by Sam Maggs
“Yep!” Cat was getting anxious now. The Star-Troopers had been Dancercizing for a while. She was running out of time!
The cosplayers only hesitated for a second before nodding in unison. “We will do this for you, small hero. Here is a card with our social media information on it. Please send us a telegram of the future.”
“You got it,” said Cat, tucking the card into her purse. “Now get out there!”
“I don’t know about this—” Alex sounded anxious. Cat already knew where Alex was going with this as she watched the two buff cosplayers head off toward Malik and Dahlia.
“I do,” Cat said forcefully, jerking her head toward the front of the Star-Trooper squad. “You tape, I’ll take over. It’ll just be for a second. It’s all we need!”
“But it’s not our item,” Alex protested, following his sister anyway. “We’ll get disqualified if someone finds out we piggybacked on someone else’s work!”
“No one’s going to notice. Come on!” she urged, getting him into place. “We gotta be fast!”
Alex shook his head but didn’t say anything else. Cat knew she had him. They were going to do this!
From the shadows near the front of the troop, Cat watched as her two new oily cosplay friends stepped in between Malik and the Star-Troopers. They said something to Malik that Cat couldn’t hear. Malik signaled Dahlia to stop filming. The four of them walked over to the side of the atrium for a second, their heads together.
Whatever they were talking about, it had worked! The music was still blaring—the Star-Troopers were still dancing!
Cat bolted from her hiding spot and took up position in front of them. She waved at Alex, who already had his phone up, filming. Cat did a couple of jazzy moves—arm here! Leg there! High kick! Twirl! This was it—they were going to get the item! And—
“Hey!” Cat almost felt the angry yell before she heard it. She winced and started to make a run toward Alex. An arm grabbed Cat from behind, stopping her in her tracks. She had time to mouth Run! at Alex before she was spun around—and found herself face-to-face with Dahlia.
Dang.
“That was our item!” Dahlia said, anger contorting their face. They shifted their pink hair out of their face with the hand that wasn’t on Cat’s arm. “You were trying to steal credit!”
“No—I swear—” Cat protested weakly. She knew she’d been caught.
“We literally saw you doing it!” Dahlia looked like they couldn’t believe what was happening. “That’s totally not in the spirit of the Quest, man!”
Cat shook Dahlia’s hand off her arm and stepped back, hands raised. This wasn’t going anywhere good. “Okay. I’m sorry. I won’t post it. I promise.”
“Your teammate probably already did!” Dahlia protested.
Cat swallowed. They were more than likely right; Alex was nothing if not practical.
Cat’s heart was pounding. It felt like it was going to slam out of her chest. Her head was hot; she might puke at, like, any second. She’d been caught cheating. And it had been all her idea. She couldn’t let Team DoubleTrouble be disqualified—Alex would never forgive her. Heck, she would never forgive herself!
An idea just as bad as the one that had gotten Cat into this situation settled around her shoulders like Alex’s antianxiety gravity blanket.
She couldn’t. She just couldn’t.
But she had no other choice.
“Okay, look—here,” Cat said, fishing around in her purse. Cell phone charger … wallet … gum … Sharpie for emergency autograph moments … there. Cat pulled two pieces of paper out of her purse and held them up to Dahlia’s face. “Two passes for Hall M later today. Impossible to get. So … so you can complete the hundred-point item.”
Dahlia just stared at Cat for a second, totally shocked. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m serious,” Cat said. “Don’t report us, and you can have the tickets.”
“But these are basically impossible to get—”
“I know,” Cat said, dropping her arm. “That’s why I’m giving them to you. Just don’t report me. I’m sorry. Okay?”
Dahlia only waited for a moment before holding their hand out in front of them, palm open. “Fine. We’re even, then. But don’t mess with Team Dangermaker again.”
“Yeah. Whatever,” Cat said quietly, dropping the two tickets into Dahlia’s hand. She felt like she was handing over her life. And it was all her fault.
Dahlia closed their hand around the tickets with a vise grip and Cat didn’t blame them. She turned around without another word—and ran almost smack-dab into her brother’s face. He was right behind her.
“Alex!” Cat said. She forced a smile onto her face, just like he had before. “We did it!”
“What did Dahlia want?” Alex said, panicky. “Did they know?”
“Nobody knew, bud,” Cat said. “We did it!” A second too late, she spun in a circle and struck a pose. Alex frowned. He clearly wasn’t buying it. She had to distract him before he kept asking questions. Cat knew she could fix this. She knew she could.
She just … needed a little time. That was all.
5. Find the Quest donation box and drop off a toy from the convention floor. (56 points)
18. Play a sport on the main escalators. (20 points)
22. Even baddies have to stay in shape. Participate in Dancercize with a Star-Trooper squad. (44 points)
28. Convince a cosplayer dressed as a character you’ve never heard of that you definitely know who they are. (24 points)
14
Alex
There was something up with Cat.
Alex wasn’t great with people, but his sister was the one exception to that rule. He basically spent twenty-four hours a day with her. He had since the second they were born. Alex didn’t need special psychic twin powers to know when something was up with Cat.
Although, for real, it would have been pretty excellent to have special psychic twin powers.
Regardless. There was something up.
And Alex was going to find out what.
Just … not yet. Usually when Cat had done something wrong she tried to make up for it in really grandiose ways (he’d gotten that one wrong last week on the spelling test and had worked on it a lot since then, thank you very much). This time was no exception, even though he still didn’t know what, specifically, Cat felt she had done wrong. Was she just trying to make herself feel less guilty about cheating?
Because she had definitely cheated. Alex had recorded the quick clip of Cat Dancercizing in front of the Star-Troopers and had immediately uploaded it to the Quest app before he had a chance to even think about what they were doing. Looking back, though, there was no doubt they’d stolen that item from Team Dangermaker. Cat and Alex hadn’t done any of that hard work themselves. They’d just passed off what Team Dangermaker had done as their own. Extremely, incredibly unchill. The only way Alex knew how to deal with what he’d just been a part of was to … not think about it at all.
Thankfully, Cat’s something-upness was making that part, at least, easy on Alex. They’d bolted from the atrium as soon as Cat was finished talking to Dahlia. In a stroke of socializing genius that never would have occurred to Alex, Cat DM’d one of the women who’d been on their winning Hexforce Legends VR team earlier in the day. She wouldn’t tell Alex why, but they were now rushing to meet their new friends by the AC Comics booth on the floor.
Usually when Cat refused to tell Alex what was going on, he worried. This time, he was just looking forward to the AC booth’s plush carpets. His feet could use a break from all the concrete. It had been a long day—and it was only …
Alex gasped as he checked his watch while fast-walking through the con crowd. It was almost three o’clock. Three o’clock! The Epic signing! And the volunteer had told them to be back there well before that …
“Cat,” Alex called out weakly, but his sister was too far ahead of him to hear. How could he have forgotten about the Epic signin
g? He’d gotten so caught up with James M. and the donation box and the cheating—don’t think about it—and Team Dangermaker that it had completely skipped his mind. His only chance to meet Adrianna Tack … his only chance to complete item sixteen … he was blowing it!
Again!
Alex sped up a little bit in the hope of stopping his sister. Sure, they were heading to see Cat’s new friends or whatever, but wasn’t Adrianna Tack more important?
He tried again. “Cat.” Still nothing. Cat took the last curve toward the AC booth at a breakneck pace, and Alex started to jog to keep up with her. Why wouldn’t she stop?
“Cat!” She’d finally come to a stop next to a massive line that was snaking around the edge of the AC Comics booth, wrapping back on itself a few times over.
“Sorry,” Cat apologized to someone in the line, squeezing past them despite their complaints. “’Scuse me. Comin’ through.” Alex was at a total loss. Was Cat cutting into this line to find her new friends?
Did Cat’s newfound love for cheating know no bounds?!
Alex clutched the strap on his messenger bag and followed his sister with gritted teeth, making an apologetic face at the people in line he was cutting past in her wake. Thankfully, they didn’t have to go far—Cat found the three women from their Hexforce Legends win almost at the very back of the line, just next to the lime-shirted volunteer with the LINE CAPPED sign.
“Made it!” Cat said triumphantly. She high-fived one of the ladies.
“Hi! So glad!” One of the other women smiled. She turned to Alex quickly and introduced herself as Ohsa—or Ohsarry88 online. Her friends were Kate and Wendy. They were all super-nice. But Alex had bigger fish to fry.
“Hi, I’m Alex. Cat.” He tugged on his sister’s sleeve to get her attention. “Do you still have the Hall M passes? And it’s almost three o’clock; we have to go—”
Cat just stared at him for a second. She turned back to Ohsa. “We’re good from here, friends. We really appreciate the help.”
“Well, you got us that win earlier, so we’re even now.” Ohsa laughed. Alex had absolutely no idea what was going on. And Cat was ignoring him. A cheater and rude.
He didn’t even know his sister anymore.
Alex watched with total confusion as Ohsa and her friends left the line, leaving Cat and Alex on their own. Just when Alex was about to repeat his previous sentiment to his sister, she pointed around the corner of the AC Comics booth.
“Just look around the corner,” she said slyly.
Alex sighed. He hated these games. But he knew how Cat worked.
He peeked his head around the side of the booth. And he saw …
… the Pixel Comics booth next door. And the start of the line of which they were currently bringing up the rear.
The Epic signing line.
Cat.
Cat!
“Cat!” Alex turned around, his mouth hanging open. “How?”
Cat’s sly smirk turned into a full grin. “I texted Ohsa while we were running from James M. I knew we were going to be too busy to stand in line ourselves, and I figured they would be willing to do us a solid and save us a spot in line. And I’m glad they did,” Cat said, her face changing just slightly, “because this line is really long.”
Alex took in his surroundings with fresh eyes. Just ahead was the Pixel booth, Epic central, the place that not only held the key to a Quest item but also one he’d been dreaming about for months on end, mindlessly drawing Epic’s infamous bird beacons in his sketchbook when he should have been doing his homework (or in class, or whenever he was bored). The wall of people stretched around the Pixel booth several times and then snaked through the center. There must have been at least two hundred people standing with their Epic comics and beacon bird plushies at the ready. Without VIP access, they were relegated to taking their chances with the queue. They were in before the cap but just barely. If the line didn’t move fast enough to get to everyone before the hour was out …
“We’re toast.” Alex sighed. He started breathing fast again. His mood changed so quickly it might as well have been the wind by the sea outside the convention center. It felt like the weight of the cosmos was hanging around his shoulders, flattening across his chest.
“We’ll be fine,” Cat reassured him. “Let’s kill some time. What do you have in your bag? Show me…”
Alex had forgotten for a moment that he was even carrying one—remarkable, considering how heavy the thing was at this point. He knew his sister was trying to distract him from his panic attack, but he didn’t care—he did what she said. Alex slung his messenger bag off his shoulder and thumped it onto the ground. Kneeling down, he dug through its contents.
“Let’s see,” he said, mostly to himself. “That guy’s book, some apples, my console, Cards for Bad People…”
“No, no, and no.” Cat dismissed each one in turn. “Nothing else?”
“Well,” Alex offered, looking up at his sister. “There’s my sketch pad, I guess.”
Cat’s eyes lit up. “Perfect. You should sketch!”
Alex shrugged. He didn’t know if it was perfect—it certainly wasn’t going to make the line move any faster—but he pulled the pad and a charcoal pencil out of his bag and settled himself down cross-legged on the floor. Alex stretched out his neck and fit the pencil comfortably into his hand. “What do I sketch?”
“Anything,” insisted Cat. “This is the best time killer in the world. There’s so much good people-watching here. Just look around.”
Cat might have been right about this one. From Alex’s vantage point, there was a lot to draw. Forget landscapes—this was a million times cooler. There were cosplayers; people in the coolest T-shirts Alex had ever seen; huge signs for new shows; posters for exclusive toys; and, all around, the most interested and eclectic group of fans ever assembled in one place.
Instead of drawing any of the cosplayers or stars, though, Alex looked at the lime-clad girl holding the LINE CAPPED sign next to him. Her job was really important—she told people this was the end of the line. And she probably got a lot of flak for it. Alex began sketching out a little comic with the green-shirted girl as its star, holding back masses of undead with just her sign as a shield, a flower between her teeth.
Ten minutes later and well into his drawing, the volunteer looked down at him. “Heyyyyy,” she said slowly. “Is that … is that me?”
Alex froze. He loved to draw, but he didn’t like showing people his work. Especially if he was drawing them.
“Yeah, I can stop,” he muttered by way of apology. He was weirding people out. He was always doing this—at school, at the park, in the grocery store, now here. Bleh.
“Are you kidding?” The volunteer laughed, reaching around the couple in line behind the twins to try and snatch the pad out of Alex’s hands. “This is amazing. You just drew this now?”
Alex turned splotchy and red. He really, really hated when people touched him or his stuff without asking first. “That’s mine.” He yanked it back quickly and brought it to his chest.
“Um, he just means he likes holding his own sketchbook…,” Cat said. She gently tipped the book away from his chest so she could see his drawing. “But he’s a great artist, right? Can I see it, Alex?”
The girl kept smiling, which made Alex feel less anxious. “Sorry.” She held her hands up in front of her. “I didn’t mean to grab it. This is just, like, the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me,” she said, still staring at the comic. “Hey, Jackson! Get over here!” she called down the line.
Another green-shirted volunteer came bounding over, a couple of friends in tow. “You rang?” He bowed jokingly.
“Check out what this kid did in line,” the girl said. There was no way out of it now. Alex had to do it. He had to show a bunch of people his art. He took a deep breath and carefully ripped the little comic out. Alex handed it to the girl, who held it up to show it to her friend. Cat snapped a picture of the volunteer with her comic
portrait.
“Holy wow.” The second volunteer, Jackson, laughed. “Can you do me, too?”
Cat nudged Alex’s shoulder, and when he looked at his sister, he was certain she had her scheming face on. Say yeah, she mouthed.
Easy for her to say! thought Alex.
“Yeah, sure.” Alex shrugged mildly, trying to appear calmer than he felt. Sketching in front of other people was okay. Right? At least he wouldn’t have to talk.
Alex got down to it. Over the next half hour, as the line inched forward almost impossibly slowly, a crowd of volunteers formed around the siblings. Alex drew sketch after sketch of volunteers doing a variety of heroic things on the con floor. When a lead staffer showed up to ask what all the fuss was about and Alex drew her as a winged centaur, she laughed until she cried.
“That’s it, kid, we’re taking you up,” she said, wiping her eyes.
“Taking me up where?” Alex asked, confused, clutching his sketch pad.
“We’re taking you up,” she repeated, checking in quickly on her radio. “To the front of the line. Let’s go, kid. You’ve earned this one.”
Only when Alex felt Cat’s hands hovering near his back was he able to start moving forward. “Uh…”
“Right,” Cat said loudly, taking over. “That’s so awesome of you. Thank you,” she said to the girl. Then Cat leaned in close to Alex. “You’re a total genius,” she squealed through a massive grin.
“What’s happening?” Alex asked loudly. What was he supposed to do? They were going to the front … for what? Were they—?
As they moved toward the front, a vision emerged. It was the author and illustrator of his most favorite comic ever. Steven J. Rhys and Adrianna Tack. Adrianna Tack! Right there. Right in front of him.
Right.
Now?!
The lead volunteer slid Alex and Cat into place in front of the writer and artist with a quick explanation, showing them a few of his sketches. Alex was sure he had never been so red in his life. He figured he had probably ascended to another plane, that’s how nervous and embarrassed he was in that moment. He probably was not even on Earth anymore. He was probably …
