Disney at Dawn

“It’s the tiger yards,” Fi

The man was nearly upon them.

Fi

49

AMANDA AND FINN turned the corner. At the far end of the hallway glowed a red EXIT sign. Fi

Fi

The green fairy rounded the far corner, coming between Fi

She set the cat down, waved her hand over it, and it stretched and grew to the size of a panther. The man pursuing Amanda and Fi

“Silly, silly boy,” Maleficent said, aiming her finger at him. “Won’t you ever learn to mind your own business?”

“Who are you?” the man shouted from well behind Fi

“Pest!” she called out, waving her finger at the man. The panther took off—ru

Fi

“I’m not going anywhere,” Amanda informed him. “Not without Jez.”

He couldn’t allow her defiance to ruffle him. Above all, he had to clear his mind of any frustration, resentment, or ill will toward others. As he did, he felt the familiar tingling sensation in his toes and fingers, and he knew it was starting. Knew, without looking, that he was crossing over.

In the past, he had only been able to sustain his waking-DHI form for a matter of a minute or two. Somehow he knew it would have to be longer this time—that this was to be a test of his strength.

He suspected that by becoming his DHI, he risked the Sleeping Beauty Syndrome. This was uncharted territory, but he had to do something to counter Maleficent’s power.

“Go!” he called out to Amanda.

“No. I’m staying.”

Maleficent drew her scrawny hands toward her face, her fingers twitching, her lips bubbling with an incantation. Fi

“You have a powerful master,” Fi

“You know nothing of my master,” came the reply.

“More than you think. Is it control over the Animal Kingdom that Chernabog wants?”

Maleficent cringed at mention of the name; it was as if Fi

“Look out!” he shouted at Amanda. He turned to warn her.

Amanda was gone. Vanished. No longer by his side.

Maleficent hurled a blinding ball of energy down the hall. About the size of a softball, it spun through the air, throwing off sparks like a tiny, blazing sun, and looked as if it would burn up anything in its path.

“Duck!” said Amanda’s voice.

Fi

“DUCK!” she repeated.

But it was too late for Fi

“But how…?” he muttered.

Amanda, still floating, said, “I told you Jez and I had unusual abilities.”

“You can fly?”

“Not exactly. I can levitate.” She sank then, and returned to her feet.

Fi

Maleficent twisted her ugly fingers. A cage of blue-white lines surrounded Fi

Fi

“Or is it the other way around?” Fi

Maleficent took a step back, away from Fi

By gloating, he briefly lost his DHI.

“My master’s powers are anything but limited,” she said. “Just you wait!”

She threw an arrow of flame at Fi

The arrow struck her in the chest and was totally absorbed. Her arms and legs glowed as she sank to the floor.

Maleficent gri

“Looks like your girlfriend shouldn’t play with fire,” Maleficent said.

Amanda lay unconscious on the floor at Fi

But something else overcame him—a wild, pent-up anger that he could no longer control. He charged the witch.

A wide-eyed Maleficent seemed to sense her situation. As her lips muttered another incantation, she was too late.

Fi

Her skin was ice cold.

He said, “Release her this instant. You bring her back…or so help me…” He tightened his grip. Her cold skin was like nothing he’d ever felt.

Maleficent’s sickly green skin turned yellow. He was choking the life from her. She had no voice. No incantations.

“RELEASE AMANDA!!” Fi

Amanda coughed and sat up, coming back to consciousness.

“Are you all right?” Fi

Amanda coughed hard but nodded.

Fi

He threw her to the floor, turned, and ran, grabbing Amanda by the hand just as the smoke reached the smoke alarm.

“You saved my life,” Amanda said, clinging to his arm. “Maleficent was scared of you!”

“I was…mad,” Fi

“I didn’t know you cared,” Amanda teased him, just as they opened an emergency door and sprinted outside.

“Who says I do?” he said to her, his voice breaking.

“Boys…” she muttered.

50

THE KINGDOM KEEPERS and Amanda stood watching the AnimalCam, with Philby at the controls. All but Charlene, who kept vigil at the bat enclosure, her DS in hand. Philby, being Philby, had quickly located two cameras that served the tiger yards and a third that looked back toward the arched bridge that separated the two enclosures. It was this bridge that caused the C on the satellite photo.

“They keep tigers on either side of the bridge,” he explained. “Both sides have water and some trees for shade. From the bridge you have a good view of either yard.”

“But if she’s under the C, she’s under the bridge,” Fi

“I don’t know that that’s possible,” Philby said, switching camera views.

“Zoom back!” Willa said in an excited voice.

Philby did as she asked.

Amanda stepped forward, her finger pointing to the screen. “The window! That’s from the diary.”

“Yes,” Fi