“I see something!” Mia called out.
At the bottom of the stairs, the trio entered a spacious library laced with cobwebs and lined with bookshelves. Two large wooden chests sat in the middle of the library, which was lit by torches.
“Where did she go, Mia? I don’t see anything.” Julia scanned the library, but didn’t see any other people.
Mia ran toward a dark corner of the library. “I don’t know. She must have left.”
“We have to find her.” Julia looked around the library.
“I think I hear something,” Mia said as she walked around the library, carefully inspecting each corner.
“Where?” Julia raced over to Mia.
Emma pointed to a stone staircase. “I hear something coming from down here.”
The trio climbed down the stone staircase, and a person screamed out to them, “Leave me alone,” and opened, then slammed shut a wooden door.
“Was that Hallie?” Julia asked.
“I don’t know,” said Emma, who raced toward the closed door and quickly opened it.
Behind the door was a large room lit by torches and an eerily empty jail cell.
“What is this place?” Emma stared at the jail cell.
“It’s my home,” a voice called out in the darkness.
“Who are you?” Mia asked.
There was no response. Julia walked toward the voice, reaching out for the shadowy figure.
“Stop!” the voice called out, but Julia just moved closer.
Chapter 7
POTIONS
“Do you know my friend Hallie?” Julia reached for the figure.
“I don’t know Hallie,” the voice called out. “Who’s Hallie?”
Emma lit another torch from her inventory and walked toward Julia. The light illuminated a man’s face. A man dressed in rags stood in the corner of the stronghold. A lone silverfish crawled up his leg. Emma slammed her diamond sword against the silverfish.
“Ouch,” the man cried. “Why would you do that?” “There was a silverfish. I’m sorry,” Emma explained.
“I’d rather get bitten by an insect than have someone hit me with a sword. That really hurt.”
“I’m sorry,” Emma repeated.
“Who are you?” Julia asked.
“Why do you want to know? And what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in school?” asked the man in rags.
“We were looking for my roommate,” explained Julia. “We saw her enter the cave behind the campus.”
“Minecrafters Academy,” the man said and stared at the ceiling. “I remember that place. I used to be a student there.”
“You were? When?” Mia asked.
“A very long time ago.”
“Maybe you can help us,” Emma said. “It appears that our school is in trouble. Someone blew up the Main Hall.”
“Really? They destroyed the Main Hall? I learned all of my tricks in that building. What a shame.” He frowned.
“What did you study at Minecrafters Academy?” Julia asked.
“You might not believe this, but at one time I was the best alchemist in the Overworld. But I gave it up.”
“Why?” Mia asked, adding, “I’m also an alchemist.”
“People became too greedy. There was also a person who wanted all of my potions and he would steal from me constantly.”
“That’s awful,” Julia said.
“It’s not that bad. I like being here where nobody can bother me.” He smiled.
“Do you still brew potions?” Mia asked.
The old man walked toward a large chest. “Yes, I do.” He lifted the lid of the chest, and Mia glared at the chest filled with labeled vials.
“You can make anything!” Mia exclaimed. “I need you to teach me. How did you find all of the resources to make these potions?”
“I’m not a teacher, and a good magician never tells anyone his tricks, right?” The old man’s voice was tired.
“What’s your name?” asked Julia. She was curious to ask Lucy, Carla, or another member of the faculty about this man who lived in the stronghold away from society.
“I’m Aaron,” he said as he closed the chest.
“I’m Julia.” She introduced her two friends.
Mia called out, “I think I hear something.”
“Do you think it’s Hallie?” Emma asked.
Julia smiled at Aaron. “It’s been so nice meeting you, but we have to find my roommate, Hallie.”
“Does she have blue hair and a flower hair clip?” Aaron asked.
“Yes, have you seen her?” Julia asked.
“Yes, she comes down here a lot, but I’ve never spoken to her,” he replied.
“I wonder why she comes down here.” Emma paced around the small room. “Is she using this place to plan something evil?”
“Do you think she’s the one who blew up the Main Hall?” asked Aaron.
“We don’t know. That’s why we’re down here,” Julia said.
“I’m not sure your friend is doing anything bad. I think she uses this space to store chests. If you’d like, I can show you where I usually see her.”
Julia wondered if she should trust Aaron. She worried that this might be a trap and that he could be working with Hallie. She asked, “Where do you usually see her?”
“By the entrance. She doesn’t go too far into the cave. I’ve only seen her in the stronghold a couple of times,” Aaron said.
“We will head toward the entrance,” Julia said, thanking Aaron.
“Before you go,” Aaron asked, “do you want to do a trade? I need food and I can sell you some of my potions for food.”
Mia exclaimed, “Yes! I’d love some of those potions.”
The gang looked through Aaron’s inventory of potions, which included the potion of leaping, potion of luck, and other potions which would help them breathe underwater, have better night vision, and recover after an attack. The trio traded apples and wheat and filled their inventory with Aaron’s potions.
“Why don’t you come back to Minecrafters Academy?” Mia said. “There’s a new headmistress. I bet she’d let you sell your potions on campus or even teach a class.”
“I told you, I’m not a teacher. I’m also not looking to sell my potions. You’ve provided me with enough food to make it through the next few months, and I’m happy with that. I don’t like to be around people.”
“I get it,” Mia said.
“Thank you for the potions,” Julia said. “We must be on our way. We have to find my roommate.”
“Good luck with everything. I hope you find out who blew up the Main Hall. I’d hate to see anything happen to the school.” He smiled.
A thunderous boom rocked the stronghold. “What was that?” Julia’s voice shook.
“I don’t know.” Aaron closed his chest of potions and hid it in a dark corner. “But it sounded like an explosion.”
The trio walked up the stone stairs, through the library, and out of the stronghold. Julia turned around and was surprised to see Aaron trailing behind them. She thought he would have stayed in his part of the stronghold and wouldn’t have joined them.
“Hallie!” Julia called out. Her blue-haired roommate stood by the entrance to the cave and stared at them blankly.
Julia rushed to her roommate, but Hallie sprinted out of the cave. Julia grabbed a potion of leaping, gulped it down, and was ready to pounce on Hallie when she heard a cry.
Emma wailed, “Help!”
Julia didn’t realize she had sprinted past her friends. As she neared the cave’s exit, she looked back at them. Creepers surrounded them. She had to help, but she knew it meant letting Hallie get away.
Chapter 8
SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET
Julia stared into one creeper’s black blocky eyes. Aaron splashed potions on the creepers, destroying a few.
Emma and Mia tried to quietly slip out of the cave before the creepers could ignite; they walked slowly and cautiously toward the e
xit, but more creepers spawned in front of them.
“I bet she created a creeper spawner,” Julia said.
“We have to be very careful.” Mia sprinkled potions on the creepers that crowded her path to the exit.
Even as Aaron spilled potions on the creepers, it was hopeless. They were outnumbered by green creepers and feared there was no escape.
“Let’s just take it nice and slowly,” said Emma, as she stood inches from the exit.
When the trio thought they were on the brink of a successful escape, the creepers detonated at once, rocking the small dimly lit cave.
The last thing Julia saw before she respawned in her bed was Aaron splashing a creeper with potion.
She looked over at Hallie’s empty bed. Julia climbed out of her bed and she glanced at Hallie’s half open closet. She wondered if she could gather any clues about Hallie by looking through the closet.
Julia opened the door to their room, and looked up and down the hall. She had to make sure Hallie wasn’t anywhere near the room. Once she closed the door, Julia nervously walked over to Hallie’s closet. The door was slightly open, and Julia peeked in. Three blocks of TNT were nestled in the corner behind a chest. Julia wasn’t sure if she was imagining things. She opened the door completely and began to closely inspect the closet.
The closet contained a chest filled with gold bars, and behind the chest were definitely blocks of TNT. There was another chest deeper in the closet, but Julia heard a noise and jumped up.
“Julia?” Hallie asked in a quiet but angry mumble.
“Yes?” Julia wanted to question Hallie. She wanted to know why Hallie got to play by her own rules and constantly missed class and left the campus to head to the cave. She wanted to know what Hallie was hiding in the cave. Instead, she said nothing.
“Were you in the cave earlier today?” Hallie began her interrogation but it was so low and muffled that Julia wasn’t quite sure what Hallie had actually asked.
“Yes,” Julia said. “I was looking for you. I saw you leave the campus and enter the cave. I wanted to see if you were all right.”
“You brought friends with you?”
“Yes, they didn’t want me going alone.”
“Why did you follow me?”
“We were worried about you.”
“Worried about me? Your friends don’t even know me.” Each time Hallie spoke, she got closer to Julia.
“I was the one who was worried. They were there to help me find you. We saw you walk into the woods and we were curious.”
“Stop being curious.”
“Okay.” Sweat ran down Julia’s forehead.
“Don’t look for me anymore. Leave me alone.” Hallie stood inches from Julia’s face now, so each word was extremely audible.
“But I promise that I was just worried about you.”
“Don’t worry about me.” Hallie was almost on top of Julia. She could feel Hallie’s breath on her face.
“I won’t,” Julia said, adding, “and I don’t like feeling threatened.”
“It wasn’t a threat,” Hallie said and quickly left the room.
Julia caught her breath. She didn’t realize her heart was beating as fast as it was. She hated confrontation, and she also didn’t know what Hallie was planning. She was worried for herself and the rest of the students at Minecrafters Academy. Julia had to tell Lucy about the TNT, but then she remembered Hallie leaving Lucy’s room. Julia wondered if Lucy was involved in this, and if she might potentially be working with Hallie.
Emma and Mia entered Julia’s room. Mia said, “I hope Aaron is all right.”
Emma noticed Julia was upset. “What’s wrong? You’re as pale as a ghost.”
“I just had a confrontation with Hallie. She told me that I should never go looking for her again. She also was upset that you were there,” Julia spit out in one breath.
“That must have been awful,” Emma said.
“It was. Before she came in, I made a crazy discovery,” Julia took a deep breath.
“What did you find?” Mia asked.
“She has bricks of TNT in her closet, and she also has a chest filled with gold bars.”
“TNT? How many bricks?” Emma said.
“Just three.”
“I wonder if she used the rest to blow up the Main Hall.”
“There was another chest in the back of the closet, but I couldn’t get to it,” Julia said.
“Let’s look at it now,” Emma suggested.
“Seriously? How? She just confronted me. If she comes in and sees me going through her closet, she will go nuts,” Julia’s heart began to race at the thought of Hallie catching her rummaging through her closet.
Mia pulled out a bottle of potion. “She’ll never know. We’ll become invisible.”
“I’m not sure that’s the best idea,” Julia protested.
“No, it’s a great idea,” Emma declared.
“We need as much evidence on Hallie as we can get. Then we can go see Lucy and tell her what’s going on,” Mia explained.
“Hallie could be working with Lucy. Remember we saw her coming out of her room?” Julia reminded them.
“I think we have no choice. We have to open that chest. It could contain a vital clue,” said Mia as she splashed the potion of invisibility on herself and walked into Hallie’s closet.
Emma also splashed the potion on herself and joined Mia on the search through Hallie’s closet.
“I see the TNT,” Emma said.
“I can almost reach the chest,” Mia said.
Julia stood by the door and watched for Hallie. She couldn’t get enough courage to splash the potion on herself. Luckily she didn’t, because Hallie opened the door.
Chapter 9
LUNCH IS OVER
“You’re back,” Julia said quite loudly. She wanted Emma and Mia to know that Hallie had returned.
“Why is my closet door open?” Hallie asked as she walked over to the door and closed it.
Julia panicked that Hallie might hear Emma and Mia in her closet, and she let out a loud breath when the door closed without any issues.
“What’s wrong with you?” Hallie stared at Julia. “You weren’t looking through my closet, were you?”
“No,” Julia lied, “of course not.”
“You’d better be telling the truth,” Hallie said.
“I think we have to go to class. I have Henry’s survival class on my schedule. I know you do, too,” Julia said.
“I’ll see you there.” Hallie left the bedroom.
Julia raced toward Hallie’s closet, opening the door as her two friends’ potion wore off and they became visible.
“We have to get out of here,” Julia said.
Mia brushed her hair from her face, “Yes, we must go to Henry’s survival class, but we also have to tell you what’s in that chest.”
“What?” Julia’s heart skipped a beat as she led her two friends out of her room. She looked in both directions down the hall. She didn’t want Hallie to see them exiting the room together.
“The chest is filled with enchanted books,” Emma said.
“That’s not so strange,” Julia remarked.
“I know, but it’s what we found behind the chest that worries us,” Mia said.
“What?” Julia needed to know what was so worrisome.
“There is a huge hole in the wall behind the chest,” Emma said.
“And it’s filled with bricks of TNT,” Mia said.
“What is she doing with all of that TNT?” Julia asked, although she knew her friends didn’t have the answer.
“We have to tell someone at this school,” Emma said.
“Maybe we can tell Carla,” Julia suggested.
“That’s a good idea,” Mia said, “but we also have to get to class now. I know we are still being evaluated for the Academic Olympics. Even if our tryout was perfect, we’re not going to get chosen if we start missing class.”
“The school won’t exi
st if we don’t stop Hallie!” Julia exclaimed.
Mia and Emma stood in silence. Emma said, “You’re right. We have to take this very seriously. There is a student at our school who is hoarding TNT. This is a big problem.”
“It’s true. Let’s meet with Lucy after Survival Skills class,” Mia said.
“If we survive,” Julia said.
The group rushed into Henry’s class. Henry addressed the class about the importance of potions in survival.
“For instance, not having an inventory filled with the adequate number of potions can be the difference between surviving and conquering a hostile mob or being destroyed.” Henry asked them to work with their partners from the last class and to choose the potion the group felt was the most important for survival, the one potion they could never survive without.
Emma asked, “Should we use the leaping potion? It’s very rare. I think that will impress Henry.”
“I don’t think this exercise is about impressing the teacher. We want to choose the potion that is most important for survival. I don’t think, although it’s rare and impressive to have in our inventory, that the potion of leaping is all that significant in everyday battles,” explained Mia, who was a self-proclaimed potion expert and alchemist.
Julia was only half listening to the disagreement. She was too busy looking around the classroom for Hallie. “Guys, it looks like Hallie skipped class again.”
“What a surprise,” Emma said.
“We need to concentrate on this assignment,” Mia reminded them.
Kaboom!
An explosion rocked the campus, and the classroom shook. Henry told the class to stay calm. “We will evacuate the classroom, but we need to stay focused and leave slowly. We can get very hurt if we panic.”
“I told you we should have gone to Carla,” Julia said.
“How could I know there would be another explosion?” Mia defended herself. “I just wanted to do the right thing and go to class. I want to succeed here.”
“But we’re not sure the school will even exist in a few weeks. We’ve been here two days and already two buildings have been destroyed. How many more are there? This school is in serious jeopardy,” Julia said.
“There’s no use discussing who is right or wrong. We need to tell Lucy what we found in Hallie’s room,” Emma said.
Attack on Minecrafters Academy Page 3
