Kingdom Keepers: The Return Book Two: Legacy of Secrets Read Free Page A

a blueprint that showed the construction plans for Main Street USA.
    “Here you go!” Wayne said. He spoke nervously, his voice hushed, even though no one nearby appeared interested. “You’re saying the pen will change this, right?”
    “Strengthen it,” Finn said. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but we’ve seen it…in the future. I just touched the pen to the paper and it was magic! Magic happened!”
    “Gee whiz!”
    Finn uncapped Walt’s pen, glad to have at least some control over his projection. “You’ll see! Watch this!” he said excitedly. The other Keepers joined them, surrounding the blueprint. Finn touched the fountain pen’s bulbed nib to one of the darker lines on the plans. He pulled the pen’s lever, spilling a drop and making sure the ink flowed. The blob of ink just sat there. “That’s weird.”
    “Maybe that page doesn’t need any magic,” Charlene hypothesized. “Or maybe it only responds to certain people. Like Jess for instance.”
    “Who’s Jess?” Wayne asked. “Golly! Are there more of you?”
    “Jessica is a friend of ours,” Philby said. “There are two others, her friends, Amanda and Mattie. Special girls. You’d like them. Jess has a particular artistic skill. If she drew something with that pen, we’d know if it’s the right one.”
    “No offense,” Wayne said to Willa and Charlene, “but I’m not sweet on any girls. I like my job too much to get all distracted.”
    Everyone laughed, including Finn, who considered Amanda more than a friend. He thought of her all the time; he talked to her inside his head. He missed her. Was there a word for how he felt?
    The smile fell from his face amid the laughter. He hurt inside.
    Philby spoke. “This pen is identical in appearance to the pen we came looking for. It has Walt Disney’s name engraved on the side, just like the one we’re after. It’s black with a silver ring on the cap. That fits. All I can say for sure is that it looks exactly like the pen we need.”
    “But it can’t be the right one if it doesn’t do anything,” Finn argued. “Nothing happened.”
    “So maybe he has more than one pen,” Maybeck suggested. Since he was the only real artist in the group, his opinion carried weight. “If I had a special pencil, I sure wouldn’t carry it around with me all day. I’d keep it near where I draw. I’d keep it safe so there was no chance of ever losing it. Whether it was magic or superstition, Walt Disney must have believed in his pen.”
    “He’s still alive at this point, let’s not forget,” Wayne interjected. “I don’t like you talking about him that way.”
    “Right. Sorry. He believes in this pen,” Maybeck said. “So why risk it?”
    “Terry’s right,” Wayne said. “If the pen is as important as you all say, Mr. Disney won’t make it easy to find. He’s a careful man. He probably has several of these monogrammed pens. But the one you’re looking for, the powerful pen, is clearly different, maybe enchanted. And if it’s special, then it’s probably old. Oswald the Rabbit, Mr. Disney’s first animated character, came early, right after the war. Did you happen to know Mr. Disney trained to drive and repair ambulances in the Great War? He didn’t ship out until after peace was declared, but he served six months in France.”
    “So…what?” Maybeck said bluntly. “What does that have to do with anything?”
    “Gypsies!” Wayne said. “Mr. Disney has a great love of magic. I’ve always wondered where that came from. And I have a theory.” He stopped, awaiting their interest.
    “Okay,” Maybeck said impatiently. “Let’s hear it.”
    “I’ve often thought a European witch or conjurer had something to do with Mr. Disney’s love of magic. Maybe one enchanted him. Once he came home from the war, everything started going great for him.”
    “That’s…an interesting theory,” Willa said, kindly. She considered mentioning what she’d heard in Walt’s apartment,