Disney at Dawn by Ridley Pearson Read Free Book Online Page B

the Park, we think. But to accomplish her goal of domination, she’ll have to rebuild, and reorganize the Overtakers. And she’ll need the five of you out of the way. You defeated her last time. She won’t risk that happening again.”
    Finn didn’t like the way Wayne said that so calmly. Out of the way? He tried to wrap his mind around the fact that they were talking about a Disney character—villain or not—as if she were human. And after all that he and the other DHIs had been through, it wasn’t so hard. Something weird was going on, and somehow they were now a big part of it. Whatever kind of being Maleficent was, however it was that she existed, her presence was very real, as was the threat to the DHIs.
    “She needs cold, don’t forget, or at least the illusion of cold. She loses her powers in the heat. For this and other reasons, we think she’s likely gone to the Animal Kingdom.”
    “Because?”
    “There are several attractions there that are kept quite chilly. And of course there’s Everest.”
    “Is that where Jez is?”
    Wayne’s face tightened. “You want to explain that, please?”
    Finn told him the rest of what had happened. He related what Willa had told him briefly upon their meeting by the castle: that Jez had been replaced by a DHI and the real Jez had vanished.
    “That’s why I was IMing the others,” he explained. “At midnight we were going to meet and try to figure out how to get Jez back.” He listened to himself say that, and wondered what chance they had against Maleficent. Then he checked the computer clock and, seeing it was well past midnight, wondered why no one else had joined the chat.
    “Amanda,” Finn continued, “supposedly said something about Jez being…different. Like she’s a Cast Member or something.”
    “She’s not a Cast Member,” Wayne said knowingly. If he knew something about Jez, he hid it well, for although the reception was poor—sparking and sputtering—his expression didn’t change.
    “What I’m going to tell you now,” Wayne said, “is done so in the strictest confidence. Do you understand me, Finn? You can share what you must with your friends, but only if absolutely necessary, and only if they promise to protect the information. It’s critical to the safety of all of us.”
    “I promise.” A second chill raced through Finn.
    Wayne glanced suspiciously over his shoulder for the umpteenth time. “I’m in hiding, as you must be aware by now. The Overtakers are said to have obtained the DHI technology. They are working on projecting me—turning me into a DHI so that they could mislead our efforts to defeat them. And if they managed to contain my DHI when I was sleeping…well…you saw what happened to your friend Maybeck.”
    Months earlier, Maybeck’s DHI had been prevented from crossing back over—a process that was triggered by a small black remote control device that Wayne possessed. As a result, the human Maybeck had remained asleep in bed in a kind of induced coma while his DHI had been trapped in a maintenance cage in Space Mountain. Finn had freed Maybeck’s DHI, and Wayne had then crossed them over, allowing the human Maybeck to awaken from his comatose state. But the idea of that happening to Wayne or any of the other DHIs ever again was terrifying. Unthinkable.
    “What you’ve just told me about Jezebel’s disappearance,” Wayne said, “figures into this theory, I’m afraid. It suggests the Overtakers do, in fact, have the DHI technology at their disposal, and that presents us with some difficult choices.”
    “Our DHIs went back on line tonight,” Finn muttered.
    “Precisely! You’re aware of the DHI expansion plan?”
    Finn had heard rumors that the Animal Kingdom was planning Disney Host Interactive characters—using DHIs of Animal Kingdom animals to guide guests through the Park the same way holograms of Finn and his friends guided guests around the Magic Kingdom.
    “Animal Kingdom this year,” Wayne