Chapter 7

Chapter 7 THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS THIS GUY I KNOW. LET'S GIVE HIM A CHANCE! Harper still wasn't sure what to make of Theo Grayson. They had started out as friends. Fate (and a class science project) had thrown them together, and they'd found it easy to get along…at first. But then Theo messed up their experiment. And he started acting weird, sneaking around and asking about their Minecraft game. Morgan had even suspected Theo of being the Evoker King, back before they had discovered that the Evoker King was an artificial intelligence. Theo obviously wasn't the Evoker King.

But Harper and her friends had still never quite come to trust Theo enough to share the secret of the Minecraft goggles. And he had hinted plenty of times that he loved the game, too. They had worked together again on the school play, and during that time, they had gotten along fine. But Harper had hardly seen him since the play ended. If they were going to ask for his help, she really did owe him an apology for shutting him out. She found him in the library just after school. She knew he liked to go there to read. She noticed, now, that the books stacked on the table in front of him were guides to computer programming.

She hadn't known just how much Theo was into computers and modding until Po revealed that he'd offered his tech skills during the school play. "Hey, Theo," she said. "What's new?" Theo looked up, startled. He'd obviously been absorbed in his reading. And it was clear from his expression that Harper was the last person he expected to see. But his startled look was quickly replaced with a goofy smile. "Hey, Harper. It's been a while. You

want to sit down?" Harper smiled back as she took a seat. "I can't stay long. But I'm curious." She looked at the stack of books. "Po told me you're into programming. Is that right?" Theo nodded enthusiastically. He was obviously delighted that she had finally asked him about it. "Yeah! I mean, I know some stuff, but I still have a lot to learn. Computers are complicated." "I guess that explains the tower of books," said Harper. "Yeah." Theo blushed. "Although, actually, you caught me goofing off. I was taking a break from reading to review some of my sketches." "Sketches?" echoed Harper. "Take a look," he said, and he turned the open

book toward her. Harper saw now that the book in Theo's hand wasn't a library book at all, but a graph-paper notebook. Its pages were filled with blocky drawings. There were blueprints for buildings, and complicated Redstone mechanisms, and tons of interesting figures in the shape of Minecraft avatars. "Wow," Harper said. "You drew all this?" "Yeah," Theo said. "I like to plan out my Minecraft builds on paper before I make them." "And the avatars?" Harper asked. "Oh, I'm getting into modding," Theo said. "You know, using programming to modify the look of the game? Making new skins is the easiest way to

start." Harper flipped the pages. Theo had designed a lot of skins. There were reptilian ninjas, robotic monkeys, two-legged dragons, and— And there, in the back, were a few avatars that Harper recognized. Theo snatched the book away from her, slamming it shut. "They're just sketches right now," Theo said. "Anyway, do you hear a car honking? I think my mom is here." Harper blinked, trying to process what she had seen. "I don't hear any—" "Gotta run," he said. "Bye!" Theo grabbed his backpack and bolted away, leaving the stack of books behind. Harper thought about going after him. But she was too shocked by what she'd seen in Theo's notebook to even move. Four of Theo's avatars—she'd seen them before. A knight on a dragon mount. A dark magician. A pirate and an ax-wielding zombie. Those four mobs had nearly defeated Harper and her friends in the deepest level of the dungeon. Harper knew for a fact