Chapter 10

Chapter 10 I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE... ALIST OF suSPeCTS. The next morning, Jodi's mind was racing faster than Baron Sweetcheeks on his hamster wheel. She sat drinking her milk on her favorite bench while her friends discussed what they'd seen the day before. "The Evoker King has to be a student," said Ash. "I'd say we have proof now." "I agree." Harper nodded. "No one else would be able to build replicas of the school and the bat house." "Right," said Po. "It must be a student. Or

maybe a teacher…" "I'll bet it's that kid Theo," Morgan said. "He basically swore vengeance against us after that coral jewelry incident." "But that was after the Evoker King started messing with us," Ash pointed out. "And after the sixth VR headset went missing." "And I really think Theo means well," said Harper. "He just went about things the wrong way." "I'm just saying some of the teachers at this school could be secretly evil!" said Po, tapping his fingertips together like the villain in a cheesy sci-fi movie. "It's worth considering!" Sitting in silence, Jodi had suspicions of her own. Her unspoken suspicions weighed heavily on her heart. But she had to pursue them. She put on her large, lucky fedora. She flipped up the collar on her jacket. She pulled her spy journal from her backpack.

She slipped away while her friends continued their debate. They didn't even see her leave. Her first stop was the front office. She greeted the principal's assistant, Mr. Mellohi, and he smiled warmly in return. "What can I do for you, Jodi?" he asked. Jodi was always impressed that he knew the name of every kid at Woodsword. And she especially liked that he didn't care about the school's policy against wearing hats. "My brother, Morgan, misplaced his science textbook," she said. "I'm trying to help him find it. You know, retracing his steps? Could

you tell me what room he was in for detention yesterday?" The man chuckled. "Morgan? In detention?" He shook his head. "Your brother isn't much of a rule breaker. But I don't have to tell you that." "Oh, I don't know," Jodi said, frowning. "Sometimes people surprise you." The unwelcome surprises kept turning up as Jodi followed the clues. A group of Ash's fellow Wildling Scouts told her there hadn't been a troop meeting since the weekend. Po's teammate Ricky told her basketball practice had been canceled because the schoolwide glitch had made it impossible to lower the automated hoops from the ceiling. She called Harper's phone and got an error message. If Harper had gone with her mom to have the phone fixed, the errand hadn't been successful. And Harper had joined them in Minecraft after she'd left school for that errand. Why would she

come back so long after the final bell? It didn't add up. Or it did add up, and Jodi just didn't like the answer. She wrote her findings in her spy notebook.

"Jodi? Is anything wrong?" She hadn't realized she'd been sitting still and staring hard at her notebook. Ms. Minerva's voice brought her back to her surroundings. The teacher was wheeling the chalkboard down the hallway while holding a steaming mug of coffee. "Why don't you help me with this and tell me what's on your mind?" the teacher suggested.