by Sam Maggs
“It was your idea to come here,” Alex reminded her, still distracted.
“Yeah—and now it’s my idea to leave here and do more Questing—”
“Are you hungry?” Alex mused, peering closer at the LEGO creation.
“Hungry?!” Cat repeated incredulously. The LEGO pit had served its purpose—it was time to move on! Immediately! Instantaneously! Big things awaited and et cetera and such! “How can you think of food at a time like this? You didn’t stand up for us at all during the filming fiasco, and I’m feeling like the only person who actually cares about the Quest right now and—” Cat threw her hands in the air dramatically. “Actually, you know what, Alex? I am hungry! I’m hungry for a win! So let’s go—”
That got Alex to turn around. Finally. “You don’t have to get all Miss Paradigm on me.”
“Excuse me—”
Alex sighed and moved to help Cat out of the LEGO pit. Cat could tell he was bummed about it. “Fine, fine. Let’s go. Sorry I stopped to enjoy something for five minutes.”
Cat clambered out of the pit. Finally. Freedom! “This is GeekiCon, Alex,” she said, taking off one of her shoes. “This is the Quest.” Hopping up and down on one foot, she shook several LEGOs loose from her decoupaged loafer. “The Quest! The most important thing we’ve ever done! The key to, like, our whole future! It’s not supposed to be fun, it’s supposed to be—”
Cat stopped herself, one leg in the air, balanced precariously on the edge of the LEGO pit. Alex had crossed his arms and was giving her one of those looks. You know, those classic Alex looks that only Alex could give that made her feel like a total space case for, like, no reason except usually because she was being a total space case.
Cat thought for two seconds about what she’d just been saying and realized why Alex was giving her the Look. She dropped her shoe onto the ground, and Alex lifted out an arm for support, raising one of his eyebrows at the same time. The final stage of the Look.
You win this round, Alex. You win this round.
“Okay,” Cat admitted, grabbing hold of her brother’s arm to wiggle her shoe back on. The decoupage certainly didn’t make them fit any more comfortably, that was for sure. “You’re right.”
“I didn’t say anything,” Alex said, with way too much innocence.
“Shut up.” Cat rolled her eyes good-naturedly.
“I just said I didn’t say anything—”
“You know what I mean,” she said, dropping his arm before giving it a little punch. Alex rubbed it even though she’d barely touched him. Now who was being dramatic?
“Do you still have the Hall M—?”
“Yes. Okay, look.” Cat made a big show of putting her phone into her bag and doing up the zipper. “No more phone. No more Quest. But just for the next half hour.” Cat caught her stomach grumbling and covered her mouth with one of her hands. “I guess we do need to eat, anyway.”
Alex gave his sister a grateful smile. “Cool. It’s been a long day. And…” He drew the sentence out to create maximum tension.
“… Aaaaand?” Cat repeated, trying to drag it out of him. She hated when he made her guess things, which happened pretty much every single day all the time.
Pausing just one more moment for effect (seriously, dramatic maximum!), Alex whipped open the top of his messenger bag. “I had Mom pack us sandwiches.”
Cat laughed. Only Alex would get that stoked on sandwiches. “Nice one.”
The twins looked both ways before crossing the busy aisle in front of them and headed up an escalator. They found a little outdoor area by one of the food vendors and settled down on the closest bit of vacant concrete they could find. Cat settled her cape around her like a blanket as Alex pulled out his fabled sandwiches.
“Peanut butter and cucumber?” Cat made a face. So nasty.
“Only for me,” Alex said, clutching that one close to his chest. “I’d never let you eat my amazing lunch, anyway. You get boring ham.”
“Sweet, safe ham,” Cat sang, snatching the sandwich from his hand. “Hey, pass me one of those mustards, nerd,” she demanded, sticking out her hand.
Alex slapped a tiny condiment packet into it, one of a bunch they’d scooped up at the vendor along with some napkins. (Cat had a costume to protect here!) Cat squirted mustard onto her ham sandwich and smooshed it back together. She wiggled her butt on the floor and closed her eyes when she bit down. She really was hungry. They’d been running around all day, and she hadn’t even realized it!
Cat and her brother sat in comfortable silence while they ate. It was one of Cat’s favorite things about time with Alex. They talked a lot—okay, she talked a lot, mostly—and they were always chatting (and sometimes arguing) about whichever new book or comic or TV show or movie they were super into at the moment. Don’t even get Cat started on her ships and OTPs. There were too many to name. But Cat also really dug that she and Alex could just sit together and eat sandwiches or watch shows without it being weird or awkward. Sometimes if you tried to just have quiet time around other people they totally made it weird and awkward. But not Alex. The two of them knew each other so well they could just sort of hang out and be. Even if he did drive Cat up the wall sometimes.
Cat took the opportunity to do some people-watching as she munched away on her delicious and mustardy sandwich. (Seriously, who even invented mustard? Genius level, Cat decided.) There was literally no other place in the world like GeekiCon. Sure, other conventions were cool and the people were really nice, but there was something about this con that really made people bring their A game. Maybe it was that it was the biggest convention in the world, or maybe it was that they just knew this is where everyone else would be doing the most and it made everyone want to step it up. Like some epic feedback loop of nerdiness. Either way, Cat was astounded by every single cosplayer who walked by her. She stared at Dark Spiders, snapped a sandwich selfie, complimented an entire group dressed up as the Heroes of Justice, and even asked to take a picture of a passing imitation Normageddon. Seeing all the hard work and talent that went into these costumes made Cat want to step up her costuming game, too. Maybe this was the year she asked her parents to get her a heat gun for molding Worbla. They would totally go for that, right?
Totally.
“Ta-da!” Alex said suddenly, surprising Cat out of her GeekiCon dreamland. He was staring at Cat expectantly.
“Huh?” she responded elegantly. She grabbed a napkin and wiped at her mustardy hands before they could stain her cape.
“Get out your camera,” Alex said excitedly. “Time’s up!”
Time! Cat whipped her phone out of her purse and checked the clock. Sure enough, exactly a half hour had passed. She looked up and past her brother, trying to see what he was so proud of that it merited a photo.
“Oh my Igor. Alex!” Cat yelled. “Shut up!” Quiet time was over. In the space of the last half hour, while Cat had zoned out to the ham and cosplayers, Alex had been hard at work. There on the concrete beside him was a full ketchup, mustard, mayo, and relish portrait of …
“Wait, who is that?” Cat couldn’t place the face, even though Alex was plenty talented at art (even with condiments).
Alex jerked his head to the left. “Whoever that is.”
Cat looked over in the direction of Alex’s gesture. Just inside the glass doors across from them was a big signing hall. At the smallest table closest to them, a guy sat alone at a table with a couple of books propped up. A little AUTHOR SIGNING NOW! board was propped up next to him. There was no line and he looked very, very bored.
But there was no doubt that Alex’s portrait was bang on. And if the guy had a table, he definitely counted toward Quest item twenty-seven: “Create a portrait of your favorite convention guest out of the medium of your choice, and give it to them. Traditional art materials disallowed.” Forty points!
Cat gave Alex a questioning look, and he gave her a small nod back. She threw her arms around his neck and gave him a huge hug, careful not t
o bump either of them into the condiment masterpiece before she’d managed to photograph it.
“See?” Alex said. Cat could hear a little bit of smugness in his voice, even if she couldn’t see his face. “You’re not the only one who’s thinking about the Quest.”
Cat felt her face going red. She rocked back onto her heels—and winced. Pulling off a shoe and shaking out yet another LEGO (would it ever end?!), Cat laughed. “I guess I deserved that.”
“The LEGO or my correctness?”
“Both?” offered Cat.
“Definitely both,” Alex confirmed. “Come on, grab a photo and let’s go give it to this guy.”
“Technically, though,” Cat mused aloud as she snapped a pic of her brother’s mustard masterpiece (what can’t mustard do, honestly), “this random guy is not your favorite convention guest. We for sure do not even know his name.”
“I’m trying not to get so caught up on technicalities,” Alex said proudly. “Plus, I think he might be my favorite now. No line but still sticking it out with his books? That’s pretty cool. I think it might just be kind of inspiring.”
Cat tossed her phone at her brother. “So what you’re saying is you’re not getting caught up on technicalities but you’ve still managed to justify it so that you think it should count for full points, anyway?”
“Yes!” Alex agreed enthusiastically. Cat laughed, and they pushed through the glass doors in front of them to hopefully make Alex’s new favorite convention guest smile. His ketchup creation watched them go.
27. Create a portrait of your favorite convention guest out of the medium of your choice, and give it to them. Traditional art materials disallowed. (40 points)
11
Alex
Alex felt better than he had all day. Sure, he’d had a bit of a moment with the Vigilante League. But he’d seen some really pro-level LEGO skills and had made that author’s day with his mayo masterpiece, and oh! Alex even bought the guy’s book. Did it sound terrible? Yes. Was Alex unlikely to read it? Okay, also yes. But he felt good for supporting an artist. That’s what you did at GeekiCon. Alex hoped that one day someone at a convention would buy his comics out of a sense of pity and/or excitement, too. As long as people were buying them, right?
Cat seemed to be in a good place too, Alex thought, looking over at his sister. She was buried in her phone again, submitting their Quest photos for the relish relief and the “actually eat healthy at the con” item (cucumber peanut-butter sandwiches counted as healthy in Alex’s book). And she hadn’t tried to order him around in at least fifteen minutes. That was unusually good for Cat, when he thought about it.
Yeah. Yeah, thought Alex, feeling like he was glowing on the inside. They were at GeekiCon, someone liked Alex’s art, his messenger bag was overly full but it was fine, they were getting through the Quest … Yeah. Alex was convinced at this moment that life couldn’t get any better.
“Hey!” an angry voice shouted from the other side of the signing hall. “You two!”
Sigh. When would Alex learn to stop thinking thoughts like that so loudly?
“Ughhhhhhh!” groaned Cat, standing on her tiptoes to see who was shouting at them. “It’s you-know-who!” Alex did not know who.
“Fi?” Alex guessed.
“No.”
“Dad?” Must be Dad.
“No—”
“Team Dangermaker?” Could it be—?
“No!” Cat cut him off. “It’s James M.!”
Ah. “I was just messing with you; I knew all along.” Alex tried his best to lie to his sister.
“Now is not the time!” Cat said through gritted teeth. She was looking around frantically for a quick escape. So much for chill Cat.
Well, fine. Keep Cat chill, thought Alex. He could handle this. Couldn’t he? Yes, there wasn’t a zombie horde in the world that could stop him this time. This time, he would be responsible for their great escape.
Wouldn’t he?
But where could they go and what could they do and quick? What was happening right now…? Think, Alex, think. Alex tried desperately to remember the con schedule in his mind. One P.M.… one P.M.… what was going on at one P.M.…?
That’s it! All at once, Alex remembered something that could save them. He saw it in his mind like one of those flashing bird beacons from Epic, the ones they made all the plushies of. Alex owned two. And he knew where he and Cat had to go.
“Follow me,” said Alex, swinging his messenger bag around and heading off. He blew through the glass doors where they’d entered the hall without even waiting to see if Cat was behind him. He felt pretty cool right then. He could admit that to himself.
“‘Follow me’?” Alex heard Cat repeat under her breath. Oh yeah. She was behind him.
Admittedly, this was not how things normally went down. It was usually Cat in the lead and Alex being dragged along behind her. But he was determined to try something new here, and Alex hoped he could save them.
The bird beacon wouldn’t steer him wrong. Right?
As Alex blasted through the con crowd, he held his gaze just in front of his own feet. He avoided unnecessary eye contact with the people he was quickly trying to dodge and (added bonus) ensured he didn’t step on anyone or anything by accident. He wasn’t sure if this was how Cat managed crowds, but it seemed to work best for him. It was just about the closest Alex could get to ignoring the people around him without actually being able to ignore the people around him.
“Alex.” He heard Cat shout a warning. “He’s catching up! Do you even know where you’re going?!” Oh no. Oh no …
They were almost there. Alex knew it was within reach. Why did he take that guy’s book? His bag was so heavy now … just a little farther. Left, left, down the escalator, around the corner; dodge, duck, weave, and …
“Here!” Alex spun, lifting his head up long enough to find Cat. They’d made it! “Get in, get in!”
“Where—?” Cat started to ask—before she realized where they were, stopping herself. “Oh. My. Darkstar.”
Alex lifted his eyebrows. “One P.M.,” he recited from memory, waving his sister forward and checking over her shoulder to see if James M. had spotted them yet. “Star Cross cosplay meetup. Outside Hall B.”
They were outside Hall B. And they were on the edge of what Alex couldn’t describe any way other than as an absolute sea of humans in costume.
Normally crowds were Alex’s worst enemy; this one was about to be his best friend.
The cosplayers were all milling around, waiting for someone to give them some instructions about when and where and how to pose for their big group photo shoot. It was sure to be an online sensation. Alex even spotted some really unusual costumes—obscure stuff from the short-lived animated version even. Star Cross might have been Alex’s least favorite of all the Star franchises, but he’d still seen every episode of every series. As he scanned the crowd for an easy way in, he especially appreciated all the Star Cross: Big Universe Twelve outfits. That series was obviously the best.
Even if that wasn’t saying much. Well, it was no Star Worlds.
“I’ve got it, c’mon!” Alex heard Cat say beside him. Right. Hiding. He’d gotten them this far; he could let her take things from here. As Cat darted into a small gap in the crowd in front of him, Alex took one more look backward.
Sure enough, just as Alex was squeezing through a gap between two Heelixes, James M. rounded the corner. Alex watched the man come to a dead halt when he saw the Star Cross cosplayers. He thought he heard James M. say a word that his mom would not be pleased with—and then Alex was in the middle of the costume sea, and James M. disappeared.
For now.
Cat and Alex crouched down near a wall, using the cosplayers as cover. Alex nudged Cat as they watched the photo shoot start.
“See?” He raised his eyebrows again.
Cat craned her neck around. “See what?”
“No.” Alex shook his head with a smile. “I mean, see? I can save
us, too.”
Cat rolled her eyes but smiled back. “I know that.”
“Well.” Alex paused for a second. Huh. “I guess now I know that, too.”
“And before you ask, yes, I still have the Hall M passes.” Cat laughed and dropped down onto her butt, throwing her back against the wall behind her. She jolted forward onto her knees nearly as quickly as she’d thrown herself backward, rubbing at her spine. “Ow, what the—?”
“Hey!” Alex peered around his sister to see what had hurt her. His eyes got big. Huge even. “Check that out!”
Cat looked up—and up, and up. It became suddenly very apparent to Alex exactly why this Star Cross photo shoot was organized here, outside Hall B, and not anywhere else in the vast convention grounds. Right on the wall the cosplayers were using as a backdrop, the con had built a huge replica of one wall of the USS Venture, the series’ most iconic starship. It was made to look like one side of the ship’s engine bay, all shiny metal and blinking lights. Gears and buttons and levers were sticking out at all angles—and Cat had managed to jam one right into her back. Classic Cat.
“Whoaaaa,” Alex heard his sister breathe out next to him. “And I thought the cosplayers were good entertainment value. This is wild!”
Alex nodded furiously. It was definitely wild. Bananas, one might even say. The attention to detail was immaculate. There was the seventh engine light, crucial to episode seven of the third season of Star Cross: Explorer. Over there was the deck where Senior Officer Major Davis had fainted after meeting his soul mate on Mixtar Five. And there was—
Wait.
What was that?
Alex stood up, ignoring Cat’s frantic urging for him to crouch down again, lest James M. still be around. But Alex wasn’t even thinking about James M. anymore. No. Now he could only focus on the fact that something on this engine bay replica … was wrong.