The Insider by Ridley Pearson

Author:Ridley Pearson
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fiction - Young Adult
ISBN: 9781423164906
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Published: 2014-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

FINN COWERS WITH EACH EXPLOSION in the sky, slowing him and Amanda. The blue outline surrounding him sputters and sparkles. Amanda, who can’t stop crying, pulls him along like he’s an unwilling ox.

“We have to go!” she says.

Finn looks as if he doesn’t recognize her, doesn’t know where he is.

“We’ve lost them.” Amanda stops, keeping Finn close to her. “Which way?”

Looking back toward It’s a Small World, she sees the Evil Queen and Tia Dalma walking calmly in their direction.

“Oh, great,” she says. Finn’s unresponsive and numb, a sea anchor she must drag along. She doesn’t know the park well at all. The proximity of the fireworks overhead only serves to confuse and frighten her. She steers him toward the Mad Tea Party, then, screened from the Overtakers by a pagoda, changes her mind and leads him past the entrance to the Matterhorn and in the direction of Finding Nemo. In doing so, she unknowingly takes the long way around, costing them more time.

“Come on, I need you, Finn!”

As they approach the Plaza, the crowd becomes obnoxiously thick, with everyone stopped and looking up at the brilliant display of color and sound. The park guests give no quarter, their feet firmly planted; they have no interest or intention of moving out of the way for anyone. They act as a human wall.

Light flickers behind Finn’s dazed eyes. He appears trapped in a state halfway between a material body and a DHI.

“Please!” she adds.

“I loved him.” Tears spring from his eyes and splash onto the pavement, tears that have nothing to do with projected light. This causes Amanda to cry all the harder.

“I know…I know.…” She wraps her arms around Finn and pulls him in and feels his convulsive sobs as her own. It feels right to hold him. Each overhead blast matches a corresponding shock radiating through Finn. She spins him, takes him from behind at the waist and guides him through the crowds. It’s slow going, like trying to push to the front of a parade. People complain and shoot impatient looks.

Finally, Finn stops. There’s no going forward without making more of a scene. Amanda rises on tiptoes. The crowds are illuminated in flashes beneath the pulsating colors overhead. Hands are raised as cheers sound roundabout.

“We’ve lost them,” she says. “Philby and the others,” she clarifies.

From within the castle, flowing out of the central tunnel like billowing smoke, come the wraiths that attacked the Studio Archives. The crowd cheers their arrival, waving and laughing, ignorantly welcoming the corresponding terror.

Seeing the wraiths, Amanda turns Finn around once more and takes him by the shoulders. He hasn’t seen them. “Listen to me, Finn Whitman. You need to do what you are so good at.” She glances up to see the wraiths beginning to circle the Plaza; they are looking down, clearly searching the crowd. “You need to let this go and all clear. We both need to all clear, right now, right away. Are you listening to me?”

She shakes him. Still nothing.

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