Chapter 9

Chapter 9 MINING! CRAFTING! THIS IS WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT Po scanned the trees for any other dangers. All was still and silent. "THAT SPIDER ALMOST GOT ME." Morgan said. "AND ME." Jodi said. "BUT WHAT WOULD IT HAVE DONE TO ME IF IT HAD CAUGHT ME?" "We don't know," Harper said. "IF WE RUN OUT OF HEALTH HERE…WHAT HAPPENS TO US IN REAL LIFE?"

"I know you love to learn new things, Harper," said Po. "BUT THAT IS ONE MYSTERY I'D RATHER NOT SOLVE." "I remember how to make a sword now," Harper said. "MAYBE I SHOULD MAKE ONE. OR FOUR." Morgan pointed to her shovel. "OR MAYBE YOU SHOULD MAKE A FEW OTHER TOOLS." he said. "Do you still have your pickaxe?" "WHY?" asked Po. "AREN'T SWORDS BETTER FOR FIGHTING MONSTERS?" "YES." said Morgan. "But other tools are better for digging. AND I THINK IT'S TIME WE WENT UNDERGROUND." They discussed Morgan's plan during lunch the next day at school. "We need to build a real shelter," he said. "It's the best way to defend against hostile mobs." "A home base. That sounds like a fun project," Po said enthusiastically. "Not just a home base," Morgan said. "A

castle." "We'll need a lot of materials," Harper said. Morgan nodded. "Right. I found a blueprint online, and a list of supplies. For starters, we'll need eight hundred blocks of cobblestone. I'd like to get some glass panes for the windows, if we can find sand." He paused. "Wait. Where's Jodi? She was supposed to meet us here." Po was the first to spot her. She was walking their way with a tray of food. And Ash Kapoor was with her.

"Hi, Ash!" Po said loudly. He said it to be polite…but also to warn Morgan. Obviously, Doc's VR goggles were a big secret. Morgan scrambled to put the blueprint away, but he wasn't very sneaky about it. Ash gave him a funny look. "Hi, everybody," Ash said. "Jodi invited me to sit with you. I hope that's okay." "Sure," said Harper. "Of course," Po said. But he saw Morgan scowling. He hoped Ash didn't; that wouldn't make her feel very welcome.

Morgan squirmed in his seat. "Jodi, did you forget? We were supposed to talk about our… project today." "Oh, what kind of project?" Ash asked. "For school? Maybe I can help." "No, it's…" Morgan hesitated. "It's like a secret after-school project." "Oh. Okay," Ash said. She and Jodi were still standing there, holding their lunch trays. There was a moment of awkward silence.

Jodi rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said. "You guys have your meeting. Ash and I will sit over there and have a lovely lunch. Feel free to join us when you get tired of whispering secrets that don't even need to be kept secret." Jodi stormed off, and Ash followed her. Morgan rolled his eyes. Po thought doing things unexpectedly must run in the family. "Jodi's right," Po said. "We don't have to keep this a secret from everybody. We have two extra sets of goggles, remember?" Morgan shook his head. "The more people who know a secret, the less secret it is. And if the adults find out we have a portal to an actual Minecraft world, I'm sure they'll take it away." "It's not magical," Harper insisted. "It's science." "Whatever. I just think we should keep this between us for a little longer," Morgan said. "Deal?" Po and Harper looked at each other. They