeck finally gave it up. He made his apologies, and he and Fi

The crowd up ahead, the group following Maleficent, stopped, colliding into one another. This, because the witch had stopped and turned. But why?

Fi

“Give us the pen and the plans, and we won’t hurt you,” she said.

Several things happened at once. First, Fi