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.