Chapter 4

Chapter 4 If There Are Two Mushrooms in Your Stew, Add Something to Fill the Bowl! Theo really wanted to know what the Evoker Kid was. He wasn't the Evoker King, at least not exactly. He had some form of the Evoker King's data and knew the names of everything in Minecraft, but he didn't know about the outside world, or remember anything from before the server reset.

He also barely knew how to play Minecraft. "I was out collecting red mushrooms when you all arrived," Ash said. "So we can make some stew to heal you up!" When she opened the crafting table, the Evoker Kid gasped. "What are all those squares?"

"YOU CAN SEE MY CRAFTING MENU?" "Sometimes," the Evoker Kid replied. "But only if I really focus." "Interesting," Ash said. "The crafting menu is where you put materials if you want to craft stuff. See?" She placed a brown mushroom, a red mushroom underneath it, and a bowl underneath that. Then she pulled mushroom stew from the table. "Here, eat this." Ash handed the bowl to the Evoker Kid. His blocky features suggested a pleased smile. "Go on, eat it!" Theo said. The Evoker Kid looked at him, confused. "How do I do that?" This would be harder than they thought. "If it is like how it works for us, then you just kind of ...hold it up to your face. Like this." Theo crafted another mushroom stew and ate it in front of the Kid. The boy lifted the stew to his face, tilted it slightly—and it disappeared. "OH! NOW I AM FOUR

TENTHS FULL." Harper laughed. "That's very specific. But at least you're able to keep track of your hunger." All this made Theo think even harder. If the Evoker Kid had health, and hunger, then he really was a player—not a mob, like skeletons or Evokers. But he wasn't a human. He didn't know how to eat, and he wasn't using a computer monitor. Yet the Evoker Kid could see other people's menus, which meant he could maybe see some other things regular players couldn't see. He was inside the server and was experiencing the world like they had with Doc's goggles. "WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" Ash asked. "My name? I've never thought about it before." The Evoker Kid frowned. "Usually when I think about something, I know what it is called. It's not like that when I think of myself." "So the Evoker King didn't want you to be the same as he was." Po swapped skins into a big blue

butterfly—a reference to the butterflies that had led them to the Evoker King's many pieces during their last adventure. "YOU'RE SOMEBODY NEW!" He wiggled his wings, and the Evoker Kid giggled. Jodi tapped her chin. "Evoker Kid is kind of too long to say all the time. Maybe EK?" "Ee-kay…," Po tried. Then, suddenly, he yelled—a high, shrill scream. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" Everybody winced in their headphones. "That's my suggestion." Theo stared at him. "A scream is your suggestion?!" "Yep! Eek." Po shrugged. "I think it's cute." "It's definitely easier to say," Jodi admitted. "When you're not screaming." She turned to the Evoker Kid. "What do you think?" "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!" the Kid yelled, mimicking Po. Everybody was surprised except Po, who started laughing. Theo was starting to get nervous. Human or not, Eek—as he was now named—seemed like a person. He was laughing at Po's jokes and had an

opinion about his name. He trusted them, and the Evoker King had trusted them to take care of him. Even if he was just code, he was also their friend. But did that mean they were responsible for taking care of him? What did the Evoker King expect them to do? Eek had never been in another world. Minecraft was all he knew. And if he only existed inside the server… Theo looked over the table at Harper in the real world. She looked concerned, which meant she was thinking the same thing he was. "WE HAVE BAD NEWS," Theo said.