Con Quest!

in his headset. But he was still proud of himself for it, even if Cat had been a bit angry. Plus, they got their Quest points. They might beat Team Dangermaker. That’s what it was all about in the end.

Right?

“I made it,” Alex responded, standing upright. “Barely.”

“Yeah, that was a close one,” Cat agreed, pulling out her phone. “What was that guy even talking about, anyway?” She started to mimic the way James M. talked, all grumpy and sputtering. “I’m a real fan and you’re all fake fans and Vigilante League sucks unless you’ve read all the comics from the start and only I get to say who’s a real fan, and—”

“He absolutely is the worst.” Alex cut his sister off. She could keep going like that all day, he knew. “But he can also kick us out of here. Forever.” Alex felt his hands fidgeting the way they did sometimes when he got particularly anxious. “We should be more careful.”

Cat rolled her eyes but couldn’t say that he was wrong. “Yeah, yeah. I guess you’re right. We can be more careful.” She held up her phone to Alex. “In the meantime, I think I’ve found our next Quest item.”

Now that was something Alex could concentrate on that didn’t make him as nervous as lifelong expulsion from nerd heaven. “Really?”

“Really.” Cat grinned. “Look behind you.”

Alex turned around, one hand on his messenger bag. There, in the middle of their aisle, were three Vigilante League cosplayers, kindly taking photos with any fans who asked. “Number nine!”

“‘Convince three Vigilante League cosplayers to sing “Eye of the Tiger” with you,’” Cat quoted from the app on her phone. “Thirty-seven points!”

“But how—?” Alex began to wonder aloud, before his sister pushed past him.

“Just back me up.”

Alex shook his head. Cat could be so confident. Even though Alex was grateful she was around to handle otherwise awkward social situations like this one, it didn’t make Cat any less annoying in the way she went about it. Sure, the less Alex had to talk to strangers, the better. But he thought there had to be a way for Cat to go about these things without being so … what was the word he got right on that spelling test last week?… domineering. Two e’s, one n. Nailed it.

Alex trailed Cat as she dove and dodged to the front of the crowd of people taking photos of the cosplayers. There was a Dark Spider, a retro Miss Paradigm, and a Captain Patriot (the version with a beard). As they were striking a very impressive power pose, Cat stopped at the edge of the crowd. She was collecting herself. Ah, Alex thought with an internal sigh. We’re going for strategic adorableness today.

Cat stepped forward, her hands behind her back and her head down a little. She looked up at the cosplayers through her eyelashes. Even though he was still a bit irritated, Alex found himself holding in a laugh as he unlocked his phone. Cat had never been shy for a day in her life, but she put on the act pretty well.

“Um, hi, excuse me?” Cat’s voice was barely audible over the crowd. “Can we—can I get a picture with you? Please?”

Captain Patriot broke his power pose to look over at Cat and smiled. “Why, of course, dear citizen! Anything for the sweet children of this great nation!”

“Oh, gosh, thank you so … so much,” Cat said, her head still down. Alex felt like he was somewhere between a wave of horrible secondhand embarrassment for his sister and a massive laugh attack about his sister. This was a good plan. Alex was big enough to admit that. He just wished his sister would ask his opinion about these things every once in a while before launching herself headlong into them.

Still, this was happening, so Alex shouldered his way to Cat’s old spot at the front of the crowd and held up his phone. This was his cue.

Cat got into place between Dark Spider and Miss Paradigm as Alex hit PLAY on his music app. The first notes of an epic guitar riff piped out of his phone’s speaker. Alex cranked the volume up. He’d never heard of “Eye of the Tiger” before it came up on the Quest list, but he was a little bit obsessed with it now. He’d listened to it more than one hundred times. It was really good pump-up music for doing his math homework. He’d just hit that REPEAT button and the song would play over and over again until he didn’t even really hear it anymore. He had gotten particularly excited when he and Cat and their parents were watching a movie together and the familiar melody blasted through a superhero training montage. (Alex’s parents had been shocked to discover he knew every word.)

And apparently, so did everyone else, at least in this crowd. The song did exactly what the twins had expected it to—the second the crowd recognized the bop, they all started to dance along. Cat started to dance with them. It wasn’t long before the Vigilante League cosplayers were jamming to it, too. Alex opened his camera app and hit RECORD just in time for Cat to start singing the chorus—and nobody cannot sing the chorus to “Eye of the Tiger.” It just kind of happens.

Alex watched the dance party through his phone’s camera, mouthing the lyrics as they played. This was thirty-seven points! This was huge! This was Dangermaker huge!

But—wait. Something wasn’t right. Were they … getting the lyrics wrong? Alex listened. The Vigilante League didn’t know the lyrics to the song very well. They were getting them wrong!

Alex’s hand started to shake. He grabbed his wrist with his other hand so as not to ruin the video. It was the itch. The wrong feeling. It was flooding his entire body. How could they be getting it wrong? It wasn’t hard. The song wasn’t difficult. And the Quest item said to sing the song. Not to sing something that kind of sounded like the song a little bit but was actually something else entirely. Why weren’t they getting it right?

Alex waved one hand to get Cat’s attention. They’re not singing it right, Alex mouthed, keeping quiet so as not to interrupt the video.

Cat frowned but kept dancing. What?! she mouthed back.

“They’re not—” Alex stopped the recording and threw his phone back into his bag. “Forget it. We got it.”

Cat stood there for a second as the music shut off. The watching crowd let out a disappointed “Awww” and started to disperse around them. Alex watched Cat thank the cosplayers in a hurry before rushing back over to him. She was never going to understand this. Alex could feel himself spiraling.

“What is going on with you?!” Cat demanded. See, thought Alex. I knew she wouldn’t get it.

“There’s nothing going on with me.”