Chapter 10

Chapter 10 TOO MANY COOKS! NOT ENOUGH COBBLESTONE! "WHO TOOK ALL THE OBSIDIAN?" Jodi asked. She'd had it all set aside in a treasure chest. But now the chest was empty. "NOT ME." said Harper. "DON'T LOOK AT ME." said Morgan. "Po?" Jodi asked. "HE'S NOT HERE YET." Morgan said. He sounded annoyed that Po was tardy. They had been working on the castle all week. It wasn't going well. "Wait a minute," Morgan said. "WHAT DO YOU NEED OBSIDIAN FOR? There's no obsidian

in the plans." "BUT IT LOOKS NICE." Jodi said. "And we don't have enough cobblestone. I thought we could replace some of it with obsidian. Maybe we could have a whole tower that's shiny and black." She closed her eyes and pictured it. "Oh, a black tower with diamonds like glittering stars! WE CAN CALL IT THE NIGHT TOWER." Morgan hopped in frustration. "WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR STUFF LIKE THAT." he said. "JUST FOLLOW THE BLUEPRINT. JODI." "I don't remember the blueprint." And she didn't—at least, not exactly. That was one big problem with Morgan's plan: they couldn't bring the blueprint into the game. Everyone tried to memorize the plans, but they all

remembered the details a little differently. "HARPER. WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON?" Morgan asked. She had been laying redstone dust along the ground. "I'M MAKING A SWITCH MECHANISM FOR THE DOOR." she replied. "A switch?" Morgan said. "IT'S A DOOR! IT DOESN'T NEED TO BE COMPLICATED." "BUT IT'S BETTER THIS WAY." Harper argued. Morgan huffed. "I SUPPOSE YOU DON'T REMEMBER THE BLUEPRINT. EITHER." "Oh, I remember it," Harper said. "I'M JUST IMPROVING IT." There was a loud pop, and Po appeared nearby. At least, Jodi assumed it was Po. Today he'd chosen a skin that made him look like a construction worker. "Hey!" he said. "What did I miss?" "MORGAN IS HAVING A MELTDOWN." Jodi answered. "Where have you been, Po?" Morgan asked. "I TOLD YOU I HAD BASKETBALL

PRACTICE." Po answered. "I GOT HERE AS SOON AS I COULD." He slapped his forehead. "But I forgot to look at the blueprint. I have no idea what I'm supposed to be building today." "LET'S ALL JUST FOCUS ON MINING." Morgan said. "Okay? We need a lot more cobblestone to finish the castle." He pointed at the work in progress. So far, they had two gray towers. These would become the castle's turrets. "IS THE NEW TURRET SHORTER THAN THE OTHER ONE?" Po asked. "Is that on purpose?" Morgan sighed. "MAYBE A CASTLE IS TOO DIFFICULT FOR A FIRST PROJECT." Harper said. "We have

plenty of cobblestone for a nice cottage." "I WON'T ADMIT DEFEAT." Morgan said. "NOT HERE. NOT IN MINECRAFT. I'M SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD AT MINECRAFT." Jodi felt bad for her brother. He had his heart set on a castle. So she would help him make a castle. (Even if he didn't really deserve her help.) "OKAY." she said. "BACK TO DIGGING FOR STONE." She raised her pickaxe high, then brought it down and struck the ground beneath her feet. "NO. WAIT!" Morgan cried. But he was too late. The pickaxe broke through the ground. And beneath it—there was nothing. Just blank black space. Jodi fell. Everyone screamed her name. Jodi screamed, too. But not for very long. She fell only the length of four blocks before landing on solid ground. "I'M OKAY!" she said. "What were you thinking?" Morgan said. She could see him above her, peering down into the

hole. "YOU NEVER DIG STRAIGHT DOWN. THAT'S THE FIRST RULE OF MINECRAFT!" "I thought there were no rules in Minecraft," Jodi argued. "AND BESIDES. YOU CAN FLY IN CREATIVE MODE. So this isn't usually a problem for me." "YOU CAN FLY IN CREATIVE MODE?" PO asked. "Dude, Creative mode is sounding better and better." Harper called down, "YOU CAN GET YOURSELF OUT. JODI. JUST JUMP UP AND PLACE A BLOCK OF DIRT BENEATH YOUR FEET." Jodi did as Harper instructed. It didn't take her long to reach ground level. But when she did, she saw that the sun was low in the sky. "GUYS. WE LOST TRACK OF TIME. IT WILL BE DARK SOON." "And we're still not ready for any hostile mobs that might show up," Morgan said. "WE'D BETTER HEAD INSIDE." They entered the nearest tower. It was partially built into a hill, so it was half underground. That made it bigger on the inside than it looked on the