Lucy walked over to Phoebe and Jane. “My inventory is almost empty. Is it possible I can borrow some stuff and then work on replenishing my supplies?”
“Sure. What do you need?” Jane looked through her inventory.
Eitan walked over to them, Maya tailing behind him. “Lucy, Jane, Phoebe, I want Maya to join your group. She is going to travel to the Nether with us.”
Lucy and her friends introduced themselves to Maya and followed the rest of the class outside to craft a portal. As Eitan and the students stood on the portal, purple mist surrounded them.
They emerged next to a lava stream. “Move away,” Eitan warned them. “You don’t want to fall in.”
Lucy said, “After spending most of the day removing lava from the basement, I’m not worried about this small lava stream!”
“Don’t be overly confident,” Eitan said, with a glance at Lucy. “The Nether is full of surprises. If you don’t watch out, you’ll be destroyed instantly.” As if on cue, four ghasts flew past them and shot fireballs.
“Should we shoot them with an arrow or punch the fireballs?” Lucy asked Eitan as she tried to dodge the blast from a fireball.
“You choose. But remember, running away isn’t an option,” Eitan instructed the class.
Lucy ran toward an oncoming fireball and used all of her strength to punch the fiery ball. It struck the ghast, and the blazing beast exploded.
Phoebe and Jane also used their fists to destroy the fiery mobs, but Maya hid by the lava stream.
Eitan approached Maya. “You can’t hide. You have to learn how to battle ghasts. This is basic survival in the Nether.”
More ghasts flew through the sky toward the group. Phoebe, Jane, and Lucy fought by punching the fireballs and destroying the ghasts, but Maya stood by and did nothing.
“Maya!” Eitan repeated. “I’ll be forced to make you travel back to the Overworld and give you a failing grade if you don’t participate.”
Lucy could see that Maya was shaking, so she walked over to the new student. “I know the Nether can make anyone nervous, but Eitan is a good teacher.”
Another ghast flew through the Nether sky. “I guess I have to destroy that,” Maya said, her voice trembling.
“You can do it,” Lucy said.
Biting her lip but nodding, Maya sprinted over to the fireball and punched it, destroying the ghast. The group cheered.
“Wow,” Eitan said. “Why were you frightened? I can hardly believe that was your first time fighting this hostile mob!”
Maya shrugged. “I wasn’t that good.”
“We need to move toward the Nether fortress,” Eitan instructed. “Today we’re going to learn about unearthing treasure.”
Lucy had been to many Nether fortresses, but she never enjoyed it. She believed finding a Nether fortress and surviving in the inhospitable climate was too much of a challenge, and the rewards weren’t worth it. It was like how her friends, Henry and Max, loved looting ocean monuments deep beneath the blue water; she didn’t enjoy those, either, because she was afraid of elder guardians. She preferred desert or jungle temples. But now, determined to learn something about treasure in the Nether, she walked behind her friends toward the distant fortress.
Four zombie pigmen walked past the group, and Eitan reminded them to avoid eye contact. But, without listening, Maya grabbed her diamond sword and leapt at one of the passive mobs. Enraged, he turned his pig and attacked Maya. In an instant, all four of the zombie pigmen turned on Maya and overwhelmed her. As she cried out, they destroyed her.
Eitan and the group were next in the line of attack, and they reluctantly charged the zombie pigmen with their diamond swords, ready to defend themselves. Lucy struck a pigman with her sword, but he was quite strong. It wasn’t an easy battle.
Eitan called out to his students, “Grab your potions of healing and splash them on the zombie pigmen.”
While battling the pigmen with their swords, the gang attempted to gather bottles of potions from their inventories. Lucy was the first to get the potion, which she quickly splashed on the zombie pigman closest to her, destroying him. Lucy rushed over to the pigmen that were battling her friends. She splashed potions of healing on all three of them, depleting their strength, and Jane struck them with her diamond sword, destroying each of them one at a time.
“Good job!” Eitan told his students.
“What happened to Maya?” asked Lucy. “If this was her first day, will she even be able to respawn on campus?”
“I think she arrived yesterday, so she should respawn in her dorm room,” Eitan reassured her.
As they walked toward the Nether fortress, Lucy thought about Maya and the zombie pigmen. Eitan had told them not to attack the neutral mob, yet Maya had disobeyed, running toward the pigmen with her diamond sword. Maya confused Lucy. She didn’t understand how someone who was so afraid of destroying a ghast would start a fight when she didn’t have to. It was almost as though Maya had wanted to be destroyed. But why?
“Lucy,” Eitan looked at her, pulling her out of her thoughts. “Can you tell us the best place to find treasure in a Nether fortress?”
Lucy was still thinking about Maya instead of paying attention. Luckily, she was a treasure-hunting expert. “We need to find a corridor. And the treasure is usually located on a right angle.”
“Correct,” Eitan said. “Now, lead us to the treasure, Lucy.”
Lucy walked slowly, because she wanted to make sure she was prepared if a hostile mob spawned in the fortress. Lucy looked in a room. “That’s a lava well room,” she said, warning her friends not to enter.
“Look!” Phoebe pointed out a corridor with a right angle. There were two treasure chests where the hallway turned, just as Lucy had said.
“Good job, Phoebe and Lucy.” Eitan led the class to the treasure chest. He opened the first chest, which was filled with gold ingots.
Lucy opened the second chest. “Golden chest plates!” she cried, thrilled.
“This is a great find,” Eitan said, and he distributed the treasure among the group.
As Lucy placed her golden chest plate in her inventory, she heard a familiar voice call out in the distance.
“Maya?” asked Eitan. “Is that you?”
Chapter 4
THE ATTACK OF THE WITHER SKELETONS
Maya walked into the Nether Fortress and let out a loud sigh. “I’m so relieved to find you guys. Someone once told me to travel east or west to find a Nether fortress. I picked west, and I can’t believe I found the right one!”
Lucy was surprised—she knew it was almost impossible to find a specific Nether fortress when you were looking for one. “That is amazing,” she said, eyebrows raised.
“I know.” Maya stood next to the empty treasure chest. “Did you find any loot?”
Jane replied, “Gold ingots and golden chest plates.”
Eitan said, “Next time we find a treasure chest, you can have some treasure. Since you weren’t here for the hunt this time, it doesn’t seem fair to take treasure away from the students who were.”
“That makes sense,” Maya said as she started to explore the Nether fortress.
“We need to stick together,” Eitan called out to Maya.
“I’m sorry,” Maya said quickly. “I was just so excited to look for more treasure.”
“Watch out!” Jane cried.
Three wither skeletons spawned behind Maya, and one of them immediately struck Maya with his sword.
Lucy grabbed her bow and arrow and aimed at the skeleton. “Bulls-eye,” she called out when her arrow struck home.
Phoebe, Jane, and Eitan all charged toward the wither skeletons and struck them with their diamond swords, weakening but not destroying them.
“Ouch!” Phoebe cried out. A skeleton had leapt at her and struck her with his stone sword, leaving Phoebe with a black heart and the Wither effect. For ten seconds, she was very tired and her health declined.
“She needs milk,”
Lucy called out to Jane, who was busy battling a wither skeleton. She kept leaping out of the way of the skeleton’s stone sword.
Maya struck a skeleton and destroyed it, and Eitan called out to her over the sounds of battle. “Maya, pick up the wither skull!”
Maya was bending to pick up the dropped skull when another wither skeleton spawned and attacked her, catching her off guard.
“We need to get Phoebe and Maya milk,” Lucy cried, her sword locking with the stone sword of a wither skeleton.
Eitan slayed the bony mob he had been battling and ran to his students’ side to offer them milk. Phoebe and Maya grew stronger, and in a moment, they were ready to battle the new wither skeletons that were spawning at an incredible rate. Eitan said, “We have to locate the spawner. It’s the only way to stop this attack.”
Lucy agreed, but she was cornered by three skeletons. “Help!” she cried out to her friends.
Eitan hurried to Lucy’s side and struck the skeletons, destroying one. Together they battled the remaining skeletons and picked up the bones the skeletons dropped when they were destroyed.
“Come with me,” Eitan told Lucy. “We need to find the spawner.”
Lucy and Eitan searched for the spawner as the rest of the gang battled the weakened wither skeletons. “It has to be in one of these rooms,” Lucy said as they walked down a long hall.
“Yes,” Eitan agreed. “Do you have a torch in your inventory? We will need that to deactivate the spawner.”
Lucy groaned. Her inventory was almost empty, even though her friends had helped her replenish a small portion of her supplies. “No, I don’t.”
“Lucy. Every student at Minecrafters Academy is supposed to have a fully stocked inventory.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” Lucy didn’t know what else to say.
A pair of orange and yellow eyes glowed in the distance. Eitan called to Lucy, “Get your diamond sword out. We have to attack!”
“Magma cubes!” Lucy gasped as two large cubes jumped at them.
Lucy barely had enough time to get her diamond sword and strike the boxy beast. The surprise attack weakened both Lucy and Eitan.
Eitan leapt at a magma cube, and with a hard blow, his sword split the large cube into pieces. As Lucy battled another magma cube, Eitan destroyed the smaller cubes that bounced on the floor of the Nether fortress. When Eitan destroyed the final segment of the orange-eyed mob, he sprinted over to help Lucy battle the others.
Eitan and Lucy struck the blocky beasts, and then worked as fast as they could to obliterate the smaller magma cubes. Then they heard footsteps behind them, and Lucy’s friends came running down the corridor.
“Lucy!” Phoebe called out.
“Eitan!” Jane exclaimed.
Lucy destroyed the final magma cube and turned her attention on her classmates. “Where’s Maya?”
Chapter 5
THE MEETING
“Maya was destroyed again,” explained Phoebe. “She was battling a wither skeleton and she just—well, she was destroyed.” Phoebe looked at Jane.
“It was an odd battle,” Jane added. “She seemed to give up very quickly.”
Lucy wanted to question Jane, but there was no time. An army of wither skeletons marched down the hall from the opposite direction.
“I guess we know the spawner has to be down this hall,” Eitan said as he used all of his energy to battle the many skeletons that were attacking them.
Lucy and her friends fought the mobs, but they were losing hearts quickly. The Wither effect was taking a toll on all of them.
Eitan struck two skeletons that stood in front of him and quickly turned to stab three that were behind him. With the students fighting the few remaining skeletons, the room was emptied of hostile mobs within seconds.
“Wow,” Lucy said, in awe of Eitan’s fighting. She had never seen such an accomplished swordsman. “That was fantastic.”
“I will teach you how to battle multiple wither skeletons in the next class. We have to get back to the academy or we will be late for dinner.”
“What about the spawner?” asked Lucy.
“We will have to destroy it on our next visit. I do hope you have a torch in your inventory by our next class. You must always be prepared, Lucy.”
Lucy knew her teacher was right. She had to take her education seriously, and that meant replenishing her inventory. Lucy followed Eitan and the other students through the Nether fortress and outside.
“We are going to craft a portal back to the Overworld. Lucy, do you have obsidian?” Eitan asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
Before Lucy could answer that she didn’t, Phoebe took out some obsidian and offered it to Eitan. Lucy’s friend had saved the day again—she was so lucky.
As she waited her turn to step onto the portal, Lucy thought about what her friends had said about Maya giving up easily when the wither skeletons attacked her, and what she had seen when Maya had aggravated the zombie pigmen. Could Maya have wanted to leave the field trip and return to campus both of those times, and gotten herself destroyed intentionally? What could she be doing on campus that she needed to hide?
Lucy gasped. What if it had to do with the attacks on the school? As the purple mist rose around the class, Lucy decided that as soon as they were back in their dorms for the night, she was going to find Maya and interrogate her.
“We’re here,” Eitan announced as they spawned in the center of the campus.
“I’m hungry.” Jane said and, as if on cue, her stomach rumbled.
“Good news, because it’s time for dinner.” Eitan walked toward the dining hall and his students trailed closely behind him.
The group picked up their trays and filled them with food, famished from the battle in the Nether.
“That was a fun trip,” Jane said as they ate their dinner.
Lucy agreed. She swallowed a bite of chicken and was reaching for a carrot when she looked up to see Stefan walking toward the group.
“I hope you had a good day in class,” Stefan said to the trio. When they nodded, he added, “I was hoping you three could attend the first meeting for the talent show. It’s going to be held right after dinner.”
“Of course we will,” Lucy replied, and the others agreed. But she was disappointed; her plan to question Maya would have to wait.
“Fantastic,” Stefan exclaimed. “I’ll see you after dinner.”
After dinner, Lucy, Phoebe, and Jane walked across the campus to the Main Hall, where most meetings were held. Whenever Lucy walked past Isaac’s jail cell, she always looked in the window to check on him. Somehow, she just never trusted that he wouldn’t find a way to escape and cause more trouble for the school.
Lucy spotted Isaac looking out the window, and he called out, “Ready for another skeleton attack?”
Lucy didn’t respond. She turned her head and hurried to catch up to her friends.
When they entered the meeting, Lucy was happy to see her old friend Adam in the room.
“Lucy!” he called. “I’m so glad we get to work together on the show. I never see you anymore.”
Lucy agreed. She had been through many battles with Adam, and she was happy that they were finally going to do something fun together.
Stefan stood in front of the group. “Everyone, quiet down. I want to discuss our agenda for today’s meeting.”
As the group stood silently and listened to Stefan’s plans, Lucy noticed Maya slipping into the room to stand at the back. She was itching to question her about her mysterious disappearances and the skeleton attacks, but she forced herself to turn back around and pay attention. She would have to wait for a better time to talk to Maya alone.
“This talent show isn’t just a show to entertain,” Stefan was saying. “We are here to show the Overworld all of the skills we strive to master at this esteemed academy. After everything the school has been through in the last year, we hope this show will help potential students see the academy in a positive light again.�
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Lucy was surprised. “Will people from outside of the school be invited to the show?”
“Yes,” Stefan replied. “Of course.”
“But how can we be sure it’s safe?” Lucy asked.
The headmaster walked in just as Lucy spoke. “I know it’s awful to think about the school being attacked, but we do need to open the show up to the public. We’ll just have to be extra careful.”
Stefan began to speak, but the lights went out.
“Get your torches out!” Victoria called out to the group.
The students began to place torches on the wall, but the light from the torches wasn’t strong enough to ward off another skeleton invasion. Lucy already knew she didn’t have a torch, and she wished for what felt like the thousandth time that she had restocked her inventory before the start of the term.
Click! Clang!
Lucy’s mouth dropped open. She couldn’t even count the number of skeletons that marched into the classroom.
Students grabbed their swords and battled the bony beasts, and Lucy joined them. She destroyed two skeletons with her diamond sword while, beside her, Adam splashed potions on others. Yet no matter how many skeletons they destroyed, more spawned and came after them.
“Look behind you!” Adam warned Lucy.
Lucy turned around just in time to avoid being struck by a skeleton’s arrow. “Thanks!” she called out to Adam as she battled the bony skeleton. When the skeleton was destroyed, two more lunged at Lucy. She was almost overwhelmed, but the lights turned back on without warning.
Stefan asked the group, “Is everyone alright? Do we know if anybody was destroyed in the battle?”
Everyone looked around to see if any of their friends had been destroyed. Lucy scanned the room and noticed one person was missing. She announced, “Maya is gone.”
Chapter 6
FRIEND OR FOE
After the skeleton attack, Stefan announced that the meeting would be rescheduled for the following day. “You should get back to your rooms before night falls. We don’t want you to be caught in the middle of another attack at night, when hostile mobs spawn naturally.”
Skeleton Battle Page 2
