“There is a way,” said Seth. “But she won’t find it.”
“She will. We’re going to help her,” said Coco.
Seth’s smile widened. “I hoped you would. I’ll have all three of you behind the mirror, in the end.”
At that, Brian, with a yell and a flying tackle worthy of the high school football team, threw himself at the smiling man.
But he missed. Seth didn’t even move, just sat in his chair, as cool as the winter night outside, and somehow Brian was left to slam face-first into the table behind him.
“Brian!” Coco cried, and ran over to haul him upright. “That was dumb,” she told him. His lip was split and bleeding.
Brian just shook his head, wiped off his split lip, and said to Seth, fists clenched, “Bring her back!”
“No,” said Seth calmly.
Coco wanted to give Brian a hug; she wanted to help him calm down. She wanted to tell him, This isn’t a hockey game; it isn’t a duel in the fantasy books you like to read. You can’t just be the fastest, the strongest, and the bravest and win. We have to make a plan.
Coco might have been tiny, but she was good at making plans. She’d played enough chess. At least, she hoped she had. She was still thinking as hard as she could. Seth had taken Ollie’s watch. It must be important. Possibly they wouldn’t be able to figure out how to get through the mirror without the watch’s help. They needed the watch. But how to get it back?
I like games, Mr. Voland had said. He was playing one now. A nasty game. One that only he understood. But what if Coco challenged him to a different game?
Seth leaned back in his chair, still smiling. He was enjoying himself, she realized. He wasn’t worried about them outsmarting him. Maybe he was overconfident.
She licked her lips. Brian looked like he was about to start shouting again. So she spoke first. “That watch isn’t yours,” Coco said to Seth. She was surprised at how strong her voice sounded. Not thin or squeaky at all. “It’s Ollie’s. Give it back.”
“It’s mine now,” said Seth. “I take it you mean to help your friend and be trapped alongside her? Very well. Go help her. You are wasting time.”
“Not without Ollie’s watch, we aren’t,” Coco said.
“I fail to see how you’ll get it,” said Seth. “I’m not giving it to you.”
Coco swallowed hard. “I’ll play you for it,” she said. “Unless you’re scared of a kid outsmarting you. You said you like games.” Beside her, she felt Brian’s stare, but he didn’t say anything.
Seth snorted. “Wiser and greater men than you have tried outsmarting me, as you put it. They are dead now.”
“Well,” said Coco very coldly, “that’s too bad for them. But I’m a girl, and I bet I can beat you at chess.” She hadn’t forgotten him cheerfully mocking her and Ollie earlier. She hadn’t been playing very seriously then. Maybe he’d decided she was terrible. She hoped he had.
She hoped she wasn’t.
Seth went still. His eyes narrowed. Coco’s mouth was dry, and she was shaking with the coldest terror she’d ever felt in her whole life. “Unless you’re scared you’ll lose,” she added.
Seth just raised a casual eyebrow. “The last time I played chess was with a knight by the sea, and his life was the forfeit.”
“Great,” said Coco. “You know how to play, then.”
His laugh was unpleasant. “Yes,” he said. “I know how to play. And I accept. One match. The watch is yours if you win, for all the good it will do you. But what will you give me if you lose?”
He snorted when Coco didn’t say anything. She couldn’t quite bring herself, like the knight by the sea, to offer her life. “I thought so,” he said. “I will not play if you do not also have a forfeit.”
“Me,” said Brian.
Coco whirled. “Brian, what?”
Brian gave her a small, shaky smile. “If she loses, I’ll go back behind the mirror with Ollie,” he said. “I’ll even promise to stay there forever. ’Cause, you see, Coco won’t lose.”
“Well enough,” said Seth. “I accept.”
“Brian, that is the worst idea I have ever heard,” said Coco.