Chapter 9

Chapter 9 STRAIGHT INTO THE SPIDER'S WEB! WHAT COULD GO WRONG? PROBABLY NOTHING-EXCEPT A GIANT SPIDER! Despite the unresolved disagreements from their lunchtime meeting, Theo and the others all agreed to return to Minecraft as soon as possible. The moment the end-of-day bell rang, they hurried to the library and put on their VR headsets. They spawned in the village. Theo had hoped to find the villagers back where they belonged. But the houses remained empty. The streets were silent. That meant the villagers were still underground. And the kids had no choice but to follow them. "Let's cut down some trees first," said Harper. "We're going through a lot of torches down there."

As they climbed back down the hole that Theo had cut through the earth, he readied his sword and thought back to the last major foe they'd faced. They'd called it the Endermonster, and they had not been able to defeat it by fighting it. Instead, they'd trapped the mob in a pit, and then Theo had talked to it—connected with it. He'd made it understand that they meant no harm. Would their conflict with this strange spider work similarly? "I THINK WE SHOULD TRY TO TRAP THE SPIDER," he said. "Like we did with the

Endermonster. That way, we can maybe find out what it wants…without hurting it." Theo remembered the other lesson he'd learned on that adventure: how to be a team player. "That's just my idea," he added. "What do you all think?" "It makes sense to me," said Harper. "Do you want to get it to chase us?" asked Jodi. Theo nodded. "AND WE'LL LEAD THE MOB RIGHT INTO A WAITING PIT." "I bet it'll be even easier with the spider," said Po. "At least it can't teleport!" "But we'll be running through the fog, if it's chasing us," Morgan reminded them. "I think it's a good plan, Theo. We'll just need to be careful." They descended to the dripstone cavern where they'd mined for materials the day before. "The villagers must have come through here," said Theo. "I didn't see any other paths the entire way down." "We came from that direction the other day," said Harper, pointing. "AND WE KNOW THAT'S A DERD END, SINCE WE BLOCKED THE TUNNEL WITH COBELESTONE." "So it's that way," said Morgan, pointing at the only other exit from the cavern. "They had to have gone through there."

Theo gulped. It was easy to be brave when they were just talking about a plan. But now, as the dark pressed closer to them and their encounter with the spider drew near…he felt a trickle of fear run through his avatar. HARPER STEPPED INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE CAVERN, AND SHE PULLED A PICKAXE FROM HER INVENTORY. "Spiders can jump, so we need a pretty deep hole this time," she said. "I'd better free some space in my inventory for all the dirt we're going to kick up," said Po. He jabbed a couple of glowing "Vote for Po" signs into the ground. "How many of those things did he make?" asked Theo to no one in particular. Harper sighed, then forced a smile. "LET'S START DIGGING," she said. The pit had been dug, and Theo crept along a tunnel toward the spider. The tunnel was two blocks wide, so there was just enough room for two of them to walk side by side. Theo was in the lead with Harper. They'd agreed not to use too many torches. They didn't want the spider to see them coming.

But it was dark. Theo walked with one hand in front of him so he wouldn't bump into anything. He didn't even realize that the tunnel had begun to fill with mist until Harper pointed it out. "We must be getting close," she whispered. And then, suddenly, she gripped him and pulled him back. The spider was directly ahead of them, standing in the middle of a large cavern. The only light came from the slight bluish glow of two small ponds. Theo guessed there were glow squids in those pools. He squinted and saw axolotls swimming alongside them. Those aquatic creatures were not the only mobs present. The spider was surrounded by red-eyed villagers, sheep, rabbits, and more. Theo saw a llama, and he was pretty sure it was the same llama that had attacked Jodi. As for the villagers, they seemed to be treating the spider like a king. They offered it fresh-baked bread and emeralds. Theo half expected to see them massage the mob's eight big block feet next!

"Po was right. IT IS BUILDING AN ARMY," Theo whispered. "I don't know," whispered Harper. "They all seem sort of…peaceful. They look more like worshippers or servants than soldiers." "This doesn't change anything," whispered Morgan. "Our plan's still a good one. PO, DO YOU WANT TO DO THE HONORS?" Po smiled. "You know I do." "Then make some noise," said Morgan. Po stepped in front of Theo and cleared his throat. Then he yelled at the top of his lungs: "VOTE FOR PO!!" The spider snapped to attention. The large mob hissed, lifting one of its long legs and pointing right at