More obnoxious bird noises overhead.

He looked up.

Four trees. Hundreds of birds.

What the…?

18

PHILBY SWIPED THE ID through the card reader at the door to the AK Maintenance facility. A small red light turned green, and Philby pulled on the door. It opened, and no alarms sounded.

Finn held out his hand to Amanda, who looked down at her sister’s diary and then reluctantly gave the book to him.

“I’m not sure she’d want me doing this,” Amanda said, still keeping one hand on the diary, unwilling to fully let it go.

“I promise, only the pages we talked about,” Finn said.

“We don’t know that they have anything to do with this,” Amanda protested.

“You’re the one who said she could dream the future.”

“Sometimes, sure. But this is personal stuff.”

“You said she wrote in it each morning after waking up.

“It’s true. She did,” Amanda confirmed.

“Then maybe, without knowing, she left us clues how to find her. She drew lightning striking a castle. There are drawings of monkeys in there.” He tugged gently on the journal, but Amanda would not let it go.

“Please,” Finn said to her.

For a moment the journal connected them. Then Amanda let go.

“You’re standing guard for us,” Finn reminded her.

He held up his DS. “Send us a text if you see anyone coming.”

“Okay,” she said, her eyes filled with concern.

“All we’re going to do is make copies,” Finn reminded her. “There’s got to be a copy machine or a scanner inside.”

“And what about bats?” she asked.

“We’ll be careful. I promise,” Finn said.

He followed Philby inside to a reception area, where a well-organized desk held a telephone and computer. Some Disney cartoons were taped to the computer monitor, and there were framed pictures of three kids. The few lights that had been left on cast murky shadows and offered a dimly lit corridor running in both directions off this front room. There were two signs, each with an arrow: one read MAINTENANCE and pointed left; the other read ANIMATION TRAINING LAB and pointed right.

“Cool,” Philby said, turning right. “I’ve got to see this.”

The animation training lab was a garagelike workshop that reminded Finn of the workshop in his grandfather’s basement. The L-shaped room had countertops that ran along every wall, behind which were pegboards holding every conceivable kind of tool. Computers and hand tools littered the counters. But what made it much different from Grandpop’s basement was its purpose. The room was designed for the repair of the Audio-Animatronics—the talking robots—that were used extensively throughout the Park. The result was the disturbing presence of human torsos, heads, hands, and legs in every stage of creation, from pieces that looked like robots to painted faces dressed in costumes that seemed so real Philby kept spinning in circles, afraid one or more of them might suddenly move or attack. Of equal concern were the dozens of animals under construction, including pieces of tigers, lions, Stitch, Donald Duck, and a fantastic hand—possibly from a gorilla—that was nearly three feet across and supported by a metal superstructure that held it four feet off the floor.

“Whoa…” Philby said, taking a look around. Both boys spoke in whispers, as if the “body” parts might overhear them.

“Somehow I don’t think we’ll find a copier in here,” Finn said, holding Jez’s journal.

“Oh, I bet you’re wrong. Give me a minute.” Philby walked the lines of workbenches. He muttered words like “impressive” and “interesting” and “incredible.” Then he addressed Finn. “Articulated, motor-controlled limb movement—very cutting edge.” He stopped in front of a six-foot tyrannosaur head with wires sticking out of a missing eye.

“What about a copier?” Finn reminded him, not so impressed.

“Yeah, okay,” Philby said. “But I could stay here for hours.”

“Let’s save the extra-credit work for another time.”

Philby’s curiosity carried him to the far end of the room, where the lab opened out into a large space that appeared to be used for assembly. Most of the robotic dummies stood on their own here—cables and wires running from them—and many were at least partially clothed and had faces. Most of the Audio-Animatronics were of animals in various poses, all of which looked incredibly lifelike. But it was the far end of the room that intrigued Philby.

“Check it out,” he said, approaching the area somewhat cautiously and with great respect. “Remember this?” he asked.

The three walls at the end of the room were covered in jungle-green paper, as was the floor. There were stage lights and tripods and cameras and a dozen computers on rolling stands.

“I do,” said Finn. He and the other DHI kids, upon acceptance by Disney, had been computer-modeled by Disney Imagineers. Their movements were recorded to create the DHIs. The empty cages off to their left suggested the obvious.

“Animals,” Philby said, immediately understanding the setup. “They motion-modeled animals here to create DHIs.”

“Wayne told me they were doing that,” Finn said. “Animal hosts.” The cameras were all set low to the ground. Then there were the cages and—he realized as he stepped closer—paw marks seen faintly on the green-paper floor covering.

“Check it out,” Philby said again, this time directing Finn’s attention to five photographs thumbtacked to the wall nearby. There were several monkeys, a baby elephant, a pair of tigers, and a gorilla.

“Got it!” Finn said, pointing to a flatbed scanner hooked up to a computer. He touched the computer’s space bar and the machine woke up.

Philby laid Jez’s diary on the scanner bed and began scanning the pages. As he printed them out, Finn received a text message.

panda: 2 guys out front!!!

“Visitors!” Finn whispered to Philby.

Finn: got it! thanx

The lab’s only door was a long way away. There was one EMERGENCY ONLY door to the right of the green-screen area, but it had an alarm, and Finn had no desire to draw the wrath of Security upon him and Philby before they managed to even get into the Park.

“We can hide!” Philby said in a harsh whisper. He pointed to an area where dozens of parts and partial bodies of the Audio-Animatronics figures had been heaped into a kind of junk pile. Many of the human robots had faces that looked phenomenally real.

Finn grabbed the printouts, and the boys jumped into the junk pile, worming their way down into the parts so that only their shoulders and faces showed. They blended in with the robotic human parts.

Two men entered the room, both wearing dark blue coveralls. Neither seemed surprised to find the lights turned on—something Philby had done upon entering.

“It’s always something,” the thinner of the two said. “I could have told you the sound system was going to go out at some point. They should have rewired the Asia system when they installed Expedition Everest. Not my fault.”

The men scrounged around on the workbenches, apparently looking for parts.

“Finding the break in the wire, if there is one, is going to be a bear,” said the heavier man.

“Don’t mention bears,” said the other one. He pointed to an Audio-Animatronics figure of a standing bear cub designed for the Country Bear Jamboree. “This one will get jealous.”

Both men laughed—harder than the joke deserved.

The thin one suddenly turned and headed directly for the junk pile where the boys were hidden. “Didn’t we loan these guys our acoustic coupler?”

“It’s the tester we’re looking for. Forget the coupler.”

The thin man picked up a piece of one of the robots. He was about two feet away from Finn, who held his breath in an attempt not to be noticed.

“You know what?” the thin man said, looking right at Finn, then at Philby, then at the stack of robots. “This place gives me the creeps sometimes. Some of these things look so real…I gotta tell you.”