Chapter 13

Chapter 13 BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU TRAP FOR. YOU JUST MIGHT CATCH IT! "A DEBATE?!" said Morgan. "Po, are you sure that's the best idea?" "No, I'm not," Po admitted. "But I panicked. I wasn't thinking!" It was after school, and Morgan and Po were in the library, waiting for the others to join them. "I've been doing that a lot lately, haven't I?" he said after a moment. "Speaking without thinking first, I mean. I'm sorry I lost my temper yesterday." Morgan sighed. "Yeah, well. I'm sorry I pretended my cookies weren't terrible. They really are inedible." Po laughed. "I appreciate that you made the effort. And I appreciate their obsidian-like quality." Morgan smiled. It felt like everything was back to normal. Po was being his old, fun self again. "But

seriously, Po," he said. "What's been going on with you? Are you, you know…all right?" Po took another moment to think before answering. "I want to win the election," he said. "I want it really badly. I don't even know why—I just hate the thought of losing." "Everybody likes to win," said Morgan. "But sometimes that makes us fight the wrong battles." Po blinked. "Morgan, that sounded seriously wise!" Morgan blushed and confessed, "I'm actually just quoting something Ash said yesterday." "Well, if you're going to steal," said Po, "steal from the best." Theo, Harper, and Jodi arrived. The five of them all put their headsets on at the same

time--as a team. In the caverns beneath the Overworld, the trap had been set. Now they needed to lure the spider out of its hiding place. Po followed his friends through the dark tunnel that led to the spider's den. "I can't believe we're going toward the creepy- crawly," said Jodi.

"It's okay," said Ash. "WE'VE GOT EACH OTHER BACKS." "Yeah," said Morgan. "Except for the part of the plan where we're all alone…" Po was nervous about that, too. But he trusted Harper and Theo, who had come up with this whole idea. They had figured out where to dig the tunnels and where to place the redstone dust. The blueprint that showed where everything should go looked a little bit like a spider's web. That had made Po giggle… nervously. They were going to catch the spider in a web of their own. But it was a very big spider. They all walked slowly as they approached the den. The strange green mist swirled all around them. And there, surrounded by its loyal mobs, was the spider. Po whispered, "Okay, there he is. Lucky us! Now what?" Harper grinned. "Now we make a mess. EVERYBODY, THROW YOUR POTIONS!"

Po didn't need to be told twice. He threw the Splash Potion that Harper had given him, and the other kids did the same. The potions glowed purple as they spun through the air. When the bottles shattered, the liquid splashed the spider, the villagers, the axolotls, and all the other mobs with Slowness. Now the mobs would be easy to outrun for the next ninety seconds. They needed to make those ninety seconds matter. "Come and get us!" Theo said, and the spider turned its red eyes on them and hissed. It was the sound of paper being torn to shreds in anger. In seconds, the entire group of mobs stepped forward. Their eyes, too, flashed red as they gave chase. "HERE THEY COME," said Ash.

"Be careful what you wish for, I guess," said Jodi. "Let's go," said Harper. "Follow me!" As a group, they turned and ran down the tunnel. But then Morgan turned right down a side path. And a little farther up, Jodi turned left. Po felt a little rush of nervousness as he took a different side path of his own. He knew their plan relied on this. They needed to separate that big crowd of mobs, and the best way to do that was to split up. Still, he was anxious about being alone in the dark. He looked back and saw that several of the villagers had turned to follow him. They were moving slowly because of the potion, so it was easy for Po to stay out of their reach. In fact, he slowed down a little bit. He didn't want to lose them.