فصل 30

CHAPTER 30

THE CLOUD

THEY JOINED THE LINE for Peter Pan’s Flight at 8:01 p.m. The ride was even more crowded than it had been earlier, but the waiting-time sign still said fifty-five minutes.

“I hope I figured this right,” said J.D., eyeing the long, shuffling line ahead, then glancing anxiously at his watch.

They inched forward, keeping their faces turned away from the hordes of people flowing past on the concourse outside the arcade. Each minute felt like an hour.

“Could this line move any slower?” said Aidan. “We’re never gonna make it.”

“If we have to,” said Sarah, “we’ll cut ahead in line.”

Aidan gestured at the crowd in front of them, an army of exhausted parents, cranky kids, and wailing toddlers. “You actually think they’ll let us in front of them?” he said. “Like, we’ll tell them we have an urgent appointment with a bird in a skull and they’ll just step aside?”

“Shut up,” said Sarah.

“Maybe you could both shut up, okay?” said J.D.

“The Happiest Place on Earth,” said Aidan.

A tense and silent half hour later, they were past the midway point—Sarah gripping the backpack straps, J.D. checking his watch for the hundredth time, Aidan staring ahead at nothing. The line was still moving agonizingly slowly, but it was moving. Another ten minutes passed, and J.D. whispered, “I think we’re going to be okay. We might have to let a couple of groups go past us to get it exactly right.”

Sarah said, “When do we transfer the…” She nodded at the backpack.

“Soon,” said J.D., pointing. “Where the line runs next to that wall. We’ll use the wall as a shield on one side.”

“How much?” said Sarah. “If I pour a lot, we’re all going to be flying.”

“I’m figuring you should try to use the same amount as Pete did in the locket Mrs. Carmoody gave us,” said J.D. “Just the tiniest amount, a quick flash. Not like in the van.”

“Okay,” said Sarah.

“Don’t spill it,” said Aidan.

“Shut up,” said Sarah.

Armstrong hadn’t heard much useful lifted from the security guard. There’d been something about on the radio he’d

Christopher Robin at one point—typical Disney World problems. Minnie Mouse would be next, he thought.

The searchers were going ride by ride, but so far hadn’t found the Cooper kids or J.D. Aster. Armstrong had shadowed them for a while but recently had decided to strike out on his own. He had gone through Tomorrowland and, as darkness fell over the Magic Kingdom, was making his way through Fantasyland, scanning the crowd with practiced eyes. His plan, if he saw either runaway Cooper kid, was to move quickly and to be as physical as necessary. The boy had slipped through his fingers once; Armstrong wasn’t going to let that happen again.

“All right,” said J.D. “We need to be on the ship in five minutes. Let’s do this.”

He and Aidan took their positions next to Sarah, shielding her as much as they could from the people in line around them. He handed Pete’s locket to Sarah. She faced the wall and set her backpack down, then quickly knelt next to it and unzipped the top. She reached inside and found the golden box. With trembling hands she positioned the locket next to it and thumbed open the catch. She tilted the box slightly and, holding the locket next to the hole, gave the golden wheel just the tiniest counterclockwise turn. The instant she saw the beginnings of a glow she closed her eyes tightly.

Even through her eyelids she saw the brilliant flash of light that followed, accompanied by a melodic humming sound. She quickly twisted the wheel closed and shut the locket, then opened her eyes.

The brilliant light was dying rapidly, but it still filled the area of the arcade where they were standing. All around them people were blinking, pointing, shouting; voices young and old were asking, “What was that?”

With a roar of wing beats, the ravens exploded into the night sky over the Haunted Mansion. The birds swirled, a tornado of ebony feathers, then formed into what looked like a gigantic airborne spear, its tip aimed at Fantasyland.

Seconds later they were gone, the sound of their wings replaced by the oohs and aahs of the crowd below, marveling at this latest brilliant display of Disney Imagineering. How on earth did they do it?

“Sorry!” J.D. shouted to the crowd as Sarah zipped up the backpack and scrambled to her feet. “Stupid camera flash went off! Sorry!”

“That was a camera flash?” said a man directly behind them. “Making all that light?”

“It’s a new camera technology,” said J.D. “It uses deuterium-tritium fusion. Very efficient, and it’s environmentally friendly.”

“Huh,” said the man.

“I heard a weird sound,” said a woman who was with the man.

“That’s the energy release from the free neutron,” said J.D.

“Huh,” said the woman. “Sounded like…bells!”

The bystanders didn’t pursue the matter any further, partly because they were almost to the flying ships and partly because everybody was suddenly feeling surprisingly mellow and happy, especially for people who’d been on their feet in the heat all day. Even the babies had stopped crying.

J.D. whispered to Sarah, “Did you make the transfer?” “I think so,” said Sarah. “Good,” said J.D., looking at his watch. “Because we have to be on the ship in exactly two minutes and thirty seconds.”

Armstrong was at Prince Charming Regal Carrousel when he saw the flash of light. He wondered what would make a flash that bright; he half expected to hear an explosion. He decided to trot over and take a closer look.

“Two minutes,” said J.D., his eyes on his watch. They were almost at the front of the line—only four groups were ahead of them. Making a quick calculation, J.D. turned to the couple behind—the ones who’d asked about the flash—and said, “You guys can go ahead of us.”

The couple went past. J.D. eyed the line ahead, then his watch. “One minute forty-five,” he said.

Armstrong was fifty feet away when he saw them, all three together, waiting in line for Peter Pan’s Flight. He had a decision to make: should he wait for them as they exited the ride, or grab them now? Remembering how the boy had gotten away from him last time, he decided to take no chances. He’d grab them now, and he’d make sure he grabbed the boy.

He started toward the trio.

They had reached the moving walkway. The group ahead was boarding a ship; they were next.

“Ninety seconds,” said J.D. “We have to stall a little.”

Aidan looked out at the concourse and froze. “We got trouble,” he said.

“What?” said Sarah.

“That big guy,” said Aidan, pointing. “He’s the one who tried to grab me at the train station.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, and he sees us.”

Armstrong was, indeed, coming their way. One of the Peter Pan Cast Members moved to block his path, apparently telling him he couldn’t enter the ride that way. Armstrong pushed past the Cast Member, pointing at Sarah, Aidan, and J.D., who were now at the head of the line to board the ships.

“Stop the ride!” Armstrong shouted. “Police emergency! Stop the ride!”

“If he stops the ride,” said J.D., “it’s over.”

“You guys go ahead,” said Aidan. “I’ll slow him down.”

“Wait!” said Sarah. But Aidan had already vaulted a divider and was running toward Armstrong.

“Aidan!” shouted Sarah. She turned to J.D. “I have to go help him.”

“Sarah,” said J.D., “this is our only chance. We have to be on the ship in seventy-five seconds.”

“But I can’t just…”

Sarah was interrupted by a shout from Aidan as he ran directly into the midsection of the oncoming Armstrong. The big man, surprised by the assault, staggered backward into the concourse. But he had his powerful arms around Aidan and clearly did not intend to let go.

“Aidan!” shouted Sarah. She went toward the divider.

“Wait!” said J.D., grabbing her arm.

And then they both froze, watching in horror as the struggling figures of Armstrong and Aidan were suddenly engulfed by black shapes falling like living stones from the sky.

“No!” screamed Sarah, her voice matched by screams from people on the concourse as the raven swarm swirled around the now-fallen pair. Both J.D. and Sarah were now climbing the divider to go to Aidan’s rescue.

And then, incredibly, Aidan emerged from the swirling black mass, on his feet again, walking toward them. Behind him the birds were darting back upward, leaving the form of Armstrong lying face-down on the concourse, apparently unconscious. A crowd was gathering around him. Some were applauding, believing this to be a show.

“Aidan!” shouted Sarah, relief flooding her face.

J.D. looked ahead. The ride was still moving; the Peter Pan Cast Members, like the people in line, were distracted by the drama surrounding Armstrong on the concourse. J.D. looked at his watch. “Fifteen seconds!” he said. “We can do this! Come on!”

He tugged Sarah’s arm, pulling her toward the walkway. She resisted, looking back toward her brother.

“Come on, Aidan!” she shouted. “Run! Why don’t you…” Then she screamed.

J.D. looked back; Sarah’s face was a mask of horror. No longer resisting, she stumbled after J.D. onto the walkway. He looked at his watch; they had five seconds. No time to wait for Aidan.

He stepped quickly forward and got into the closest sailing ship; he pulled Sarah onto the seat beside him. Another glance at his watch: it read 9:05:46. Only one second off. He turned to Sarah, who was staring straight ahead, her backpack on her lap.

“What happened to Aidan?” he said.

Sarah turned to him. Her face was paper-white. “That’s…not…Aidan,” she said.

“What are you talking about?” J.D. turned his head, looking back along the walkway. The ship behind them, and the one behind it, were both empty. Getting onto the walkway now and approaching the third ship back was Aidan. As he reached the ship and started to climb in, he looked directly at J.D. Where his eyes should have been were two black voids. “Oh my god,” said J.D. “Ombra,” said Sarah. The safety bar closed. Their ship was turning left and rising, entering the Darling nursery.

“Is he following us?” said Sarah.

“Yes,” said J.D. “But he’s three ships back. Do you still want to try the bridge?”

Sarah looked down at the backpack, then at J.D.

“Yes,” she said. “We have to get the starstuff away from him, away from us, forever. He’s only using Aidan to find out what our plan is. If we get the starstuff to the island, he’ll know he can never have it, and he’ll leave us alone.”

They were passing over the ever-barking Nana. “All right, then,” said J.D. “Get the locket ready.”

“Okay,” said Sarah, digging into the pocket of her jeans. Now they were over London. Ahead and below was Big Ben, still indicating 9:07. The overhead track curved, turning their ship so they could see clearly behind them.

Sarah fought back a scream.

By the dim light of the artificial moon, they saw that Aidan had left the seat of his ship and was crouching on the bow, in front of the sail. It looked like a precarious position, but he seemed to balance there without effort. As they watched, he leaped forward, traveling what seemed like an impossible distance through the air and landing with astonishing agility on the stern of the ship in front.

“He’s coming after us!” said Sarah.

“There’s still a ship between him and us,” said J.D. “And we’re less than a minute away.”

They were over Never Land now; the volcano was passing below. J.D. looked back. Aidan was now perched on the bow of the second ship behind them. With a movement too quick to be human, he again leaped forward, landing easily one ship back.

“Where is he?” said Sarah, not looking.

“He’s right behind us,” said J.D.

Below them now was the mermaid lagoon. Just ahead was the Indian village.

After that was the bird.

J.D. looked back. Aidan was moving toward the bow of the ship behind them. In the ghostly, dim light of the ride his gray, eyeless face looked like a skull. J.D. looked down; there were the Indians. He looked ahead and saw Wendy, about to walk the plank.

“Get ready,” he said. “Toss it right at the bird, okay?” Sarah nodded and gripped the locket.

J.D. looked back. Aidan had reached the bow of the ship. He looked forward. Skull Rock—finally—loomed out of the darkness. He looked back. Aidan was crouched to spring.

Caw! Caw!

“Now!” shouted J.D.

Sarah’s arm flicked out. The golden locket glinted as it sailed through the gloom toward the bird perched in the gaping eye socket of the skull.

From behind them came a hideous, unearthly groan.

J.D. turned and saw Aidan flying through the air like some ungodly bat.

And then the world went utterly white, its features obliterated by a light of blinding intensity. J.D. closed his eyes, or at least thought he did, but the light was still there, as if coming from inside his eyes, inside his mind. He heard a scream, and realized it was his own voice, but somehow it seemed to be coming from him, and from somewhere else, at the same time. Then he heard another voice screaming, Sarah’s voice, but he couldn’t see her, nor could he touch her, though he knew she had to be right next to him.

Then he felt that he was falling. Not fast—more of a gentle downward drift, falling through the all-consuming whiteness, falling through a cloud made of pure light.

And then as suddenly as it had come, the whiteness was gone, the world came back, and J.D. saw that he was still in the little Peter Pan’s Flight ship, and he was still sitting next to Sarah, and…

And they were flying. Not suspended from a pole in a building in Florida, but really flying, over blue-green water sparkling with a billion flashes of sunlight. Flying, but also descending; the little ship was drifting downward.

“Sarah,” he said, as the water drew closer. “We have to…”

“Look,” she said.

He looked where she was pointing and saw it rising from the water beside them, in all its malevolent massiveness.

Skull Rock.

“Oh my god,” he said. “It’s real.”

“That’s not all that’s real,” said Sarah. Now she was pointing directly behind them.

J.D. turned and gasped. Bearing down on them, under full sail, was a large wooden ship flying the Jolly Roger. Standing in the bow, pointing at them and shouting, was a man with long, greasy black hair and an enormous black moustache. He was pointing with a hook.