Chapter 6

Chapter 6 IN A WORLD OF EMAILS, TEXTS, AND POP-UP ADS, THE MESSAGE HAS BEEN RECEIVED…SORT OF. Harper laughed when she saw Po's new Minecraft skin. "Do you like thizzz?" he said. "Very much," said Harper. "In fact, I'd say that outfit is very bee-coming." Po, naturally, had found a bee skin. It was yellow with brown stripes, with short antennae sticking out from the head and a couple of wings in the back.

"Do the wings work?" asked Jodi. "I wish," said Po. "But no. They're just for show." "IT'S TOO BAD WE DON'T HAVE ANY ELYTRA WINGS," said Morgan. "Then you'd be able to fly. Or glide, at least." "You know, I might be able to do something about that," said Theo. "I could import some elytra into this version of the game from my home computer." "Maybe not until we've solved that," said Morgan, and he pointed up at the Fault. "I DON'T THINK WE SHOULD BE MESSING WITH THE CODE RIGHT NOW. WE COULD MAKE THINGS WORSE." "We sort of did make things worse," said Jodi, and she gazed miserably out at the ruined forest. Most of

the trees and flowers had burned away entirely. "I FEEL ROTTEN ABOUT CAUSING SO MUCH DAMAGE." "Me too," said Po. "I think we should stay here for a little while. Maybe we can repair the forest." "No way!" said Theo. "The butterflies—the mission! That's all that matters." "Aren't you in the landscaping club?" said Po. "I'D SAY THIS AREA NEEDS SOME LANDSCAPING." "That's in real life," said Theo. "The flower forest isn't a real place with real plants, remember? It's just programmed to appear that way. It doesn't really matter if it looks nice or not." "I'm with Theo," said Morgan. "The fire was a huge distraction. We need to get back to our mission." "MAYBE THIS IS THE MISSION," said Jodi. "Maybe we need to fix our mistake." "That is what we need to fix," said Morgan, pointing to the Fault again. "We're clearly running out of time." "Ash would agree with Po and me, I bet," said Jodi. "Ash isn't here today," said Morgan. "SHE HAD A SCOUT MEETING AT HER NEW SCHOOL." He turned to Harper. "So it's up to Harper to cast the deciding vote."

Harper squirmed a little. She didn't enjoy being the decision maker for the entire group. And she could see both points of view so clearly! But it felt wrong to leave such damage and destruction in their wake. "What's a flower forest biome without flowers and trees?" she said. "We can fix this place up a little and keep an eye out for bees and butterflies at the same time. As a matter of fact…" From her inventory, Harper pulled out the nest they'd saved. "I'd forgotten that!" said Theo. "I've been studying it," said Harper. "I think there are bees inside, but they won't come out while I'm holding it. SO THE FIRST STEP OF OUR FOREST RESTORATION PROJECT CAN BE FINDING A NEW TREE FOR THIS NEST." "That feels like a good compromise," said Morgan. "I actually have some flowers in my inventory," said Jodi. "I was going to use them to make dyes, but I could replant them here instead." "And I've got a couple saplings," said Theo, holding up a small tree. "I picked them up when I was gathering wood recently. I bet we could get some more in a nearby biome."

"Buzz buzz," said Po. "I like thizz plan!" They got to work. And Harper found herself having fun. When they'd reacted to the fire, they had all tried different tactics. The energy had been frantic, and they'd all panicked a little. But now they were working together as a team. They discussed where to put each flower. "THESE DANDELIONS LOOK SO HAPPY IN THIS PATCH OF SUNLIGHT," said Jodi. They worked out the best place to plant saplings. "If we put four of them together like this, they'll grow into a single big tree," said Morgan.

They all looked for the perfect spot to leave the bees' nest. "That oak tree looks juzzt right," said Po, pointing. Harper did the honors. She climbed a staircase of dirt and placed the nest high in the tree. Almost as soon as she did so, it buzzed with activity. "It's working," said Harper, hopping back down the staircase. "Here they come!"