Disney in Shadow by Pearson Ridley

Author:Pearson, Ridley [Pearson, Ridley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-11-27T05:00:00+00:00

28

PHILBY WHISPERED TO MAYBECK. “I don’t like this. Reminds me of Small World.”

“I hear you,” returned Maybeck in an equally soft voice.

They were inside the doors of Maelstrom, walking quietly through the empty waiting-line area, approaching the attraction’s loading dock. The main lights had been turned off. There was no music. As they arrived at the loading area, where guests would board the boats, the enormous painted mural facing them was barely lit, so that only the most brightly colored paint jumped out at them: a red-and-white striped sail, the top half of the sun, a village of white buildings.

“How do you spell creepy?” Maybeck asked.

A boat awaited them, the water gurgling around it.

“Why do I not want to get into that boat?” Philby said.

“It wouldn’t have anything to do with the Norwegian and his son who just happened into Wonders, would it?”

“And the axe he was carrying?” Philby said.

“I didn’t see that.”

“I didn’t mention it to any of the others, because I don’t think they saw it either, but oh, yes: the redhead was carrying a very large axe.”

“You’re so comforting.”

“I try.”

“Well, try a little less, would you?” Maybeck said.

“Get in the boat,” Philby advised. “I’ll turn on the ride,” he said, pointing to a control console, “and jump in as it’s moving.”

“And if you happen not to make it and I end up in there alone?”

“The sword,” Philby said.

“You’d better not chicken out and leave me to do this alone.”

“Don’t sweat it. I’ll make it to the boat in time.”

Maybeck climbed into the second row. Philby hit the START button on the console and ran to the edge and, with plenty of time to spare, climbed in alongside Maybeck.

“Okay, we’ve got problems,” Philby said, practically before he had sat down. He pointed to a curving bow of a boat that stuck out of the mural; it was wooden and three-dimensional.

“Yeah? So?” Maybeck said.

“That’s where the dude and his son are supposed to be.”

The front of the display boat was empty.

“Meaning?”

“They could be anywhere.”

“An axe,” Maybeck stated.

“True story.”

“In here somewhere?”

“Could be.”

“Why can’t we be normal kids?” Maybeck asked.

“I think we have Wayne to thank for that. Wayne and our parents who wanted the college funds.”

“College funds don’t do you any good if you aren’t alive to go to college.”

“True story.”

The boat began to climb. Into the dark. Into the sound of rushing water and the pounding of their own hearts in their ears.

* * *

“But what if she’s in trouble?” Jess demanded.

“Then she’ll get out of it, or she’ll call or text,” Charlene answered. The two were hunkered down where the bridge abutted the path, only a matter of thirty yards from the entrance to France. Street lamps cast a soft light.

Charlene led her to their right, along a retaining wall where a bicycle and canoe were fixed to the wall to simulate the towpath along the river Seine. Reaching the end of this retaining wall, they climbed over and into some well-manicured shrubs, and higher up, to just behind a bench, overlooking the plaza in front of France.

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