Fi blinked. She had never felt more confused about who she was or what she wanted or what she was supposed to be doing. She was angry at the twins but grateful she wasn’t alone; frustrated to be at the convention but kind of on a weird adventure now; missing her friends but admittedly sorta kinda enjoying Rowan’s company, too. There was just a lot going on in her head.
And Rowan was right; it wasn’t all about the twins. Not anymore.
“I don’t know.” Fi sighed. “Let’s check social one more time.”
Both Fi and Rowan hopped onto their phones, scrolling through every app, hashtag, and account they could think of. Life-sized animal cosplayer … huge crowd … TV show panel … definitely Criss Angel …
Fi looked over at Rowan’s phone and grabbed her thumb before she could keep scrolling. “Wait, there!”
“There?” Rowan asked, centering the previous pic.
“There!” Fi said excitedly. It was a photo of a gigantic line outside—it looked like it went on for miles. People had lawn chairs and sleeping bags even. And there, toward the very back of the line, was Cat’s unmistakable blue hair.
“That’s the Hall M line!” Rowan said excitedly. “And this was just posted a minute ago!”
Fi was already running.
“You don’t know where you’re going!” Rowan said with a laugh, bypassing her.
“You take the lead!” Fi answered.
But she didn’t slow down.
19
Cat
Cat was totally flabbergasted. She did not know how to spell that word, but she definitely knew how to say it and what it meant. And that was what she was feeling at that exact moment.
Alex had abandoned her. In her time of need. She’d basically been the one moving this Quest thing forward the whole day—she’d even been willing to break the rules to win!—and all it’d gotten her were lost Hall M passes and an angry brother. And an empty stomach. Eating healthy at a convention was so, so hard.
Cat tugged at one of her loafers, adjusting the heel so it stopped rubbing on her fresh blister. She shifted her weight to her other foot—and adjusted her other loafer, because of another blister. These decoupaged shoes were going to be the end of her, Cat knew it.
Well, blisters or no, she didn’t need Alex, Cat decided. She could do this without him. She could and would win the Quest alone. Help was for the weak. Brothers were jerks. She could do this. She was in the right.
Right?
She would just have to take matters into her own hands. If she didn’t have a pass, she’d get into Hall M like everyone else. It was easy. All she had to do was brave the line.
The gigantic line.
That people sometimes spent full days in. And slept overnight in.
And she was definitely, absolutely at the very end of it.
This is fine! Cat repeated over and over in her head, hopping from one foot to the other, wincing away in her pain. Totally fine! For absolutely sure!
Car tried to count the number of people in front of her in line. One, two, three, six, six hundred, sixteen thousand … yep, definitely about sixteen thousand million, no question. Then she tried to count the seconds until the line started moving. One locomotive, two locomotive, three, oh, Dark Spider, she was so bored and there was nothing for her to do and no one for her to talk to!
Cat flopped down on the cold ground, taking the pressure off her aching heels, and eyed the blankets and chairs of the folks around her with great jealousy. Alex probably would have thought to bring a cushion.
Minutes ticked by.
Then more minutes.
Then still.
More.