Chapter 7

Chapter 7 TIME TO HIT THE BOOKS! BUT NOT LITERALLY, BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE RUDE. The next day after school, Morgan and his friends gathered at the Stonesword Library, as they often did. But this time, they didn't head right for the computers and VR goggles. Morgan went to the information desk instead. "Hi, Mr. Mallory," he said, greeting the media specialist. "What sorts of books do you have on codes and ciphers?" Instead of answering him, Mr. Mallory tapped on the desk. "Uh," said Morgan. "Mr. Mallory, did you hear me?"

The media specialist broke into a grin. "I guess you don't know Morse code," he said. "I just tapped out an answer to your question: we have many books on that topic. Come on, follow me!" Within a few minutes, Morgan had joined Harper, Po, and Jodi in a small conference room to work through the stack of books Mr. Mallory had pulled for them. Harper was using her smartphone to search for online resources, too. "This is a lot to wrap our heads around," said Po, rubbing his temple.

"I'll admit, I wish Theo were here," said Morgan. "He's good with brainteasers." "I hope he's good at gardening, too," said Jodi. "I saw him with Ms. Minerva's landscaping club when I was walking here." "Oh!" said Harper as her phone chimed. "Ash is calling me back. Hang on…." Harper set her phone up against a stack of books. Ash's face appeared on the screen, and she waved in greeting "Hi, team!" she said. "Harper filled me in earlier. I'm here to help any way I can." Morgan could feel himself growing calmer. Ash usually had that effect. Morgan liked to think of himself as the team's leader, but that wasn't always an easy thing to be. He had long ago realized that Ash was a natural problem solver. She also had a calm, confident energy that made challenges seem less overwhelming. Jodi held the library's hamster up to the screen. "Say hello to Duchess Dimples, Ash!"

Ash bowed. "It's an honor to see you again, my duchess." The hamster squeaked with pleasure. "Okay, Ash," said Harper. "We've started in on all the books at Stonesword. Do you want focus on abbreviations?" "I still think the answer could be 'Please reheat oatmeal,'" said Po. Morgan sighed. "I put it on the list, but I have a lot of doubt about it." "I'm on it," said Ash. "And actually…what do you guys think if I ask some of my fellow scouts to help?" Morgan's cheeks prickled. "I don't know about that," he said, without even really stopping to think about it first. Harper peered at him over his open book. "Why not?" she asked. "If we're looking for an abbreviation, we're talking about thousands of possibilities. The more people sharing ideas, the faster it will go."

"Yeah," Morgan said. "I know. It's just…" "Morgan doesn't like to share his toys," said Jodi. "He's always been that way." Morgan scowled. "Only because my little sister used to break every toy she borrowed." "I understand where you're coming from, Morgan," Harper said. "After all, we haven't told anyone about Doc's VR goggles. People think we're just playing regular Minecraft every day, not transporting to a virtual world where we're trying to rescue a broken artificial intelligence." Po laughed. "I'm not sure people would believe us if did tell them." "Harper's right," said Morgan. "I like keeping the secret of the goggles to ourselves. And I like having a club that feels special and is just ours. Remember, I wasn't very welcoming to Ash or to Theo." "And look how that turned out," Jodi said. "It feels like they've always been part of the team." Morgan thought about it for a long moment. "Okay," he said at last. "We need more people working on this puzzle. Just…don't tell them more than they need to know, okay?"

"Got it," said Ash. "Thanks, Morgan. I'll hang up now and get to work." After that, they returned to their books, poring over the pages for any hint at how to translate the bees' message. Twenty minutes passed in silence before Mr. Mallory appeared in the doorway. "I found another book," he said. "Although I feel bad interrupting. Look at this hive mind at work!" "Hive mind?" said Po. "What does that mean?" "I was just pointing out how well you were all working together," said Mr. Mallory. "A hive mind is a phenomenon you see in social insects, like the bees we're keeping here on the library grounds. It refers to the idea that every individual insect is doing its own