Chapter 9

Chapter 9 I Scream! You Scream! Then We Get in Trouble for Yelling, So We Use Our Inside Voices to Ask Politely for Ice Cream. Dark clouds blanketed the sky, and thunder rumbled in the distance. But the rain, at last, had stopped falling, and the wind had calmed to a gentle breeze. Ash was happy for the break in the weather. She was only in town for a few more days, after all, and she still had several favorite locations she wanted to visit. There was the bat house that she had helped build, on the edge of school property. A bookstore that had a huge selection of graphic novels and manga. And the best ice cream shop around, with dozens of flavors and uncountable toppings. She asked Morgan to join her for ice cream. She thought it was about time the two of them had a very important talk. And she was worried that he wouldn't like what she had to say.

But in Ash's experience, ice cream made everything a little bit better. That was especially true about ice cream with a friend. And not just human friends. Morgan had gotten permission to bring the hamsters home for the evening. Baron Sweetcheeks and Duchess Dimples were each in their own plastic ball, rolling around at Ash's feet.

"It's so hard to choose," Ash said as they waited in line. "There are so many options!" "Yeah," Morgan agreed. But when it was his turn to order at the shop window, he asked for a cup of simple vanilla ice cream. They sat on a nearby swing set, and Morgan's eyes bounced between his plain white scoop and the multicolored confection Ash had chosen: three flavors of ice cream, topped with bright sprinkles, gummies, walnuts, and a drizzle of butterscotch. Ash laughed as Morgan goggled. "You can't get this

specific combination anywhere near my house," she explained. "It looks so chaotic," he said. "Is it good?" "Of course it's good," Ash answered, and she licked her lips. "It's all sugar, after all." "I guess I could be a bit more daring," Morgan said. "But I get worried about what could happen. I know for a fact that I like vanilla ice cream. So why risk getting something I won't like as much?" Ash laughed again. "Because you might find something you like even more. You can't know unless you try!" "I guess," Morgan replied, looking skeptical. Ash watched him poke at his ice cream with his spoon. She took a breath. It was now or never. "That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," said Ash. Morgan looked confused. "My ice cream selection?" "No," said Ash. "Your reluctance to try new things." "Oh." Morgan watched the hamsters rolling around beneath his feet. "This sounds serious." "It's not a big deal," Ash promised. "It's just that I have an idea. And I want to make sure you really

listen to it. And I hope that you'll consider it before you try to shoot it down." "I don't shoot ideas down," Morgan said a little defensively. Then he added, "Do I?" "Not always," said Ash. "But when we needed help deciphering a code, I thought we should ask my Wildling troop for help. And you weren't happy about that." "Well, that's certainly true…," said Morgan. He took a scoop of ice cream without taking a bite. "Or what about our decision to let Theo join the club? You didn't like that." She grinned. "And you were the same way when I joined, remember?" "That was a long time ago!" Morgan said, leaning back in his swing. "I've changed. I'm way more relaxed and open."

"Good," said Ash. "In that case, I've got an idea." She pulled a sheet of graphing paper from her pocket with her free hand before unfolding it and handing it to Morgan. The paper contained her design for something she was calling a slime engine. "Really, it was Po's idea. He inspired me when he tried to force the vex to move toward the Evoker King fragments. This device should help us do that." Morgan took a moment to wrap his head around Ash's design. She had labeled everything clearly, but there were a lot of different elements. The slime engine made use of sticky pistons, redstone blocks, and slime blocks. But at heart, the idea was simple. The slime engine would crawl forward on its own, using a wall of slime to push anything in its path. "Because slime blocks can push vexes!" Morgan said. He wanted to slap his forehead with the realization, but his hands were full of ice cream and blueprints. "Ash, this is brilliant." He furrowed his brow. "Only, to cover a large space, we'd need a lot of these engines, all coming from different directions." "Right. My thinking exactly," said Ash. "And that brings us to the part I'm nervous to say out loud, but here goes: Morgan, I think we should invite more kids to join us in Minecraft."