Lightning flashed again. A few seconds passed before the first rumble of thunder rippled through the air.

“That lightning is still some distance away from here, right?” Charlene asked anxiously.

“Closer than it was. You couldn’t hear thunder a few minutes ago,” Philby said. “I’ll bet they’re closing the rides—the mountain attractions and roller coasters. That’s going to mean a whole bunch of the guests in and around the Hub for the fireworks.”

“If we really saw a balloon, whether they believe us or not, we’ve got to convince them to check it out before that lightning gets here.” Finn couldn’t stop thinking about Amanda holding up that leaf to her face. Green skin? Was that the message? More than anything, he hoped they might find the two sisters. He sensed they had some of the answers.

“And if they don’t care about the balloon?” Willa said.

“We’re approaching the bridge, people,” Philby announced. “If we’re going to do this, now’s our chance.”

“Okay,” Finn said, working his way down the ladder. The others followed.

He happened to look up at Charlene just as she blinked furiously to protest leaving the float. “We can’t do this!” she said.

Her blinking revealed a subtle green shadow on her lids, which enhanced the color of her eyes.

Finn spoke what he’d been thinking—what Amanda had been trying to tell him by putting the green leaf to her cheek.

He called out to the others, “Maleficent is inside the castle. That’s what Amanda was trying to tell us.”

3

THE KINGDOM KEEPERS MET UP AGAIN at the base of Escher’s Keep, a confusing maze of interlocking staircases, mirrors, and doors that crawled up the inside of Cinderella Castle. It had been built years ago as an attraction but had never opened to the public, as it had proved too dangerous. One misstep, and you were dumped into chutes or slides, some of which landed you in the castle moat.

“I tried to tell a Cast Member about the balloon,” Finn said. “But he thought I was my DHI playing some kind of trick on him. I shook him, and he said, ‘Amazing technology! That feels so real!’ What a jerk! I tried to point out the balloon, but with the clouds, you can’t even see the string or wire or whatever.”

“We’ve got to get up there,” Philby said, “Maleficent or not.”

“But what if Amanda was trying to warn us?” Charlene asked nervously. “Wouldn’t that mean we might be walking into a trap?”

“She’s got a point,” Maybeck said.

Finn quickly reorganized them: he and Philby would ascend Escher’s Keep to the apartment; Maybeck and Willa would try to find Amanda and Jez while Charlene stood sentry on the path to Fantasyland, giving Philby and Finn eyes on the castle from the outside.

They said their good-byes, Maybeck uncharacteristically wishing them luck, his dark, troubled eyes expressing concern. They agreed to meet after the fireworks in front of Cinderella’s Golden Carrousel, immediately behind the castle.

“And if you guys don’t show up?” Willa asked Finn.

Thankfully, Maybeck dragged her out the door and into the castle gift shop’s storage room before Finn had to think of something plucky to say.

“You okay with this?” Philby asked nervously, his foot on the first step of Escher’s Keep. It was a route that had to be memorized, and neither boy had attempted to climb it in several months.

“Let’s do it,” said Finn.

Philby stepped aside, allowing Finn to lead the way. It was no picnic. Sometimes stairs led nowhere. A single misstep would mean falling down a slide to the ground floor or into the moat. The route up to an elevator that accessed the penthouse apartment included invisible bridges, upside-down staircases, and trapdoors. The illusions were the result of mirrors, projections, and trick lighting, their combined effect overpowering.

“Do you remember the way?” Finn asked. He faced four doors, all in different colors. They formed a semicircle on a small platform of polished floor tiles. He and Philby were fifteen feet above the ground floor, having ascended the first staircase correctly—skipping every other tread.

“I want to say second from the right: blue. But it’s your call,” Philby said.

Turning the wrong door handle caused a trapdoor to open.

Philby stayed off the platform in case Finn chose incorrectly. The plan was to take turns until they got it right.

Finn tried the blue door, and the floor fell out from under him. Down, down, he raced, the slick slide spinning him in tight coils before throwing him out onto the floor. He headed to the slanted stairs and began climbing again.

Philby tried the yellow door. The trapdoor opened beneath him.

Green—for “go”—seemed too simple a choice, so on Finn’s next attempt he tried the purple door, and it opened.

“Purple,” Finn called down to Philby, who was gingerly skipping steps as he made his way up the slanted staircase.

Once through the purple door, Finn started across an invisible bridge—an effect so convincing he would have sworn there was nothing beneath his feet. He moved across it in tiny steps, just barely sliding each running shoe forward, making sure something solid was beneath it. Philby, behind him, took the novel approach of getting down on hands and knees and breathing low onto what turned out to be glass, and then following the orbs of fog.

“It’s a mirror,” said Philby, sneaking up behind the slower Finn. The trick was compounded by the fact that a false destination—a second purple door—was projected at the other end of the invisible bridge, making Finn want to head in that direction. In fact, at its midpoint, the bridge veered right, arriving at what looked like a solid wall, which wasn’t solid at all. The two boys ended up on a second small platform.

“I remember this part,” Philby said. “This is where we go down the stairs in order to go back up.”

“Are you sure?” Finn tested the “up” staircase: it was real. He thought Philby had it wrong.

But Philby waved his hand across the step four steps above this first step, and then punched his hand right through the illusion—the stairs stopped midflight, nothing but a projected image. He led the way down a staircase and then back up a longer staircase, which would make it appear to anyone standing below as though the boys were walking upside down.

“You two!” a low voice called out loudly. “Come down from there!”

Finn caught sight of an upside-down Cast Member. He was dressed as a barbershop singer, in white pants, a red-and-white-striped shirt, and a straw hat: a Dapper Dan Cast Member.

“Security,” Finn whispered to Philby. “I faced Dapper Dans just like him that time Amanda and I were here taking pictures of everyone’s DHIs. They were trying to catch me.”

“You are not permitted in this area!” the man hollered. “Come down at once.”

“I don’t think we should trust him.”

They reached a third platform and ducked behind a false wall with two windows. “You think he’ll come after us?” Philby asked.

Thunder cracked high above them.

“I think there’s something going on here,” Finn answered. “The weather balloon, the monkeys, Amanda and Jez showing up for the first time in forever. And personally, I don’t trust anyone dressed up like he’s selling fried chicken. He could be anybody. That’s an easy costume to fake.”

“So we ignore him?”

Another crack of thunder. It was getting close.

“Outrun him,” Finn said, “is probably more like it.”

“And if we’re caught?” Philby said. “You ever read those contracts we signed? They’ll remove our DHIs from the server. They’ll replace us with other kids. We’ll no longer be Disney Hosts, no longer have the Gold Fastpasses. We’ll lose it all.” He hesitated. “All that for some weird balloon? You sure it’s worth it?”

“You’re the one who saw it, not me. Listen, I’m not sure of anything,” Finn said. “You want to head down, I’m not going to stop you or anything.” He added, “But I’m going after that balloon, Security or no Security. Amanda was pointing at the castle, and that’s good enough for me.”