"Screen four," said Cress, squinting at the grid of icons.
"High Jack to ...D5."
Without waiting for the animated jester to cartwheel
to his new space, she shifted her attention to the next game.
"Screen five. Claim rubies and daggers. Discard crowns."
The screen sparkled, but she had already moved on.
"Screen six." She paused, chewing on the tips of her hair.
Twelve rows of numbers filled up the screen, some slots
left blank, some tinted with colors and patterns.
After her brain twisted around an equation she wasn't sure
she could have done a second time, the puzzle lit up before
her, the solution as clear as a moonrise over Earth.
"3A, insert yellow 4. 7B is black 16. 9G is black 20."
The grid melted away, replaced with a second era singer
swooning into a microphone, the audience swelling
with applause.
"Congratulations, Big Sister," said Little Cress.
"You won!"
Cress's victory was short-lived.
She rolled onto her side and reassessed the first game.
Seeing the move that Little Cress had made since her
last turn squelched her pride.
She'd backed herself into a corner.
"Screen one," she murmured, swooping her hair over
one shoulder and mindlessly knotting the dampened
ends around her fingers.
Five knots later and her victory on screen six was forgot-
ten.
Little Cress was
going to win this one.
She sighed and made the best move she could, but it was
immediately followed by Little Cress's king moving to the
center of the holographic labyrinth and claiming the golden
chalice.
A laughing jester appeared,
gobbling down the rest of the game board. .
Cress groaned and pulled her hair off her neck, waiting
for whatever task her younger self would randomly select
for her. "I won!" said Little Cress,
once the holograph had disappeared back into the screen.
The other games automatically locked themselves.
"You now owe me ten minutes of country-western line dancing,
as guided by the following video, followed by thirty jump-squats.
Let's begin!" Cress rolled her eyes, wishing she hadn't been
quite so perky when she'd recorded the voice.
YOU ARE READING
Cress
Teen FictionTheir best hope lies with Cress, a girl trapped on a satellite since childhood who's only ever had her netscreens as company. All that screen time has made Cress an excellent hacker. Unfortunately, she's being force to work for Queen Levana, and she...
