Cat yanked off her headset. They won.
They won!
So … why did Cat feel … kind of bad? She’d been preparing for this moment for weeks. This was exactly what she wanted. She had a stranger tape their team’s victory dance—their randoms, it turned out, were three ladies who looked like they were probably Cat’s mom’s age. They exchanged social media information so they could all get Quest credit for the video, and Alex uploaded it to the app (while also getting reassurance from Cat that she still had their Hall M passes). It all happened so fast Cat could barely process it before they were shuffled out of the play area and back into the masses on the con floor.
They won.
Cat should be happy, right?
So … why was she definitely about to snap at her brother for no reason?
“I need to sit down,” Cat said abruptly, making her way to the nearest wall. She put her back against it and slid down to the floor, her head between her knees.
“Are you okay? Do you feel sick? That’s how I usually feel after VR,” Alex said sympathetically, sitting down next to his sister. He patted her knee awkwardly. Alex was never great with physical reassurances.
“I’m fine,” Cat said, sounding definitely not fine. “I’m fine!” Nope, not that time, either. She sighed. “I’m glad you won the game. Really.”
Alex frowned. “We won the game.”
“Right,” Cat said, forcing a smile onto her face. She shoved her growing feeling of disappointment and frustration down, reminding herself where she was. This was GeekiCon, and they’d just gotten another forty entire points for the Quest. She was totally and absolutely for sure fine. Definitely not upset with Alex at all for any reason. For sure not feeling the way she did whenever she so much as thought about Team Dangermaker. “We won. Go us!”
Alex was still frowning at her.
“No sitting on the con floor!” a harsh voice snapped, and both Cat and Alex snapped their heads up.
“Oh no,” Cat groaned. James M., the angry staffer from the Igor panel, was speedwalking directly toward them. Cat started to move to her feet but wasn’t fast enough—maybe the VR had messed with her balance a little bit. The light above them was blocked out by James M., the convention fluorescents bouncing off the top of his very shiny forehead.
“Hi again.” Cat plastered on her most charming smile. “I like your fanny pack.”
James M. would not be fooled by her false compliments. “You two.” He put his hands on his hips, where Cat saw a convention walkie-talkie hanging from his belt. Not good.
“Who two?” Alex asked innocently.
“Don’t move. I’m calling this in to security. Participants in the Quest will be banned from the convention grounds for life.” James M. reached for his radio.
Excuse me?! “Says who?!” Cat demanded, lurching to her feet. She had to hold on to the wall behind her to keep her balance. She came up to about James M.’s mid-chest—she definitely couldn’t take him in a fight. Cat knew the Quest wasn’t exactly endorsed by GeekiCon, but she’d never heard of anyone being banned for participating. Especially not forever!
“Says me, as of right now.” James M. unclipped his radio and pointed it in Cat’s face. “I’m sick of all you … you Questers and Vigilante League fangirls and fake geeks who’ve never so much as picked up a comic book in their life.” As James M. continued, his face got redder and redder. Spit gathered in the corners of his mouth, right on top of his tiny beard. “GeekiCon used to be about real fans who loved comics. Nerds never used to be cool. Kids like you are ruining this convention, and—”
“Welp, would you look at the time? Gotta go, byeeeee!” Cat talked over James M. so fast and so loud that he didn’t notice until too late that Cat had grabbed her brother’s hand and was diving under the older man’s outstretched arm.
Cat scanned the con quickly and came up with a plan. “Floating sheep! See you there in ten! Split! Split!” Cat dropped her brother’s hand and bolted to the right. She’d meet up with her brother at the giant floating sheep balloon, advertising some new animated series, toward the end of the hall in ten minutes. James M. had no hope of catching them now—not when they were so fast and definitely not when there were two of them running in different directions!
Cat looked behind her just once as she escaped (dangerous, considering the speed at which she was moving meant she had to dodge a human every half second). Alex was already nowhere to be seen. Perfect. James M. was talking furiously into his walkie-talkie, looking around in frustration.
Cat’s eyes met James M.’s for just one moment before she disappeared into the crowd around her. She winked. Hexforce Legends champion, indeed.
13. Collect the contact information of three new friends. (18 points)
15. Beat someone at Hexforce Legends on the convention floor. Create and capture your own victory dance. (22 points)
8
Alex
Alex bent over with his hands on his knees, desperately trying to catch his breath. A giant inflatable sheep hung over his head ominously. This was why Fi was the athlete and not Alex. He just didn’t have it in him. Who would ever want to run for fun, anyway? To Alex, it seemed completely counterintuitive.
“You made it!” Alex looked up, still wheezing, to see Cat appear in front of him, deposited there by the crowd perpetually in motion around them. Cat’s hair was even frizzier than usual now, and she’d managed to tear her cape. A few of the comics on her shoes had started to peel away. Still, Alex was happy to see her—especially since the incident with James M. had apparently made Cat forget that she was angry at him for winning that Hexforce Legends match. Playing had made Alex almost throw up