Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Before Reading This Chapter, Get Your Favorite Blanket and Make Yourself a Hot Chocolate. Ironsword Academy was practically frozen. In each class, Harper would watch her breath turn into fog in the air and hope someone was doing something to fix the air-conditioning. But after every class, nothing would change. If anything, it was getting colder. No one knew why, and Principal Ferris didn't even mention it in the morning announcements, which was unusual. He practically made an announcement every time someone was running in the halls!

Other students pulled sweaters and jackets from their lockers, but Harper didn't keep anything except books in her locker. She didn't need to! She had a system! On any other day she would have been prepared with a fresh, clean sweater, and maybe even extras for her friends. But it wasn't a normal day, and she wasn't prepared for this at all. When the final bell rang and classes ended, Harper went straight to the computer lab to look for Doc Culpepper. She was standing outside the

computer lab's closet, tapping her chin and contemplating the pile of tools and tech inside. "Hi, D-D-Doc!" Harper said, teeth chattering. She rubbed her arms and jogged in place a little to warm up. "What's going on with the AC?" "No idea!" Doc said cheerfully. "I've been examining the machinery since this morning, looking for problems. But nothing's broken!" "If nothing's broken, why are we so cold?"

Theo popped up behind them, wearing a big winter toboggan cap. "Someone must have set it to be cold, right?" Harper couldn't imagine doing that on purpose. Ice was forming on the inside of the windows! Everyone was shivering! But still, it was good news. "That's great, because it means we can change it back to a normal temperature, right?" "Well, yes and no," Doc Culpepper said. "Yes, it can be changed. No, we can't do it. You need a password from an administrator, which means someone in charge." Now Morgan and Jodi had arrived, too. Morgan's jacket was zipped all the way up to his neck, and Jodi had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. "Like who?" Jodi asked. "Principal Ferris," Harper realized.

"But he hasn't answered my emails." Doc Culpepper gestured to her closet of tools. "So I was looking to see if I could find my passwordcracking device." "My boogers are freezing into crystals!" Po rolled into the computer lab, wearing big gloves to warm up his hands. "Maybe we could sneak into his office and see if he left any clues about the password?" "This is silly!" Harper said. "Of course Principal Ferris wants to fix it. We can go ask him

in his office. But…" Everybody from their Minecraft group was here: Harper, Theo, Morgan, Jodi, and Po. Ash would be logged in by now, too. "We also need to find Eek." Jodi nodded. "So, what's the plan?" Right. The plan. That was Harper's job! She made the plans. She could figure this out. Sure, Eek had vanished again, even though he'd promised to stay put. Sure, they were a day behind schedule, and now they'd be playing with frozen fingers and chattery teeth. But if they stuck to a plan, they'd make it through. "If we're going to m-m-make it in time, we need Ends of Eyeser." Harper paused and pushed her sleepy and cold brain to focus. "I mean, Eyes of Ender. To make those, we'll need r-rr- raze b-b-bods."