Chapter 7

Chapter 7 EVERYTHING LOOKS BETTER BY THE LIGHT OF A SEA PICKLE. "I CAN'T BELIEVE PO IS MISSING THIS," said Jodi. "And for basketball practice!" "He likes basketball practice," said Morgan. "Yeah," said Jodi. "But is anything better than this?" Jodi pointed past the glass wall of their base under the sea. There was a whole world to explore out there. And she wouldn't miss out on that for anything. Since Po wasn't with them, they'd all agreed not to travel too far. They needed to return to their base at the end of the day. That

way, they would all still spawn in the same place when Po rejoined them. Ash insisted they needed to stock up on supplies, anyway. Between their recent battles and the long boat ride, they'd gone through a lot of their stuff. And Morgan liked the idea of scouting the area. They could check for any problems or dangers nearby. Then they would know what to expect when they started to follow the map again. "I THINK THE MAP IS LEADING US SOMEWHERE UNDERWATER," said Morgan. "We can probably swim the rest of the way." "Soon," Ash said. "For today, let's just see what there is to see." As it turned out, there was a lot to see. Now that she wasn't fleeing from phantoms, Jodi was able to take in the beauty of her surroundings. She was surprised at how alive the ocean was. There was movement everywhere, from darting schools of fish to swaying sea grass. Her heart leapt for joy when a dolphin

approached them. It seemed as curious about them as she was about it. Jodi noticed that she swam a little faster when the dolphin was nearby. She tried to keep up with it, but after a while it darted away.

Po would be sorry he missed that. They'd each drunk a potion of water breathing. As a backup, Harper brought along a block of magma. If they needed air, she could place the magma on the ground and produce another column of bubbles. But there was plenty of magma already in the area. It was easy to spot, softly glimmering orange in the distance. And the magma wasn't the only source of underwater light. Every now and then, they found small, glowing green cylinders. Harper had told her about them earlier in the day. They were called sea pickles, and

Jodi thought they were wondrous. But by far, Jodi's favorite thing was the coral. These weren't the small, fragile pebbles she'd seen in Doc's class. They looked like great tree branches, and they came in every color of the rainbow. She took every piece she found. She was sure she'd find a use for them, even if they were only good for decoration. After a while, Morgan signaled that they should turn around. As they swam back, Jodi made a mental list of everything she needed to tell Po about. When their undersea base came into view, she was surprised to see a figure standing inside of it. It had to be Po! Maybe he'd gotten out of basketball practice early?

But when they swam up to the base, nobody was there. "THAT'S REALLY STRANGE," Jodi said once they were safely inside the structure. "I could have sworn I saw somebody through the glass." Morgan shrugged. "MAYBE IT WAS A TRICK OF THE LIGHT." "No, I think Jodi is right," Ash said as she lifted the lid of the group's treasure chest. "Someone was here."