Chapter 7

Chapter 7 The Duchess on Holiday! (Also, There Are Some Important Plot Developments, But It Will Be a While Before Their Relevance Becomes Apparent.) Even after spending time in Minecraft that morning, Morgan and the others still arrived early to homeroom. Ms. Minerva sat at her desk grading papers. Nearby, a wastebasket was set out to catch water droplets from the leaky ceiling. The storm seemed to be passing, but not quickly enough for Morgan. He didn't know how much more rain and wind the school could take! Jodi ignored the wastebasket and ran over to the hamster cages. "I need to see how Duchess Dimples is adjusting to her vacation home!" she said. "Vacation?" echoed Ms. Minerva. "I'm afraid it might be a permanent relocation."

Thunder rumbled outside, making the teacher's statement sound ominous. "Permanent? What do you mean?" asked Morgan. Ms. Minerva realized she'd spoken louder than she'd intended. "Oh! Of course Dimples is welcome to stay as long as she likes. She's not the problem. I'm simply worried that the library will never be entirely fixed." "But…why not?" asked Po. "Ash and her troop are over there now. They're helping Mr. Mallory clean up the mess." "That's true," said Ms. Minerva. "But the scouts can't replace the roof. And I'm afraid that the people of this town don't care enough about the library to save it."

"No way!" said Po. "The library is awesome. We used it to learn about bees." "And code-breaking," Harper added. "I've got a backpack full of programming books that I checked out," said Theo. "It's weighs a ton. I can barely lift it!" Ms. Minerva smiled. "That's a pleasant surprise. I thought you were only going to the library to use the computers." "Well, that, too," Theo confessed. "But that's what makes the library—or media center, or whatever you want to call it—so special. There are books and computers and electronic media like DVDs. There are even board games you can check out."

"And classes!" Jodi said, turning away momentarily from the hamster cages. "Our mom attended a basket-weaving class there." Ms. Minerva's smile deepened. "Well, good!" she said. "Perhaps I was worried for nothing. Perhaps this town does care about its library." "As much as Baron Sweetcheeks cares about Duchess Dimples, I bet," said Jodi. "Look at these little fur balls! They're having so much fun." Morgan looked over at the cages, and he saw that they had been connected by a piece of PVC pipe. That way, each hamster had their own space, but they could also visit each other. At the moment, Duchess Dimples was using Baron Sweetcheeks's exercise wheel while the baron watched her. It almost looked like he was cheering her on!

And Morgan remembered when Ms. Minerva had cheered them on. She had watched over them during their conflict with the Evoker King, using one of the headsets to appear in the game as a mysterious figure they knew only as the Librarian. It was easy to forget, sometimes, that his teacher loved Minecraft, too. "We should tell you what's going on in our game," said Morgan. "Things have gotten…a little out of hand." And to the surprise of his friends, Morgan told her everything. About how they'd befriended the Evoker King. About how the Evoker King had split apart into six different mobs. About the Fault that appeared in the sky at around the same time. About how that Fault had grown and seemed ready to swallow the entire game. "That all sounds very stressful," said Ms. Minerva. "Have you considered starting a new game? You don't need Doc's strange technology to enjoy it. I've been logging a lot of hours at home. I've just built my forty-third bookshelf!" Morgan shook his head. "We can't just leave our game behind. Not until we know if the Evoker King can be saved." "I respect that," said Ms. Minerva as their other classmates began filing in for homeroom. "And I'm glad you told me about it. Doesn't it feel good to share?"

"It does," Morgan confessed. And it was true. He felt a little less worried now that he'd spoken his worries out loud. "There's a lesson in there somewhere," said Ms. Minerva. "Secrets and exclusive clubs are fun. But they can make us feel all alone with our problems. The bigger your community, the smaller your problems can become." "We'll keep it in mind," said Morgan. But he was eager to change the subject. His classmates were listening in now, and they seemed curious to know what Ms. Minerva was talking about. And despite Ms. Minerva's advice, Morgan wasn't ready for everyone to know his business.