I suddenly realized what Alex was doing. If Herobrine was overhead and we were being attacked by Dad and Aunt Alexandra, we didn’t have the ability to attack him. If we at least got him on this ledge with us, we might have a chance, however small.
Herobrine snorted with contempt. “Is that what you think?”
He disappeared and then reappeared on the ledge. Even though he’d come down to our level, he’d purposefully put himself at the best spot of the ledge. He was right up against the mountain, nowhere close enough to the edge to fall off. On top of that, both Dad and Aunt Alexandra were standing in front of him, so we’d have to get past them first. He was still letting others do his work for him.
“Well, here I am,” Herobrine said. He twitched. “And somehow I feel as safe as ever.”
He’s not totally safe! I thought. I could see that he was still getting weaker. His posture wasn’t as good. But he was still pretty strong, and with Dad and Aunt Alexandra working as his guards …
With a grunt, Dad hurled his sword at me. I blocked, ducked under him, tried to get away. The end of the ledge was inches from me, and I could almost feel it like a vacuum, the gravity wanting to pull me down.
Think, think! This has to be it—there has to be a way to defeat him. He’s weakened … his zombies are turning against him … people are getting wise about how to fight him. But how to end it?
“I also have power over the Overworld, the Nether, and now Earth as well,” I remember Herobrine saying earlier.
And then it hit me.
The Overworld, the Nether, and Earth. His powers snaked through all those places, keeping him a step above us.
But there was one world left that he hadn’t mentioned having power in.
That was how we had to end it. We had to take him to the End, the scariest world of all. A world of eternal night, a world I’d never been to—a world no one I knew had ever been to, not even my brave dad.
In the End, you found yourself on an island in the sky, and if you fell off, you fell forever. Endermen walked the land, and the Ender Dragon flew through the dark sky. The story was that if you conquered the Ender Dragon, you would return home.
In fact, there was no other way to go home from the End.
If we took Herobrine there, it might be the end for him. But it would also be the end for anyone who went with him.
CHAPTER 19
I MUST BE CRAZY! I THOUGHT RIGHT AWAY. THERE WAS no way we could go to the End, not with all the danger it entailed.
Besides, it was basically impossible to make a portal to the End. Regular portals like the ones to the Nether wouldn’t work. You needed all these ingredients that were hard to get at a regular time, let alone when you were trapped on a ledge!
But then it hit me again.
Yancy’s cell phone!
We couldn’t get all the ingredients together to make a portal here, but Yancy or Destiny probably knew a way to make it on the Minecraft game on their cell phones by using codes for a shortcut. How could I tell them to make it without Herobrine overhearing, though?
I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn’t fully dodge Dad’s next blow. I managed to get out of the way of his blade, but the sword handle still thunked hard against my shoulder, knocking me to the ground. Dad towered above me and raised his sword.
As I tried to scramble to my feet, Maison jumped between Dad and me, slashing out with her bat. The first slash she made stopped Dad’s sword. Then she swung again, pushing him back a little.
In the same instant, Destiny rushed to my side, grabbed me under my arms, and started pulling me up. “Stevie, I’ve got you!” she said.
“The End,” I whispered. It was too risky to say any more. If I went into a whole discussion of what I thought we needed to do, Herobrine would hear for sure.
Destiny’s eyebrows flew up and her mouth fell open. She seemed to understand.
Near the back of the ledge, Herobrine chuckled. “Ready to give up, Stevie?” he said.
“Distract him,” Destiny whispered back, and released me. I dove forward, past where Dad and Maison were fighting. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Destiny run to Yancy, reach into his pocket, and yank out the cell phone. Yancy, who was helping Alex keep Aunt Alexandra at bay, was startled by having his cell phone snatched and looked at Destiny in surprise. Destiny didn’t say a word; her thumbs were going crazy tapping something into the phone.
Right before I was about to reach Herobrine, Dad grabbed me. In his other hand he held Maison’s arm so hard that he’d made her drop her bat. Maison was kicking at him, but Herobrine’s power seemed so strong that Dad didn’t even feel it.
“Well, it looks as though I have the two of you caught,” Herobrine said. “Once I get you twerps out of the way, I can go back to destroying the worlds.”
“What about what you said earlier?” I asked. “That you’d let my dad go if we called off the attacks?”
“What, that?” Herobrine said. “Did you really believe I’d make a bargain like that? I only wanted the attacks called off. I’d never give your father back, Stevie, and you know it.”
I struggled against Dad’s grip, but he held me tight.
“What shall I do with them, master?” Dad asked.
“Throw them off the ledge,” Herobrine said. “That should take care of things.”
Dad started to turn toward the edge, and Maison and I struggled to get free. Herobrine watched, his eyes glowing with anticipation.
Destiny, hurry up! I thought. I didn’t know how long it would take her to make a portal to the End, but we didn’t exactly have time to spare here.
“What’s this?!” Herobrine suddenly shouted, sounding outraged.
I looked back. Somehow Alex had managed to cover her mom’s boots with arrows again, pinning her without actually hurting her.
“Don’t just stand there!” Herobrine ordered Dad. “Help her get free, then take care of those brats! I need both of you!”
Dad’s grip on Maison and me started to loosen as he turned toward Aunt Alexandra.
Behind Herobrine, I saw a shape take form against the hard rock of the mountainside. It was a green-patterned portal, with the inside black as night, little pinpricks showing like stars.
The End portal!
As soon as Dad fully let go, I lunged forward and knocked Herobrine back—into the portal.
CHAPTER 20
MY FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE END WAS A DARK, twilit sky. The island we landed on was made of greenish-white stones, and around the edges of it I could see Endermen, who were tall, skinny mobs with black bodies and long arms and legs.
Herobrine scrambled to his feet, inches away from me. “What did you do?” he hollered. “Coming here condemns us both, boy!”
“I won’t let you destroy the worlds!” I said. “I can’t stand back and watch you take away everything I love!”
In this already dark world, something even darker flew over us, casting the island in deep black shadows. When I looked up, I saw the enormous and powerful Ender Dragon soaring through the sky. It didn’t seem to have spotted us yet, and I didn’t want to be around when it did.
Herobrine stared at me for a moment, his mouth hanging open, and then he began to laugh again. Not expecting this, I twitched. It was a morbid laugh, not his usual, gloating one.
“You’ve lost everything you love, anyway!” he said. “You’ll never see your family or your friends again. You sacrificed yourself and everything you had for an eternity trapped here. Are you proud?”
I didn’t have time to answer. The next thing I knew, someone else was coming through the portal.
I jumped back, sword up, wondering if Herobrine had called one of his soldiers in to attack me. First I saw the person’s feet, and then their whole body followed. I couldn’t believe my eyes. This wasn’t someone here to attack me and try to free Herobrine—it was Alex!
“Alex!” I said. “You didn’t need to come here, too! It’s dangerous!”
“You thin
k I don’t know that?” asked Alex, who loved danger. “We started this mission together, and we’re going to finish it together.”
My eyes widened as Maison, Destiny, and Yancy jumped through the portal, too.
“Stevie, you’re okay!” Maison said. She’d grabbed her baseball bat again, and she held it at the ready.
“You guys didn’t all have to come,” I said.
“Of course we did,” Maison said. “We wouldn’t leave you, Stevie!”
“We’re not going to leave behind one of our friends,” Yancy said.
The five of us turned our eyes on Herobrine.
“You’re all fools!” Herobrine was shouting. He looked as if he wanted to throw a tantrum. “There’s no portal out of the End! It’s insanity enough that one of you would willingly come here, but all five!”
“This is your prison, Herobrine,” Yancy said. “You can’t get out of here.”
Herobrine’s eyes filled with a hideous, revolting desperation. He pointed one arm viciously my way. “Well, you’re getting what you want, aren’t you, Stevie?” he said. “You offered to be my prisoner if I let the others go. Now you’re imprisoned here with me. But as long as I’m around, the portals stay open. Other mobs will find their way through those portals and attack. The people of the Overworld will remain brainwashed. There will be eternal suffering because of me, and I welcome that!”
The Endermen at the edges of the island had noticed us and started to creep forward, curious.
“You don’t have any weapons, Herobrine!” I said. “Surrender and take away your dark magic!”
“Never!” Herobrine charged toward us, screaming. He was going to try to push us off the island, into the infinity below!
We bolted out of the way, but as I turned, Herobrine grabbed my foot. I fell on my stomach, emitting an “Oof!”
Herobrine was trying to drag me off the edge.
“I’ll throw you from here and feed you to the Ender Dragon!” Herobrine boomed.
Immediately the others began jumping on him, hitting him with all their weapons, trying to get him to release me. Herobrine shook them off like a dog, sending them flying all around him.
The Endermen came closer and closer. Suddenly one was right next to Herobrine, its head looming over him. Endermen are twice as tall as people from the Overworld, and Herobrine looked small and vulnerable next to this one.
“Stop it!” Herobrine ordered. He let go of me and I hurried away.
The Endermen didn’t stop. They kept popping up all around Herobrine, staring at him in fascination. They’d never seen anything like him before. When he lashed out at them, he didn’t seem as strong as he had only moments before. He was panting.
I gripped my sword and stood with the others. Herobrine managed to break free of the Endermen, charging toward us. His hand came out to grab me. I thrust my sword at him at the same time the others threw out their weapons in defense. Herobrine teetered, then fell back against the Endermen. He pushed the Enderman he’d fallen into, but he was on the edge of the island now, his feet unsteady with loss of health.
“I’ll take you all out!” he screamed, his eyes burning like lightning.
When he charged again, he ran straight into an Enderman. “No!” he cried, realizing what he’d done to himself. His foot slipped, and he fell back from the island, plummeting down into the darkness below.
CHAPTER 21
WE ALL CROWDED AROUND THE EDGE, WATCHING Herobrine fall until he couldn’t be seen anymore.
“Is he gone?” I asked, trembling.
“Look out!” Alex said.
Now that the Endermen had lost Herobrine, they were interested in us, and they hurried our way. I thrust my sword up at one to protect myself, but more were coming, and then we were surrounded. The Endermen towered overhead, reaching for us. And then something snatched us back.
The next thing we knew, Maison, Alex, Yancy, Destiny, and I had been transported back to the top of the mountain, by the temple. All around us the forests had regained their leaves. The portals were shattering, one by one, exploding as if they’d never been there to begin with. The players in the Minecraft skins were also disappearing.
“What happened?” I said, shocked. When I’d decided to take Herobrine to the End, I’d thought I’d never see the Overworld again.
“We must have defeated Herobrine with that fall!” Maison said.
“But we have to defeat the Ender Dragon to return to the Overworld from the End,” I said, thinking about its terrifying form flying over us. “And it never came near!”
“It must be because we defeated such a powerful mob, so it worked like defeating the Ender Dragon!” Yancy said.
All throughout the mountainside and down below I could see the soldiers of the Overworld. They were scratching their heads and looking around in confusion as if they’d just woken up from a deep sleep. All of their eyes were back to normal.
Destiny still had Yancy’s cell phone, and she exclaimed, “The news!”
There was Lilac Waters on the phone screen, reporting from the middle school Halloween party. In the background I couldn’t see any zombies or Overworld soldiers. And the portal was gone!
“Minutes ago, something amazing happened here,” Lilac was saying. “All the zombies and soldiers vanished at the same time that the portal on this stage exploded. Now I’m getting reports that the same thing is happening all over the globe. People who were playing Minecraft to help are also reporting that they were knocked out of the game the same moment. We did it, planet Earth.”
In the background, Dirk and Mitch could be seen sliding out from under the table where they’d been cowering.
“I think we’re safe, Mitch,” Dirk asked.
“Let’s never dress up as zombies again, Dirk,” Mitch said. “I’ve seen enough zombies to last a lifetime.”
“Let’s speak to the teacher who heroically saved the day here,” Lilac said, pulling Ms. Reid in front of the camera. Ms. Reid gave the camera an exhausted smile and held up a wooden sword.
“The great work here comes from our impressive student body,” Ms. Reid said. “The students all banded together.”
“It seems the whole world banded together,” Lilac said. “Wouldn’t you agree?”
“It would seem so,” Ms. Reid said. “But I only did what I had to do to protect my students here. I want us all to realize how much a young group of kids helped us. Stevie, Maison, Destiny, wherever you are, we thank you. I also want to thank the young girl with red hair who was with them, and the young man who turned into a zombie.”
“Aw, she doesn’t know our names,” Yancy said to Alex, sounding a little disappointed.
“That’s okay,” Alex said. “What really mattered is defeating Herobrine. Besides …” She gave a flip of her red hair toward Yancy. “When you get back to Earth, you have plenty to time to tell everyone our names.”
As exciting as all this was, there was something else we needed to do. “Dad!” I called. “Aunt Alexandra!”
And I heard Dad’s voice call back, “Stevie? Stevie! We’re down here on a ledge!”
Alex and I raced to the edge of the mountain. When we peered down, we could see Aunt Alexandra and Dad, still on the ledge where we’d left them. Aunt Alexandra had freed her feet from Alex’s arrows, and the two of them were looking up at us with frantic, worried eyes. Eyes with pupils. Their real eyes.
“Dad!” I cried in relief, and hopped down to be with him.
CHAPTER 22
YANCY TAPPED HIS GLASS OF WATER WITH A spoon, wanting to get everyone’s attention. “I think we should have a toast,” he said.
“What’s a toast?” Alex asked.
Several days later, after the infamous Halloween party, we were at another party. Only this time the people attending were Dad, Aunt Alexandra, Alex, Maison, Destiny, and Yancy—who was back to normal now, thanks to a Potion of Weakness and golden apple I’d made for him after we’d overcome Herobrine. We were all seated at the ta
ble in Dad’s grand dining room. The table was full of delicious foods from both the Overworld and Earth. This was going to give Maison, Destiny, and Yancy a chance to taste our world’s best foods while we got to try theirs. My cat, Ossie, was sitting underfoot, hoping to eat any scraps that fell.
“A toast is something we do on Earth to celebrate,” Yancy said. “I propose a toast to a universe free of Herobrine! Raise your glasses with me and clink them together!”
It seemed like a weird ceremony, but we all did it. Dad, Aunt Alexandra, Alex, and I tapped our glasses together slowly, shooting each other Am-I-Doing-This-Right? looks. Yancy, Maison, and Destiny basically slammed their glasses together in triumph. It was a good thing those glasses didn’t break, because otherwise we’d have water all over our good food.
“It’s amazing what you kids did,” Dad was saying as he began to eat. He almost looked choked up about it, which wasn’t like Dad.
“Thankfully, defeating Herobrine took care of everything else,” Maison said. “As soon as he was defeated, the zombies vanished off Earth, and all the people of the Overworld were teleported back home, safe and sound, with their memories back. All the people on Earth who were turned into zombies immediately turned back into themselves, too.” I saw her slip Ossie some fish under the table. Ossie ate eagerly, purring.
“Ms. Reid is going to win a Teacher of the Year award for protecting her students,” Destiny said happily. “And I hear Lilac Waters is supposed to be winning a bunch of big journalism awards, too, for her broadcast. I saw her when we got back to Earth, and she said her boss was never going to second-guess her opinions on what stories to cover again!”
“It’s so good to have you back, Mom,” Alex said, snuggling up against her mom in a sideways hug. Aunt Alexandra put one arm around Alex.
“It was torture,” Aunt Alexandra said. “Herobrine had us under his spell, but we retained our minds the whole time.”
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