Chapter 5

Chapter 5 SUSPICIOUS STEN: IS THE CURE WORSE THAN THE DISEASE? Theo felt a chill as he removed his VR goggles. Was it the library's air-conditioning? Or…could it be the curse of the witch? He shook his head. Surely the witch's magic couldn't affect them here, in the real world. Even so, Theo was thoroughly creeped out. The witch was an adversary unlike any they had faced before.

Although…that was only half true. The witch was faster, more menacing, and much more talkative than a typical Minecraft witch. There was only one explanation for that. Just like the monstrous Enderman and the mind-controlling cave spider before her, this unique mob must be one of the Evoker King fragments. And that meant, even if they could fight it…they probably shouldn't. They would need a unique approach to the problem. "I think we have to do what the witch says," Theo said to his friends. "We need to find a mooshroom and bring it back to her." Po sighed. "That sounds like a lot of work. But we definitely need the cure."

"It's not just about the cure, though," said Theo. "If that witch is one of the Evoker Spawn, then we need to show her that we aren't her enemies." Jodi gripped her goggles tightly. "There has to be another way. We can't do her dirty work for her. Not if it means capturing another poor animal. Who knows what's she's up to?!" "We don't have a lot of choices," said Morgan. "We're her prisoners…because somebody ran into danger without a plan." Jodi scowled at him. "You're the one who runs off every time a butterfly floats by!"

"Blaming each other won't help us right now," said Harper. "Instead of pointing fingers, we should focus on what we can do next." Po scratched the top of his head. "Maybe we can figure out the cure by ourselves," he suggested. "What did the witch say about soup?" "Stew," Theo corrected him. "And not just any stew," said Morgan. "Suspicious stew. Believe it or not, you can get it from mooshrooms." "That does not sound delicious," said Po. "But does it mean we could cure ourselves? Could we get this… suspicious stew…and not give her the mooshroom?" "Or could we make the stew ourselves?" suggested Harper. "I'm certain it can be crafted." "We don't have enough information," Morgan said, shaking his head. "Suspicious stew is unpredictable. It can have all sorts of different effects on a player. And when you get it from a mooshroom, the stew's exact effects depend on what the mooshroom has eaten." He shrugged. "So the witch only told us part of the cure. We know it's suspicious stew, but we don't know what kind."

"We're really trapped, then," said Harper. "We have to do what the witch says." "Easier said than done," Theo said. "Brown mooshrooms are extremely rare. They're even rarer than the red variety." "What about breeding one?" Morgan suggested. "If you pair two red mooshrooms together and they have a baby, there's a chance the baby will be brown." "Yeah," Theo said, scoffing. "A one-in-1,024 chance, to be specific." "Never tell me the odds!" Po replied, having no idea exactly how good or bad those odds were. Theo dragged his feet as they all walked up to the front of the library and turned in their headsets. He was a programmer, so he couldn't help but think of the odds. And the odds really were not in their favor this time. As they left the library and stepped out into the sunshine, Jodi said, "I still don't like it. I wish we knew why she wants a mooshroom. Does she really just want to keep it in a cage?"

"Does it matter?" Theo said. "It's not a real animal." "But they seem real," said Jodi. "They eat food, and they have babies, and they run away from you if you hurt them." "They do those things because they're programmed to do them," said Theo. "They're just little bits of code. They don't have feelings." "Well, you could say the same thing about the Evoker King," said Po. "But we care about him, right?" "Sounds like a very serious discussion," said a voice. Theo turned to see Mr. Malory, the library's media specialist, sitting beneath the library's famous sculpture of a sword. He was on a break, and enjoying a snack. "What do you think, Mr. Malory?" asked Theo. "Do NPCs and virtual animals have feelings?" Mr. Malory thought about it for a moment. "They don't have feelings, no. Not as we understand them."