Con Quest!

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.