The Return: Disney Lands Read Free

condoneyour crossing over. If it puts you in danger, physical danger, what kind of mother could sign
off on that? Especially when it might be for nothing!”
    “What about Imagineering school?” Finn said, testing the waters.
    “Don’t change the subject.”
    But he felt forced to change the subject. If he allowed the argument to continue, she was going to forbid him from crossing over; and that wasn’tan option.
    “I could take a gap year,” he proposed. “You know how few people are ever offered this chance? No one even
knows
about Imagineering school, not unless they’re
invited to join. A year, two at most, and I can transfer knowing a lot more about what I want to study. Dad’s just jealous because he hates his job.”
    “That’s unkind and uncalled for, Finn, and you know it. I can’t believeyou’d say that!”
    “It’s true! He says I earned my full college tuition by being a Kingdom Keeper? Well, that was the deal you and Dad made with Disney, not me.”
    “I see what you’re doing! Changing the subject! Nice try. We’re talking about crossing over.”
    Exasperated, he gave in. “Wayne left me a clue. Me, Mom. Not the others. Me.”
    “Some say that you’re exaggerating that.”
    “Doyou think I am?”
    Mrs. Whitman gave her son a long, hard look.
    “No,” she said.
    “Thank you.”
    “Wayne told you that it was your kingdom now. He should never have said that. You’re eighteen. You are not the second coming of Walt Disney. That was the kindness, or maybe the
delusion, of a dying man.”
    “He meant it, Mom. He meant every word.”
    “You’re upset.”
    “Wow, you’re areal mind reader.”
    “Do not take that tone with me, young man!”
    Finn’s phone buzzed. He pulled it from the pocket of his pants under the bedcovers.
    “Philby’s all set. It’s time I get to sleep.”
    “Then I’m going to keep you awake.”
    “Let me tie up these loose ends, Mom. Please. If I’m going to move on, this is something that has to happen.”
    “That’s the first well-reasoned argumentyou’ve made.”
    “Thank you.”
    “The pen, Walt’s pen, was put into the mug sometime after his office went into storage,” she said, as if mulling over what her son had told her. “But before his office
came back out as part of One Man’s Dream.”
    “Right. But by who? And why would Wayne think we could help that? Change that? It must have happened thirty years before we were even born.”
    “You know the answer, Finn. It happened! The pen made it into the exhibit. That makes it a rhetorical question.”
    “Wayne wants us, me, to identify whoever did it.”
    “Because whoever added that pen to Walt’s desk mug eventually saved the Magic Kingdom,” Mrs. Whitman said. Her eyes were far away.
    “More importantly: knew the Magic Kingdom would need saving!”
    “So I suppose it’s Finn tothe rescue?” She made him sound like a lunatic.
    “Et tu, Bruté?” Finn said.
    His mother smiled. “You’re quite clever, knowing how I react to you showing off your education.”
    “Please, Mom.”
    “This once. And I want a full report.”
    She switched off the overhead light and closed the door before Finn could thank her.

F INN’S DHI HOLOGRAM walked throughthe back door to Walt Disney’s former apartment. The
decorations hadn’t been changed in forty years. A colorful carpet, a pair of antique chairs, a standing lamp, and two daybeds resplendent with needlepoint pillows. A small round table held
the historic glass-domed lamp Walt Disney had once used to announce his presence in the park.
    Knowing his time was limited, Finn went directly tothe music box. Philby had reluctantly agreed to cross him over—alone—but he’d also expressed his concern; he expected a
phone call from Finn every ten minutes so as to ensure Finn’s continued safety. Those calls would need to be made from landlines.
    Finn worked quickly. The last time they’d crossed over to Walt’s apartment, the Keepers had