Disney at Dawn

“My purse…” Charlene moaned.

Fi

He felt around the floor. Nothing. Then he remembered his father’s BlackBerry. He pulled it out of his pocket and hit a button on the keypad, and the screen came to life like a flashlight.

Charlene’s arm shot out from behind a stack of boxes, and she grabbed hold of her purse. It vanished.

The door rolled open a crack. Fi

In an instant everything changed: he was suddenly pasted to the ceiling—floating—hidden by the rolling door, which was carried on tracks like a garage door.

“Clear,” one of the Security guys a

Fi

The back door clattered shut and the clunk of hardware confirmed they were locked inside again.

“You did that!” he said, accusing Amanda.

“No idea what you’re talking about,” she whispered.

“You saved us,” he said.

“That was way cool, Fi

Amanda whispered warmly into Fi

Fi

Maybeck chuckled.

“I want some, too,” added Philby.

“Later, dudes,” said Fi

Again, he felt Amanda’s breath warm against his neck as she whispered softly, “Thank you.”

He wanted to say something, but his voice had gone dry, and he couldn’t get a word out.

15

A MOMENT AFTER the truck finally pulled to a stop, the Dapper Dan climbed up inside and then lowered the garagelike door behind himself, leaving it open just enough to admit some light from the nearby light poles.

“This is as far as I go with the truck. Fi

“I’ve got a pretty good handle on the tech side of the Park,” Philby said. “There are cameras all over the place, some for Security, some for the Park visitors. Basically, we won’t be alone wherever we go. But there’s a very cool element to this I think we should consider.” He glanced around at the group. Charlene was trying to wipe a smudge off her clothes, but everyone else was paying strict attention to him. “Out at Conservation Station—which everyone in the Park calls ‘CS,’ by the way—is a bank of camera monitors that are interactive. Visitors can actually move and zoom the cameras, searching for animals and that kind of thing. But I think they give us a real good opportunity to monitor what’s going on.”

“That could be my job,” Amanda said, volunteering. “If no one else wants it,” she added carefully.

Everyone nodded.

“Other than that,” Philby said, swinging his backpack around and reaching inside, “I got nothin’.”

“Is anyone going to explain to me why I brought along my DS?” Charlene asked.

“The Parks all have free Wi-Fi,” Philby said, as if this answered her.

“Yeah? So?” she said.

“So I’ve set-up a D-Gamer chat room so we can IM each other,” he explained. “It’s totally secure. No one can eavesdrop.”

“A D-what?” she asked.

“D-Gamer,” he said. “Let me show you.” Philby took her DS from her and changed her settings to allow Wi-Fi access. Then he showed her how to enter D-Gamer mode. Turning on his own DS, he typed a message to her. An alert appeared on her screen and she answered it. Then he switched devices with her and sent one from her device to his.

“How totally awesome,” she said, marveling. Taking back her own DS, she sent Philby a text message:

angelface13: i never knew it could do that.

philitup: it’s a new feature, added last spring.

Fi

The Dapper Dan cleared his throat to stop them, and they put their Nintendos away. He asked if they knew their way around the Park. “I’m acquainted with the layout,” Willa said, piping up. She handed out maps for each of them. “Basically there are five areas—Asia, Africa, Camp Mi

“And I’ll be watching you from the Conservation Station,” said Amanda, reminding everyone.

“In terms of costumes,” Charlene said, “the best thing we could do is just dress as rangers or animal care. Either light green or dark green short-sleeve shirts and shorts. It would be best if we could get the real thing, but I don’t see how that’ll happen.”

“That will happen because I’m going to help you,” the driver said. “Cast Members are now responsible for their own uniforms. But there’s a costuming shed that used to be for outfitting everyone. Now it’s more of a storage facility and costume-repair facility, but I can get you in there.”

Fi

“Which is?” she asked, finally looking up from the smudge.

“DeVine.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“The character,” Willa corrected. “He wasn’t giving you a compliment!”

“Who knew?” Charlene asked.

“I thought your cheerleading experience might make you a better gymnast than the rest of us. DeVine walks on huge stilts and dresses in total camouflage so that it’s almost impossible to see her. Can you use stilts?”

“I’ve used stilts before, though not real high ones.”

“These are real high,” said Willa.

“There are four complete DeVine outfits,” the driver explained. “But I’ve got to warn you: DeVine enters the Park at ten, twelve, two, and four. If two DeVines are seen in the Park at the same time, that will alert Security. So if you do this, you’ll need to hide deep within the jungle when the real DeVine is in the Park.”

They were all staring at Charlene.

“Will you do it?” Fi

“What’s the costume like?” she asked the driver.

But it was Willa who answered. “It’s amazing. With the makeup, she blends into the jungle so well you can’t even see her when you’re only a few feet away.”

“There’s makeup involved?” Charlene asked. “This is so totally my thing, I can’t believe it. Of course I’ll do it.”

“Wayne wanted me to tell you,” the driver said, “that Maleficent can transform herself from human to animal. It doesn’t last long, and it exhausts her, but any animal you see in the Park could be her. He said it’s incredibly important to keep that in mind: any animal.”

“And remember about the security cameras,” Philby reminded. “The whole Park is watched. Only the washrooms are absolutely safe. No cameras.”

He yawned a massive yawn. It was contagious: each of them yawned in succession.

“The hardest part of all of this,” Maybeck said, “at least for all of you, is looking older than you really are. Thankfully that’s not such an issue for me.”

Philby cringed. “Give me a break,” he muttered.

“It’s true,” the driver said. “We can use some makeup to try to help, but those of you in costume must remember that Cast Members are eighteen and up. So act it where possible, and avoid encounters with Park visitors as much as you can. Whatever you do, don’t talk to other Cast Members. It’s a family here—even as big as it is. Cast Members know the other Cast Members. You will be found out.”