Kingdom Keepers: Once Upon a Dream

Chapter 21

Finn was laying on his bed scrolling through his phone when he heard a tapping coming from his window. Alarmed, he walked over and looked out to find Amanda standing in his backyard, throwing pebbles. She stopped as she saw him, and he opened the window to talk to her.

"Are you crazy?" he exclaimed, speaking as loudly as he could without risking waking his parents.

"I need to talk to you!" she called back.

"And it couldn't wait until morning?!"

"Please Finn," Amanda pleaded. "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't absolutely urgent."

Amanda looked at him desperately. She looked entirely different from the Amanda he'd known for the past week. This was nuts, he knew, and he really didn't cherish the idea of sneaking out the same night he'd tried to start getting close with his family again.

He let out a sigh; no matter how hurt he still felt by what had happened on Friday, he couldn't bring himself to deny her.

"Hold on a minute," he said, turning away from the window, and Amanda flashed a quick smile.

He looked down at the window-box below him. Buried inside of it, underneath years' worth of dust and long-since used toys, was a fire-escape ladder that had been sitting there, unused, for over a decade. His face melted into a nervous frown; he'd promised his parents, when he got it, that he'd never use it to sneak out, and he felt terrible about the prospect of doing so now, but he saw no other option.

Moments later, Amanda saw the ladder falling out Finn's window and held her breath as she watched him climbing down. Finally, he reached the ground and jogged over to her. She smiled, and neither of them said anything for a few moments before Finn raised his eyebrows.

"What?" he asked.

"You need to come to Magic Kingdom with me," Amanda replied. "Jess is around front with our friend Mattie. She's gonna drive us and get us in."

"Magic Kingdom? Why?!"

"There's something we need to check out,"

With that, she turned and started running towards the car, but Finn grabbed her arm to stop her before she could.

"Slow down," he exclaimed. "Check out what? What's going on?!"

Amanda sighed. She was hoping to get away with a quick explanation.

"Can't I just explain it on the way there?" She winced.

Finn put his hand on his hip and stared her down.

"Amanda, you came to me in the middle of the night and are asking me to run away to a theme park with you," he said. "I'm gonna need a little bit more than 'something's up'"

Amanda exhaled. When they'd set out on this little expedition, she had every intention of telling Finn about her abilities. Somehow though, the fact that she'd actually need to explain everything about herself to him hadn't totally registered. Now it did though, and it was harder than she'd ever thought it would be.

"I haven't been completely honest with you about who I am," she said.

Finn didn't say anything, and Amanda could tell that he expected her to just continue. She felt a twinge of guilt in her gut at seeing how cold he was, knowing it was because of what had happened the other day. She shoved it behind her. She couldn't focus on the past now.

"You know how, in the books, Jamie and Olivia have...powers?" she said.

Finn nodded.

"Well..."