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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.
Cover design by Brian Peterson
Cover photo by Megan Miller
Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-1815-9
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-1824-1
Printed in Canada
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: The First Day of School
Chapter 2: A Special Invitation
Chapter 3: Explosions
Chapter 4: The Feast
Chapter 5: The Tryouts
Chapter 6: Spiders and Silverfish
Chapter 7: Potions
Chapter 8: Skeletons in the Closet
Chapter 9: Lunch is Over
Chapter 10: Search and Find
Chapter 11: The Jungle
Chapter 12: Build a Trap
Chapter 13: Discoveries in the Dungeon
Chapter 14: Hidden in the Mine
Chapter 15: Not in the Nether
Chapter 16: Sundown Surprises
Chapter 17: Back to Class
Chapter 18: Academic Olympics
SNEAK PEEK AT THE NEXT BOOK!
Chapter 1
THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
Julia only traveled out of the cold biome on rare occasions. She never felt the need to explore the rest of the Overworld when she could spend her days designing igloos and having snowball fights with her friends. Once she joined friends on a treasure hunt, which was supposed to be fun, but ended with her being trapped in a dark, musty stronghold, where an army of skeletons shot arrows at her with their bony hands, destroying her within seconds. She respawned in her bed. Later, her friends asked her if she was disappointed she missed out on unearthing treasure. To their shock, she confessed she was happy to respawn in her bed and have the adventure cut short. She liked the comforts of home.
Now, Julia stared at the acceptance letter to Minecrafters Academy. She’d applied on a lark. She’d never expected to get in. Julia wouldn’t even have known about the Academy if it weren’t for that super igloo she’d built. She had spent weeks constructing and perfecting an igloo, and as she worked on it, people passing through her frosty village stopped and asked her about her creation.
A pair of treasure hunters, trekking through snow in search of an abandoned mineshaft rumored to contain a slew of diamonds, stopped and gawked when they saw the igloo.
“You built that?” asked a man with black hair wearing a blue helmet, as he stood next to a friend who stood holding a pickaxe and wearing a gold helmet.
“Yes,” Julia smiled proudly. “Why do you ask?”
The man in the gold helmet marveled, “It’s incredible.”
“We’ve been everywhere and we’ve never seen anything quite like it,” added the man wearing the blue helmet, who introduced himself. “I’m Henry.”
“I’m Max.” The man wearing the gold helmet smiled. “And I have to tell you about this school that would be perfect for you. They have classes where you can learn to build even more incredible structures.”
“It’s only for the most skilled players, but I bet you’d have a chance,” Henry said.
“How do you know about it?” Julia asked.
“Our friend Lucy is the headmistress,” Max replied.
Julia listened to the details and then let the two treasure hunters tour the igloo.
“Wow,” Max exclaimed as he entered the circular yet blocky white igloo. “You’ve done a fantastic job with the inside of the igloo.” Max eyed the large wooden chests and the torches that were carefully placed in the spacious singular room.
Henry and Max excused themselves, thanking Julia for the tour and reminding her to apply to Minecrafters Academy, where she would learn how to build with other resources. Julia thought about applying for a long time and finally did. She knew it was a very competitive school, so she sent in the application expecting to be rejected.
When she was alerted that she was accepted and was to start classes the following day, her heart beat fast. She wondered if she could back out, but she told herself that it was important to try new things. Like the treasure hunt she had taken with her friends she tried it and realized it wasn’t for her, but she never regretted going on the treasure hunt.
Julia stocked her inventory with all the required supplies requested Minecrafters Academy, and also added a lucky sword extra emeralds, and wheat, as well as other resources for trading.
Julia was offered two options to travel to Minecrafters Academy. She could TP there or she could travel through the Overworld. After studying the map, which highlighted mines, temples, and other spots where you could find treasures, she chose to TP to the school. She didn’t want to risk battling any hostile mobs en route to the academy. Julia would be the first to admit she was the probably the worst fighter in the Overworld. Every time she was accidentally out past dark and saw a zombie or a skeleton, she’d freeze, making herself a target for the vicious hostile mobs of the night.
Julia TPed to the entrance of the school, and was greeted by a woman with yellow hair and glasses, who said, “You must be Julia.”
“How did you know?” Julia stared at her with her piercing green eyes, and pushed her flaming red hair from her face.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” the woman said. “I’m Lucy. I’m the new headmistress.”
“I found out about this school from your friends, Henry and Max.” Julia was excited to meet the headmistress.
“Julia,” a familiar voice called out. Julia turned around and saw Henry sprinting toward her and Max trailing behind him in the distance.
“Henry and Max. What are you doing here?” Julia raised her voice.
“They are teaching here this year,” said Lucy. “I’m lucky to have them. In fact, you have Henry’s survival class and Max’s modding class on your schedule today.”
“That’s great.” Julia smiled. She was relieved to know people at the Academy.
“I’m going to have Carla, the director of student life, take you to the dorms. You need to get settled in your room and meet your roommate,” said Lucy, and she called Carla over.
Carla, dressed in a MInecrafters Academy shir
t, walked over to Julia and smiled. “Welcome! I hope you’re enjoying your first day.”
“Yes, but I just got here. This is exciting, but slightly overwhelming,” Julia said.
“That’s normal. Everyone feels like that on the first day of school,” Carla said.
Julia took a deep breath as she entered the dorms. She was just getting used to the idea that she’d be living in a snowless biome, and now Carla was about to introduce her to her roommate.
“This is Hallie.” Carla introduced Julia to a girl with blue hair and daisy hair clip. She wore knee-high socks and a plaid dress.
“Do we have to wear a uniform?” Julia asked.
“No.” Hallie spoke very softly, almost inaudibly. “Why?”
“Oh.” Julia smiled. “I saw your plaid dress and thought it looked like a uniform.”
“Don’t make fun of me or else,” Hallie mumbled so that Carla couldn’t hear.
Carla excused herself. “Have a great time getting acquainted. And remember you both have Henry’s Survival Skills class soon.” She left.
Julia apologized. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t making fun of you. You’ll have to excuse me. I’m used to living alone and this is new for me.”
Hallie snapped, “How do you think I feel?”
Julia looked over the list of resources she needed for Henry’s survival class and asked Hallie, “Do you want to walk to class with me?”
“No, I have things I need to do before I go,” Hallie said quietly.
Julia was worried about the other students at Minecrafters Academy and was scared she wouldn’t make any friends. As she entered the class, Hallie spotted two girls standing next to an open chest. The girl with blond hair and wearing a red shirt smiled at Julia and invited her to join them.
“Hi, I’m Emma and this is Mia.”
Mia’s black hair covered most of her left eye, and she said, “Henry told us we have to pack this chest with what we believe are the most essential weapons and potions for survival.”
Julia quickly scanned her inventory for everything needed to survive. “Did he say where? Which biome? I know in the cold biome you’ll need a lot of different supplies because we don’t have as much wood as the other biomes, and also except for a wolf or maybe a polar bear, we don’t have too many animals around to hunt for food.”
Julia didn’t see Henry standing behind her as she spoke. “Wow, that’s an excellent point, Julia,” Henry commended her.
Julia was startled. She didn’t want to be the teacher’s pet, but she was also proud to be taken seriously. “Are you asking us about basic survival?” Julia wanted clarification for Henry’s assignment.
Henry lectured the class on different types of survival and what they needed to know. As he broke the class into teams, Julia was happy when Emma and Mia asked her to work with them again.
“You really impressed Henry,” Mia said as they worked on a project where they would each choose a different potion and use it, and everyone in the class had to guess which one the group used.
“We can’t splash the potion of invisibility on ourselves or people will get it right away. We have to choose something a bit trickier,” Emma suggested.
Mia and Julia agreed, but Julia couldn’t focus on the assignment. She was too busy staring at Hallie, who entered the class late and worked alone. She stood in the corner, holding a vial of potion.
Before the class had time to share their potions with the group, the bell rang, and Henry said, “Remember who you were working with and what potions you were going to use, we will start the next class with presentations.”
Emma asked Julia if she wanted to join them for lunch. Julia agreed, but she also kept an eye on Hallie.
“Why do you keep staring at that girl?” Mia asked.
“That’s my roommate, Hallie. There’s something strange about her. I’m keeping an eye on her.” As Julia said this, she noticed Hallie walking in the opposite direction of the dining hall.
“It looks like she’s skipping lunch,” Emma remarked.
Julia stood as she watched Hallie walk into a wooded area and disappear into a thick patch of leaves. “I wonder where she’s going.”
“Let’s follow her,” Mia said.
Chapter 2
A SPECIAL INVITATION
Emma was the first to enter the thick patch of leaves to search for Hallie. Mia pushed the leaves away and saw Emma walking into the forest.
“Do you see anything?” Mia asked as she stood behind Emma.
“Yes, I see an opening to a cave,” Emma said.
Julia had one foot into the wooded area when a voice called out her name, and she turned around to see Lucy.
“Julia, did you forget there’s a mandatory assembly today before lunch? That means everyone must attend.” Lucy walked over to them.
Emma and Mia emerged from the wooded area, as Julia replied, “We wouldn’t miss it. Thanks for reminding me.”
“What were you doing, entering the forest?” Lucy suspiciously eyed the trio.
“We were looking for an arrow we had lost,” Emma fibbed.
“Well, you’ll have to look for it later.” Lucy walked toward the main hall. “Follow me to the assembly.”
Julia wanted to confess. She wanted to tell Lucy that her roommate, Hallie, was missing the assembly and was in a cave hidden behind the trees, but she didn’t say anything and followed Lucy toward the main hall. The main hall was crowded with students. Carla was addressing the group at the podium and welcoming them all to MInecrafters Academy.
“Tonight there will be a large feast on the grass outside the dorms. Get there early. We don’t want to stay out late, because we don’t want to battle hostile mobs after a large dinner. We don’t want to get indigestion.” Everyone chuckled and Carla said, “Here is our new headmistress Lucy, and she has some incredible news.”
Lucy stood on the podium. As Carla stepped down, Lucy said, “I’m pleased to announce that our school was chosen to compete in the Minecraft Academic Olympics.”
Cheers roared throughout the crowded auditorium.
“The prestigious Minecraft Academic Olympics will showcase all the skills students learn while at Minecrafter’s Academy. However, there is some bad news. Although this is an elite school that chooses only the most serious students, the Olympics will only allow three students from the school to represent Minecrafters Academy. Tomorrow, we will host tryouts. Please let us know if you wish to try out for the Academic Olympics. I know it’s just the first day of school and you’re all still adjusting, but next week we have to let the Olympic Committee who we are sending to the competition.”
The assembly ended. Mia, Julia, and Emma walked toward the dining hall. Mia was excited about the Olympics. “I have to try out. This sounds amazing.”
“What do you want to try out for?” Julia asked.
“Potions. I got accepted due to my skills as an alchemist. After lunch, I’m going straight to the lab to start working on the potions.”
“The lab? What about finding out where Hallie is?” Julia asked.
“She wasn’t at the assembly,” Emma said.
“Good,” Mia said. “That’s one less person to compete with. Headmistress Lucy said they could only send three people.”
“Wouldn’t it be great if we were all chosen? We could go to the Academic Olympics together!” Emma said.
“You’re not going to get chosen if you slack off and spend your afternoon chasing after Julia’s roommate. Everyone in this school wants to be a part of the competition, so you’re going to have to put in a lot of effort,” Mia said.
“I want to represent the school as a builder,” Julia said. “I can make a fierce igloo.”
Emma confessed, “I think I also want to try out for alchemy, but it seems like you have that covered, Mia.”
“We can both try out,” Mia said, adding, “but only one of us can get in.”
“What was the skill that got you into Minecrafters Academy?” Julia
asked Emma.
Emma put her head down. “I’m a warrior,” she said softly.
“A what?” Mia asked.
“A warrior. I am an extremely skilled fighter and have a perfect aim with an arrow, but I don’t want to fight. I grew up in a very dangerous part of the Overworld and due to circumstances beyond my control, I also spent a large portion of my time in the Nether. It was there that I perfected my skills,” Emma said. “But I’d rather mix potions.”
“I wish I could be a skilled fighter,” Julia said. “I am the worst. If I see any hostile mob, I just freeze. I’m the easiest target in the Overworld.”
“I think you should try out to represent the school as a fighter,” Mia said. “Alchemy isn’t easy and it takes a long time to perfect. If you have a skill you excel at, you should just work on being the best at that skill.”
“I guess you’re right,” Emma said.
“Emma.” Mia smiled. “If you’d like, I will teach you all I know about alchemy, but only after the tryout.”
“Deal,” Emma said.
Julia was relieved that her two new friends weren’t in a competitive battle to represent the school as the best alchemist. However, although she wanted to be a part of the competition, she also wanted to head into the woods and find out what Hallie was doing in the cave.
“I don’t think you can head straight to the lab,” Emma reminded Mia. “Don’t we have the modding class?”
“Oh, right.” Mia looked at the schedule. “After that I’m in the lab.”
“And if Hallie doesn’t show up in the modding class, I’m going to look for her,” Julia said.
The girls finished their lunch and made their way toward the main building that housed the modding class. Julia smiled when she saw Max standing in front of the class.
“Mods are a way of taking control and changing our landscape and capabilities.” Max lectured them on Java code and made them brainstorm lists of ideas of what mods they’d like to create. Julia didn’t want to appear distracted, but she spent the entire class staring at the door, waiting for Hallie to walk through it. When the class ended and Hallie didn’t show up, Julia excused herself from Emma and Mia and walked toward the forest.
Attack on Minecrafters Academy Page 1
