Chapter 11

Chapter 11 A TWIST OF FATE! A TWIST OF ANKLE! THIS CHAPTER'S GOT MORE TWISTS THAN THE LATEST DANCE CRAZE. Morgan felt a little guilty, hearing how his friends had fared without him. They were gathered on the Woodsword playground, and Po was telling the story of his half- built bridge. "I'm telling you, I've got a fear of heights after that experience," he said. "And also a fear of teleporting monsters, and lava, and sad clowns wearing little hats." "Wait, there were clowns there, too?" asked Jodi in surprise. "No," said Po. "I've just always been creeped out by them. The sad ones, especially." He shuddered.

Harper patted Po's arm. "I really thought that plan would work," she said. "The Nether is too dangerous." "That means it's up to you, Jodi," said Theo. "You're our last hope." Jodi chuckled nervously. "Wow! No pressure, though, right?" Theo frowned. "It's quite a lot of pressure, actually." Jodi rolled her eyes and said, "Does Woodsword have any classes on understanding sarcasm? Because you might learn a thing or two." Then she groaned and dropped her head into her hands. Morgan cleared his throat. "I have an idea," he said.

Po shook his head. "If your idea is to tell the golem all about Baron Sweetcheeks, you're too late! I chatted the golem's ear off the whole time Theo was running the challenge." "It's true," Harper confirmed. "You know, the golem doesn't close its eyes, but I could almost swear it dozed off once or twice." "I'm pretty sure it was just drinking it all in," Po replied with a huff. Theo frowned. "Or maybe Morgan's idea is to go back in time and help us before we all suffered a series of defeats?" "Not helpful, Theo," Harper said in a singsong voice. "I guess he does understand sarcasm after all," Jodi said. Then, without lifting her face from her hands, she asked her brother, "What's your idea, Morgan?"

"Let me try again, said Morgan. "Jodi can give me her spot, and I'll use what I learned last time to succeed." Jodi lifted her head. "That's not fair!" "It might be smart, though," Theo said. "I mean, he has a point." "Were you even excited for your turn, Jodi?" Po asked. "It seemed like you were worried." "That's not the point," Jodi said. "I'm not sure the golem will allow it," Harper said. "It told us we had five chances. But it strongly implied we'd only get one chance each."

"The golem's a computer program," said Theo. "If our argument is logical, we can convince it." "First you've got to convince me!" said Jodi. Morgan excused himself, leaving his friends to debate his proposal. Field Day was only a day away. And he had to fit in one last practice.

Morgan was getting faster. He was sure of it. His underarms were rubbed raw, and his good foot was getting a blister, but that was the price he had to pay for speed. He set a stopwatch. He wanted to time how long it took him to make one circuit around the school track. Everyone else was at lunch. That's why Morgan chose to practice now. He wanted some privacy. But there was one problem with that. It meant that when he fell… nobody was there to catch him.