Fifty-Six

Chess

Run! Chess thought. Save Finn and the Lanas! Before the exits are sealed! And, oh, how am I ever going to get over to Rocky and Gus, or Emma and Kona, or Other-Natalie and the Judge? Or . . .

It was hopeless. Because Chess didn’t just want to save his own family, his own friends. He wanted to save everyone in the stadium.

Everyone in the world.

Everyone in both worlds.

We can’t run this time, he thought. We need to . . . unite.

Around him, the happy buzz of voices turned anxious and questioning.

And behind him, the hum of a TV announcer’s voice came back to life, though it wasn’t quite as booming as before: “The evildoers and warmongers from the other world have now been completely defeated, and our own valiant leaders have returned in triumph. Spontaneous celebrations have begun at rally points throughout the land. . . .”

Chess turned and saw that the giant screen had awakened again, too. Even though the actual Mayor was over to the side, just arriving, the screen showed a scene of Mayor Mayhew standing on a stage at the front of the stadium. On the screen, the Mayor smiled and waved as an adoring crowd cheered endlessly before him.

Around Chess, everyone else began turning toward the screen, too.

Chess couldn’t stand it.

“That’s a lie!” he screamed. “That’s not what’s happening here!”

At the same time, Finn stood on tiptoes beside him and hollered, “That’s not true! Don’t watch!”

“Don’t give it power over you!” Lana and Other-Lana screamed, their voices blending perfectly.

Now the people around Chess were looking at him and Finn and the girls, not at the screen.

Chess wasn’t like Finn—he hated people watching him. He hated speaking in public.

But right now, he had a voice.

And he was going to use it.

“Lana, you know about TV cameras, right?” he called urgently. “Other-Lana, are you enough like her that you do, too?”

“Absolutely,” they both said, in unison.

“Then both of you, find a TV camera,” he began.

His heart pounded. How could he explain his idea quickly enough? How could they all do what they needed to before everyone was looking back at the TV?

Before all the people here—even the doubles—were trapped?

“Oh, right,” Lana said as Other-Lana added, “And then we’ll figure out how to hook up the feed from our cameras to this screen. We’ll meet you over there—”

“Right beside the Mayor,” Finn agreed.

Chess didn’t have to explain his idea, even to Finn. Everyone with him understood.

“Because we’re going to get the Mayor to tell the truth,” Chess said. “To the whole world.”