Finn looked up at the swirling, dark clouds. They’ll cancel the parade, he wanted to shout. Maybe she was concerned that he and the others were so high above ground when lightning threatened. But surely the Park authorities had it under control. He wasn’t worried about their safety—he just didn’t want the parade canceled.

Maybeck edged closer to Finn, pushing past Charlene, who was waving two pom-poms. “What do you suppose they’re doing here?” Maybeck asked, while bobbing his head and trying to keep a smile on his face.

“No clue.”

“AWOL all this time, and they suddenly reappear for our reopening celebration. Doesn’t that strike you as just a little bit odd?”

“Everything about them is odd, if you ask me,” said Charlene, overhearing.

“What was with the leaf?” Finn mumbled. No one heard him.

“I like them both,” said Willa, joining in. Willa looked constantly on edge. She had chocolate-colored, captivating eyes and a somewhat grating voice.

“You like everybody,” Charlene said.

“So what?” Willa complained.

“It just doesn’t work. You can’t like everybody,” Charlene said.

“Why not? Of course you can!” Willa said.

“Oh, forget it,” Charlene said, shaking her pompoms. She looked more eighteen than fourteen.

“Amanda knows where I live,” Finn said. “Otherwise I might have said that they came here to catch up with us after reading about the grand opening.”

“If she’d wanted to catch up with you, she’d have come by your place,” Maybeck said.

“So it’s you, I suppose,” Finn said. Maybeck believed every girl was in love with him. “She knows where you and Jelly live, too, don’t forget.”

“I’m just saying the timing’s kind of interesting,” Maybeck said. “We know there’s something strange about those two, and there just happens to be a pair of monkeys following them.”

Both Jez and Amanda reappeared, staying with the parade float once again.

With Amanda stabbing the sky and looking worried, Finn pointed back, behind her, trying to show her the monkeys. But before he could tell if she saw them, he lost sight of Amanda.

“She could have been pointing to the balloon,” Finn said. “Even though it disappeared, maybe they saw it too. Whatever she saw, she was…I don’t know…agitated. I don’t think they came here to celebrate. I think they came to warn us.”

“Warn us?” Charlene said.

“About the weather?” Maybeck said skeptically. “I doubt it.”

“Could have been about the primates,” Philby said.

“Yeah. A couple of monkeys,” snapped Maybeck sarcastically. “Now, there’s something to set your legs trembling.”

“Maybe they were running from the monkeys,” Willa said.

“I’m not even sure they saw the monkeys,” said Finn.

The parade kept moving, and their float along with it. They crossed the lagoon, heading for the Hub, the density of the crowds increasing. Cheers arose. Kids screamed out their names.

“We’re rock stars,” said Maybeck.

“Our DHIs are the rock stars,” clarified Finn. “Let’s not confuse the two.”

Finn caught a lightning flash out of the corner of his eye. The storm was moving closer. He looked up at the sky to see that it was far darker than even a few minutes ago. Was this what Amanda had wanted him to see? His mind reeled with possibilities. Why had she seemed so agitated? The low clouds and swirling fog obscured any sight of the gray weather balloon. Would anyone believe him now?

Suddenly the music was interrupted. “Ladies and gentlemen!” the booming voice announced. “Welcome to the Magic Kingdom’s DHI-Day celebration! Please direct your attention to Cinderella Castle, where the fireworks will begin shortly.”

“Look!” Philby said, “they’re cutting the parade short!”

Sure enough, the parade now hooked around the Hub, and instead of heading down Main Street, USA, for its final segment, it went fully around the Hub and back the way it had come. Finn briefly saw the five DHIs far ahead, leading the way.

Whoever was in charge didn’t want the parade caught in the storm.

“Don’t you think we should tell someone about that balloon?” Willa asked. “That’s got to be dangerous in an electrical storm.”

“They must already know, don’t you think?” said Finn.

Philby said, “The string or wire holding it is tied to that window. Maybe it’s some kind of experiment.”

“Isn’t that the window to the apartment?” Finn asked. As DHIs, the kids had previously used the castle’s penthouse apartment as a hiding place.

“What if that’s what Amanda was pointing to?” Finn continued. “What if she was trying to show us the balloon?”

“But why?” Willa asked.

“What’s so important about a balloon?”

“Nothing the Overtakers would like more than to ruin the DHI celebration,” said Philby. “What if they’re trying to use lightning to set Cinderella Castle on fire or something?”

“I wouldn’t put it past them,” said Finn.

“We don’t know if the Overtakers exist anymore,” said Maybeck. “If they do, don’t you think Wayne would contact us? Has anyone heard from the old dude, by the way?”

The Overtakers were a group of Magic Kingdom characters, rebels led by Maleficent, the evil sorceress from Sleeping Beauty. Their goal was to overthrow the good and take control of the Park for themselves. Wayne and others believed the Overtakers intended to imprison any characters and Cast Members not part of their group. They had been caught preparing vast dungeons beneath Pirates of the Caribbean, which were said to be for this purpose.

The DHIs were now also known as the Kingdom Keepers—one of the most popular attractions in the Park. The last thing the Kingdom Keepers could afford was for Maleficent to gain power again. They had barely stopped her the first time, and she now considered them among her greatest enemies—a distinction they could have done without.

“We should probably tell someone about the balloon,” Finn said, moving to the back of the float and the small ladder there. “At the very least, it shouldn’t be up in the storm.”

The peculiar phenomenon that had been discovered shortly after the Disney Host Interactives had been installed in the Magic Kingdom had carried all five kids into a struggle with the Overtakers and the evil fairy Maleficent.

Wayne had showed them an astonishing three-story maze called Escher’s Keep in Cinderella Castle, which led to the little-known penthouse apartment, now a secret hideaway used by Wayne.

Finn wondered aloud if the balloon might be something Wayne was responsible for.

“If Wayne’s up there,” Philby said, “we should go see him.”

“You can’t leave now,” complained Charlene, waving her pom-poms eagerly for the cheering crowd.

“Cover for me,” said Finn. “No one’s going to notice if one of us isn’t here.”

“They’ll notice if you aren’t,” Willa said. “They won’t notice if I’m not.”

“That’s not true. Besides, I’m the one going, so I don’t think it really matters.”

“We never go solo. Remember what happened to Maybeck?”

Finn stopped, one foot over the rail and on the small ladder leading down. Maybeck’s DHI had once fallen into a trap that had prevented the real Terry Maybeck from waking up. The so-called “Sleeping Beauty Syndrome” might have killed him.

“It was your rule,” Willa reminded him. “And it was a good one. We’ve had no trouble since we started pairing up.”

“Okay,” Finn said. “So?”

“Someone’s going to notice if you leave,” Maybeck warned.

“Just keep moving,” said Finn. “The more the three of you move around up here, the less likely I’ll be missed.”

“You don’t actually think we’re going to let you do this alone, do you?” Maybeck said.

“We’re all coming,” Philby said. “Here’s the plan….” He pulled them all into a huddle at the center of the float. “The fewest number of guests will be on the bridge to Liberty Square. We get off and start shaking hands and signing autographs like it’s all part of the parade. That’s also the closest we’re going to get to the castle. When we make our break, we all go at once—again, like it’s scripted. If we get separated, we meet inside the castle in Escher’s Keep.”