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  “He has a point, Jaan,” Michael B. Spoon said. “I was kind of looking forward to judging this afternoon’s costume parade myself.”

  A few others nodded or murmured their agreement. Anya looked uncomfortable.

  “It’s okay, Jaan,” she said softly. “I don’t mind if we stay. I can just hang out here in the hospitality suite while you guys finish up.”

  Jaan shrugged. “Well, if you’re sure …”

  “Come on,” Frank whispered, giving me a tug on the arm.

  We slipped out into the empty hallway. I grinned. “Trying to escape before Anya remembers you’re supposed to be her bodyguard?”

  “Something like that,” Frank admitted. “We don’t have any time to waste sitting around. Not if we’re going to figure out what’s going on.”

  “I hear you. So what’s our next move?”

  “I’m not sure. I really wish we’d caught that hoodie guy.” He sighed. “Think there’s any chance he was one of our suspects?”

  “Well, he definitely wasn’t Vance,” I said. “He’s way too tall to be Hoodie Guy, and it sounds like he was hanging out in the hospitality suite the whole time we were at the mall. And I’d say Dalton’s out too. I’m guessing he won’t be running like that for a while.”

  “Right.” Frank grimaced. “What about that other kid, what was his name? Myles? Or Janice, or even Zolo?”

  “Guess it could’ve been any of them. Although I was pretty sure Hoodie Guy was, well, a guy.” I thought for a second. “Think it could’ve been Janice who yelled Anya’s name right before that slushy came flying?”

  “Maybe, if she disguised her voice.” Frank shrugged.

  Just then the door to the hospitality suite flew open. The cast and crew started pouring out. Anya was with them.

  “There he is,” she said, hurrying over to Frank. “Jaan talked me into doing the next panel. I said I’d try, but only if you could sit with me again.”

  “Oh.” Frank swallowed hard. “Um, okay.”

  He looked at me. I shrugged. What could we do?

  I thought about slipping away to investigate on my own. But I decided against it. Trouble seemed to follow Anya wherever she went. If she was leaving the safety of the hospitality suite, maybe it was better if we both kept her in sight.

  The panel was another Q & A, the afternoon session of the earlier one. There was already a crowd gathered inside. Jaan hurried in, along with Vance, Buzz, and most of the others.

  Anya paused just outside, staring through the doorway. “Coming?” Harmony asked.

  “In a second,” Anya said, her voice shaking. “Go ahead.”

  Harmony looked uncertain. Then she shrugged and hurried into the room.

  “You okay?” Frank asked Anya.

  She shook her head. “I thought I could do this,” she said. “But I don’t think I can. It’s too much.”

  Frank shot me a helpless look. He really has no clue when it comes to dealing with girls. I stepped closer.

  “You’ll be fine, Anya,” I said soothingly. “Seriously.”

  She looked unconvinced. “I don’t know,” she mumbled. “How many people are in there?”

  I stepped to the doorway and looked into the room. Yeah, just as I’d thought. It was packed.

  The cast and crew were milling around behind the panel table. Jaan had already taken his seat in the middle. A few others were still finding their places.

  I looked the other way and scanned the audience, wondering if Mr. Hoodie was out there, waiting for another shot at Anya. It was a creepy thought.

  Then I spotted two familiar faces. Janice was slumped down in her chair, and Myles, who was slouched up against the wall with his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. He looked kind of unhappy.

  Frank called. He was still back in the hallway with Anya.

  And no wonder. Dalton’s accident had probably put a damper on things, especially since most of these Deathstalker fans seemed to know one another.

  I glanced at the panel again. Jaan was looking over at the door with a troubled expression. “Is Anya coming?” he called to me.

  “She’ll be right in,” I replied.

  “All right.” Jaan still seemed concerned. He leaned forward to speak into the microphone sitting on the table in front of him. “Please bear with us, people,” he said. “We must delay this little gathering until someone very special arrives to take the chair to my right.” He waved a hand at the empty seat next to him.

  “Is that all we’re waiting for?” Vance sounded impatient. He jumped up from his place a couple of chairs down, flung himself into Anya’s seat, and reached for her microphone. “Then there’s no need to wait. I’m ready to start answering questions right—”

  BZZZZZT!

  As Vance’s hand touched the mic, he suddenly jerked violently in place. Sparks flew, and a split second later the room went black.

  Blackout

  Anya screamed as the hallway lights—along with every other light in view—went out.

  “Hey!” I yelled. “What’s happening?”

  I wasn’t the only one yelling. Screams and shouts were coming from everywhere. It sounded as if the whole convention had lost power. Maybe even the entire hotel.

  “Frank?” Anya said, her voice quavering. “Where are you?”

  “Right here. It’s okay.” I groped around until I found her hand. “I have an emergency flashlight on my key chain. Just let me find it….”

  The tiny beam wasn’t very strong, but it was enough for me to find my way over to the doorway.

  “We’ve got to get to Vance,” Joe said as soon as I got there. “I think he got electrocuted by one of the microphones!”

  “Oh no!” Anya moaned.

  “Anya?” a voice called. “Is that you?”

  It was Stan. He was standing just inside the room with the crew members who weren’t on the panel. Whew! I steered Anya over to him.

  “Can you keep an eye on her?” I asked.

  “Uh, sure, I guess,” Stan said uncertainly. But Anya seemed okay with it. In fact, she collapsed into the producer’s arms, sobbing.

  Joe and I didn’t stick around to watch. The room was in chaos—the bodyguards were doing their best to keep everyone calm, but it wasn’t really working.

  Using my light, we made our way to the panel table. Jaan and some of the others were bending over Vance, who was slumped on the table. He was moaning, which under the circumstances seemed like a good sign.

  “How is he?” Joe asked.

  Vance lifted his head. “I’m okay,” he rasped. “But I feel like I got struck by lightning.”

  “I think the shock was enough to give him a strong, painful zap,” Buzz said. “But fortunately, the surge blew out the power before it could really injure him.” At my surprised look, he shrugged. “My dad’s an electrical engineer.”

  “Please remain calm, everyone!” Jaan called out. “Everything is under control!”

  Okay, that was pretty much a lie. Things seemed to be escalating—there was no way that electric shock was an accident. But who’d done it and why? We were running out of time to figure it out.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Joe hissed.

  “Okay,” I said. “Follow me.”

  I kept the tiny flashlight on until we were almost to the door. Then I flipped it off. I didn’t want Anya to see us leaving and try to come with us. She was safe enough with Stan, and we could work faster without her tagging along.

  Working by feel, we made our way out of the room and a few steps down the hall. “You there, bro?” Joe whispered.

  “Yeah, I’m here.” I kept the light in my hand but didn’t turn it on. Better not to attract attention. People were already running in and out of the room. Some were using their own cell phones for light. But they were all heading away from us toward the main hall.

  “So what do you think?” Joe said.

  “I don’t know. Why would someone electrocute Vance?”

  �
�I don’t think they were going for Vance,” Joe replied. “I’m pretty sure the mic he grabbed was meant for Anya.”

  “Whoa,” I said. “Okay, that makes more sense. So which of our suspects could’ve rigged it?”

  “I don’t know. But Buzz sounded like he knew a lot about electricity,” Joe said. “You don’t think we should add him to the list, do you?”

  “He couldn’t have been Hoodie Guy,” I pointed out.

  “True. Okay, then what about our superfans?” Joe said. “Think they could do something like this?”

  “Maybe. They’re both techie types, right?” I said. “And they were both right there in the room.”

  “Yeah. Think ATAC HQ found out why Myles got kicked out of all those schools yet?”

  Before I could answer, someone else spoke out of the darkness. “Oh man, it’s so obvious!” Janice’s distinctive voice said. “It has to be Myles doing all this crazy stuff!”

  I gasped and flicked on the flashlight. Janice was standing there in front of us.

  “And hey,” she added, “are you guys really with ATAC? I didn’t even think that was real!”

  In the Dark

  “Janice!” Frank blurted out, sounding panicky as he shone his light in her face.

  I knew how he felt. Our cover was as blown as the power. Now what?

  “Where did you come from?” I demanded. “We didn’t hear you coming!”

  “Obviously.” She rolled her eyes. “Honestly, that’s making it kind of hard for me to believe that you two are some kind of supersecret teen agents.”

  “Whatever,” I muttered.

  “Anyway,” she said, sounding excited, “did you say you think Myles might’ve set up that microphone to zap Anya? Because that totally makes sense!”

  “It does?” Frank said.

  “Yeah. He’s an angry guy. I’m already pretty sure he’s the one who set up Dalton.”

  “Wait, what?” I peered at her in the dim light of Frank’s light. “What do you mean? You think Myles rigged up that Scorpion thing?”

  “Uh-huh. Dalton and Myles were big rivals.” She snorted. “At least Myles thought so. I’m not sure how seriously Dalton took any of it; he kind of seemed to enjoy it all.”

  “What kind of rivals?” Frank asked.

  “Didn’t you read any of Dalton’s blog?” she said. “Myles was always sniping at him on there and on some of the other DS sites too. He and Dalton were always trying to humiliate each other.”

  “So you think Myles was trying to humiliate Dalton by making him fall off the roof?” It sounded a little far-fetched to me.

  “I doubt he intended for him to fall,” Janice said. “Myles is crazy, but maybe not that crazy. He just knew it would drive Dalton nuts to have to stand by helplessly and watch the Slater Scorpion shatter. He probably never guessed Dalton would climb out and try to save it!”

  “Yeah.” I shuddered, remembering the way Dalton had dived right off the roof.

  “Anyway, who else would be nuts enough or have enough free time to set up something like that?” Janice said. “Not to mention enough money to buy the Scorpion just to destroy it.”

  “So Myles has a lot of money?” Frank asked.

  “His family’s loaded,” Janice said matter-of-factly. “They live in some fancy-schmancy building right on Central Park West.” She shrugged. “Didn’t you know that already? I thought you were supposed to be professional spies.”

  “Um …” Frank sounded troubled. I knew it had to be driving him crazy that our cover was blown. That was, like, rule numero uno for ATAC—stay undercover. And Frank is a rules-following kind of guy.

  But I figured it wasn’t worth worrying about now. Janice knew the truth. We might as well go with it.

  “Do you think it’s possible Myles could have been targeting Dalton and Anya?” I asked her. “Because we’re really trying to figure out who’s been sending Anya threats and stuff.”

  “Oh, totally,” Janice said. “You heard him at this morning’s Q & A. Myles has been ranting nonstop ever since they announced the casting. He has a huge crush on this one actress from his favorite science fiction TV show that got canceled last year, and I guess he convinced himself she was the only one who could truly embody Deathstalker.” She shook her head. “Nuts, right?”

  Considering her own strong opinions about the Asp casting, I decided not to comment. “Myles claims he visited the set in New York,” I reminded Frank. “Think he could’ve set that fire and planted that photo?”

  “Maybe,” Frank said. “It’s definitely worth talking to him.”

  We hurried back to the panel room. At least half the occupants were gone. The rest were mostly milling around, bumping into each other in the darkness, waiting for information on what was happening.

  “It’s not going to be easy to find Myles in this mess,” Frank murmured.

  “He was here before, right?” I said. “Turn on your light and let’s see if he’s still around.”

  I led him and Janice over to the spot where Myles had been standing. There was no sign of him. I was looking around the rest of the room when Jaan hurried over.

  “There you are, boys!” he said, not even noticing Janice. “Is Anya with you?”

  “What?” I had a familiar sinking feeling. “No. Isn’t she with you?”

  “We left her with Stan,” Frank put in.

  Stan appeared behind Jaan. “She ran off after you two disappeared,” the producer said with a frown. “I tried to stop her, but she ignored me.” He shook his head. “Actresses! They’ll be the death of me, I swear….”

  “Oh man, not again!” I said.

  Frank sighed. “I’ll look for her,” he said. “You two see if you can find Myles.”

  “Let’s just hope we don’t find them together,” I said.

  “True,” Janice said. “But hold on—I have an idea.”

  She flipped her phone around so the screen was facing her. Then she started typing on the tiny keyboard.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Posting a comment on Stalking Deathstalker,” she said, still typing. “I’m asking anyone who’s here at the con to keep an eye out for Myles and post where he is if they see him.”

  “Oh.” I was skeptical. Who was going to be checking in on some blog in the middle of a blackout?

  But Janice had hardly finished when her phone alert buzzed. It was someone posting to say they’d seen Myles less than five minutes ago!

  “Says he was in the main hall,” Janice reported. “Heading north-northwest.”

  I tossed Frank a wave, then hurried off with Janice beside me. It took us a few minutes to find our way to the main hall in the dark. In that time, more posts popped up on the blog. One claimed to have spotted Myles on the fifth moon of Uranus, and another said he’d been seen running naked through the mall. But the rest actually seemed to be for real.

  “It sounds like he was heading toward the ballroom,” Janice said, scanning the latest one. “Should we go see if he’s there?”

  “Definitely.”

  When we got there, the ballroom appeared to be empty. I peered in through the door. No sign of the craziness from outside.

  “False lead,” I said. “Where else could he have gone?”

  Janice shook her head, shining her PDA light around. “I bet he’s hiding out in here,” she whispered. “For all his bluster, he’s a total coward. It would be just like him to lay low until the lights come back on.”

  I realized this was the same ballroom where we’d witnessed the LARPing incident earlier. Still, I wasn’t convinced that made it any more likely that Myles would hide out here. But why not check it out? It was just as likely we’d find him here as stumbling around in the dark outside.

  “Okay, let’s take a look,” I said.

  Janice nodded, then turned off her light. “Stay quiet so he doesn’t know we’re coming,” she whispered. “I assume as a trained agent you know how to do that, right?”

&
nbsp; I rolled my eyes, even though she couldn’t see me in the dark. “Let’s go,” I whispered back.

  We crept across the room toward the far wall. That was where I’d seen the boxes of props and costumes and such stacked earlier. Maybe Janice was right; maybe Myles was hiding out behind the boxes.

  We were halfway there when the sudden buzz of my cell phone made me jump. Beside me, Janice let out a squeak of surprise.

  I grabbed the phone, hitting the mute button. But I was afraid it was too late. If Myles was in here, he’d know someone was coming.

  We stood still for a second, listening. Then Janice grabbed my arm and gave it a tug, indicating we should keep going. I peered around as we tiptoed forward, willing my eyes to adjust. But it was way too dark to see much beyond vague shadows.

  After a few more steps, I realized Janice wasn’t within arm’s reach anymore. “Where are you?” I whispered as softly as I could. “Janice?”

  BZZZZZT!

  I gasped as the lights suddenly blazed back to life. After so long in the dark, the glare was blinding.

  “There he is!” Janice shouted. “Joe, look out!”

  “Huh?” I started to turn. But I stopped when I felt the cold, hard steel of a blade pressed against my throat.

  “Don’t move,” Myles hissed in my ear.

  The New Normal

  After Joe and Janice left, I tried calling Anya. Her phone went straight to voice mail, so I started searching. I had no idea where she’d gone. I decided to go with the logical approach. Using my flashlight, I worked my way down the hall.

  I found her less than ten minutes later. She was leaning against the wall, talking on her phone. When she saw me, she hung up.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “How’s Vance?” she asked without answering my question.

  “He’ll live. The electricity didn’t have time to build to a dangerous level before it cut off,” I told her. “At least that’s what Buzz said. Anyway, Vance should be fine.”