 
Zack & Zoey Save Walt's Brain  
or  
Tinker Bell's Time-Travel Tragedy

by MJ Ware

Book 2 of the Zack & Zoey Series  
DIGITAL EDITION v1.0 at Smashwords

© 2013 by MJ Ware - Artwork by Gemma Moody

Additional front matter and legal information.

For Morgan

* * * * *

**Table of Contents  
**Chapter 1 – Cast Members Only  
Chapter 2 – Behind the (Moldy) Curtain  
Chapter 3 – Time-Travel Taffy  
Chapter 4 – Churro Chunks Save the Day  
Chapter 5 – Two Heads Aren't Better than One  
Chapter 6 – One Step Ahead  
Chapter 7 – Marionette Mayhem  
Chapter 8 – Saved by the Tick of Time  
Chapter 9 – Hey, Mom, I'm Not Dead  
Chapter 10 – Super Scientist, Super Model—Super Sunny  
Chapter 11 – The Many Boogers Theory  
Chapter 12 – Autonomous, Ram-Jet Flying Robot Attack  
Chapter 13 – Tinker Bell Tutu Tragedy  
Chapter 14 – Autopia Madness  
Chapter 15 – Auto Versus Churro **  
**Chapter 16 – Attack of the Killer Dolls  
Chapter 17 – The Terrible Teacup Tussle  
Chapter 18 – Nauseating Nuptials  
Chapter 19 – Tinker Bell Takes Flight **  
**Chapter 20 – Miraculous Matterhorn Mashup **  
**Chapter 21 – Blood, Sweat, and Shoelaces  
Chapter 22 – Susie and Tommy Sitting in a Tree... V-o-m-i-t-i-n-g  
Chapter 23 – Big Ears, Big Secret **  
**Dysgraphia Awareness  
About the Author

* * * * *

**Chapter 1 – Cast Members Only**

**I** admit it: I've done some stupid things. I usually get away with them. It's what comes later that always seems to bite me in the butt.

"Let's do the bobsled ride." I looked up at the huge mountain, covered in fake snow even though it was almost ninety degrees in Anaheim.

"Zack, the bobsled line is forever," Zoey said while eating a five-dollar churro, which she refused to share with me. "We can ride Pinocchio again."

"Pinocchio stinks!" I got into the Matterhorn line, knowing they'd follow me. "I have gotta see the snow monster."

"I'm with Zack." Tommy Traddles trailed after me. "I want to see the new animatronic Abominable Snowman too."

"Tommy, you'll agree with whatever Zack says." Zoey sighed, giving in. "Sunny, why'd you pick Tommy for a Park Buddy?"

"I didn't. He picked me," Sunny said, following us. "Besides, I don't know why you're complaining. I'm the one who had to wait outside the Haunted Mansion because it makes him cry."

"Hey, I'm standing right here." Tommy crossed his arms.

"At least he doesn't try to lock lips with you every time you ride Pirates." I glared at Zoey but stopped, worried she might take it for flirting.

"Pirates is, like, the most romantic ride _ever_." Zoey savored her last bite of churro, sticking her tongue out at me as she popped it in.

"I'm not the one who brought a backpack," Tommy said, as if there was something wrong with being well prepared.

"My mom only gave me a twenty for food. I had to pack lots of candy," I told him. "Which I _had_ been sharing with you." I zipped up the pocket Tommy'd been swiping Twizzlers from.

We were stuck in line for almost an hour before we could even see the front of the ride. Annoying other people by swinging the line's chain was the only thing that made it bearable.

I was about to fall asleep standing up when I was pushed from behind. "Make way. Move over. Coming through."

The school bully, Susie Jo Sikes, shoved us out of her way, followed by Randy 'The Snapper' Stevens, and little Lanny, the shortest girl in our class, the perfect height to either kick you in the kneecap or punch you in the kidney.

"Hey! No cutting in line," Zoey shouted. She was one of the only people in our grade who'd even dare speak to Susie Jo—and that included a few of our teachers.

Fortunately, Susie and gang just kept right on going.

"Little girl." A tall skinny lady, who apparently had no idea what the word _little_ meant, stepped in front of Susie. "Are you cutting in line?"

"Mom, mom! This weird lady won't let me pass." Susie waved ahead to some imaginary parent near the front of the line. "I'm trying to get to my mother, if you don't mind. She has my inhaler." Susie elbowed around her when the lady didn't move fast enough.

"Some people are so rude." Little Lanny gave the lady a dirty look as she passed.

When we were about to finally get to the bobsleds, the line took a sharp left and entered a maze that wound around inside the base of the mountain. What a dirty trick. We still had miles to go.

"I thought there were supposed to be less kids on Back to School Day," I moaned. "I mean, how many schools send kids to a theme park on the first day of school?"

"Apparently a lot," replied Zoey.

"It's fewer kids, not less." Sunny put down her book. "This trip is a one-time thing. The school won't do it again next year. They're just trying to create a new more student-friendly image."

She was reading something called _A Swiftly Tilting Planet_. That sounded like a great end-of-the-world book, but from the cover—a muscled-out boy riding a unicorn—it was probably a teen romance novel in disguise. I made a note to myself not to let her trick me into reading it, like she did with _The Tiger Rising_ —that stupid tiger didn't eat anyone.

"You mean like not feeding us to ravenous aliens?" I said, recalling last year's faculty-sponsored extracurricular activities that resulted in some of our classmates being eaten by slimy green aliens.

"Hey," Tommy cut in. "Did you know they keep Walt Disney's frozen head right here inside the Matterhorn? They plan on re-animating him someday."

"That's the lamest thing I have ever heard," Sunny said. "His cells would sustain irreversible damage from ice crystals that form during the freezing process."

"That's what strikes you as wrong about freezing Walt Disney's head?" Zoey looked from Tommy to Sunny as though she didn't know who she should slap first.

"Not if they filled his head full of antifreeze," Tommy protested.

I wasn't buying the frozen head story, but I didn't think I could wait in line a minute longer. I pointed to a door along the side of the mountain that read, _Cast Members Only_. "Let's go see if we can find him."

"I don't want to lose my mouse ears." Tommy stroked his hat, which was custom embroidered with his name right across the front.

"I still say they messed up your hat," I told him. "It clearly says, _Tammy_."

"There's no way I'm sneaking around, looking for Walt Disney's head." Zoey crossed her arms.

"I guess you're outvoted, Zack," Sunny added. "Because I'm not that stupid, either."

"Tommy." I put my hand on his shoulder like we were best buds. "Think of what we might see back there, all the secret inter workings of a real theme park ride." My other arm draped around Zoey. "And Zo, I bet there's all kinds of dark secluded corners, just the right size for a pair of romantic kids to cuddle up in."

Zoey blushed.

I didn't usually talk like that to her. I could tell I almost had them. "Forget the 'Happiest Place on Earth.'" I lightly bumped my shoulder against Zoey's. "I call it the 'Most Romantic Place on Earth.'"

"I'm in." Zoey squeezed my hand.

"A pair of romantic kids? Really, Zoey, is that all it takes?" Sunny shook her head, sending her curls bouncing around her face.

"I guess I'm just a fool for love."

"Well that lover-boy stuff won't work on me. I'm staying put."

"Fine, then I guess it's just the three of us." I didn't stop to think about what a stupid thing I was doing (which is really the only way to go, when you're doing something seriously stupid). Making sure no one was looking, I turned the handle, and the three of us popped through the door.

"I can't believe you are ditching me. You guys are going to get in so much trouble," Sunny said as the door swung closed.

**Chapter 2– Behind the (Moldy) Curtain**

**W** e were in a long hallway. The walls bare, except for a couple layers of peeling white paint. The floor was wet but covered with those rubber mats you can walk on. The place smelled a little like Friday's gym socks.

"Yuck, this is _not_ romantic." Zoey turned up her nose.

"Come on. I bet the romantic nooks are farther back."

On and on we walked, past a sign reminding cast members to always behave in front of guests. We went up a dimly lit wooden staircase, and down another. We walked along moldy corridors and down hallways that almost looked abandoned.

"Zack, I think we're lost," Zoey finally said.

"We're not lost. We're just exploring. Like Tom and Becky in the Indian cave."

"Didn't Tom get lost and almost die?"

"Yeah, but he kissed Becky." I waited a second to allow that to sink in but stepped back, just to make sure she didn't try to land one on me right then. "Besides, this is a theme park for kids. What's the worst they could do if we got caught?"

"They have their own jail," Tommy said, looking around as if security might pop out and nab us any second. "They work closely with the Orange County Sheriff's Department."

"I don't think they kissed inside the cave—" Zoey grabbed my arm. "Did you hear that?"

"Someone's coming," Tommy squeaked.

"Quick, in here." There was a large but otherwise plain door a few feet away. I ripped it open and shoved them in, quickly closing it behind me.

"Oh, no. We shouldn't be in here." Tommy was visibly shaking. "We're going to get banned from the park!"

Tommy was right. I had no idea where we were, but this place had to be off-limits. It was like some sort of space-age mad-scientist research facility. And seeing as it was built deep inside the guts of the Matterhorn—it was a safe bet it was supposed to be a secret.

The room was filled with electronics and gadgets, dismantled robots, and half-built computers. Wires were strung everywhere, and I worried that anything I touched might zap me.

"Whoa." Zoey pointed to a big stainless steel cylinder with tubes coming out of it.

Across the front, in big bold letters, was written:

WALT DISNEY

"It can't be," I said. "This must be someone's idea of a sick joke."

"Speaking of sick." Tommy clutched his stomach while staring at the head. "I think I might lose my lunch."

"Guys, I think someone's coming," Zoey said. "The sound's getting closer."

"Quick, find someplace to hide," I ordered.

"How about under that sheet?" On the far side of the room, a large white sheet was draped over something huge, about the size of a backyard storage shed.

With a click, the doorknob began to turn—we didn't have time to find anyplace else.

"Let's go." We all dashed under the sheet.

As soon as we got under there, I knew it wasn't a good place to hide. We stood on a big steel platform surrounded by curtains of wire, glowing tubes, and blinking LEDs. There was even a slight hum coming from what looked like a big spool of bare wire directly above us.

**Chapter 3 – Time-Travel Taffy**

**"M** r. Night, sir. When are they delivering the biological test subject?" asked a shaky voice that couldn't have come from more than ten feet away. He sounded even older than my grandpa.

"You mean the ape?" replied someone else with a deep, almost sinister voice. "The Florida park wouldn't release a monkey to me."

"But you're the VP of Advanced Theoretical Imagineering," the first guy said.

"Yes, but they wanted to know what we needed it for." He made a low throaty growl. "Humph... Someday, Montag. Someday I'll be running this place. Is the ERB device warmed up?" His voice painted a picture of a big, dark man, who hated kids and drank Drano for breakfast.

"Let me check, sir." I think some knobs and levers were being pulled. "It's almost ready. I just need to set the spatial chronometer coordinates."

Zoey stared at me with eyes big as baseballs. Tommy was doubled over, as if he might puke any second. I just shrugged.

"Good, good. I want to test it as soon as it's ready."

"But sir, without a test subject, we can't determine if biological transmission results in cellular decohesion."

"You told me you were sure it would work, Dr. Montag." His voice seemed to make the room darker. "You didn't mislead me, did you?"

"No, sir." He paused. "I'm sure it will work. It's just... There are so many variables. There is always a minute chance something could go wrong."

"Nonsense. Why, you're almost as smart as me. You'll be fine."

"Me?" His voice cracked. "B—b—but, sir."

"Don't argue with me. Pull off the sheet and get on the platform."

"Sir, I don't think I can."

"Get your wrinkly keister on there, or I'll pick you up and throw you on."

There was a scuffle. When the grandpa-sounding guy started screaming, I realized it was escalating to an all-out brawl.

"Now's our chance," I whispered. Tommy was still doubled over, so I started to push him out. He had one foot off the platform when the machine made a big boom and flashed. I couldn't see or hear a thing. Everything was suddenly blank, except for the sensation of falling. It wasn't the fun kind of falling, either—more like when you have a bad dream, and you just keep falling and falling and falling.

It felt as if my feet were being tugged on, stretched out. Then my legs, and it kept going. I was a piece of taffy, being pulled across miles and miles. It didn't exactly hurt, but I felt like the waistband on a worn-out pair of underwear.

I lost hold of Zoey's hand and continued stretching. Even my thoughts seemed to reach out. It's safe to say I was a little bit freaked out.

Suddenly, like a rubber band, I snapped back. A moment later, the lights flashed on.

We all stood still, under the sheet, looking at each other like we'd just been through a washing machine, then spin dried on high. Tommy was bright green and promptly fell over.

"What was that noise?" It was the deep voice that belonged to Mr. Night.

"I don't know, sir. Something fell, over by the old Einstein-Rosen bridge device." This wasn't the old dude. It sounded like a young guy—definitely someone else.

"That thing was a big waste of eighty million dollars." The sound of shuffling feet came toward us. "I'll check it out. You just get the interface back up. Drill into his darn skull, if you have to."

"Sir, I'd prefer to avoid any invasive procedures. If I can just—"

"This entire park, not to mention the future of the world, is dependent on that brain. Now drill," he said as the sheet was ripped off of us. "What the—"

"Umm, is this the fast-pass line?" I asked.

**Chapter 4 – Churro Chunks Save the Day**

**M** r. Night stood before us. He was pretty old. Mostly bald, except for in and around his ears, and his chin sported a goatee that was thinner than my grandma's.

"Grab them!" he shouted, looking at the scientist guy standing behind him.

The old man was nowhere to be seen. This guy was young, skinny, and wore a surgical mask. Still, something about him seemed vaguely familiar. "Sir, what are kids doing in the ERB device? And it's smoking. That machine hasn't been turned on in years."

I stared across the room, but it took a second to fully comprehend what I was seeing. Sitting on top of a transparent box—filled with a yellow fluid and tons of tubes and wires coming out of it—was a human head.

A severed human head.

A severed human head that was pink and still looked alive.

A severed human head that was still alive and looked an awful lot like Walt Disney.

But that wasn't even the strangest part: There were all these electrodes connected to his neck running to a huge bank of what appeared to be small, high-tech computer boards.

The scientist guy held a power drill in one hand and some sort of red, glowing probe in the other.

"Zack, let's get out of here." Zoey started pulling me and Tommy towards the door. I kept my eyes on the head, half-expecting it to open its eyes and start talking.

"Traddles, stop them."

"No, it can't be. I don't believe it. It's not possible." The masked scientist seemed to be having a breakdown. I figured it might have been because he was standing next to a disembodied head—seemed like that might be enough to do it.

"You kids, _stop_!" Mr. Night cried. "You are in big trouble!" He reached out to grab us.

I thought we were caught, but Tommy stood up straight, belched, and then projectile-vomited cotton candy, ice cream, and overpriced churro all over the front of Mr. Night. I had no idea so much barf could come out of such a little kid.

"Ohhh, that feels _soo_ much better." Tommy wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

"Run guys, run!" Zoey headed for the door.

"No you don't—" Mr. Night, covered in a sticky, slimy mess reached out for us. But as soon as he took his first step, he slipped and landed in Tommy's hundred-dollar pile of partially digested junk food.

I turned for the door but stopped. What about Walt Disney? I mean, he practically invented the modern theme park. That made him, like, the patron saint of fun. I couldn't let some creepy scientist guy drill into his brains, could I?

Mr. Night sat on his rear, surrounded by a pile of puke, rubbing his head as if he didn't quite know where he was.

Zoey and Tommy made for the door. I ran over to the head.

It looked alive. I wasn't sure if I should take it. I wasn't sure if I _could_ take it. I mean, picking up a severed human head is among the more messed-up things I've ever done.

"I can't believe it. It's impossible." The scientist dude stared at me. Nervous breakdown or not, he was still holding a drill to Disney's skull.

"Traddles, I said, get them!" Mr. Night must have hit his head pretty hard, 'cause Tommy was already gone. Night was wiping away the vomit and starting to get back up. I took a deep breath and snatched up the head. The cables and wiring ripped out, but I just ran.

**Chapter 5 – Two Heads Aren't Better than One**

**"N** o. Stop! Don't take that. It runs the park. It can run everything!" Night screamed, "Traddles, call out the Animatrons."

I caught up with Zoey and Tommy a few seconds later. They were flying down a narrow staircase.

"What just happened?" I asked.

"All I know is this wasn't the romantic escapade I was promised," Zoey said without turning around.

"How'd that man know my name?" Tommy asked, between breaths.

"I don't know. Your hat only says _Tammy_. It doesn't have your last name. But I can tell you one thing: They were up to no good." I glanced back the way we'd come.

"Oh, what gave you that idea?" Zoey was moving so fast I could barely keep up. "Could it be because they are back there drilling holes into Walt Disney's head?"

"No, I don't think they are," I said, afraid to look down at what I was carrying.

"We're in big trouble. We're in way over our heads." Zoey stopped and turned, not sure which way to go. That was when they saw what I was carrying.

"Way over his head too," I said as they gave me vacant stares, mouths gaping.

Zoey turned whiter than the fake snow covering the Matterhorn. "Zack, what did you do?"

"They were about to drill into his brains. What else could I do?"

" _What else could you do_?" she screamed. "You're holding Walt Disney's head and asking me what else you could do! How about anything _except_ picking up the disembodied head and taking it for a stroll?"

I really checked out the head. It was in good shape. There was some color in the cheeks. The skin even felt warm. A metal box with blinking lights and a couple small knobs were connected to the neck, which had a metal skirt over the bottom of it, so there wasn't any blood or pus or anything gross like that coming out the bottom—just the box and wires. Lots and lots of wires.

"I think it's okay—I mean, he's okay," I said glancing at Walt. "But really, Zoey, they were up to no good."

"What do we do now?" she asked, still looking at me like I was completely insane.

"We could take it back." Tommy couldn't take his eyes off of the head.

"Take it back?" I said. "What do you suggest? We say, 'Sorry we stole Mr. Disney's head from your secret, evil laboratory? Here, have it back. Drill away.'"

"How about we run," Zoey said.

"Yeah, but where? How do we—"

"Now! Run _now_!" Zoey pointed behind me.

If it weren't for the fact I was holding Walt Disney's head, I wouldn't have believed it, but barging down the stairs was the Abominable Snowman.

**Chapter 6 – One Step Ahead**

**H** e was huge, with glowing red eyes. Steps buckled under his hairy feet as he advanced, and he was moving fast.

We all ran for our lives.

We didn't stop until we found an exit out of the mountain that led into the park.

"Well, Tammy, you got to see the Abominable Snowman," I said, looking behind us to make sure we'd lost him.

"It must have been a guy in a suit," Zoey replied.

"Big guy," Tommy said.

"I bet he's still chasing us." Zoey took my hand. "Let's get going."

We started running through Fantasyland toward the park exit, but we made slow progress—it was packed. It looked as though a lot of rides in this part of the park were closed.

People stared at us as we passed. Some looked at us like we were nuts, but most smiled, seeming to think Walt's head was fake, maybe some sort of demented practical joke.

"Zack, I think we should do something about the head," Zoey said. "It's drawing attention."

"I'm open to ideas."

"How about putting it in your backpack?" she suggested.

"No, it's way too big," I said. "I couldn't get it in even if I dumped everything out."

"Then buy a T-shirt or something to throw over it."

"Let's find a clothing shop." I couldn't see much through the crowd.

"How about this?" Tommy put his mouse ears on Walt's head.

"Oh, sure. Now people will think his name is Tammy."

"Can I hit him?" Zoey asked.

"He's not my Park Buddy," I said, then hit my forehead with my hand. "That's it. Sunny. Sunny will know what to do. She's, like, the smartest girl ever."

"You're probably right." Zoey raised an eyebrow. "She's the smartest _person_ ever. But I doubt she's in line anymore."

"I wouldn't want to head back there, anyway."

Tommy started laughing. "Zack, you just said 'head back.' Get it, _head_ back?" He pointed to Walt.

Somehow resisting the urge to belt Tommy, Zoey made her way through a group of little kids. "Let's just get out of the park. Then I'll call Sunny."

We were almost to Main Street when an announcement boomed over hidden loudspeakers. "Attention, guests. Our computers are experiencing a temporary malfunction. During this short outage, most rides will be briefly closed. Please rest assured this is a temporary inconvenience. We are working to rectify the problem as quickly as possible. Thank you, and have a magical day."

We walked into the Main Street Emporium, acting as casual as anyone could while carrying a human head with wires poking out of it.

"That's what they were doing with... Well, you know," I said, looking down at the head.

"What?" Zoey asked.

"They were using him to run the park. I heard that old guy Tommy slimed say they needed Walt to run the computers for the park."

"The head? You think they're using Walt Disney's head to run the park? That's ridiculous."

"No, not his head. That would be stupid. His brains—they're using his brains to run the park."

"Oh, well, that makes a lot more sense," Zoey said.

I nodded.

"No, it doesn't make any sense!" she cried. "It's impossible!"

"Not impossible." Tommy tried on a pair of lighted mouse ears with colored lasers shooting out of them sort of like a laser pointer factory was blowing up. "There's an episode of _Star Trek_ where they use Spock's brain to run an entire colony of spacemen."

"Well, if it happened on _Star Trek_ , then it has to be possible," Zoey replied, shaking her head. I could see it was taking everything she had not to knock those ears off his head.

"Is it any more ridiculous than anything else we've seen today?" I asked.

"Yes. Running a theme park with Walt Disney's brain is more ridiculous than _anything_ else we've seen today." She added, "Just get a shirt or something to put over him and let's go."

"Ooh, get a Little Mermaid shirt." Tommy squealed.

I grabbed the first sweatshirt I could find and draped it over the head.

"Princess Alestia. Who the heck is Princess Alestia?" Tommy asked.

"Who cares? Just find an open register."

"But I know everything Disney. There's no Princess Alestia."

"There's also no registers." Zoey stopped. The look on her face sent a chill down my spine.

"What do you mean, there's no registers?" I asked. "Look at all the people buying stuff."

I stopped to check everyone out. She was right. People were walking around with arms and bags full of junk, but there were no registers. In fact, there was nobody working in the store at all, except robotic greeters at the entrances and exits, each one a different character.

"People are just walking out with stuff," Tommy said. "Maybe everything's free today."

"Yeah, right," I said. "A hundred bucks to get in, five-dollar churros, but everything else is free."

"And what's with the robots? I don't remember seeing robotic characters on our way in?" Zoey asked.

"Maybe we didn't notice them. We did run straight to the Indie line," I said.

"No, Disney doesn't have this sort of technology. No one does." Tommy nervously played with a stuffed Pluto he'd picked up.

"Look, everyone is just walking out with stuff. So that's what we do. No one's noticing them—no one will notice us."

"Fine, but let's walk through the shops and all the way down to the end of Main Street before we try it," Zoey suggested.

We went through the corridors that connected each shop on our way to the main gate. But as we walked, it became increasingly clear that something strange was going on. I couldn't put a finger on it, but everyone was weird, like the girl with mini-LEDs flashing on her eyelids, or the guy with a tattoo that glowed neon green. And I swear I saw a grandma with a Mohawk.

"We'll exit there, past Pinocchio." Zoey pointed to a doorway by the Main Street fire station. "It's the closest to the park exit."

We tried to look casual as we walked past the robotic Pinocchio, who was welcoming visitors, saying things like, "Someday, I'll be a real boy."

But as soon as we went by, his eyes lit up and started blinking red. "I'm sorry. I wasn't able to read your credit card. Kindly step back into the store."

We all looked at each other. No one had to say it—we all ran.

I figured we were only a couple hundred feet from the front gate so we wouldn't have any trouble getting out of the park.

I was wrong.

**Chapter 7 – Marionette Mayhem**

**Z** oey glanced back and cried, "He's coming after us."

I was having trouble keeping up with them—a human head is a lot heavier than you'd think. Behind me, a pair of wooden shoes pounded against the pavement. Pinocchio was gaining on us.

The worst part was his singing. "Hi-diddly-dee, you aren't going to outrun me."

He caught up to us just as we were going through the tunnel under the train station.

"Please stop," he said as his metal hand wrapped around Zoey's shoulder.

"Owwee!" she cried and fell to her knees. She tried to slide away, but he had her pinned to the ground.

The oversized robotic marionette was singing, "I've got no strings. I'll push you down, make you cry, and make you frown."

That gave me an idea. Right in front of us was one of those ropes used to direct traffic. You know, to make sure everyone goes to the right when they exit, so the employees can laugh as we get squished together.

I handed Walt to Tommy, who stood petrified, staring at the monstrous Pinocchio. Quickly, I unclipped the rope from the metal poles.

Tying one end around the hand that had Zoey pinned to the ground, I wrapped the other around Pinocchio's neck, while making sure I stayed clear of his free hand.

I pulled and pulled. Slowly, little by little, his hand started to release Zoey's shoulder. I put my foot against his back and pulled some more. Finally, I'd pulled his arm up enough that she was able to slip out from under his grasp.

"Thanks." Zoey rubbed her shoulder.

Before I let go, I wrapped the rest of the rope twice around his legs and tied it tight. "You've got strings now."

Crash!

Pinocchio had tried to walk and fell flat on his face. "Jiminy Cricket!"

I took Walt from Tommy, and we headed for the front gate. As we were about to dash through the turnstiles, out of nowhere, Captain Hook leaped in front of us.

"Halt, you scurvy mates!" the robotic pirate cried.

I sighed. "This is _so_ not funny."

**Chapter 8 – Saved by the Tick of Time**

**"W** atch out for his hook," Zoey cried, as he took a swipe at her. She dodged it. But with his other hand, he pulled out his sword.

"Here, take Walt." I faded back and threw a pass to Zoey.

"Ooo, gross!" She stepped aside, and Walt's head, still wrapped in a sweatshirt, fell to the ground.

Tommy leaned over and picked him up, but with a look on his face as though we'd just committed some terrible crime.

Zoey and I looked around for a weapon, any weapon. But the only things in reach were the traffic-directing ropes, and the poles that held them in place.

Zoey reached for a pole. It looked heavy, but somehow, even with a hurt shoulder, she managed to lift it out of the little hole in the asphalt and hold it like a sword. She got it up right as Hook tried to decapitate Tommy. She blocked his blade, but the robot was so strong, it knocked the pole into Tommy. He bumped into Zoey, and they both fell down. Walt's head started rolling away.

Captain Hook took a whack at me. At the last second, Zoey managed to jump and block it, but just barely. I knew even Zoey's highly honed ninja skills were no match for his freakish robot strength.

I had to figure out some way to stop him. He was faster than me, stronger than me, but he had to have a weakness, if I could only figure out what it was.

_What's Captain Hook's weakness?_ Peter Pan—no, that wouldn't help.

I fell to the ground as he tried to rip out my throat with his hook. That was it! His hook—his one weakness. "Zoey, your phone." I held out my hand. "Give me your phone."

She hesitated. Zoey had saved her babysitting money for like, two years to buy it. She hardly ever let me play games on it. But she must have seen the desperation in my eyes—or maybe it was more sheer terror—because she tossed me the phone.

I caught it and quickly started looking for the right app. As I did, Hook swung his sword back and started bringing it down on my head. I didn't have time to move—it was going to slice me down the middle like a banana split.

Out of nowhere came a pair of pink-and-white Vans. Zoey flew through the air, feet—or rather, shoes—first, doing some crazy, double-kick thing right into Hook's sword, knocking it away. She rolled and landed on her feet with the grace of an Olympic gymnast.

I didn't have time to be impressed, because Captain Hook wasn't backing down. I found the clock icon on Zoey's phone and started the app. Hook picked up his sword, lifting it high over his ridiculously large pirate hat. Quickly, I changed the app to analog mode and turned up the volume.

_Tick-tock. Tick-tock_...

Captain Hook froze.

_Tick-tock. Tick-tock_...

As if it were a shield, I held up the phone with the ticking clock app at full blast.

"Oh, no. He's here. The Crocodile!" He turned and took off, screaming, "Save me, Smee!"

I scooped up Walt's head, which had stopped when it bumped into a trashcan, and jumped over the locked turnstiles that exited the park.

"Zackary B. Weller," Zoey said as we helped Tommy over the turnstile, "I will never forgive you for stealing Walt Disney's head."

"I hope we didn't break his nose or anything." I also hoped that another animatronic nightmare wouldn't appear.

We kept running.

When we reached the front of the parking lot, Tommy asked, "Where's the school bus?"

"Forget the bus. Where are the cars?" Zoey replied. We stared across the lot, full with thousands of vehicles. But no cars—just row after row of what looked like futuristic hovercraft with wings.

"Oh, oh. I wanna drive a flying car!" Tommy yelled, raising his hand like he was in class.

"Zoey," I said, "What's wrong with this picture?"

She had a look in her eye as if someone had just told her _Teen Superstar Makeovers_ had been canceled. "I don't know, but my phone isn't working either. We've got to get out of here."

"How? It's not like we can steal a flying car."

"Maybe we won't have to," Zoey said, pointing to a tram that was stopped in front of the parking lot.

"I don't think the parking tram will take us home." Tommy wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"No, but we can take it—somewhere, anywhere away from here."

"We can't steal a tram. Oh, we're going to get banned from the park for life." Tommy chewed the edge of one of his mouse ears.

"What about all the people on it?" I asked, looking back at the main gate to make sure another storybook character wasn't going to try to knock our heads off.

"They can get off or come along." Zoey marched forward. "Follow me."

We ran behind her. The tram was loaded with passengers, mostly sleepy parents and cranky little kids.

"Sorry kids, all full. You'll have to wait for the next one," the driver said as he walked along the sides, making sure nothing was sticking out.

"Quick. The driver's helping some lady get her stroller in," I said, and we casually went to the front of the tram.

All three of us jumped in the front seat.

"Zoey, scooch over," I said.

"No way. Why should you get to drive?" Zoey hit the gas, and the tram started moving.

"I'm the oldest guy. The oldest guy gets to drive. That's just the way it works."

"Lame... Where'd you get a stupid idea like that, Zackary?"

"Umm, guys? I think we have a problem." Tommy was looking behind us.

Zoey had successfully driven away with the tram, but it wasn't exactly a speedy getaway. The thing just didn't go that fast, and the driver had jumped onboard. Now he was slowly climbing over the seats of cars, heading toward us.

"Well, this isn't going quite as planned," I said.

"Zack, don't just complain." Zoey elbowed me in the side. "Do something!"

"Ouch. What do you want me to do? Fight him like in those old western train movies?" I said. "That's more your style."

"Wait. I've got an idea." Tommy jumped up.

" _You've_ got an idea?" Zoey and I said together.

"This _is_ like a train, right? With lots of cars tied together." Tommy climbed over the back of our tram. "So, there has to be a way to release the cars."

"You mean cut them free?" I said, following him over.

"Yep, there must be."

"Zoey, watch Walt."

"Just hurry up. The driver's getting closer," Zoey yelled.

The driver was about five cars away. When he got to the last car, he'd be able to reach across and grab us.

Zoey picked up the intercom mic and said, "I'd like to remind passengers that climbing on the seats is strictly prohibited. Please sit back and keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle at all times."

"Yeah, like that's going to work," I whispered to Tommy.

Tommy and I stood on the back bumper, looking at the junction that held our part of the tram to the rest of the cars.

"It's a big bolt," I said. "I don't know if we can get it off."

"There's a chain too." Tommy pointed to an old rusty chain hanging under the bolt.

"Let's get that first. I'll lean down. You hold me."

"No, I'm smaller. You hold me."

The driver was only three cars away, so I said, "Fine, get going."

Tommy leaned over while I held him by his _Nightmare Before Christmas_ belt.

It was only a few seconds before he hollered, "Got the chain off. Now I'll try the bolt." A few more seconds passed. "Pull me back up. I can't get it."

I pulled him up. "No luck?" I asked.

"There's a pin that's holding the bolt in place. If we can get the pin off, the bolt will fall. But it's stuck. I'm going to have to try kicking it off."

"Let me do it. I'm stronger." I started down the back, and he held onto my shirt. It wasn't more than a couple of feet, but it seemed much deeper once I began leaning down. As I got closer, the tram appeared to go faster, the ground whizzing by just below me.

I held myself in place, wedging my body in the space between our car and the first passenger car. "Tell Zoey not to turn right, or she'll squish me like a grape."

"...She says you've been putting on a little weight, anyway."

"Tell her I'm not obsessed with my weight like—oh, never mind." I started kicking the pin.

My rear end was inches from the asphalt. One wrong move, and I'd have to figure out how to use the toilet without sitting—not to mention I'd be run over by a couple hundred cranky park guests and their passenger cars.

The pin that held the bolt in place started to give, so I kept kicking. Finally, I kicked it out. It made a clanking sound as it fell to the ground.

Fortunately, the cars didn't come loose right then, or I would have lost my grip and fallen to my death—or at least some pretty gnarly road rash.

"The bolt didn't drop. The cars can't break free." I pulled myself back on the tram.

"It's probably the weight of all the passengers holding the bolt in place," Zoey hollered. "I may have to stop to cut them lose."

"No, I have an idea."

"Pull over!" The driver was just one passenger car away. "Stop this tram, you kids."

I stood on the bolt that held the cars together. "Zoey, on my mark, take your foot off the gas and just tap the brake."

"Okay."

Right as I screamed, " _Now_!" I was grabbed from behind. But still I jumped and landed with all my weight on the bolt, which made a popping sound as it shot out.

The cars began to separate, and the tram driver, who'd managed to snag my shirt, didn't let go. The passenger cars veered away, leaving the riders behind, but the driver still held on. I looked back; he was running with the tram. I won't repeat exactly what he was yelling, but roughly translated, it was something like, "Why, you dirty little poops. You flopping delinquent witches."

Along with sounds of his ranting, there was a rip. It was my shirt: a small tear along one of the seams. Here was my chance to get rid of our last passenger.

Pretending I was the Hulk, I grabbed both sides of my shirt and pulled it apart along the rip. Once completely torn, it slid right off my back.

I heard a thud as the driver fell to the ground. He wasn't really hurt, maybe a bit scraped up; like I said, we weren't going very fast. But he was more than a little upset, continuing to curse and yell.

"Yippee," Tommy shouted. "Take that, you stupid turd-tart."

"Tammy, a lady should never use such foul language," I said.

"You two, sit down." Zoey pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street.

"Where are all the cars?" Tommy asked as we drove onto an empty street.

"I don't know. Something's wrong, very wrong." A shadow moved over us. "Well, there are the flying cars, anyway." I pointed overhead.

"We're on West. Take the next right," Tommy said. "It should be Ball Road."

"How do you know that?"

"Google Maps," he said. "Haven't you ever searched Disneyland on Google Maps?"

"You're the only Disney stalker here."

Zoey turned onto Ball. "So where are we heading?"

"Home," he said.

"I can't take a tram on the freeway."

"There doesn't seem to be anyone else on the roads, and I think I can speed this thing up." Tommy was sizing up the tram.

"So you're an auto mechanic now too?" I sneered.

"You said it yourself, I'm a Disney expert. I know _everything_ Disney." Tommy stuck out his chest. At least I think that's what he was doing. It might have been a small puff of wind caught under his shirt.

" _Stalker_. I said Disney stalker."

"These things work like the Autopia cars." He ignored me. "I'm almost positive they have a governor to retard the engine."

"Tommy, retard? That's _worse_ than cursing. I can't believe your mouth." Zoey was trying to stretch out her shoulder.

"No, no. I didn't mean it like that. It's an auto term. It's a lever or limit-switch that keeps the engine from going too fast."

"Disney _expert_ or not, I don't see how you'd know that."

"It's all part of picking a fast Autopia car. They use the same governor." Tommy straightened his mouse ears with pride. "Just pull over by the on-ramp."

"Tommy, if you are making this up, I'm going to personally let Zoey beat you up."

**Chapter 9 – Hey, Mom, I'm Not Dead**

**W** e pulled over, and Tommy set his mouse ear hat on the seat so he could mess with the motor. I was so sick of those ears. When he wasn't looking, I tossed his hat into the gutter, then went to help.

The hardest part was getting the hood open. It was the whole front of the tram and took both of us to lift it. Turned out the retard-governor thing was just a small bolt. Fortunately it was loose, so I used my house key to unscrew it.

"I thought it would go faster," I said as Zoey turned onto the freeway. "Is this as fast as it can go? Maybe I should drive."

"I have my foot pressed all the way down." Zoey glared at me. "How could you make it go any faster? It's not powered by hot air."

"At least it's a little faster," Tommy said. "Besides, there's no one else on the freeway."

He was right. The entire way back home to Green Town, we only saw a handful of cars. We stayed in the slow lane. The trip took almost four hours.

When we got off the freeway and started looking at the buildings, I couldn't deny it any longer. "Something is seriously wrong."

"Guys." Tommy's voice trembled like a Girl Scout trying to sell her first box of cookies. "This isn't Green Town."

"No, it is. Look—there's the grocery store and Danny's Donut Dugout. They're the same." Zoey hesitated. "It's just maybe not _our_ Green Town."

"What are you talking about?" Tommy slid away from us, close enough to the edge to fall out.

"Tommy." I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. "We're in an alternate dimension or something. It's gotta be—like our world, but different."

Tommy stared at me, and his eyes started to drift like I'd seen happen when Sunny said something really smart that he couldn't understand.

"Zack, you're the closest, right?" Zoey asked. "And your mom should be at work—at least, in our dimension."

"Fine, go to my house." I wasn't excited about going to my place first, but Zoey was right. It was the closest.

Everything in the neighborhood was the same, but different—a small change here and there, and some places seemed more run down or not taken care of.

"Zack, don't forget _that_." Zoey pointed back toward the tram to Walt. Tommy started to go back.

"What if my mom comes home early?" I stopped him. "Remember how much trouble I got in when I stole from the Quick-Stop? That was a candy bar. This is a human head. Leave it there."

"What if someone takes Mr. Disney?" Tommy put his hands on his cheeks, almost like that kid in the _Home Alone_ movies.

"No one's going to take him. He's wrapped up." At my front door, I put my key in the lock, half hoping it wouldn't fit. As the key turned, my stomach sank with each click.

I peeked into the living room to make sure there wasn't a copy of me sitting there playing _World of Warlords_. I figured if there was another me and we met, it might blow up the universe, or at least fry my Xbox. "One of you go to my room and see if there's another Zack in there."

Zoey walked into the kitchen. "No need." Her voice, beyond grim, sounded as if she'd found a dead body. "Zack, come here." Her voice cracked—and Zoey wasn't the type of girl who cried.

Reluctantly, I followed. The bulletin board that Mom had always used to remind me when I had a book report or science project due was covered with yellowing newspaper clippings and web printouts.

"Two Local Students Disappear During Theme Park Field Trip," Tommy read from one of the headlines.

Momentarily speechless, I stared at the board and all the articles about our disappearance, then thought out loud, "Two? Why only two?" The words barely got out.

"Here." Zoey pointed to another headline. It read: _Five Years after Disappearance, Prime Suspect Still Refuses to Discuss Missing Student Case._ Under the headline was a picture of Tommy, except he wasn't quite as scrawny, and he had one of those thin mustaches guys grow when they think they have facial hair, but it really just looks like their mom painted it on for Halloween.

"That's me." Tommy gasped.

"It's not an alternate reality." I put a hand on the counter to keep from falling over. "It's the future. We're in the future."

"What?" Zoey's eyes were watery, but she wasn't really crying. "We can't be sure. If there's another Tommy here, it's an alternate reality."

"But Tommy's old. He has a mustache... well, sorta."

"Maybe it's another reality, but one in the future," she suggested.

"Remember when the machine zapped us?" I turned and put my other hand on the counter, propping myself up. "I was pushing Tommy out. He was, like, half in and half out."

"So what, are you saying? You think there's two Tommys now?"

"No." I examined the grout on the counter, more worn than it had been in the morning, before the field trip. "I know it."

"Shut up, Zack. There's no way. _I'm_ me." Tommy pounded his small fist against his chest.

Turning back around, I eyed the board, still keeping a hand on the counter. "I know you are. And so is the guy we saw with Walt's head."

"In the lavatory? You think I'm Mr. Night, sitting back there in my evil lavatory?"

"It's _lab_ oratory—a secret laboratory, dummy." I tried to laugh, but couldn't. "And you're not Mr. Night. You're the guy with the mask. The one who was about to drill a hole in Walt Disney's brain."

"Shut up, Zack. Just SHUT UP!" I felt a shove from behind. I knew it was him, because a shove from Zoey usually puts me on the ground. "I'd never do anything to hurt Mr. Disney."

"I thought that guy was familiar." Zoey took him by the hand. "Tommy. It's okay. It wasn't you. It's like an evil Tommy. We even heard that Night guy say 'Traddles'—he must have meant him."

"You mean a he's a doppelganger, like the evil Mr. Spock in _Mirror, Mirror_?"

"Umm, sure." Zoey obviously had no idea what he was talking about. "Exactly like that, I guess."

"He's not _exactly_ a doppelganger because he's real, not a—" I stopped when Zoey shot me an evil eye. "Anyway, that's how Night knew your last name. He wasn't talking to you. He was talking to the evil version of Tommy."

"I—I don't know." Tommy turned a tad green.

"Don't worry about it. It doesn't really matter right now." I didn't want him to hurl in my kitchen. "The real question is: How do we get back to our time?"

Looking at each other, we instantly knew the answer. "Sunny," we said.

"Look at that paper." I took the article about Tommy being a suspect in our disappearance. "It's not as old as the rest, but it's still yellowing. It still has to be pretty old. So we've been gone... eight, ten, maybe even fifteen years in the future."

"Sunny has to be, like, a super brain by now." Zoey smiled a little. "Let's find her."

I was going to run upstairs to get a T-shirt, but I realized my stuff was probably long gone—I didn't want to find out. Fortunately, there was an old Tigers sweatshirt sitting on the back of a chair. It was Mom's, but it fit pretty well.

"Wait." I grabbed the notepad next to the phone (except there wasn't a phone plugged in there anymore). "I've gotta leave Mom a note. Let her know I'm okay."

"No, Zack." Tommy ripped the pad out of my hand. I know he had a shock with the whole evil doppelganger thing, but he was really working on my last nerve. "You can't leave a note. We can't do anything to change the future, or we could alter our past. Haven't you ever seen _Back to the Future_?"

"Back off, Tammy." I knocked the notepad to the floor. "That only applies to traveling _back_ in time, not forward."

"I know this is upsetting, guys, but let's cool it. Zack, you're probably right about the messing up time thing. But we can't risk it." She picked up the pad and put it back. "Besides, a note would only upset your mother."

Tommy and I didn't say anything else. As we left, I locked the door behind me. The house felt sad, sorta lonely. Zoey took my hand as we walked to the tram, and we interlocked fingers. That was the first time we'd ever done that—but right then, I needed all the support I could get.

"Zoey, let me drive, okay?" I asked.

"Well..." Zoey eyed the keys. "If you promise to take it easy. Sunny told me what you did to Principal Blathers' car last year."

"His car? You should have seen what I did to him." I stomped a weed sprouting from a crack on the driveway. "Let's just say we don't have to worry about any little baby Blatherses running around."

"Eww! I just pictured half a dozen bald rugrats with bushy mustaches and wet pants. That's _so_ disturbing."

Tommy ran up to the tram ahead us. He took one look in and said, "It's gone."

**Chapter 10 – Super Scientist, Super Model—Super Sunny**

**"G** one? What do you mean, gone?" Zoey asked as we sprinted to the tram.

"Someone took it." Tommy, leaned against the tram, slapping his hand on his forehead. "What will we do now?"

We hurried to the tram to check out the floor. There, still wrapped in a sweatshirt, was the head. "It's right there," I said.

"That's Disney's head."

"Yeah, you said it was gone."

"Not the head. My hat. My ears—they're gone, stolen."

Zoey reached out for his neck with both hands. "I oughta—"

"Zoey." I pulled her hands away. "One severed head is all I can deal with." We got in the car. I had to pull Tommy in. "Maybe it just blew away. We can order you another pair of mouse ears."

"They were embroidered. They only do that in the park." Tommy put his head down.

"Maybe you _should_ pop his head off. We could give it to Night. He might be able to use it to run the Pinocchio ride," I said. "No wait, that's a dark ride—too scary for Tammy's brain."

"I am not afraid of the dark." Tommy clenched his fists.

"Boys," Zoey broke in, "we're in some serious trouble here, or have you guys been too busy fighting to notice?"

I kept my eyes on the road. None of us was having a good day, but Tommy's had been seriously lousy. I probably would have told him I was sorry, maybe even 'fessed up about his mouse ear hat, but I didn't want to do it in front of Zoey.

Sunny's house was about six blocks away. I knew the way because I'd sometimes go over when I needed help with math—so, once or twice a week.

Sunny's mom answered the door. "Yes, how may I help you children?"

She didn't recognize us. "Is Sunny home?" Zoey asked.

"No, she hasn't lived here for a while. She moved to a place over by the college." Her mom had always been pretty, at least as pretty as a mom could be, but now she was even older than I expected.

"The college?" I said.

"You three must be part of her youth outreach program. Sunny loves helping school kids with science projects."

"Yes, that's it. And we really need her help, right away," I said. "Our science fair project is due this week."

"Science fair, already?"

I realized it might be the start of the school year here, too: the same day, but a bunch of years in the future. "Well... It's a very advanced science class."

"I bet if you get your parents to drive you, you can find her at the college. She's most always there."

"Okay, thanks," I said as we left.

We all knew which college; there was only one in town. It's part of the University of California system, so Mom says I'll have to go there to get cheap tuition, because Dad won't help. Though I'm not so sure college is in my future.

I'd been to the campus once to see a fighting robot competition (that Sunny had convinced me to go to). But once we got there, I realized the school was much bigger than I had thought.

"How the heck are we going to find her?" I asked.

"Come on, dummy," said Tommy. "The science building, of course."

The science building was huge, and I figured we'd end up walking around forever, until I saw the directory in the lobby. Right up top, it said, _Science Chair (a.k.a. Head Geek) Sunny Rosa –Room 304_.

"Let's take the elevator." Zoey pointed to it. Tommy beat me to the elevator button.

When we got to her office, what looked like a tablet computer hung from the door with a blinking message: _In lab four_.

It took us a few minutes to find lab four, and once we got there, we stood outside, waiting to see which of us was going to open the door. How would Sunny take seeing us after all this time? Would she help us? Would she even believe us? Would she pull a Tommy and projectile vomit all over us?

There was only one way to find out. To be safe, I made sure Walt's head was completely covered before entering.

At first, I thought we had the wrong lab. Only one person stood inside, a woman. She must have been almost six feet tall. She wore white leather pants with a thick black stripe down the side. All they needed to do was glow, and they'd be straight out of _Tron_.

Her lab coat had a huge gecko embroidered on the back that said, _Green Town Geeks._ And strangest of all, she had straight—not curly, but straight— _purple_ hair.

"Umm, excuse me." I cleared my throat. "Do you know where we can find Sunny Rosa?"

The woman turned around. "I'm Professor Rosa."

The smile is what gave her away: big, with two deep dimples—it was Sunny. But she was so different, so... mature.

Her smile dropped away. "Who are you?"

"Well, that's going to take a little explaining," Zoey said.

"Are you Zoey and Zack?"

"What! How'd you know?" Zoey asked.

"And you've traveled into the future?"

"Oh my gosh. You really are the smartest person in the _entire_ world," Zoey cried.

Sunny ran forward and gave Zoey a huge hug, almost lifting her off her feet.

"It was simple deduction, really." Sunny seemed really calm about the whole 'meeting people who'd just traveled into the future' thing. "I recognized you from when we were kids. But you haven't aged since I last saw you, right before you disappeared. So the only logical conclusion is either you've traveled from the past, or I'm hallucinating."

"Still, I never knew you were _that_ smart."

"We could have been ghosts," Tommy said.

"But who's he?" Sunny pointed to Tommy.

"I'm in love." Tommy smiled at her as if she was a double bacon cheeseburger smothered in Ranch sauce.

"I mean, he looks like Tommy Traddles, but Tommy's doing research for WED Scientific."

"I am not. I would _never_ hurt Walt Disney!"

"Hurt Walt Disney?" she asked, puzzled.

I couldn't stop staring at Sunny. She was a completely different person; I mean it was Sunny, but not the Sunny I expected. No glasses. No pocket protector. I was sort of stunned, but managed to lift up the sweatshirt we had Walt wrapped in.

"A head?" Sunny got the evil scientist gleam in her eyes that I'd seen many times. "Tell me you have Walt Disney's cranium in there?"

"No, it's his head," Tommy said.

"There've been rumors ever since they figured out how to repair the crystalline damage caused by the freezing process, but I never imagined they were true." She took Walt from me and unwrapped him with the care normally reserved for the last present on Christmas morning. "Tommy Traddles, what have you been hiding from me?"

"Nothing," Tommy cried and flopped down on a rolling stool.

"I think she's talking about the other Tommy," I said.

"Zack, stop staring at Sunny." Zoey hit me in the arm.

"Ouch!" I said, moving back. "What's a matter with you?"

"Just stop staring."

"What are you talking about?" I glanced up at Sunny, trying to figure out what Zoey was so mad about.

" _Owwee_!" Somehow, Zoey managed to punch me in the exact same spot, except twice as hard, and even though Dad always says real men don't, I rubbed my arm.

Sunny sat Walt on a big metal lab table and started connecting all sorts of electrodes and cables to him as we told her what had happened. She listened as she worked, only stopping us a few times to ask questions or for extra details. I couldn't believe she bought our story or at least wasn't totally freaked out.

Once we were finished, she ignored us for a few seconds, thinking. Then she said, "So, the question is, how do we get you three back to the correct location in your own timeline?" She closely examined the severed head on the table. "Maybe we should ask Walt?"

A few seconds later, Walt Disney's eyelids popped open, and two dark hazel eyes drilled into us.

" _Ahh_!" the three of us screamed together.

**Chapter 11 – The Many Boogers Theory**

**"C** alm down, guys." Sunny quickly turned a knob, hit a couple switches; the eyes closed, one at a time. She smiled. "That was me. I was just testing his responses to my interface, sorry."

"What is wrong with you?" Zoey looked as though she was about to take Sunny down—which I would have paid a month's lunch money to see. "That was so _not_ funny."

"It was funny for me." She smiled again, and I think Tommy giggled. "But seriously, let's figure out how we're going to get you back to your own dimension."

"So, we didn't just travel to the future, but to a whole other dimension?" I asked.

"Yes, it must be." She eyed Tommy. "It's him. There can only be one Tommy that belongs in this dimension."

"But we already told you, Tommy was half out of the machine. We think he got split in two."

"What must have happened"—Sunny was tapping on the counter—"is you created an alternate timeline. In your correct timeline, Tommy disappeared at the same time as both of you—all three of you are missing. But in this one, he stayed behind."

"Just what does that mean, our correct timeline? How can there be more than one?"

"It would take me hours to explain the mathematics." Sunny wrinkled her nose as she thought. She still had those same little freckles. "Here's a better example... Let's call it the Many Boogers Theory."

"The Many _what_ Theory?" Zoey asked, as if she hoped she'd heard her wrong.

"Just hear me out. Every living person on earth, at any moment, can decide whether or not to pick their nose. There's a Many Worlds Theory that basically says in one timeline they pick it, and in another they don't. There's almost eight billion people on the earth, so that's eight billion new timelines every second. And that's just picking your nose. The theory goes that anytime you have a choice, you do both options, creating a new dimension in the process."

"Who knew science was filled with so many boogers?" I said.

"I only pick my nose when it's crusty and always wipe my hands on my socks afterwards." Tommy smiled as if he had just said something insightful.

"This sick fixation on boogers aside"—Zoey glanced at Tommy's socks and took a step back—"that's just an insane number of timelines."

"Yep." Sunny connected a glowing plug to Walt. "But your presence is strong evidence it's correct. Though I've been working on my own theory that only some choices create new timelines."

"Like the important ones?"

"Sort of. But more like decisions that are more likely to happen. Take Tommy and Zack. According to my theory, in no dimension does Tommy reach over and give Zoey a kiss right now. It's just too unlikely. He doesn't like Zoey, and even if he did, he'd never have the nerve to try it in front of us."

Tommy's face turned red.

"Zack, on the other hand, is secretly in love with Zoey—"

"What? I am not!" I said, as Zoey started blushing, too.

"So, the odds of him leaning over and giving her a peck on the cheek are much greater." Sunny went back to work on the head.

"You mean"—Zoey gazed in my direction—"there's a universe where Zack kisses me?" I could tell this whole kissing timeline thing was going to lead to trouble.

"Even if my limited Many Worlds Theory is flawed, I think it's safe to say, yes, almost certainly, there's a timeline where Zack has admitted his love for you and kisses you often."

"Rotten luck," she said. "Born in the wrong timeline."

"I am _not_ secretly in love with Zoey," I protested.

"The Universe has spoken, Zack." Zoey shook her head and smiled. "You can't deny the Universe."

"Enough about boogers and kisses," Sunny said. "We're going to have to get you three back to that time machine if you ever want to get home. And I can't wait to see it."

"We'll have to get past Night, first," I said.

"Who?" Sunny stopped what she was doing, hands and wires in mid-air.

"Mr. Night," I explained. "The guy running the lab. Didn't we mention him?"

"No, not by name," she whispered and immediately started disconnecting cables. "I should have known. This is bad. Very, very bad."

"Sunny, what's wrong?" Zoey asked.

"I connected the head to the network. I didn't realize Night was involved."

"Why does it matter?" I asked.

"He's one of the most powerful—and probably the most evil—CEOs in the world." She quickly took off her lab coat and tossed it on a stool. "The company doesn't just operate theme parks and produce movies anymore. Night runs half the Internet and is making a bid to take over the power grid."

"The power grid?"

"All power is traded on the futures market. Anyone who controls it stands to make a fortune in transaction fees." Sunny picked up Walt's head. "They'll be here any second. We've got to get going."

"Who will? What are you talking about?" Zoey asked.

Something caught my eye out of one of the big windows along the far wall. "Maybe... them?" I pointed to a group of missiles flying straight toward us.

"Oh, this isn't good." Zoey seemed more irritated than panicked—but she was the only one.

**Chapter 12 – Autonomous, Ram-Jet Flying Robot Attack**

**"Q** uick! Follow me." With Walt's head in one hand and a fistful of wires and electrical components in the other, Sunny headed for the door. "We'll take my car."

"We can't outrun missiles," I shouted as we followed her, dashing down the stairs.

"They aren't missiles."

"Then what are they?" Zoey cried, looking behind us.

"They're autonomous ram-jet-powered flying robots, of course," Sunny said as we ran out into the parking lot.

"Of course." Zoey rolled her eyes. "Don't I feel stupid for not knowing the difference?"

High in the sky, the missile-like robot things closed in. Sunny had put a little distance between us, but the robots seemed to be gaining fast.

"The important thing is that they are much slower than missiles, but they can track you." Sunny clicked her remote, and the lights blinked on a cherry-red Corvette. With two stout wings and a pair of rotary engines, it was unlike any Corvette I'd ever seen.

"How much slower?" I asked.

"Don't know. They're still experimental. These are the first ones I've seen."

"You've even got your own parking spot?" Zoey asked.

"Wow, this isn't a car. You said a car." Tommy gaped at the Corvette.

"Yes, technically the word _car_ originates from the Latin _carrus_ , meaning four-wheeled—"

"Hey, no fair!" I yelled as Tommy jumped in the front seat. "You didn't call shotgun."

"Oh, now you'd rather sit in the front seat with Sunny." Zoey put her hand on her hips. "Is this the worst dimension ever or what?"

A blue blur rushed by, knocking Zoey aside and snatching the head from Sunny's arms. She tried not to let go but only managed to hold onto the metal box that was connected to the head. Cables and fiber optic wires ripped out of the box as it pulled away from Walt. They were pretty long, and without thinking, I lunged at them.

My feet were yanked off the ground as I flew up into the air. I knew what I had to do: Let go—and fast. The longer I waited, the higher I climbed, the farther I'd fall. Wait too long, and I'd end up a splat on the sidewalk.

I held my breath and let go.

I didn't fall.

Sunny and Zoey's cries quickly faded. I must have been a hundred feet off the ground. One of the fiber optic cables had caught on the string from my Tigers sweatshirt.

I was too high to cut myself loose. Carefully, so I didn't slip out of the sweatshirt, I tied a bunch of the fiber optic wires around my belt and then tried not to think about how big of a splat I'd make if I fell.

I kept my eyes off the ground. From here, the thing didn't look much like a missile, more like a tin-can robot. It had arms, but they were only two cylinders that bent at the shoulders and elbows and it had no hands. I figured once we landed—if we landed—I might have a shot at grabbing the head and making a run for it.

Behind me, the sound of metal being smashed up rang out. Sunny was pitching the Corvette back and forth, knocking the rest of the squadron out of the sky like bowling pins.

They pulled up, partway under me.

Zoey rolled down the window, stood, and reached up. "Zack, give me your hand."

"I can't!"

She grabbed my foot. "Let go of the wires."

"I'm stuck," I said.

Sunny yanked the controls; the 'vette shot up and scooped me into the car.

I fell into Zoey's lap. "You're supposed to be the one to sweep me off _my_ feet," she said.

"Sunny, keep close to it!" I stood up, cold wind smacking me in the face.

Zoey wrapped her arms around my legs. "Hey, where do you think you're going?"

With both hands I reached up for Walt's head, but he was out of reach. "A little higher," I hollered.

The flying car slammed onto the robot, knocking Walt out of its arms. The head flew, but it was still attached to the cables, which were tied around my waist, so I reeled it in like a fishing line and then fell back into Zoey's lap.

"Thanks for the lift." I took a deep breath.

"This is where you kiss me." Zoey smiled.

"Yeah, I don't think so."

"Seriously? I just saved your worthless life."

"How about kissing Walt? I doubt he'll complain."

Zoey was about to hit me when the flying robot dove at the car—smacking into it right as the window closed.

Sunny pushed a lever forward. The engine roared to life, and the car shot into the sky, but the robot kept right behind us.

"Can you outrun it?" I asked as I wiggled out of Zoey's lap into the next seat and put a seatbelt on.

"Unlikely."

"Why bother with a flying sports car if you can't outrun a robot?" I asked.

"Because it can do zero to sixty in one-point-five seconds." She pushed a lever forward, and we were thrown back into our seats so hard my eyes squished in the back of my head like Jell-O.

The robot smashed into the side of the craft and started pounding at the window.

Sunny drove above a large boulevard and started jerking the wheel, trying to shake him.

Tommy sat more in Sunny's seat than in his own. "It doesn't look that dangerous up close."

"Maybe they haven't added any armaments yet," I said. "You know, because they're still in the test phase."

Unfortunately, it appeared its robotic arms were functional: even without fingers, it was trying to pry the door open.

"There's only this one left." Tommy was chewing on his fingers. "Maybe we could take it out."

"But how?" Zoey asked.

"It's basically a computer with wings," I said. "How do you break a computer?"

"I spilled a Coke on mine," Tommy said.

"That won't help," I replied. "We need to find something we can use."

"I tried to shut it down, but it filled the whole house with smoke."

"Tommy, you just gave me an idea." Sunny hit a bunch of buttons, and the hover car started beeping, like when someone takes their seatbelt off too soon.

She pulled the steering wheel hard, and the car flipped upside-down.

Thud! Thud!

Tommy and Walt's heads both slammed into the roof. Zoey hung on to me. I put my arms around her, careful not to touch the shoulder Pinocchio had grabbed.

Driving upside-down, Sunny drove onto a golf course and smashed the roof against the turf. The car bounced up, and grass and dirt streaked the windows, but the robot still held on.

"Sunny!" Zoey screamed. "Do something! Fast. It's getting in."

The robot managed to pry the window from the doorframe. It must not have been glass, because it didn't break. But just a couple more inches, and the arm would be able to reach in.

"Small bump coming," Sunny said and made a sharp turn.

I saw the lake a second before we hit.

Sunny had plowed the car into the water, driving a good foot under the surface. Water began pouring in.

"That's what you call a small bump?" Zoey asked.

"It's no use," I cried. "He's still holding on, and we're all going to drown if you keep this up."

"Just a second more..." Sunny pulled the 'vette out of the water and quickly flipped it back over. Water sprayed into our faces so hard it stung.

The steering wheel danced around in Sunny's hands. The mechanical menace still struggled to get in the window. A trail of smoke billowed in its wake.

Sparks flew. It sputtered and then fell, exploding into a fireball when it hit the street.

"All we needed was a liquid," Sunny said.

I let go of Zoey and turned to look out the window so she wouldn't get any ideas.

"So, where to now?" Tommy asked, rubbing his head.

"The high school." Sunny steered the car back onto the road. "I have keycard access on account of my work with the Science in Schools program."

The high school didn't seem any different from ours—except for the holographic message board out front declaring it Flux Capacitor Appreciation Day.

"I can't believe they make a four-seat Corvette," I said as we got out of the flying car.

"California mandate," Sunny replied, "to encourage carpooling."

When we got to the school building, I said, "Hey, this is the entrance to the auditorium."

"Yep. If we are going to sneak you back into the park, we need costumes."

**Chapter 13 – Tinker Bell Tutu Tragedy**

**"B** ut that's stealing," Tommy cried. "We could get expelled from the entire district."

"No, once we restore the timeline, it will be like none of this ever happened." Sunny swiped her access card. "So it's not actually stealing."

"Sunny, I swear you should have been a lawyer. You have a gift for rationalizing crimes." I scanned the area to make sure no one saw us entering.

"I'll have you know I went back and paid for every one of those umbrellas," Sunny said.

The stage was a mess of set pieces and clothes. Everything was tossed around; half the costumes were on the floor under the clothes racks.

"What happened here?" I asked.

"All funding for the arts was cut once Bill Gates got his hands around the school's curriculum."

"Wow, this really is a messed-up dimension," I said.

"Zack, you and Tommy find some pirate costumes." Sunny dug through a pile of dresses. "Zoey and I will pass ourselves off as princesses."

"Zoey? A princess?" I asked, watching them rummage through the clothes.

"What does that mean?" Zoey dropped the dress she had picked up and glared at me. "You don't think I'm pretty enough to be a princess?"

"No, no. It's not that. It's just... ummm..." _Think quick, Zack, like your life depends on it_. "Your age—you're too young. That's it. Too young to pass for a princess."

"What about Alice?" Sunny handed her a blue and white dress.

"I've always wanted to be Alice." Taking the dress, Zoey ran back to the dressing area.

"Here's one for Sunny." Tommy held up what looked like a pirate wench costume. "We can be a couple."

"Not my style," Sunny said. "Besides, Princess Alestia is the only princess with purple hair." She took a flowing pink dress with long sleeves back to the dressing room with her. "You two keep digging around for pirate costumes."

"Cool. Look at this hat." Tommy had somehow already managed to get outfitted like a real swashbuckler.

The only thing I could find was a sword.

The girls came out in their dresses.

"Wow," Tommy and I both said.

"Zack, why aren't you dressed?" Even dressed like Alice, I could still tell Zoey meant business.

"I can't find anything that fits."

We all dug around for several minutes, trying to find something that fit me, before Sunny put her hands up and said, "Time to move to plan B."

"What's plan B?" I asked and bit my lip. "A giant mouse costume?"

"Nope." Sunny held up a small green leotard.

"What?" I put up my hands. "No way."

"It's perfect. We'll add this green tutu." Sunny tossed them to me. "And there's a pair of wings over here. All we need is a wig."

"Oh, there's lots of wigs in the changing area." Zoey started clapping. "Zack, you'll be _so_ cute as Tinker Bell!"

"No way. There's gotta be something else I can wear." I desperately dug around in the clothes.

"Zack, we've already searched everywhere." Sunny picked up a pair of wings.

"This is not happening."

"You won't be needing that sword, then." Tommy smiled.

"Not one word about this." I threw the sword (in the scabbard) at Tommy. "Not one word."

"Come on. Sunny and I will help you with the hair and stuff." Each girl grabbed an arm and started dragging me to the dressing room.

*

I think it was almost as traumatic as when my parents split. It was certainly more embarrassing. I stepped out of the dressing room. Tommy covered his mouth, doing his best not to laugh.

"Ignore him, Zack. You're _so_ pretty. I think I'm jealous," Zoey said.

"Just want I always hoped for," I said. "Pretty."

"You even let them put makeup on you!" Tommy was rolling around in a pile of clothes with his hands over his mouth to keep from laughing.

I put my backpack over my wings, trying to keep what little dignity I had left.

"Don't worry. Once this is over, it will be like it never happened," Sunny said.

"Unless I take a picture." Zoey pulled out her phone.

"Put that away." I tried to look really serious. "If you take a photo, I might change my policy about hitting girls."

"Oh, a girl fight," yelled Tommy.

Zoey just smirked.

**Chapter 14 – Autopia Madness**

**O** f course Tommy knew where all the employees parked. Dressed as Tinker Bell, I was so embarrassed, Zoey had to push me out of the car. Plus, I was really uncomfortable. But by the time we walked through the employee parking lot, I had started to get the hang of high heels. "I don't know why girls are always complaining about heels."

"Try saying that again in about four hours." Sunny was holding Walt's head in an oversized bag.

"Oh, no. Look." I pointed to the tram. It was the same driver that we'd tram-jacked earlier in the day. His arms and one leg were covered in bandages.

"Don't worry. He won't recognize us," Zoey said as we walked over. "We're in disguise."

"I can't believe he's still working after that fall," Tommy added.

"That's Night for you," Sunny said, hopping on the tram. "Treats everyone like robots."

Sure enough, the driver didn't notice us. He didn't even get out or bother looking back before taking off. I think he might have been having a bad day.

The tram dropped us off at an employee entrance. We were all pretty freaked out about sneaking back into the park.

"Everyone, act natural," Sunny said as we approached the security gate.

"Act natural? I'm wearing a tutu and heels!"

"Shh..." Zoey said. "Don't worry. You're pretty as a flower."

I was about to tell Zoey to shut her big mouth, when a security guard noticed us and shouted, "Hey, youse. I need to check your IDs."

"Don't look at him," Sunny whispered.

"It's your purple hair," Tommy said under his breath. "Disney princesses don't have purple hair."

"It's only highlighted."

"Besides, they do in this dimension," Zoey said. "I love it, by the way. It's so daring—how do you keep it straight?"

"It's _so_ much work."

"Can we cut the hair talk and focus on sneaking into the park?" I said.

"Sure, Zack. Just throw yours in a bun, and you're good to go," Zoey said. "Some of us have to work at it."

Ignoring the guard, we kept walking toward the entrance, but he waved at us. "Hey, I need to check your IDs."

"They checked them on the way in." Sunny smiled at him.

For a second I thought we were safe, but he answered, "I—I'm sorry, miss! I'm required to double-check!" And he started over toward us.

"Get ready to run," she whispered, then said, "I'm sorry; we're late for our performance. Gotta run."

"Run? In these heels?" I asked, with real panic in my voice.

Two more guards joined him, and they hurried toward us.

"Go," Sunny said.

I broke both the heels off my shoes, but we made it into the park, ending up right between Toontown and Tomorrowland. The crowd was thin, and we couldn't lose the guards running after us.

"We should split up," Sunny suggested.

"You and Zoey take Walt and head to the mountain," Tommy said. "I've got an idea. Tink, you're with me." Tommy grabbed me by the hand.

Zoey and Sunny headed left toward the Pizza Port.

"Look, Mommy," said some little girl. "Tinker Bell's boyfriend is a pirate."

I ripped my hand out of Tommy's. "Dude, hands to yourself."

"Just hurry up." He hopped over a short wrought-iron fence and ran right onto the Autopia track.

I followed him over, snagging my tutu on the fence. "Oh, no. I've torn my dress." My face burned with embarrassment.

But Tommy wasn't paying attention. He was too busy pushing an eight-year-old girl out of her car.

"Zack, lift it off the track." Tommy was opening the back and playing with the engine. The girl stood on the grass next to the car, staring at us with wide eyes. I hoped she wouldn't start crying.

I managed to lift the front of the car off the rail that kept it on the track.

"Okay," Tommy said. "Help me lift the back end."

Even with two of us, the back was much heavier, and we strained to get it over the rail.

Tommy gaped at the car. "I've always wanted to do this." He smiled, then said, "Hop in. I'm driving."

I jumped in as two security guards leapt over the railing; it looked as though they were calling for backup.

"I never get to drive," I said as we pulled away.

"Driving is for boys. Remember, Tink?"

A fence ran around the Autopia track, so Tommy had to drive down the ride's exit to get out. The guards ran after us, but Tommy had messed with that speed-limiting governor thing, and the car flew.

"Stop those two," one of the security guards yelled to a teenaged guy who was working the ride. Since we were the only car driving off of the track, we were easy to spot.

I felt bad, but the guy was reaching out to grab us, so I pretty much had no choice but to slug him with my backpack as we went by. I don't think I hurt him _too_ bad.

Tommy drove out the exit and headed toward the middle of the park.

"The Matterhorn is the other way." I pointed behind us.

"We're the diversion, so the girls can get to the lab," Tommy said. "They've got Mr. Disney."

"Then how are we ever going to get back?" As I spoke, several more security guards joined in the chase.

"If we can't circle back, then we'll ride the zip line across the park," Tommy said, as if it was no big deal.

**Chapter 15 – Auto Versus Churro**

**"Z** ip line? What zip line?" There wasn't a ride with a zip line.

"In Sleeping Beauty's Castle." Guests were jumping and diving out of our way as Tommy raced around the park—a few hollered nasty things at us.

"What are you talking about?"

"There's a zip line that runs from Sleeping Beauty's Castle all the way to the Matterhorn." He acted as if it was common knowledge. "It will take us right inside the mountain."

"That doesn't sound exactly safe."

"It's safe; there's even a harness. They use it to fly Tinker Bell over the park during the fireworks."

"I guess I'm dressed right, then."

"We're almost to the castle. Have we lost 'em?" Tommy turned around to check—just as a churro cart rolled in front of us.

"Watch out!" I screamed.

Tommy tried to steer around the churro cart, but we were going _way_ too fast. The car plowed into the cart. Five-dollar churros exploded like fireworks.

Tommy and I flew into the air, along with the car. It smacked into a bronze statue that sat in the middle of a square.

Fortunately, we landed in a flower bed. "I guess these wings don't really work," I said, feeling a little woozy.

"Oh, no. Oh, no." Tommy was seriously panicked.

"What, did you hit your head?" I grabbed him by the arm and shook. "Are you hurt?"

"No, it's the statue. I think I just broke the statue of Walt Disney standing with The Mouse."

I examined the statue. "No, it's okay. They're still there. See?" I pointed to the statue of Walt holding the hand of his beloved mouse.

"Then what did we hit?" Tommy turned to our left. "We knocked something down."

Laying in the flower bed a few feet from us was a big, dented, bronze statue.

Tommy recognized it before I did. "Oh, thank goodness. It's just a statue of Mr. Night." Tommy started breathing again.

"What kind of huge ego does it take to put a statue of yourself up alongside Walt Disney?" I asked.

"I bet he'll be furious when he sees we knocked it down."

Coming out of the crowd, flanked by two security guards, was Mr. Night. "I think he already has."

"That's them," he bellowed. "Quick! Stop those kids."

"Run!" I screamed and followed Tommy toward Frontierland.

We ran through the crowd as Mr. Night shrieked, "Call out the Animatrons!"

"Oh, great. The animatrons. Just what we need."

"Hurry, follow me, Tink."

We started into Frontierland. Tommy had us make a quick left into an alley.

"Where are we? Is this place even open to guests?"

"It's a shortcut from Adventureland to Frontierland," he said, between breaths. "It's open to the public, but it's kind of a secret."

I had to admit his obscure Disney knowledge was coming in handy. "Do you think the security guards know about it?"

"Yeah, but they won't think we do. If we keep to back ways, we might be okay." Tommy went left into Adventureland. "Didn't one of those security guards look familiar?"

It was really packed in this part of the park. The crowds and the exotic music made it feel like a real Persian bazaar.

"Where we headed?" I asked as the sun began setting behind some fake trees that blocked the view of a parking garage.

"The Adventureland Train Station," he said. "We can take it to It's a Small World, and from there, it's a straight shot to either the Matterhorn or the castle."

" _If_ we make it. I bet by now, they've downloaded our photos off the surveillance cameras. It won't be long before every robot in the park is looking for us."

"Then we'll have to avoid the characters, too." Tommy ducked under a rope that blocked off a pair of stairs.

"What's this?" I asked, following him.

"It used to be the entrance for the Disney Gallery, but they turned it into an exclusive hotel room."

"It's a hotel room inside the park?"

"Yep, but just one room and only for super rich corporate clients. Regular people can't book it."

"That stinks," I said. "How are we going to get in?"

"We aren't. We're just using the stairs to avoid the Pirates of the Caribbean."

Below us, two swashbuckling robots were standing at the entrance to the pirates ride. They were swinging their swords playfully while singing a sea chantey, something about the ride being down.

"Looks like Pirates is closed. Maybe that means Zoey and Sunny still have Walt's head."

"Hope so. But if Mr. Night heads back to the Matterhorn, he'll probably beat us there." Tommy started down the far side of the staircase.

It only took us a minute or two to reach the Adventureland Train Station.

"Hear the telegraphy machine?" Tommy pointed to the station's ticket booth. "It's tapping out Walt's opening day speech in Morse Code."

I wasn't paying attention to him. It was a good thing, too, or I might have missed them. "Tommy, stop. The Seven Dwarfs are in front of the station."

"Bet they're looking for us. We'll have to go another way."

"We can't go back," I said. "The security guards are probably right behind us."

We started running toward Critter Country.

"Look. The Haunted Mansion—it's open," I said.

Tommy moaned. "Only one ride in the entire park that's open, and it has to be the scariest."

"Maybe they're getting the rides back up one at a time?"

"Or maybe they've captured Zoey and Sunny."

A way ahead of us, by Splash Mountain, in the middle of the path stood robotic Br'er Rabbit and Br'er Fox. They were shaking hands with guests and posing for pictures, but they never looked down; their heads just turned back and forth, scanning people as they walked past.

"We've gotta head back." I grabbed Tommy's arm.

"Can't go back, either." Tommy was looking behind us.

I turned. Standing not more than thirty feet away were the two security guards.

One of them was larger than the other. I thought, _Man, he's big. Huge broad shoulders, bulging biceps, and that mustache—wait, no. It couldn't be_...

It is.

The head of security was none other than: "Susie Jo Sikes!"

"It can't be," Tommy said.

Sure, she had grown—in at least three dimensions—but her face still looked the same, except thicker, meaner, and maybe a bit more facial hair.

"Quick! They haven't seen us." Tommy ran toward the haunted mansion.

"It's the only ride running; the line's packed," I said.

"I know a back way in." Tommy went past a gate marked _Cast Members Only_ and up along the far side of the haunted mansion building.

"I thought you were afraid of this ride."

"Afraid, maybe—but I'm petrified of a three-hundred-pound Susie Jo."

"Yeah, I get that."

We quickly walked around the side of the mansion following a cement walkway.

Along the walkway were pedestals with old, worn statues of animals: a dog, a cat, even a frog. "What are those?" I asked.

"That's the original Pet Cemetery. It's closed to guests," Tommy said, then opened a door along the side of the mansion.

We were in the foyer of The Haunted Mansion, with its airy organ music and flickering lights. I'd ridden this ride a lot, but I'd never noticed that there was a side door until Tommy pushed me through it.

Tommy and I elbowed our way across the hall and into the famous stretching room.

"Over here." Tommy waved to me across the room. "See? There's the hidden panel that opens to the main ride."

"Kindly drag your bodies to the dead center of the room," said one of the cast members in a ridiculously low (and fake) voice before closing the door behind us.

We were packed in the room, and something tugged at my tutu. I looked down. "Miss Tinkwer Bell, may I have your autograph?" Two big brown eyes stared up at me through the dim light, and despite the urge to tell the little girl to get lost, I signed her stupid autograph book and smiled as I handed it back.

"Thank wou."

If you've never been to the park, well, your parents must not really love you. But also, you need to know that the ride is divided into two sections. First, there's a walk-through part, where you get packed into a tiny room that seems to stretch and get taller before your eyes. But it's really just paintings on rollers that unroll as you ride an elevator down to the main section. Once the hidden doors on the elevator open, you walk through a little section, with scary portraits hanging on one wall and a coffin along the other that leads to the real ride.

"Get ready to run when the doors open," Tommy whispered. "We have to be the first ones on for my plan to work."

"And just what is your plan?"

Before he could tell me, hidden speakers boomed, "Welcome, foolish mortals..." The lights went down, and I felt five tiny fingers wrap around my pinky. The ride went through its stretchy picture thing, which is really only scary because you know any second the lights are going to go out and you'll be in the dark, stuffed into a small room with a hundred complete strangers pressed up against you. A moment later, the doors in front of us opened up.

Tommy ran and I tried to follow, but someone still had my little finger. "Tinker Bell has to go now, sweetheart," I said as I pried the little girl from my pinky.

As I ran after Tommy, a high-pitched voice squealed, "Mommy, Tinkwer Bell is a boy!" I hope I didn't scar her for life.

"No running, please," said a guy dressed like an undertaker, standing at the front of the line, looking sort of familiar, but he was definitely bored with his job.

There was no one else in line, but the geek running the ride still made us wait for the other guests to catch up. I kept glancing at Tommy. Even though he knew everything about the ride, he'd never been on it and was looking around with wild amazement and a bit of fear.

"Okay, guys, take the first doombuggy." The guy pointed to the moving ride vehicle next to us.

"Good. There's no one in front of us," Tommy whispered, his voice shaky.

"It's okay. It's really not that scary," I assured him.

"Who said I'm scared, Tink?"

He was lucky I knew he was covering up for being frightened out of his wits. Besides, I didn't want to risk messing up my wig—which, thanks to Sunny and Zoey's expert use of bobby pins, was still stuck in place.

We entered the séance room: a big, dark, circular area where all the doombuggies turn and face a table with a floating witch's head. I got to admit, it was a little freaky, because all the doombuggies ahead of us sat empty, like coffins with invisible, ghostly riders.

Tommy's eyes were shut tightly. "Tell me when we are out of here."

"Okay, open 'em," I said when we were almost but not quite out. Somehow, he knew we hadn't left, and he didn't open them for another few seconds, after we got to the ballroom scene.

Tommy got all excited and went on and on about the ballroom. "The ghosts aren't holograms, like most people think. The imagineers use an old stage trick called Pepper's ghost. There are actually mannequins under the ride, and a huge mirror that projects them onto the glass in front of us, so they look like dancing ghosts."

I nodded, pretending that I was interested and wondered how riding in the haunted mansion would get us back to the Matterhorn—and if Zoey and Sunny were safe.

"See how the women are leading their dancing? They didn't take the mirror image into account when they created the room, and so the dancing ghosts are reversed.

"Oh, and that spiderweb over there? Some kid tried to shoot one of the ghosts with a slingshot, and the glass can't be replaced, and it's so big they had to lower it in by helicopter when the building was being built. And can you believe that?"

"What I can't believe is that you've never ridden this ride before."

"I've watched the ride-through on YouTube plenty." At least he didn't seem as scared now.

Finally, when we were out of the ballroom, he said, "We're entering the cemetery. The doombuggies will turn completely around and face the other way, and we'll be able to jump out without the other riders seeing us." As the doombuggy turned, he added, "Don't push up the restraining bar, or the ride will stop. And be sure to jump to the right, not the left, or the cameras will see you."

"But you've never even ridden this ride!" I yelled as he pushed me out of our doombuggy.

We hid behind a fake tree until the buggies started coming by with no one in them. Which Tommy said meant they were between groups of passengers from the elevators.

"Quick," Tommy yelled, and we ran through the graveyard scene—filled with singing ghosts and spirits—behind a large tombstone, then down a hallway.

"Where are we?"

"Still in the mansion, but this is a service corridor." Tommy looked around, as if trying to figure out which way to go. "If I'm right, there's an exit around here."

We ran down the dimly lit corridor and up a set of metal stairs, which led to a steel ladder that was bolted to the side of the wall.

"Up there." Tommy peered up, toward the top of the ladder and a metal door in the ceiling.

"What, the roof? We're going on the roof?"

"We've got to avoid the robots."

Reluctantly, I climbed the ladder. The roof was really dirty and pretty hot. I followed Tommy to the edge. We had a perfect view of Splash Mountain.

"When the train goes by, jump," Tommy said.

The train tracks ran along a gravel channel, far below us. "What, are you crazy?"

"I don't see another way to get to the castle or the Matterhorn, do you?"

I didn't really know where we were, yet alone which direction we needed to go. So instead, I tried to decide which of the dozen reasons why jumping onto a moving train was a horrible idea I was going to use. Suddenly, the train whizzed by directly under us. I tied the straps of my backpack around my waist. "Fine. You jump first."

I waited, then glanced over at Tommy; his face was vacant, his eyes wide.

"Oh, brother." I grabbed him and jumped, pulling him with me off the edge of the building.

We hit the roof with a _thud_ —but we made it.

"Stay perfectly still," Tommy whispered as the wind blew his pirate hat off. "There's people riding the train right below us."

We went through a wooded area. I could see the Big Thunder Mountain rollercoaster through the trees. No one was on it, but it was going. It appeared as if some of the rides were up and running now.

A moment later, we went into a tunnel. There was only a couple feet of clearance, so we had to keep our heads down, or they'd get knocked off. The smell of soot was pretty overpowering. Along one side was a scene of dinosaurs fighting, like a giant, life-sized diorama. The dinos didn't exactly look real, but I'd never seen them before, so it was still cool.

Tommy whispered, "Once we're out of here, we'll jump off the train at It's a Small World."

"I thought we were going to the castle," I cried, starting to wonder if Tommy wasn't just taking the scenic route.

"Shhh! I already told you, A Small World is the closest the train gets to the castle or the Matterhorn. We should be able to make it to one of them from there."

"Have I mentioned that this is a terrible plan?" I mumbled.

The train went over a bridge, past Toontown and then right through It's a Small World. When we were behind the clock tower, we jumped. We hit the ground pretty hard; it was a miracle neither of us broke any bones.

"Wait until the clock stops chiming, then we'll go through that door," Tommy said. The clock was signaling six p.m.

I peeked around the tower. "Dang, the ride is going." Everyone standing in line was staring up at the clock, watching the procession of characters that came out to announce the top of the hour.

Once the clock stopped, we went through a maintenance door that led right into the ride.

"We should be on the second level." Tommy looked around. "We've got to get down and find an exit into the park."

We walked behind the scenery, which I was surprised to find out was mostly made of just cheap-looking plywood. Large motors, covered with dirt and grease, made some of the scenery move, but a lot of the rooms had been updated with computers and advanced-looking servos. Every once in a while, we poked our heads out, looking for an exit.

Everywhere, speakers blared with the high-pitched singing of the Small World theme song. It was quickly getting on my nerves.

"There's one," Tommy said when we were in a huge room with, like, a hundred of the little dancing and singing dolls. He was right; there was an emergency exit along the far wall.

"How are we going to get across the room?" I asked, looking at the waterway in the middle of the room that the ride boats floated down, hoping Tommy would know of a secret passageway or something.

"We'll have to swim."

"Swim? Why can't we jump across one of the boats? Some of them have empty rows."

"Sure, if you want to do it the easy way."

We waited until a half-full boat floated by, and we made a run for it. We had to jump on a platform with some dancing dolls, then leap in the boat. The people sitting there were staring at us with shocked expressions. I ran across the boat, smiling at the riders until I felt something snap at my rear.

It was one of the dolls. "I think I snagged a passenger."

I laughed, imagining how ridiculous I must have looked.

Tommy had already jumped across and stood, looking horrified. "Zack, I—I think it's attacking you."

**Chapter 16 – Attack of the Killer Dolls**

**T** ommy was right, as I quickly discovered: the doll wasn't just along for the ride. "Ouch!" I screamed. "It bit me." I pulled it off and jumped onto the platform.

As the boat floated away, I realized just how much trouble we were in.

Dozens of Norwegian dancing dolls closed in on us, small but fast.

"They must have downloaded our pictures," Tommy said, stating the obvious.

"There's the exit!" I pointed across the room and said, "Run."

The dolls jumped up, their sharp teeth snapping as they flew at me.

Tommy took out his sword—the one that was supposed to be mine—and started swatting the mini-monsters away as we ran.

As I pulled off one, two more latched onto me. Most grabbed onto my tutu or what was left of my wings, but a few managed to bite into my arms or the back of my legs. I ignored the sharp stabs of pain and concentrated on the door. By the time we dashed through the exit and into the park outside, I was covered in evil monster dolls.

"Tommy, a little help," I cried.

Outside the ride, a crowd started to gather around us. Tommy used his sword to knock the dolls off me while I stomped their little plastic skulls in.

"Whose bright idea was it to give the It's a Small World dolls razor-sharp teeth?" I asked as I pulled the last doll off my rear. "My tutu is in shreds." Some of the crowd laughed.

"Don't worry." Tommy stared at the crowd around us. "I'll buy you a new tutu for your birthday." More laughter.

"Thanks for watching," I said nervously. "Be sure to check us out at the Golden Horseshoe Saloon to see our full show, Zombie Dolls from Neverland, daily at two and four p.m."

We spotted an opening and ran through the crowd.

"Let's head back to the Matterhorn," Tommy said. "If we hurry, we should outrun Susie Jo."

"Yeah, I don't think distance running is her thing."

We ran down a large path toward the Matterhorn.

Tommy stopped in front of the teacup ride. "Guards, everywhere," he said.

All along the base of the Matterhorn, security guards stood, spaced every twenty feet or so. They kept waving their hands at visitors, as if they were directing traffic, but their real job had to be to keep us away from the secret laboratory.

"We can't get past them," I said.

"If we go around the far side of the teacups, we should be able to make it to the castle."

"Oh yeah, the zip line. How could I forget _Plan B_?"

We turned and headed the other way, right as a golf cart ran into us.

"Hah! I've got you now." Susie Jo Sikes jumped from the driver's seat, just like she used to jump from her desk when they were serving jumbo chili cheese dogs in the cafeteria.

Tommy turned and started running back the way we came, but I grabbed him by the collar and spun him around. I had a better idea—or, at least, I thought I did.

**Chapter 17 – The Terrible Teacup Tussle**

**I** picked up Tommy, tossed him over the short fence around the teacup ride, then jumped over after him.

As we made our way across the ride, Susie Jo tried and failed to clear the two-and-a-half-foot fence.

I was sure we were out of her thick fingers, when the ride suddenly started. Within a few seconds, we were spinning around like—well, like teacups. Except we weren't actually _in_ a teacup.

"Hold on." I grabbed Tommy's hand right as he started to slide away. With my other hand, I held onto one of the teacups.

"Hey, you're keeping me from spinning!" shouted a girl of maybe nine or ten, with freckles on her cheeks.

As we spun around, Susie Jo finally dove over the fence and was getting up.

"Zack, I'm going to be sick." Tommy turned a familiar shade of green.

"Hold it. We have to make it to the exit," I said. "Grab that teacup there."

Right before Tommy grabbed it, something smacked my hand. "Ouch!"

The freckled girl hit me again with one of those giant lollypops they sell all over the park. Automatically, my fingers let go.

Tommy and I went crashing into another cup, one that was spinning. We bounced off it and hit something else. Round and almost as big as a teacup, it was Susie Jo—she wasn't as squishy as I'd thought.

"When I get a hold of you," she cried as we flew off in another direction, "I'm going to wring your little necks!"

We kept bouncing off things until I finally caught hold of a railing.

I wanted to climb over, but the whole world was spinning, and I couldn't figure out which way to go. Tommy sat on the ground next to me, his eyes still rolling in his head. I held his hand to keep from falling over. Amazingly, my backpack hadn't fallen off.

I was about to give the fence another shot when, like a giant bowling ball, Susie Jo rocketed towards us.

She plowed into us, and we all bounced over the railing.

I tried to get away, but one of Susie's legs had pinned me like a steel girder from a collapsed skyscraper.

"You're mine now," Susie Jo said.

**Chapter 18 –** Nauseating Nuptials

**T** ommy's head rolled around as he mumbled something incoherently.

"Little troublemakers." Susie Jo marched us through the park, holding us by our shirts. Tommy's feet barely touched the ground.

"What now?" Tommy panted, still looking as green as an alien from the Dog Star.

"Well, I have an idea," I said, "but you're not going to like it."

"I don't think we have much choice. If you've got an idea, go for it."

"Shut up, you two," Susie Jo ordered. "I'm sick of you cute kids, always thinking you can get away with whatever you want."

Tommy turned his head to look at her, and I punched him as hard as I could in the stomach.

Okay, I know you're thinking I'm a total jerk for sucker punching Tommy like that. You've got to believe me, I didn't want to. I mean, Tommy and I aren't exactly close, but I've never even been in a fight before—unless you count aliens, or the principal, or maybe Zoey—but with her I just get beat up. My point is, Tommy isn't a bad kid, and I wouldn't have punched him unless I _really_ thought I had to.

As expected, Tommy somehow had more puke, which he deposited all over the front of Susie Jo's freshly pressed uniform.

"Oh, gross. You two are in for it now." Susie Jo was completely horrified, but she just kept right on walking.

"She didn't let go," I said, amazed.

"You punched me in the gut for nothing, Zack." Tommy looked as if I had just sat on his puppy.

"Sorry, Tommy," I said, feeling genuinely guilty (something that doesn't happen often).

Fortunately, the guilt only lasted a second, because something in Susie's vomit-splattered face caught my attention. It was the same look Sunny had when she first saw us. Except Sunny was more than a tad smarter than Susie Jo. I watched Susie for a few seconds, hoping she'd figure it out.

No such luck. I'd have to help. "Susie Jo Sikes," I said. "You never did stop bullying little kids, huh?"

"What'd you say?" She lifted me off my feet (which, it turns out, is pretty uncomfortable when you're in a leotard). "How do you know my name?" She turned Tommy around, looking deep into his eyes. "And you, you look so familiar."

"I should. You've taken my lunch money every day for the past three years."

"Not to mention the swirlies," I added. "I hated the swirlies." Susie's hands began to shake.

"And don't forget the wedgies, Zack? No one gives a wedgie like Susie Jo Sikes," Tommy added. "I don't know how many good pairs of underwear—"

"It's Susie Jo Traddles, now, and if you don't shut—"

I think the horrible realization hit all of us at the same time.

Susie, finally realizing who Tommy was, screamed and dropped us on our butts. At the same moment, Tommy started screaming. He must have realized why Susie Jo had the same last name as him:

She was Mrs. Tommy Traddles—Tommy's future wife.

**Chapter 19 – Tinker Bell Takes Flight**

**T** hey both screamed as I stood up. They screamed as I lifted Tommy off the ground. They screamed as I dragged him away.

They screamed as we rounded the corner and got out of sight.

After that, I couldn't hear Susie, but Tommy continued to scream. My first impulse was to slap him, like you see in the movies. But hitting Tommy once was all the violence I could stomach in one day.

By the time I'd dragged him to the castle, his voice was gone, but his face made it clear he was still screaming on the inside.

"Tommy, Tommy, snap out of it." I shook him. "Look, if you don't get us into the castle, then this reality will become the real one, and you'll really be married to Susie Jo. So snap out of it! If we can get back, you'll be one person again—one person who _isn't_ married to Susie Jo."

He nodded, but he was still freaked out, and really, I couldn't blame him. I can think of few things more disturbing than discovering you're married to Susie Jo.

Tommy walked toward a door on the right side of the castle with all the enthusiasm of the undead.

"How do we get in?" I asked. "It's locked."

Tommy held up an ID card that was speckled with puke.

"Is it Susie Jo's? How'd you manage that?"

He didn't reply.

I took the card, careful to avoid the bits of barf. But there wasn't anywhere to put it. "There's no slot."

Tommy grabbed the card from my hand and waved it in front of the lock. There was a clicking sound and the door popped open.

"How'd you figure that out?"

Tommy shrugged as if to say, _lucky guess_.

Inside, it was still done up like a castle, with stone bricks along the walls (though I think they were fake) and iron handrails.

"Hurry up! We don't want her to catch up." I pulled Tommy up a staircase.

But the passageway didn't keep going up. It went straight, and then out a door which led to some sort of back lot right next to the castle.

On one side were the backs of the buildings, just off-white bricks. The other was trees with the Big Thunder Railroad a way off behind them—which kind of irritated me, because it seemed like we'd just done a circle around that ride. It smelled faintly like churros and corn dogs.

"Which way?" I whispered to Tommy.

He pointed to the right, and we started walking.

A couple of maintenance guys went by, but we were wearing our costumes, at least sort of. Tommy had lost his hat and had bits of sick on his shirt. Mine was mostly in shreds by now—but they didn't give us a second look, so we kept walking, keeping our eyes on the ground.

Tommy stopped.

"Where to now?" I asked.

His hand pointed right in front of us and then started going up, pointing higher and higher until it was almost straight up in the air.

He pointed to a large tower right in front of us. Painted green with fake branches on the top half, it looked as if half a Christmas tree was stuck on top of it. Clearly visible were two pairs of steel cables going from the highest point, running hundreds of feet across the park. When I saw the cables I gulped—they were _way_ the heck up there.

A small building stood at the base of the tower. Susie Jo's security card opened that door, too. Inside were two harnesses and a Tinker Bell mask. I almost put the mask over Tommy's head so I didn't have to see his pathetic face.

"We're going to have to climb." I put a hand on his shoulder. "Tommy, I need you to snap out of it."

After a second or two he said, "Yeah, yeah... I'm okay." I almost had him climb first so I could keep an eye on him. But I figured if he fell, it wouldn't do either of us any good if I was under him.

"You okay?" I asked once we were about twenty feet off the ground.

"Yep, just get going. I'm just a little afraid of heights."

We kept climbing and climbing. The higher we got, the more we could hear the sounds of the Magic Kingdom, rides, music, people laughing. By the time we got to the platform on the top, my arms were getting sore.

"I'm thinking I might be a little afraid of heights too," I said, looking down. The park laid out before us almost like a miniature model.

"How do we hook these things up?" I handed the second harness to Tommy.

"I dunno." He still seemed a little stunned.

It wasn't too hard to figure out the harnesses. They were pretty uncomfortable though, with straps that went under the legs and over the chest. I had to help Tommy with his.

A black metal box had the wires running through it. It had a loop on the bottom (to secure the harness) and a pair of huge fairy wings welded to the top. It looked like a pair of pulleys secured the metal box on two of the steel cables.

The harnesses connected in back, and we had a little trouble getting both of them hooked up to the loop on the box. We were side by side, standing on the edge of the platform, looking over the park. The steel cable drooped down and disappeared in the southern California smog.

"How do we get it started?" Tommy asked.

"Tommy, I'm not so sure this zip line is such a good idea. Maybe we should—"

"How about this red button?" He pressed the button, and the next thing I knew, we were hurtling through the sky.

I'm not sure which of us screamed first or loudest, but the noise made guests look up.

This was the second time I'd been flying that day, and the wind rushed by with such force it quickly began to chap my entire face. After a few seconds, we both stopped screaming.

The wind pulled at my wig, but the bobby pins didn't let go. I was about to pull it off when from far below came, "Tommy, baby, I'm coming for you, my love." Down below us, Susie Jo was yelling, running after us and reaching up as if she could grab Tommy.

Tommy started screaming again.

**Chapter 20 – Miraculous Matterhorn Mashup**

**I** 'm not sure why, but we just kind of assumed there'd be a landing area at the Matterhorn. Or you know, some way to safely stop without smashing into the side of the mountain. Actually, there was a big removable, fiberglass section of the mountain, except it hadn't been removed. I tried to turn sideways as we smashed into the fiberglass panel.

"Ouch!" Tommy yelled.

Crashing into it had dislodged the fiberglass section of the mountain, and somehow we were able to pry it off. It wasn't light, and it fell down the side of the mountain, smashing to pieces as it went.

We disconnected ourselves from the rig. The fairy wings had lit up, and I wondered what we must have looked like, screaming across the sky like that.

Tommy sat on his rear, slumped over by the wall.

"Now, exactly how do we get to your secret, evil laboratory?" I asked.

He just sat there.

"You okay, Tommy?"

"Yeah, fine." Looking as if it took a lot of effort, Tommy stood up. "I've got an idea."

I was really getting sick of Tommy's ideas, but I kept quiet and listened.

"Remember the basketball hoop in the laboratory?" I nodded, and he went on. "There was a window next to it, and just before we crashed, think I saw it, maybe ten feet down."

"You mean there's a window in the side of the Matterhorn?"

"I'm sure it can't be seen from the ground. It's shaped like a natural opening, a cave or something."

"But how would we get to it?"

"Do you have a rope in that backpack of yours?" Tommy asked.

"No, sorry. Left my mountain climbing gear at home."

"We could tie our shoelaces together. That should give us about ten feet."

"Shoelaces? That's the dumbest idea you've had all day."

Tommy had already started taking off his laces. "Hey, none of my ideas have gotten us killed."

"Yet." I took mine off too.

*

I stood on the ledge, tying the free end of the laces to one of the zip line wires. I couldn't stop myself from thinking about that fiberglass panel tumbling down the mountain. "So, why am I going first?"

"I'm afraid of heights, remember?"

"Seems like I remember you jumping out of a spaceship flying at about a thousand miles an hour."

He ignored me. "Besides, you're heavier. If the shoelaces hold you, then we know they'll hold me too."

"Nice. Logic." I started down the side, making sure not to look down. Slowly, I lowered myself. It wasn't very far, but I couldn't fight the feeling that our shoelace rope probably wouldn't hold me. Plus, the lace-rope wasn't long enough to fit around my waist, so I had secured it around my wrist. It stretched and whined every time I moved—it didn't give me warm fuzzies.

I made it to the opening, but couldn't see in. The glass was tinted, mounted about three feet into the side of the mountain. The window didn't look as if it opened.

Standing on the ledge, I untied myself, and Tommy pulled up the lace.

He headed down, but he quickly lost his footing and began sliding. "Zack, help!"

The shoelace broke with a snap.

I didn't know what to do. My first instinct was to move out of the way. Somehow, I found the courage to slide to the edge of the ledge and reach out my arms.

As Tommy flew by, I grabbed his arm and held on with both hands.

Unfortunately, we were both sweating, and his arm slipped right through my hands. His fingers went by, and I desperately tried to hold them, but they too slipped through my grasp.

I closed my eyes, unable to watch as Tommy continued to fall down the side of the Matterhorn.

**Chapter 21 – Blood, Sweat, and Shoelaces**

**A** sharp sting in my right hand made me open my eyes. _The shoelace!_ The unbroken part of the lace ripped through my palms, leaving one heck of an Indian burn.

Despite the pain, I clamped down on the lace and wrapped my other hand around the last little frayed end before it disappeared.

I screamed when Tommy jerked to a stop. It felt like the skin was being ripped off my palms. I didn't let go. My hands and wrists hung over the edge of the ledge, pinned in place by his weight.

"Tommy, you okay?" I hollered at the top of my lungs.

"I think so." His reply came softly.

The searing pain sent tears streaming from my eyes. "I can't pull you up!"

"I think I can climb. Don't let go!"

"I'll try." I only had a few inches of shoelace in my left hand. "Hurry up."

As Tommy jerked around, I ignored the stabs of pain—which was probably why I didn't notice that the lace was slipping. By the time I realized it, the frayed end was all the free lace left in my hand. "Tommy, hurry. I can't hold it much longer!"

"Don't let go. I'm almost there." His voice was right below me. I swore to myself and told my hands they would absolutely _not_ _let go_.

The pain in my hands crept up my arms, like a burning fuse. The last bit of lace disappeared into my clenched fist. It was slowly sliding out of my grip—I wouldn't be able to hold him with just one hand.

The shoelace sliced deeper into the flesh of my palms. The pain was so intense, my fingers were about to open despite my best effort. A hand reached up. It latched onto my fist, and a second later, the other one appeared.

"You're going to have to climb over me," I said. "I can't move, or I'll drop the shoelace."

Tommy climbed right over the top of me and onto our little ledge.

I glanced down. Now that there was no weight, my hands still held tightly, blood dripping down the laces. It took effort to open them, and as soon as I did, they burned more than ever. I forced my hands back into fists, and the pain subsided some.

Tommy looked at them. "Ouch, that sucks. Thanks."

"I figured you're _probably_ worth it." I really wanted to get off that ledge. "Let's kick this window in. On the count of three..."

We both kicked at the same time. It wasn't glass. It was plastic or plexiglass, and it popped off in one piece, falling into the room below.

I was so ready to get off the ledge that I jumped in without even checking if it was the right room.

"Zack!" Zoey cried.

I started to smile as I picked myself up, until I saw what was going on. Sunny and Zoey stood side by side, both with panic painted across their faces. But at least they still had Walt's head.

On the other side of the room, Mr. Night had evil Tommy in a headlock and was holding a spinning drill inches from his forehead.

But the worst part had to be the dozen or so robots that surrounded us. Unlike all the other ones we'd seen, these were skinless: metal frames, with wires flowing through them like blood vessels.

"Hey, Zoey." I was about to wave, but remembered my hands and stopped so Zoey wouldn't make a big deal about them.

"What are you doing?" Zoey glanced up at the window we'd just crashed through.

"Saving you."

"We don't need saving, Zack. We have things under control."

"Oh really? Because it looks like Night called out the animatrons again," I said, right before they attacked.

I dodged one, but another reached out and grasped my arm with a metal hand. I couldn't pry it off, so I pinned its foot to the ground with mine and leaned away. I kept leaning back until the robot started falling, and then let me go.

Once it was on the ground, I jumped up and down on it until the thing started smoking.

Across the room, Sunny held a robot while Zoey kicked it over and over, even though she had another one in a headlock.

I was about to go help her when something grabbed me from behind. Two steel hands closed around my neck. Another robot picked Tommy up and held him over its head. I struggled to breathe and realized we were in serious trouble.

Ripping my backpack off, I turned and smashed the robot that held me in its face—or what should have been its face. Its head wobbled around, and it let go of my neck.

I gulped down several huge breaths and was about to go help Tommy when Zoey leapt through the air, wrapping her legs around the alien holding Tommy aloft.

With her bare hands, she twisted its head off, sending a shower of sparks spurting out like a mini-volcano.

I turned to get another one, but all that was left were piles of partly disassembled robots scattered about. Zoey said, "Well, that was fun," and she wiped a single bead of sweat off her forehead.

"Wow," I said, trying to figure out how she'd taken them out so quickly. "Save some for the rest of us next time, huh?"

"Looks like I'm the only one doing the saving around here." Zoey smiled.

"No one is saving _anyone_... Wait a second..." Mr. Night seemed to survey me. "I thought you were a boy? You look like a homeless Tinker Bell."

I ripped the wig off my head.

" _Enough_! Let Tommy go," Sunny roared. "Even if you kill him, when I send the kids back to their own time, it will rewrite this timeline, too."

"Are you sure?" Mr. Night revved up the drill, which he still held next to Tommy's head. "If these two are, as you say, connected... then if I kill this Tommy, that one will die, too."

Sunny didn't look as if she was sure, and the look on evil Tommy's face made it clear he wasn't in favor of testing the hypothesis.

Sunny slowly started lifting Walt.

"Over there," Night ordered. "Connect it to the base."

Sunny set Disney on a stainless steel table that was filled with computer stuff and testing equipment. She connected a few wires to him.

"And the auxiliary leads, too. I'm warning you. Don't try anything funny."

Reluctantly, Sunny connected a couple more cables and stood back.

"Oh, yeah. You've really got things under control," I said, putting my backpack back on.

Zoey stared at my hands. Drips of blood dropped. "Zack, what happened to your hands?"

"Quiet!" Without letting go of evil Tommy or the drill, Mr. Night managed to press some buttons on a big control panel on the wall. "Now, it's just a matter of moments before the interface is active. And its first command is to overload the power to the ERB machine."

A thud shook the room. Everyone looked around. A second later, the Abominable Snowman came breaking through the door.

**Chapter 22 – Susie and Tommy Sitting in a Tree... V-o-m-i-t-i-n-g**

**T** he Abominable Snowman crashed headfirst through the door—except he was vertical, with wires and cables sticking out of his mouth, and he was being carried... by Susie Jo—er, Mrs. Susie Jo Traddles, that is.

"Get your filthy hands off of my Tommy, right now." Susie Jo tossed the snowman's head and, from her side holster, pulled out a gun.

Mr. Night moved evil Tommy in front of him. "Don't shoot, or you might hit your husband."

"Her _husband_?" Zoey cried. I had to grab Tommy to keep him from falling over, smearing blood all over his shirt.

Susie Jo closed one eye and took aim. My fear melted away: If you'd ever seen Susie Jo shoot a slingshot or fire a spit wad, you'd know why.

She pulled the trigger, and two little darts went buzzing out of the gun, sticking right into the center of Night's forehead—it was only a stun gun.

He kicked and jerked like a donkey trying to dance the Macarena.

Evil Tommy carefully stepped over the Taser gun's wires and ran into Susie Jo's waiting embrace.

Tommy made me swear never to say anything more about that moment, but I will say it was one of the most sickening displays of public affection imaginable—Tommy's stomach must have been on empty, because even I threw up a little in my mouth.

Mr. Night used the distraction to try and crawl to the door. Zoey jumped up and was about to do a flying elbow drop on his face when Susie Jo fired the Taser gun again, and he flopped back to the ground.

"Darn it. Aren't I going to get to beat anyone up?" Zoey complained.

"Ummm, you just took out a whole platoon of naked animatrons," I said. "Isn't that enough?"

"Those silly robots don't count." She waved her hand at me, as if it was no big deal.

"Someone tie him up while Tommy and I finish programming the time machine." Sunny pulled evil Tommy away from Susie Jo's embrace.

"I'll tie him up! Oh, let me do it." Zoey was disappointed again when Susie Jo pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

Zoey carefully wrapped my hands with cloth strips she ripped from her dress while Sunny and Tommy worked on setting up the time machine. At one point, Sunny yelled, "No, no, no. We can't estimate. We have to be one hundred percent, or there's no telling where they'll end up."

"We have to hurry. The interface is almost fully engaged." Tommy started writing complex equations on the board while Sunny supervised and occasionally corrected his work.

Susie Jo stood by them, pretending that she understood what they were writing. " _Psst_. Kids," Mr. Night whispered to us. "How would you like free lifetime passes to the park?"

"Tommy," Zoey said. "Give me your scarf."

"What scarf?"

"Front of the line, whenever you visit," Night said. He tried to smile, but it shows when you're out of practice.

Zoey reached over and pulled the scarf from Tommy's pirate costume.

"Oh, you mean my ascot."

"Pirates don't wear ascots," I told him.

"Now kids, listen to me. If you help—"

"Just shut it." Zoey stuffed the scarf in Night's mouth.

"Okay, everyone stand back. Tommy's going to power it up," Sunny said.

"Wait, can we trust him? I mean he is _evil_ Tommy," I said.

"Tommy's not evil." Susie Jo glared at me with such venom that I almost handed over my lunch money.

"Umm, he was working for Mr. Night and trying to drill holes in Walt Disney's head." I took a step towards Zoey.

"Yes, Tommy, why was that?" Sunny asked. "Why didn't you at least quit working for Night when he started this project?"

Everyone eyed evil Tommy, even Susie Jo—who, it seemed, hadn't known the extent of Tommy's experiments until right then.

"It started back after you guys disappeared." He peeked at Zoey and me, and it wasn't like he was grown up at all—he was just the same little kid we let hang around us. "After you guys disappeared, Mr. Night was real nice, saying it was a horrible accident and together we could find a way to get you back, _if_ we kept what had happened a secret. He even paid my college tuition."

Little Tommy, with tears streaming down his cheeks, yelled at his grown-up self, "That's no excuse for drilling into Mr. Disney's Head!"

"Don't touch him." Sunny, looking really concerned, put her arms out. "We don't know what might happen if both Tommys touch."

"I know; I know." Evil Tommy was studying his younger self. "When Mr. Night started experimenting with using human brains as computer co-processors, I tried to quit. But he said he'd go to the authorities, blame me for Zack and Zoey's disappearance." Evil Tommy hung his head. "He's so well respected, I was sure they'd believe him. Besides, so many people already suspected me, part of me felt maybe it was my fault."

"That's so stupid of you, Tommy," Susie Jo said, but then gave him a hug. It looked like he could barely breathe.

"Well, you never actually did drill any holes in his head," Zoey said.

"Yeah, Tommy. I guess we can't imagine what that musta been like," I added somewhat reluctantly.

"We don't have time for a hugfest," Sunny said. "We need to get the kids back before Walt goes online, or he'll overload the machine."

"Can't you just unplug him?" Zoey asked.

"Not without causing permanent brain damage," evil—that is, old—Tommy said, heading over to the time machine.

"Stand back. We're going to charge it." Sunny and Tommy pressed a few buttons and threw a switch. The machine started humming, then the platform began to glow. There was a big bang; the machine made a sound like a drunken Ewok and went dark.

"That can't be good," I said.

"There must be a short in one of the pre-charge coils." Sunny checked the machine over.

"Looks like the tertiary coil, there." Tommy pointed to a large coil of copper wire that was along the left side of the machine.

"Here's the break," Sunny said. "We'll need to weld in about a six-inch section of wire to jump the short."

"We don't have any copper in the lab," Tommy said. "We switched everything over to fiber years ago."

"There must be something." Sunny started searching around.

"How about a pencil?" Zoey asked. "Isn't the core graphite?"

"Yes, but graphite has too much resistance," Sunny said. "It has to be copper, gold, or brass. At least eight inches should do it."

I hesitated, but then reached in my backpack and pulled out the ruler that had belonged to my old teacher, Miss Brass, who died last year, saving us from aliens. "How about this? The edge, I mean. It's gold colored. Maybe it's copper?"

"Let me see." Sunny examined it. "Yes, this should work."

Tommy pressed a few buttons on the computer screen next to Walt's head. "Hurry. The human computer interface is almost online."

Sunny's face turned pale. "Someone is going to have to hold the ruler in place to manually bridge the gap."

"I'll do it." Old Tommy took the ruler out of Sunny's hand and walked over to the machine.

"Tommy, there's over a hundred million volts running through that thing," Sunny said. "An inch of wood won't protect you."

"Tommy!" Susie Jo ran over to him. "Even a stud like you can't stand that much voltage."

"I'll be fine. Remember, once the timeline is set straight, it won't matter anyway."

"That's just a theory," Sunny said. "We don't actually know—"

Old Tommy lifted his hand, and Sunny nodded. "Susie Jo," he said. "Please step back, my dearest love." Tommy and I exchanged sickened expressions.

"You're so brave, Tommy Traddles." Susie Jo hugged old Tommy, and then, as she turned, reached out and grabbed little Tommy. He tried to jump away, but even at three hundred plus pounds, she still moved like a moose in the rut. "Oh, Tommy," she cried, whispered something into his ear, and kissed him on the cheek before letting go.

Sunny walked up to the time machine controls. "Okay, you three on the platform."

It was really sappy, I know, but Zoey and I held Tommy's hands as we stepped on the platform. I only did it because I was worried Tommy's heart might give out from shock, and he'd die right on the spot.

You'd think traveling through space and time might be easier the second trip, but as soon as Sunny pressed the big red button, my stomach dropped out from under me, and I started stretching like a strand of leftover spaghetti.

When we got back, the three of us sat on our rear ends for a moment before even thinking about standing up. I wasn't dizzy exactly, but really lightheaded—and burnt out. I felt worse than that time I stayed up playing _Duty of Heroes III_ for thirty-six hours straight.

"Hurry up guys, Sunny said not to risk running into ourselves." Zoey grabbed my wrist and started pulling.

"Wait a sec." I turned back to the time machine and sure enough, there were scorch marks on the machine, right where old Tommy had held the ruler. "We've gotta find that ruler."

"Even if it somehow made it back, we don't need it."

"Did you see those scorch marks? It must have made it back," I said. "We can't leave any evidence behind. We don't want Night to figure out that the machine actually works."

"Hurry up." Zoey spat on the hem of her dress and wiped the scorch marks off the coil. "But if we don't find it right away, we _have_ to go."

I found it on the floor and picked it up. "Here it is." The brass straight edge was black and partly melted. A bit of the wood was charred, but it was in better shape than I expected.

Standing up, I was face-to-face with another problem: Walt's head.

"What are we going to do about Walt Disney's head?" I said, trying to see past the frosted glass. "He's still here."

"Don't even think about it." Zoey furrowed her eyebrows and gave me an it's-not-too-late-for-me-to-beat-someone-up look. "You are _not_ taking it with us."

"We can't leave him here. We know they'll figure out how to exploit him."

"Zack, that was a different timeline. Who knows what will happen now?"

I glanced over to Tommy, sure that he'd agree with me.

Tommy did, but not in the way I expected. "Zack is right. We can't let Night succeed. But we've got years to figure it out. We probably went at least ten years in the future, maybe a bunch more."

"Yeah, Tommy's right. We can get Sunny to help us figure out what to do," Zoey said. "Even sneak back here if we need to."

Walt seemed like a person to me now, a friend. It didn't seem right leaving him behind.

"Zack." Zoey looked me in the eye. "Step away from the head."

"Fine." Reluctantly, I turned away.

As we headed out the door, the sound of footsteps heading up the stairs sent us hurtling as fast as we could the other way.

*

We walked around inside the Matterhorn for a good ten minutes before finding an exit. Stepping out, we immediately spotted someone we knew.

"Sunny," I cried. Even from behind, her shock of kinky red hair couldn't be confused with anyone else.

"I thought you guys were never coming back." Sunny turned around.

"You have no idea how close we came." I smiled, genuinely happy to see her shorter than me again.

Seeing me, her expression changed from mild irritation to horror.

"Sunny, what's wrong?" Zoey asked.

"Zack, you're wearing a green leotard. _Just_ a green leotard."

"Ohh, why didn't you guys have me change before we stepped into the time machine?" I tried to stand behind Zoey so no one could see me.

**Chapter 23 – Big Ears, Big Secret**

**I** couldn't believe I forgot I was wearing a torn-up Tinker Bell outfit.

"It's not like we had a lot of time," Zoey said, holding back a laugh.

"Or options," Tommy added.

"Easy for you to say. You're dressed like Alice and a pirate."

"Hey, I lost my sword, hat, and my ascot," Tommy protested.

"Shhh! People will start staring," I whispered.

"Did you say time machine? What the heck are you guys talking about?" Sunny asked.

"It's a long story," I told her. "So first, we've gotta get me some new clothes."

Everyone, even Tommy, chipped in to buy me something to wear. But even pooling our funds, all we could afford was a discounted Goofy sweat suit.

We were totally ready to go home and headed straight to our bus. The three of us looked out of place. No one sat near us on the bus ride home—which was fine, because Sunny was dying to hear what had happened.

At first, Sunny wasn't sure she believed us, but I think the fact she was destined to become some sort of celebrated professor helped convince her.

*

With the new school year, things got back to normal pretty fast.

Sunny, Tommy, and Zoey were all waiting outside of third period history, which was the only class all four of us shared. "Hey, guys," I said. "Did any of your see a new kid at school, a pretty big guy?"

"Nope," Tommy replied.

"What's that?" Sunny asked, pointing to the box under my arm.

"Oh, it's just a gift—I mean a thing. It's nothing, really."

"Is it a present for our two-year-four-month-and-three-week anniversary?"

"Umm, no. Sorry," I said, trying to figure out when that meant Zoey and my fake anniversary was, but I quickly gave up. "It's for Tommy, actually."

"For me?" He sounded worried.

"You brought a gift... for Tommy?" Sunny asked. "Maybe our Zack got mixed up with a Zack from another dimension?"

"I wish." Zoey made pouty lips.

I ignored them and handed the box to Tommy.

"Is it safe?" He turned it over like he was examining it for a fuse.

"It's fine. If you don't want it—"

"No, no." He pulled it close. "I was just asking."

Sunny and Zoey stepped back too, still not convinced it wasn't going to explode when he opened it.

Tommy tore the box open. "It's a new set of mouse ears," he cried.

"And check out the name." I pointed to the front. "I had my Mom embroider them. Made sure it didn't look like _Tammy_."

"Wow, thanks."

"No big deal," I said. "You don't have to put them on now, really... It's okay."

Susie Jo started quickly waddling over as soon as Tommy put the ears on.

"Here she comes," I warned him.

"Ooo, maybe I'll still get to beat someone up." Zoey smiled.

"Nice mouse ears, twerp," Susie Jo said.

"I've been waiting for this," Tommy said under his breath.

"Hey, Suz." Zoey waved.

"They fit you 'cause you're as small as a mouse," Susie said. "Get it? Small as a mouse, 'cause he's wearing mouse ears."

We all looked at each other.

"That's not really a pun," Sunny said.

"And it's _not_ very funny," Zoey added.

This, of course, only made Susie mad. "I'm going to take those stupid ears and stuff—"

"Spotted Snuffy," Tommy said calmly.

Susie Jo froze like a statue, the blood draining from her face.

Then Tommy leaned over and whispered something into her ear.

The blood ran back, turning her cheeks as red as two huge apples. Slowly, silently, she turned around and walked away.

"Tommy, what did you say to her?" Sunny asked.

"And what's a Spotted Snuffy?" I added.

"I can't say," replied Tommy as he adjusted his mouse ears and walked into class. No matter how we pleaded and prodded he wouldn't tell us his secret. But I can tell you this: After that day, we weren't bullied by Susie Jo ever again.

* * * * *

Dysgraphia Awareness

**What is Dysgraphia?**

**  
**In simple terms, dysgraphia is the inability to get thoughts from the brain written onto paper correctly. As my editor can attest, dysgraphia can result in some pretty gnarly sentences.

For example, take the sentence, "I really like to read funny books." A dysgraphic child might write the sentence as, "I like read to red funny books."

When handwritten, the sentence may appear sloppy, and the words may slope up or down the page.

The hardest thing for most parents and teachers to understand is when someone with dysgraphia re-reads the offending sentence, his mind may tell him it's written correctly. That is, when a dysgraphic person proofreads a messed-up sentence, he may (depending on degree and type of dysgraphia) actually see, "I really like to read funny books."

Until the errors are specifically pointed out, a dysgraphic student may not be able to see his errors or omissions, and simply asking the child to repeatedly re-read the sentence will only result in frustration for the student and instructor.

**What are signs a child may be dysgraphic?**

Some common symptoms include:

\- Poor spelling

\- Messy handwriting

\- Uncomfortable pencil grip, or pain when writing

\- Writing on an upward or downward slant

\- Trouble forming letters (common examples include: reversing letters, mixing uppercase and lowercase letters, or mixing cursive and print letters)

Read more about what to look for:  http://www.ncld.org/types-learning-disabilities/dysgraphia/what-is-dysgraphia

**What can I do if I suspect my child might be dysgraphic?**

Unfortunately, many educators aren't trained to properly identify the signs that a student may be dysgraphic. If you suspect your child may have this or any other learning disability, you can request to have your child tested by an expert trained to identify learning difficulties through your school district.

In the U.S., federal laws require that schools promptly acknowledge and comply with your request for testing. In fact, if your child's school doesn't have trained personnel available, they must pay for or arrange for an outside expert to complete this testing at no cost to you.

In many other countries, schools are required to make needed accommodations and offer special assistance to children with learning disabilities. In the U.S. this is done by a formal evaluation process with results in a written Individualized Education Plan (IEP).

While many schools work hard to assist students, some prefer to ignore these obligations or provide as little assistance as possible. There are child advocacy groups that can assist parents in getting the help their child needs. These groups may contact the school on your child's behalf, attend meetings with you, or in extreme cases, file formal complaints against the district.

Just remember, the time you spend securing the correct diagnosis and assistance for your child will go a long way to ensuring that he or she has the proper tools to be successful, not only in school, but in life. Your child is worth it!

Here are several websites with information and advice on getting your child the help they deserve:

http://www.education-a-must.com

<http://www.ncld.org/parents-child-disabilities/ld-rights>

Outside the US:

http://www.mencap.org.uk

http://www.ldworldwide.org

* * *

**About the Author  
** MJ lives in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains with his wife and two daughters. Due to a freak childhood incident at his school library, MJ never developed an interest in adult literature.

When not reading or writing books for kids, he runs a video arcade company building retro arcade machines just like he played as a child. MJ is available as both a court approved zombie expert and for FEMA certified "zombie safety" school lectures.

He's currently working on his next novel, the second installment in the _Super Zombie Juice_ series.

*** * ***

**  
Front Matter  
** All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owners of this book.  
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The authors acknowledge the trademarked status and trademark owners of any product referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

