Chapter 9

Chapter 9 A REVELATION! A EUREKA MOMENT! A CHANGE OF HEART! ALL LIKE BUTTERFLIES TAKING FLIGHT! Po was eating a peanut butter sandwich for lunch when Jodi and Harper presented their plan for saving their teachers' friendship. Morgan nodded along as he took a bite of banana. Theo sat listening in silence.

"We have to do something," said Jodi. "We can't just sit by while their friendship ends over some cocoons and a cybernetic coffeepot." "But what can we do?" Po asked. "We've already started," Jodi answered. "After we finished in the butterfly sanctuary yesterday, I removed the beetles from Ms. Minerva's car. Doc was not joking." "And I got permission to go to the faculty lounge this morning," said Harper. "I was able to get the coffee machine up and running." "I thought Ms. Minerva seemed better this morning," said Morgan. "She got my name right during attendance, anyway." "You're a genius, Harper," Po said. "How did you fix the high-tech coffee machine so quickly?" Harper grinned. "It wasn't broken. Doc had just unplugged it, and nobody had thought to check the power cord." "Mad science," said Po. "I'm telling you! Right, Theo?" Theo didn't say anything. In fact, he had hardly said anything all morning. His mind was clearly elsewhere.

"Here's what we do next," said Jodi. "We're going to ask the yearbook club for photos—lots of photos. Years of photos. Everything they have of Doc and Ms. Minerva." "We'll make a photo album," said Harper. "And then we'll scan it. I'll upload a digital version of the album to Doc's tablet while the rest of you sneak the physical album into the library. You can shelve it next to the young adult vampire novels, where Ms. Minerva will definitely find it eventually." "She does love those vampire novels," Po said. "And there you have it!" Jodi said. "Violins swell, they realize their friendship is precious, and we have saved the day." "It's brilliant," said Po. And he took a big bite of his sandwich. Theo chose that moment to finally speak. "I have to tell you all something," he said. "I made a mistake." Po tried to ask, "What do you mean?" But with his mouth full of peanut butter and bread, it sounded more like, "Waddle a meme?" Everyone gave him a weird look. But Theo answered his question anyway.

"I've been modding," he said. "You all saw the footprint mod. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. I've been making all kinds of stuff. And…" He took a deep breath. "I've even been messing with some of Doc's mods." "I knew it!" Morgan growled, and the others all shushed him. "Go on, Theo," said Harper. "I didn't mean to cause problems," Theo continued. "But the best way to learn coding is by playing with somebody else's code. I thought if I figured out what Doc had done to the game…if I could wrap my head around all her modding…then I could figure out what

went wrong with the Evoker King. I thought it would help me fix him." Jodi pressed her palms to her cheeks. "Theo," she said. "Did…did your modding…did it destroy the Evoker King?" "No. Maybe." Theo said. "I don't know. But the Evoker King isn't gone. He's just…different." "What do you mean?" asked Harper. "Different how?" "The Evoker King didn't explode. He transformed," Theo said. "He transformed…into the Endermonster." Po gasped. He was lucky he didn't choke on his sandwich. "That creepy thing is…was…our friend?" Jodi asked. "Poor Bob," said Po. "Is it permanent?" Harper asked. "Can we fix it?" "I…I don't know," said Theo. "I think so. I'll do whatever it takes to try." Po noticed Morgan wasn't saying anything. Theo was afraid to even look in his direction. Before anybody could say anything else, the cafetorium doors burst open. Doc hurried over

to their table. "Sanctuary volunteers!" she cried. "The cocoons are hatching! Come quick!" Doc didn't wait for them to respond. She was running out the door before Po had even processed what she had said. "Let's go!" said Jodi. "We're not done discussing this," Morgan said. Harper was already out of her seat. "We can talk in the sanctuary. Come on," she said, tugging on Theo. "I am not missing this!" Po trembled with anticipation. A few of the butterflies had already emerged, but most of the cocoons were just beginning to hatch. He marveled at the sight. Each new butterfly stepped lightly out of its shell, as if uncertain or shy. But then it slowly spread its wings and gave them a test flap or two. Some instinct told it how to use those wings, and it quickly took flight. He had thought they would all look the same. But each butterfly was a different color. Blue, orange, pink, green. It was like being inside a living prism.