“The new girl: Amanda. Doesn’t her mother or father work over at MGM? Did you hear about that?” Many of the students’ parents had something to do with one of the parks.

“Amanda is a girl,” Dillard reminded Finn. “Have you lost your mind?” Dillard thought of girls as a separate life-form.

“Yeah,” Finn said. “Maybe I have.”

4

The monorail zoomed past a sea of green trees, heading for a stop at the Grand Floridian Hotel.

“This is pretty cool of you, Amanda,” Finn said. He wore a Tampa Devil Rays basebal cap and a pair of his father’s old sunglasses, which looked too big for his face. Some disguise. Amanda wore hip huggers and a shirt that exposed her belly button.

“We’re taking photographs?” she asked.

“They’re friends of mine, you see?”

“Sort of.” Then she confessed, “No, not really.”

“I don’t know their full names, so I don’t know how to find them. If I can get photographs of their DHIs and show them around some of the other schools, then maybe someone will recognize them.

I’m not sure what else to do.”

“Word is, you’re going psycho,” Amanda said. “I wasn’t about to get you mad at me.”

“I’m not stabbing girls in showers or anything.”

“That’s a relief.” Amanda allowed a hint of a smile that Finn knew she would rather not have revealed. It wasn’t cool for a girl to show she liked a boy any more than the opposite. Boys and girls seemed to spend a lot of time and energy trying to convince one another that they didn’t exist.

Finn explained, “The problem is, if I’m going to visit the Magic Kingdom, my admission has to be pre-approved. That means telling my parents, and I can’t exactly explain this to them.”

“You haven’t exactly explained it to me. Listen, I don’t mind using a couple of my family’s comp tickets, Finn. If you’re worried you owe me, you don’t.”

“Cool.”

“Is everything cool to you?” she asked. “What’s with you and that word?”

“You’re cool,” he said, looking right at her. Where did that come from?

She blushed and bit her lower lip to keep from grinning. She looked out the monorail car’s window, as if she hadn’t seen the Grand Floridian a hundred times.

“So why’d you agree to help me, anyway?” he asked, coaxing her. The doors hissed shut. A recorded voice announced that the next stop was the Magic Kingdom.

She glanced out the window too. “Because…I have my reasons. I want to help.” She spoke to the glass. Then she looked directly at Finn and said, “Besides, I’ve never met a real psycho before.”

“Very funny.”

“I thought so.”

When she laughed, it reminded him of bells. He made a mental note not to tell Dillard that.

At the entrance to the Magic Kingdom, Amanda handled the complimentary tickets while Finn kept his head down so as not to be recognized. A minute later they were inside the main gate, passing the spot where parents picked up and returned the rented baby strollers.

Still looking at the pavement, Finn asked her, “Do you see any obvious security types?”

“No.”

“They don’t all wear uniforms. They’re pretty hard to spot.”

“Finn, you’re not exactly one of the ten most wanted, or something. We’re going to be fine.

Hey! There’s a host over there,” Amanda said. “It’s not you,” she announced.

Finn looked over. A crowd had gathered around the DHL “That’s Charlene,” he said.

“You ready?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, then. Here goes.”

Amanda slinked over toward the crowd, then posed for a shot with Charlene as Finn raised his father’s digital camera. Charlene looked perfectly real—absolutely real—until a kid walked through her. The DHI never stopped talking, never noticed that a kid was playing with her.

“You’ve gone awfully quiet,” Amanda said a moment later, as she rejoined Finn.

“I’d never seen that before. A kid walking through a DHI like that.”

“They shouldn’t be allowed to do that,” Amanda said. “It’s disrespectful.”

It wasn’t the actual act that bothered Finn. It was the concept. A hologram was nothing but light—a three-dimensional image. How could he become one by falling asleep? What was he thinking?

“Do you believe in weird stuff?” Finn asked her.

“Depends how weird, I suppose.”

“Real weird.”

“Try me.”

But at that moment Amanda spotted another DHI and started toward it.

Maybeck.

Finn’s legs didn’t move. He felt something odd. Like someone was watching him. He spun around.

Main Street was crowded with people. Finn searched faces, his focus shifting.

He stopped on a white-haired guy—an old guy—wearing a barbershop costume that made him look even older. Wayne! He was looking right at Finn, the same way Finn’s dad looked at him when Finn had done something wrong.

Wayne signaled for Finn to look to his left.

There, Finn saw four older guys in band uniforms—red jackets with brass buttons. It took him a second to realize they were headed right for him.

Security?

Finn turned to Amanda, who was posing with Maybeck, expecting Finn to shoot a picture. He called out to her, “Trouble!”

They’d discussed this possibility and reviewed various options. They had agreed that if they had to separate for any reason, they would try to meet up again at the exit from the Haunted Mansion. Amanda took off at a run without a second thought. Finn tucked his father’s camera into his pocket and ducked into the Emporium. Made to look like an old-time general store, it sold everything Disney—clothing, dolls, stuffed animals, CDs, and DVDs. It was packed wall-to-wall with shoppers.

Finn hurried past several displays, deeper into the store. He passed shelves of princess costumes. A rack of hats and caps. A poster hung from the ceiling by a string, announcing the Virtual Magic Kingdom. He stopped and used a mirror to watch the store windows behind him.

There he saw a uniformed band musician enter the store.

Coincidence? The band musician glanced to his right. Finn followed that line of sight—to another band member. They exchanged a look, and then they turned and scanned the store.

Finn felt sick with fear. He’d blown it, entering the park without the proper authorization. His family would probably lose their comp tickets. He supposed his DHI might even be terminated.

They were coming for him: quickly, and with great determination. Finn worked not to be seen. He found himself cornered in the hat section.

“Hey,” said a little boy, looking up at Finn with awe and wonder. “Are you him?”

“Go away!” Finn told the kid, not wanting to be bothered.

“But it’s you, right?” the little boy asked. He stepped closer, sucked in a chest full of air, closed his eyes, and marched right into Finn. Finn stumbled back as the boy fell over.

“Wow!” the boy said, recovering and coming to his feet. “You’re real!”

The little boy’s attempt gave Finn an idea.

The Emporium sold clothing. Finn spotted a rack of DHI merchandise, including the outfit that his own host character wore.

He snagged a pair of loud purple shorts and a green surfing shirt and pulled them over his own shirt and shorts. He didn’t like leaving his Devil Rays cap behind, but saw little choice.

He placed his sunglasses into the empty pocket of his own shorts.

Two of the band members saw him and turned. Finn squeezed between them and ran.

Several kids spotted him at once. Shouting for autographs, they followed after him. Parents played catch-up, hollering after their kids, “Stop!” and “Get back here!”

Finn led the children out onto the sidewalk and into Main Street. An alarm sounded loudly as Finn left the store in clothing that hadn’t been paid for. Anxious parents clogged the door, blocking the security guys.