Con Quest!

by Sam Maggs

  “Hiiiiiiii, Fi.” Cat plastered her sweetest smile onto her face, holding her hands under her chin and batting her eyes. “Have you been having the best time?”

  The purple got a little darker. Maybe that had been the wrong approach? Should Cat have just made a break for it instead? But she was stuck here in this line—

  “Have I … been having … fun?” Fi interrupted Cat’s thoughts when she started speaking, each word increasing in volume. “Rowan.” Fi turned to the other girl, her eyes taking on a wild vibe that Cat was definitely not into. “Would you say I’ve been having fun?!”

  Rowan, to her credit, looked like she’d rather be anywhere else in that moment than between Cat and her older sister, who was definitely, absolutely coming loose at the seams. “Well, uh.” Rowan swallowed. “I kinda hoped you’d been having a good—”

  “That’s not the point!” Fi exploded. The people napping on the blankets in front of them jolted awake with a start. Whoops. “Do you have any idea what I’ve been through today?! What were you thinking?! And where,” Fi added, breathing heavily, “is our brother?!”

  Cat crossed her arms across her chest. How dare Fi even ask her about Alex right now. “You’re not the only one who’s been through some stuff today—” Cat began defensively.

  “You are in no position to be snarky with me right now!” Fi cut Cat off before she could even finish her thought.

  “You don’t understand—”

  “You’re right!” Fi cut Cat off again. “And I don’t want to! We’re leaving!”

  Leaving?! “We can’t!” Cat said quickly. “We have to—”

  “We have to find Mom and Dad!” Why wouldn’t Fi let Cat finish a single thought?!

  “If you’d just listen—”

  “We’re out,” Fi interrupted, again, like it was final. Even as Fi started to march out of line, Cat just stood there, fuming. She felt like she was going to burst into tears and she never, ever, positively ever cried where other people could see her. She spent way too long on her eyeliner for that! How could Fi not even let her get a word in edgewise? How could Fi not let Cat explain what was going on here? Why this was important? How could Fi be…?

  Telling her what to do.

  Cat blinked.

  Oh.

  Oh.

  Cat’s breath caught in her throat and she plunked back down onto the ground, ignoring her sister’s yelling. Cat dropped her head into her hands and started counting slowly to ten, which always seemed to work for Alex.

  Alex. Is this how he’d been feeling while Cat had been directing their moves for the Quest? She hadn’t meant to be insensitive or thoughtless—she was just trying to be efficient and get stuff done. Sometimes Alex was too quiet and unsure for his own good, you know? But, Cat realized, that didn’t matter. As much as they were participating in the Quest to win, they were also doing it because they loved doing it. Together. Being in charge didn’t have to mean controlling everything. Alex just wanted to be treated like a partner, not a sidekick. Why hadn’t Cat been able to see that sooner? Before everything had fallen apart?

  Reaching the count of ten, Cat took a deep breath and found she could fill her lungs again. She took her hands away from her face and saw Fi stomping back over to her spot in the line.

  Cat didn’t know what she was supposed to do now. Leave with Fi? Give up the Quest?

  But was the Quest even worth it without Alex?

  “Catalina—”

  “Wait!” Rowan, who had been following Cat’s sister, skidded between the two siblings. “Fi, seriously, wait.” Rowan put her hand on Fi’s shoulder. To Cat’s great surprise, she thought she saw her sister actually blush.

  Cat stopped herself from rolling her eyes. Crushes were gross, but they might actually help her out, just this one time.

  “Rowan, we have got to get back to my parents—”

  “Fine.” Rowan threw her hands out, exasperated. “That’s fine. You’ll get your camping.” Cat thought she heard a note of disdain in the girl’s voice.

  “My what—?” Fi sounded confused, but Rowan didn’t let her finish.

  “But Alex isn’t here. We’ve got to find him first. Okay?”

  Fi nodded. “That’s what I’m trying to say.”

  “Good.” Rowan squeezed Fi’s shoulder and turned back to Cat. “Now. Where’s your brother?”

  20

  Alex

  Alex had never felt so lost in his life.

  Not literally. He had the GeekiCon map and schedule memorized weeks earlier. He’d been to this convention a million times before. He knew exactly where he was and where he was going.

  But he also had no idea where he was going. He was just … going.

  Alex trudged around the upper floor of the con, passing by lines for panel rooms, lines for bathrooms, lines for food vendors, lines for signings … Now that he thought about it, GeekiCon really was a lot of lines.

  At least they kept the people organized and out of Alex’s way. For the most part.

  As he wandered the con’s packed corridors, Alex stared at his feet and tried to keep his breathing steady. Right, left. In, out. Right, then left. In, then out.

  Alex found his way to a small open space against a wall and put his back to it, sliding down to the floor. He pulled his game console out of his bag and powered it on. He would just sit here and play until the day ended. That was fine, right? He did that at home all the time. Hours would go by in a flash. No big deal.

  But Alex couldn’t focus on his screen. Every time he tried to concentrate on his game, his eyes went blurry. There wasn’t anything physically wrong with him, he was pretty sure—he was just so distracted.

  Every time he tried to stop being angry at Cat, he just couldn’t. She had completely ruined this day. Everything had been going so great. If she’d just … not been so inconsiderate, and not cheated, and not given away their passes, and—and …

  Alex let out a frustrated sigh and stuffed his console back into his messenger bag. He looked up at the con-goers passing by in front of him instead, hoping the colors and the crowds would take his mind off things. There was a family all cosplaying the Impossibles; over in line, someone had dressed up their service dog like the star of the latest season of The Biting Dead; ascending the big escalators were a group of people laughing as one of their capes got stuck under their spiky heel.

  “Okay, c’mon; we only have a minute and then we gotta go!” someone yelled over the din of the crowd. Alex looked to his left, where a big group of women, all dressed like different iterations of the warrior queen from Star Worlds, was gathered. They were taking a crew photo, and they all had their biceps flexed like that lady from that old poster about girls being able to do anything including make bombs and stuff.

  Alex actually found himself smiling. General Queen Lara was his favorite Star Worlds character. The actress who played her in the original films from the ’70s had died just recently, and there were a ton of people cosplaying as Lara in her honor. Even, Alex noticed, his grin widening, some guys.

  “No fear!” one of the cosplayers shouted.

  “No fear!” the rest shouted back in unison. “Only the Power!”

  It was Lara’s most famous phrase from the film. “The Power” was a magical invisible force in the movies that connected all people and things to one another (and also gave people cool telekinesis and precognition and brain-controlled swords). Alex knew, of course, that the Power was actually a metaphor for love and for believing in yourself and in others and all the rest of that good, touchy-feely stuff. Lara had the most power of anyone in the Star Worlds universe, and she had sacrificed herself to save the resistance.

  Alex felt his anger melting away as he watched the Laras chant and pose in front of the vast number of cell phones attached to humans who had assembled to capture the moment. Alex remembered Lara’s calm demeanor in the face of great obstacles. Even when her own planet exploded, Lara managed to keep it together. She didn’t blame anyon
e else for her problems. She just dealt with them.

  Was Alex being unfair, blaming his sister for everything that had gone wrong with the Quest today? Sure, she had done some really ridiculous stuff. And she’d suffered some serious consequences for them.

  But, Alex thought with another big sigh, she hadn’t been totally off the mark. He really did struggle to stand up for himself sometimes. He liked having Cat’s help with things like crowds and big social situations. And he hadn’t been as involved with planning out Quest items before the con as he could have been. As much as he hated to admit it, Alex realized he couldn’t entirely blame Cat for feeling like she had to take control of the situation. He wished she’d gone about it differently, sure. But he also could have spoken up sooner and more productively. Like General Queen Lara.

  The group of cosplayers was breaking up, each of the Laras going their separate ways. Alex looked at his calculator watch. It wasn’t too late. If he could just find his sister … there was still time. Alex braced his hands on the floor next to him (and made a mental note to use hand sanitizer ASAP) and pushed himself to his feet.

  No fear, Alex repeated to himself. Only the Power.

  He stepped forward toward the escalator—

  And walked right into someone.

  “Oh, sorry—” Alex mumbled, pushing back off the guy’s chest. Alex clearly wasn’t the one at fault, but he still felt the need to apologize, even when someone else had stopped right in front of him. Maybe because his dad was Minnesotan.

  “You’re about to be,” the man responded. Alex, his balance recovered, looked up.

  Right into James M.’s scowling face.

  “You must have the wrong person—” Alex tried to channel Cat but was never quite as convincing as his sister could be.

  “Oh no.” James M. laughed, crossing his arms over his sweat-stained T-shirt. “Where’s your sister? Or did she have the good sense to go back to her online echo chamber?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about—” Alex looked around frantically for a way out, but James M. had him trapped between his body and the wall. There was nowhere to run, and no one at the con was going to dare question someone with a CON STAFF badge. Alex was trapped!

  “Well, one of you Questies is better than none.” James M. shrugged, grabbing Alex by the back of his neck. Alex shuddered—he hated being touched without being asked first and especially hated being touched by strangers.

  “Get off—” Alex clawed at James M.’s clammy hand, which just gripped him tighter.

  “I don’t think so,” James M. snapped, pulling Alex toward the down escalator. “Every one of you who gets kicked out of my con for life is another fake nerd Questie SJW I never have to see again.”

  “It’s not your con!” Alex shot back, dragging his feet onto the moving step. James M. was so much bigger than him, and Alex wasn’t exactly a varsity athlete like Fi. He didn’t know what else to do but be dragged along. It wasn’t like he could have jumped off the escalator, anyway. Was he really about to be banned from GeekiCon for life?!

  What was he going to do?!

  And what was he going to tell Cat?!

  21

  Fi

  Fi was being dragged back into the convention center by her younger sister, their hands sweaty from the sweltering midafternoon heat. Cat had given up her spot in the Hall M line to the person behind her when they bolted. That line was outside the actual convention center, with long-suffering line standers protected from the sun by a series of canopies and umbrellas.

  Even though Fi was getting the hang of this whole convention thing, she still couldn’t really understand what would drive someone to sleep in line for days just to sit in the middle of a gigantic panel room and watch a TV star through a pair of binoculars. But maybe she just hadn’t leveled up to that extreme yet. At the very least, Fi thought, it explained some of the grosser smells in the convention center.

  Fi’s other hand clutched Rowan, who was being dragged along behind her. They were like a panicked human daisy chain led by a twelve-year-old with blue-tipped hair. What could possibly go wrong?

  “Fi!” she heard Rowan call out from behind her. Not letting go of Cat’s hand—she was not losing this kid again—Fi craned her neck around to glance at Rowan.

  Rowan gave her a thumbs-up with her free hand. She was grinning from ear to ear. “We got this!”

  Fi laughed, almost tripping over herself as Cat tugged her forward with more strength than she thought her younger sister had. “Okay!”

  The three of them flew past the same glass double doors through which the Gallo family had entered GeekiCon in a similar rush this morning, each of them slapping their passes against the scanners without needing to be reminded. Cat hopped on the escalator to their right, the huge one that took them up through the atrium to the convention center’s second level.

  “This way!” Cat shouted back at Fi and Rowan. “I think Alex’ll be hiding upstairs!”

  Fi jumped onto the escalator, tugging Rowan onto the step behind her. Rowan put her arms around Fi’s waist, breathing heavily, and rested her head against Fi’s back. Fi could feel Rowan’s laughter in her very bones. Fi couldn’t help but laugh back. Did she ever imagine she’d find herself in a situation like this?

  “Cat!” Fi heard someone yell. The three girls looked around frantically.

  “Alex!” Cat shouted back, jumping up and down on the escalator step. “Fi, there!”

  Fi followed the trajectory of her sister’s outstretched arm. She was pointing to the descending escalator next to them. There, at the top, was Alex, slowly making his way downward, waving his arms around like a drowning monkey.

  And behind him, his hand gripping the back of Alex’s neck, was James M., talking into his phone and ignoring his captive’s shouts.

  “That creep!” Rowan said, untangling herself from around Fi’s back and grabbing on to the escalator’s handrail.

  “You know him?!” Cat whipped around, looking at Fi and Rowan with surprise. “He’s been after us all day!”

  “Us, too!” Fi responded.

  “He wants to ban everyone playing the Quest,” Cat explained in a hurry.

  “And everyone he doesn’t think lives up to what a geek is supposed to be,” confirmed Rowan, spitting the words out with contempt.

  “Yeah, he’s the worst,” Fi agreed. But he had Alex. The groups were about to pass each other on the escalators, one going up and one going down. They were running out of time. How were they going to save him?

  “Fi,” Rowan said, twisting around to look at her, “item eighteen!”

  That was it. That was it!

  “Rowan, you’re a genius,” Fi said, ripping her drawstring backpack off and tugging out the soccer ball she always had on her.

  Now, just like they did for Quest item eighteen—play a sport on the main escalators—Fi bounced the ball from knee to knee, getting a bit of momentum going. The people in front of and behind her leaned away and complained nervously, but she didn’t care. Fi kneed the ball as high as she could get it, clutching the handrail with one hand to keep her balance. Launching herself upward, Fi slammed the ball with her forehead with as much force as she could muster in the limited amount of space she had. Also, without falling to her doom.

  The ball flew forward, straight toward James M.’s face.

  Human reflexes are a funny thing, Fi thought, as she watched the whole thing go down almost in slow motion. Even the most unathletic person in the world really wants to avoid a high-speed soccer ball to the face. And sure enough, desperate to avoid a broken nose, James M.’s arms flew up to guard his face.

  Which, of course, meant he had let go of Alex.

  “I’ve got you!” Fi yelled across the escalator railings. “Do it!”

  Fi could see the hesitation on her brother’s face—but only for a second. Alex knew she would never let him down.

  And she wouldn’t.

  Alex planted both of his hands firmly
on the handrail separating the up from the down side of the escalator and vaulted his legs across. Good thing he’s so scrawny, Fi thought wildly, reaching out her arms to catch Alex as he leaped from one escalator to the other. Fi grabbed Alex by the waist and hefted him the rest of the way over. Shocked that she’d managed to keep her balance on a moving escalator through all this, Fi realized belatedly that Rowan had wrapped one arm around her waist and was firmly grasping the outside handrail with the other.

  Cat swooped in the second Alex’s feet were firmly on the up escalator. She paused long enough to see him nod before throwing her arms around his shoulders. Fi wondered how her high-pitched “squeeee!” must have sounded that close to Alex’s ear.

  “I’ll find you!” James M. bellowed. Fi spun around to see him still descending on his side of the escalator. He was holding her soccer ball in his hands.

  And he looked furious.

  “Go, go, go!” Fi shouted to her little pack of nerds, urging them forward. She started taking the escalator up two steps at a time, belatedly apologizing to the other con-goers she had to inelegantly shove out of the way in the process. They were going to make this. They were.

  “’Scuse us; coming through. Thanks so much!”

  22

  Cat

  Cat wheezed, pumping her arms hard as she bolted through the con. After Fi had launched her soccer ball at James M.’s head (very awesome!!) and Alex had essentially hurdled over the famous GeekiCon escalators (extremely double awesome, what the heck!!!), Cat had felt Fi’s hand shove into the small of her back and knew it was time to get moving. Cat took the moving steps as fast as she could—though normally she would never walk up an escalator, just on principle. (Its literal whole job is to do the walking for you; what is even the point?) When she reached the second floor, Cat just kept running, trusting that the rest of her family—and Rowan—would be with her.