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Mr. Garvey said, “Maybe it wouldn’t be fun. Maybe it would be hard work. But at the end of the day, you’d bring home a large financial reward to your school. Doesn’t that make it worth it? Why don’t you think of it that way?”

Winston said nothing. He was afraid Mr. Garvey would talk him out of quitting. Part of him was hoping this would happen.

Mr. Garvey continued, “I think you have a responsibility, Winston, to attend this event and do your best at it. No matter who your teammates are.”

A new, small realization poked its way through Winston’s anger and disappointment. In fact, it felt a little bit like solving a puzzle: He’d picked up on the clues that were right in front of him and understood how they fit neatly together. Mr. Garvey had an entire class of smart kids to draw from, and yet he was trying quite hard to convince Winston to stay on the team. Quite hard.

“This is an opportunity for you,” Mr. Garvey said, “to give something back to your school. Do you understand?”

Winston said, “You really want me to be on the team.”

Mr. Garvey gave a small bark of laughter. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

“You don’t think you can win without me.”

Mr. Garvey looked surprised and then turned stony again. “I wouldn’t go that far. I teach a lot of bright students. Some of them like puzzles very much.”

“This will be more than math puzzles, though,” Winston said. “It’ll probably be all kinds of puzzles.”

Mr. Garvey nodded slowly, aware he was being backed up against a cliff. “You’re probably right. That’s why I think it would be best if you stayed on the team.”

Mentally crossing his fingers, Winston said, “I’ll stay on the team if my friends can stay.”

The math teacher crossed his arms. “And if not?”

Winston shrugged again.

The stony look on Mr. Garvey’s face intensified. He shook his head in disbelief. “Are you playing hardball with me, Winston?”

“No,” Winston said, although he knew the answer was yes. “I’m just saying that we already have a good team. That’s the team I want to be on.”

The teacher gaped down at him for several moments. He blew out a long breath and said, “Look at this from my point of view. Who are these friends of yours? They aren’t elite students, or I’d have heard of them. One of them may be a fine athlete, but athletes don’t tend to be master puzzle solvers.” He searched around for some new way to salvage the situation and settled on, “Did I mention to you how much I want to win this thing?”

“They’re both good thinkers,” said Winston. “We’re a good team. You’ll see.”

Mr. Garvey thought about it, shook his head briefly, and threw his arms out wide in a gesture of surrender. “I guess I will. You win, Mr. Breen.”

Winston was hugely relieved. “Thank you,” he said. He almost extended an arm to shake Mr. Garvey’s hand in gratitude but stopped himself from doing that. “It’ll be fine, I promise.”

Mr. Garvey nodded, not wanting to discuss it any further. Winston was happy, but Mr. Garvey clearly was not. The teacher dug through the leather bag he was carrying and brought out a piece of paper and a pen. “Give me your address,” he said. “I’ll pick all three of you up at your house at eight thirty on Friday morning.”

Winston wrote his address and handed it to the math teacher. Mr. Garvey glanced at it, then said, “Okay. I’ll see you in a couple of days. Be ready.” He stalked off down the hall, all in a rush.

No, he definitely didn’t look happy.

“YAAAGH!” cried the knight as the blade of a sword separated his head from his body. The headless knight fell to his knees and turned to dust. Then the dust itself vanished. When things died in this video game, they died permanently.

“You did it again!” said Jake, frustrated. “How did you do that?”

“When you just stand there gaping, you make it real easy,” said Mal.

“I don’t just stand there!”

“You do, all the time! I can tell when you’re trying to push the buttons for a special move. You take your eyes off the game and look at the controller, and your knight stands there like he’s birdwatching or something.”

Jake stood up,