Con Quest!

“What are you doing?” Fi asked, flustered.

“Item twenty-six,” Rowan responded simply. She looked back down at her phone to submit it on the app.

Item twenty-six … Fi racked her brain. She’d looked at this like one zillion times today. What was item twenty-six?!

Rowan looked back up from her phone and smiled at Fi’s unasked question. “‘Submit a photo of the most beautiful thing at GeekiCon.’”

Before Fi even had a chance to register the blush that had surely spread from her hairline all the way down to her toenails, Rowan leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. Fi felt like the entire left side of her face was on fire. She was certain that Rowan could hear her heart pounding. Her hands were sweaty. Why did hands even get sweaty?!

Rowan pulled back and giggled—actually giggled—at the stunned look on Fi’s face. “Yeah, even I have to admit that was pretty smooth.”

That was enough to start Fi giggling, too. “It really was, what the heck!” Fi was laughing so hard now she was almost bent in two. Is this just what a day at GeekiCon did to you by the end of it?

Rowan was already back to business and had started talking about the Mystery Item again. Collecting herself, Fi finally put her hands on her knees and straightened herself up. People were still wandering around the Lunar Soldier sales section—no one had even noticed Fi and Rowan’s little moment together. All the toys were so bright and colorful, and the posters—

The posters.

“Rowan,” Fi said, interrupting her friend—Friend? Girlfriend? Whatever, later—but Rowan didn’t seem to notice. “Rowan!” Fi repeated with more urgency. She tugged on the girl’s sleeve and pointed upward. “Look!”

There, directly above the girls’ heads, was a giant Lunar Soldier poster hanging from the ceiling rafters and swaying in the breeze of the (very strong) convention air-conditioning. It showed five Planetary Soldiers all decked out in their finest, tiniest skirts, looking ready for battle or for a beauty tutorial, whichever came first.

And if you looked at the poster just right—from just the right angle, say directly below it—you would notice that one side of Lunar Soldier’s crown was a little blurry.

And it looked just like the Mystery Item photo on the app.

“No way, dude,” Rowan breathed.

“Yes way, dude!” Fi was jumping up and down now. “Get it! Get it!”

“Cat and Alex are not going to believe this.” Rowan grinned as she snapped the photo.

“Oh.” Fi grinned back. “You have no idea.”

26. Submit a photo of the most beautiful thing at GeekiCon. (45 points)

25

Cat

Cat.

Could not.

Believe it.

First, she’d been like, We’re totally going to win. And then she’d been like, No, we’re definitely going to lose. But now, with Alex coming through like this at the last minute, she was like, We might actually, totally, definitely, absolutely be able to win.

Maybe.

Probably?

Seriously. And there was only one way to be sure.

Her hands shaking with nervous energy, Cat reached forward and pulled aside the black curtain separating their little hidden antechamber from what lay beyond.

Cat was hit with a wall of sound as her eyes adjusted to the darkness ahead of her. The echoey reverb of people talking on microphones in a massive room combined with the chatter of thousands of people enveloped her. Alex shoved her forward so they could drop the curtain back behind them, calling as little attention to their position as possible. Cat squinted as the crowd erupted into laughter, and the room finally came into clear focus.

Hall M. This was it. This was it. Cat had read about it for years online. This is where all the biggest announcements were made every single year at GeekiCon. It’s where all the biggest stars from all the best geeky movies and TV shows came to chat with their fans. It’s where any relative nobody could get up to the microphone and ask literal superheroes what they liked to eat for breakfast.