Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Water: Bane of Books! Enemy of Electronics! Honestly, Why Do We Even Keep Water Around? Harper tossed and turned all night long. She couldn't stop thinking about the damaged library. As she usually did when she learned about a big problem, she wished desperately that she could fix it.

Harper was an amateur scientist. And she believed that science, good science, was all about solving problems. But it was too late to prevent the damage to the library. Was it also too late to save their Minecraft campaign? As she lay awake, she reminded herself that Minecraft itself wasn't going away. She and her friends would always be able to play their favorite game. They could generate a new world from scratch and work together to gather the materials they'd lost. They could craft all their favorite gear, weapons, items, potions, and so on. It was fun to occasionally start over from the beginning.

But the version of the game she'd shared with Morgan, Jodi, and the others was special. And not just because of the experimental VR goggles that had transported them into the game. What had really made their game unique was the Evoker King. As an evolving, self-aware artificial intelligence, the Evoker King was truly one of a kind. She thought of him as a friend. And because he was made of programming, he was stuck in that world. He was part of that world. If that world was destroyed, her friend would be destroyed with it. How was Harper supposed to get any sleep with thoughts like that on her mind? The next day, Harper could tell she wasn't the only one who'd had trouble sleeping. Jodi had bags under her eyes, and Theo yawned as he greeted her in front of the school. But Morgan looked as awake and intense as Harper had ever seen him. "There must be something we can do," he said. "Harper, Theo, do you two have any ideas?"

They were all gathered in Woodsword's gym before the first bell. Usually, they would meet on the front lawn, beneath their favorite tree. But the storm was still raging. The wind rattled the doors, as if trying to find its way inside. "Hey!" said Po. "Why are you asking Harper and Theo for ideas? We're all equally smart on this team." "You're right, Po," said Morgan. "I'm sorry. Did you have an idea?" Po grinned. He waggled his fingers as if casting a magic spell. "Time travel," he said.

Morgan sighed, and Jodi patted Po on the head. "We'll work on it," she promised. "There's not much we can do without the VR goggles," Theo said, and he yawned again. "The specific instance of Minecraft that we've been playing…or visiting…is keyed to those devices. The world itself is hosted on a library computer, but without the goggles, we have no way of accessing it." Harper nodded in agreement with Theo. She saw the desperate hope in Morgan's eyes. He wasn't ready to give up on the Evoker King. She admired that about him. But she couldn't think of a single encouraging thing to say. And she saw the hope in Morgan's eyes start to fade away. "I can see you're all upset about the library," said a voice. "I am, too." Harper turned, and at first, she thought she was seeing a ghost. A tall figure loomed before them, dressed all in black, its face obscured by a shadowy veil. But there was no disguising the frizzy red curls that belonged to their homeroom teacher. "Ms. Minerva!" said Harper. "Are you going to a funeral?"

"In a manner of speaking," said the teacher. "I'm mourning the destruction of the library. It's a terrible loss for our community, isn't it? All those poor, defenseless books, lost to the ravages of nature. It's almost Shakespearean!" "Oh, Minerva, must you be so dramatic?" said another voice—one that Harper recognized instantly. Her favorite teacher, Doc Culpepper, approached them with a skip in her step. "You know what I always say: every setback is an