Wait.
Pixel Comics.
Fi stopped dead in her tracks, barely noticing when someone collided with her back. Why did Pixel Comics sound so familiar?
She racked her brains as hard as she could. She knew someone had mentioned it to her today. It wasn’t Rowan …
It was Alex! That morning, while getting ready! The one thing he couldn’t stop talking about!
Finally, Fi had a direction. She didn’t know for sure that she would find the twins there—but it was her best bet.
Could Fi’s luck finally be turning?
And was it all thanks to Rowan?
11. Write a poem for someone you see on the con floor who looks like they could use a pick-me-up. Give it to them! (24 points)
16
Cat
Not to exaggerate, but Cat was basically a hero.
Yes, she had cheated on the Quest. And yes, said cheating had lost her and Alex their prized Hall M passes. And no, Alex did not know that yet and was definitely, positively going to absolutely murder her when he found out.
But Cat had gotten Alex his Epic signature, and they’d completed another Quest item to boot. That was the most important thing of all to Alex, that Epic session, Cat reasoned. Maybe, since she was such a hero, he wouldn’t be that angry at her for losing their Hall M passes.
Maybe.
Right?
Cat took a sidelong glance at her brother, tapping away on his console. They were seated behind a booth in Artist Alley, resting their feet while also doing a good deed (and totally coincidentally, a Quest item). After spotting James M., Cat had made a beeline straight for one of the less-populated areas of the floor. There were two big Artist Alley items on the Quest list—take a photo of your favorite artist and upload it to social media to spread the love, and then volunteer to help someone out at their booth. Cat had snapped a pic of Jess Carrell’s table to upload—her art looked like a rainbow-colored Lisa Frank catalog from the 1990s had exploded all over space, and Cat was totally obsessed with it. Cat had even bought one of her pins while she was there, a small purple cat connected to a speech bubble that simply said GO AWAY. Purrfect.
For the next item, they’d found a gal sitting alone at her table who looked like she hadn’t moved in hours. Cat told her they’d be happy to man her booth while she got something to drink and hit the bathroom, and the artist had been super-grateful. They’d exchanged social media deets, and the gal and her cash-stuffed belt bag had run for the nearest ladies’ room. Now Cat and Alex were greeting any folks who stopped by with the promise that the artist would be back any minute.
Seated, resting, alone. Alex had his Epic comic. Cat’s heroism was fresh in his mind.
Welp. No time like right heckin’ now, Cat reasoned. Right?
Oh, Miss Paradigm. This was going to be awful.
“Sayyyyy, Alex!” Cat said, falsely bright. She turned to her brother with a huge smile on her face. “How about that Epic comic, huh?!”
“Are you finally going to tell me what’s been up with you?” Alex said mildly, not bothering to look up from his game.
Cat swallowed. Could the whole con hear that swallow? It basically echoed in her ears. “Oh, uh, yeah, totally! Can’t believe you knew something was up.”
“You know I knew something was up,” Alex said, hitting the PAUSE button on his console. He looked up. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Okay, me too,” Cat lied. “So remember the thing with the Star-Troopers?”
“You cheated.”
“Yes, cool, okay, you totally remember.” Cat couldn’t make her leg stop bouncing up and down. Why did it always do that? “So Dahlia noticed me. Doing that. Cheating.”
“I figured as much.” Alex shrugged. “I’ve been trying really, really hard not to think about what that meant.”
“I understand.” Up and down. Up and down. Up and down. “Well, and it’s not even a big deal.” Cat tried her best to sound casual. “It’s, like, it’s basically nothing. It’s like nothing happened, really, at all, actually.”