Games of Chance

Three

For the first time in his life, Chase drove in absolute silence. Even the GPS in front of him, directing him toward the convention center, was on mute. Something about this moment felt strangely fragile and Chase was working very hard to preserve the beautiful illusion, almost as if the slightest noise would reveal to him that the whole idea of the career fair was a dream.

That morning, his parents hadn't been there to see him and his sister off to school. Instead, he'd found a note taped to the fridge written in his mother's loopy scrawl.

Chase,

Do us a favor and drop your sister off at school? Dad and I got a call late last night. The company wants us in Arcana by this evening, and we had to leave early to make our flight. Have fun at your career fair.

Love you,

Mom

"The company" was Nader V. Hesche Financial, an international accounting firm based in Arcana. Yes, the firm Chase's parents worked for was Arcanese and required them to travel there quite frequently. Yet, no matter how many times he'd begged and pleaded with them, they refused to take him to Arcana with them. It's no different from America or any other western country, they insisted. There's nothing interesting there. It's not like you would see the princess or anything.

But now, he was going to see the princess. And he didn't even have to go to Arcana. No, she was coming to him. He slammed on the brakes, almost running a red light in the face of the sheer impossibility of it all. Fueled by relentless anticipation, it didn't take him long to finally drive into the surprisingly crowded convention center parking lot. He hadn't counted on so many people being interested in Princess Juliana or STEM careers, let alone both, but thanks to a few quick probability scans, he still managed to snag a parking spot that was relatively close to the building.

Shoving his hands into the pockets of his thin jacket, he got out of his car and began to walk toward the entrance at a brisk but reasonable pace. He didn't want to look too excited. After all, being a nerd didn't mean he was totally oblivious to what other people thought of him. He smiled as he passed a group of girls all dressed in some variation of Princess Juliana's iconic peacoat and slacks. Meg wasn't completely wrong... he did enjoy being around others of his kind.

As he entered the convention center, the first thing he saw was an array of registration tables, behind each of which was a screen displaying a slideshow of not-so-interesting facts about math, science, and Arcana. Getting in line in front of one of the tables, Chase glanced upward at its screen.

Did you know?: No one speaks 'Arcanese.' The official language of the Kingdom of Arcana is English!

Chase rolled his eyes. Anyone with the slightest bit of general knowledge knew that.

Since he had arrived early, it didn't take him long to reach the front of the line. The tired, middle-aged woman sitting at the table who hadn't lifted her head for as long as Chase had been there suddenly looked up at him, her eyes flashing with recognition even though he had no idea who she was.

"Chase Hewkin," she smiled. "Welcome."

The chances of her randomly guessing his first and last name correctly were too small even to compute.

"Here's your ticket," she handed him a slip of paper listing his name and personal information, all of which was perfectly correct. His grip tightened on the paper as he scanned the final row of text. VIP Admission.

"I'm sorry, I think there was a mistake." He placed the ticket back on the table to show the woman, pointing to the words. "I didn't sign up for VIP."