“There aren’t any windows,” Isaac noticed.
“Yes,” Victoria replied. “We needed to be sure you couldn’t communicate with other griefers, or escape.”
Victoria marched Isaac into the jail cell and, after making sure the cell was securely locked, she ran outside to help the students fight off the griefers that invaded their peaceful campus.
Lucy was in the middle of battling an orange-and-turquoise griefer. The griefer splashed a potion of weakness on Lucy, and she began to lose hearts and the energy she needed to battle him. Lucy’s voice was weak and she could barely utter the word, “Help!”
“Don’t worry. I’m here!” Victoria dashed to Lucy’s side. With one blow from her powerful diamond sword, the headmaster was able to destroy the multicolored griefer.
“Thanks,” Lucy said weakly.
Adam rushed over and handed Lucy a potion of healing. “Take this. This isn’t going to be an easy battle.”
Lucy sipped the potion. “Adam, I can’t believe the rainbow griefers are back.”
“I know. Our old enemy.” Adam’s face was grim. “But we’ve defeated them before, and we will do it again,” he said, and he handed Lucy another bottle of potion.
“What is this for?” asked Lucy.
“It’s a spare bottle of the potion of healing. You never know when you’ll need it.” As Adam spoke, he leapt at a blue griefer that ran past them.
Lucy and Victoria helped Adam defeat the blue griefer. As Lucy struck the blue griefer with her diamond sword, she spotted Maya sprinting toward the dorm. Lucy wondered why Maya was returning to the dorms when Stefan had announced that the entire school had to help battle the rainbow griefer army.
“We did it!” With a final blow, Adam annihilated the blue griefer, and he turned to high five his friend.
Lucy excused herself and ran toward the dorms. She climbed the stairs to Maya’s room and stood outside, trying to hear the muffled voices within. It sounded like Maya and Debbie were talking. Lucy stood still, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying through the door.
Lucy knocked.
Maya opened the door and looked surprised. “What’s going on, Lucy?”
“I saw you run into the dorm and I was worried you might be hurt. Stefan asked that all students battle the griefers, so I assumed there was something wrong when I saw you head in this direction.”
Maya looked at Debbie and stammered, “Um, I was just coming back here to look for Debbie. She was injured battling two orange griefers, and she was tired of fighting.”
Lucy thought that was strange. Debbie was one of the strongest fighters in the Overworld, and she couldn’t imagine Debbie deciding to sit out the battle so quickly.
“Are you guys planning on staying in here?” asked Lucy.
Instead of answering, Maya surprised Lucy by splashing a potion of harming on her, then pushed past her and sprinted out of the dorm with Debbie.
Lucy gasped, her newfound trust in Maya shattered. With what little energy she had left, she walked into Maya’s room to investigate, searching for anything suspicious. But the room was empty—just two beds and a few books inside.
Lucy walked over to the window and looked out, gasping again as she saw Maya and Debbie by the entrance to the dorm. They were making a T shape with soul sand and placing wither skulls on top of it.
Lucy grabbed the potion of healing that Adam had given her from her inventory, taking a sip. Then she ran out of the dorm and shouted, “The Wither! They are summoning the Wither!”
It was too late. There was no need to warn the other students. A blue Wither spawned in the center of the campus. The three-headed beast quickly changed color from blue to black as it spotted the students.
“Watch out!” Adam called to Lucy as a wither skull flew in her direction.
Lucy dodged and started to grab her bow and arrow.
Adam called out, “Use the potion of healing. It harms the Wither.” He tossed a bottle to her.
Lucy nodded determinedly and ran toward the Wither, splashing the potion on the flying menace. It began to lose hearts. Adam rushed to her side and leapt at the Wither with his diamond sword, striking one of its three heads. But in retaliation, the Wither struck Adam with a wither skull, destroying him.
“Adam!” Lucy cried. She was infuriated. She had no idea where Adam would respawn, since he had just returned from his journey. He might respawn in the middle of the taiga biome, unable to continue the fight.
Lucy threw the remaining healing potion at the Wither and turned to look for help, but Victoria and Stefan had just reached her side.
Wither skulls hit Victoria and Stefan again and again, and they were losing hearts. Lucy tried to destroy the Wither with her diamond sword, but she was also running low on energy.
Lucy was relieved when she saw Phoebe and Jane sprint over and strike the Wither with their diamond swords. But she was utterly shocked when Maya and Debbie raced over with potions. They splashed them on the Wither and the beast was destroyed, dropping a Nether star.
“Maya and Debbie, you saved the day!” Victoria exclaimed.
Lucy gasped. “No, they didn’t!”
Stefan looked confused. “What are you saying, Lucy?”
“I’m telling you that they summoned the Wither.” Lucy pointed at Maya and Debbie, who looked back with wide eyes, shaking their heads.
“Seriously?” Victoria asked. She furrowed her brow, and looking around, Lucy could see that everyone was looking at her as though she’d gone mad. “Why would they destroy something they summoned?”
Maya said, “Lucy, I think this battle has been too intense for you. You’re imagining things.”
“No, I’m not! I—” Lucy stammered.
“Lucy, give it a rest,” Stefan said.
“Wait! Phoebe, Jane, you believe me, right? I saw it with my own eyes!” Lucy looked desperately at her friends.
Phoebe opened her mouth to respond, but Victoria cut her off. “That’s enough. You’ve had a long day, and you’re tired. I’m sure you didn’t see what you think you did.”
But Lucy knew she was right. She wondered what other sinister plans Maya and Debbie might be plotting.
Chapter 14
WHAT’S YOUR TALENT?
It had been two days since the attack of the rainbow griefers and the Wither, and everything was quiet. With no one reporting rainbow griefer sightings or skeleton invasions, Victoria and Stefan finally announced that classes could restart and schedules would return to normal. Meanwhile, Lucy couldn’t believe Maya and Debbie were being treated like heroes, when she knew they were working with the griefers.
As Lucy walked into the dining hall the afternoon that classes restarted, Phoebe and Jane called out to her from the lunch line. “Over here! We’re by the fruit.”
Ever since the Wither incident, Lucy had been avoiding her friends. She only spoke to Phoebe and Jane when they were in the dorm before bed, when she had no choice because there was no way to avoid them. Lucy wished she had her own room. She wished Victoria and Stefan would let her leave campus and spend some time on Steve’s wheat farm to take a break and clear her head. But she had heard that her friends kept searching for her on campus, and she knew Phoebe and Jane were worried about her. With a sigh, she picked up a tray and walked over to them.
“Do you want an apple?” asked Jane.
“Okay,” Lucy mumbled.
Phoebe squinted at Lucy. “What has gotten into you, Lucy? You’ve been so grumpy ever since the Wither was destroyed. Aren’t you glad the attacks on the Overworld seem to have ended?”
“No,” Lucy confessed. “I’m upset because I know Maya and Debbie have something to do with these attacks, and Victoria and Stefan don’t believe me.”
Phoebe said, “Maybe Victoria and Stefan don’t, but Jane and I believe you.”
“Really?” Lucy asked.
“Yeah,” Jane chimed in. “It was hard to believe at first, because they fought the Wither with u
s, but we know you wouldn’t lie about what you saw.”
Relief washed over Lucy. “Thanks for trusting me. I’m sorry I’ve been avoiding you. Will you help me convince Victoria and Stefan?”
Phoebe nodded. “Maybe there will be a chance at the talent show meeting later. See you there?”
Lucy nodded and filled her tray with food, feeling much better.
At the meeting that afternoon, Lucy scanned the room looking for Maya, but she wasn’t there. Though she faced away from him, she could hear Stefan summing up the plans that had been made for the event so far. “There will be various performances to showcase everyone’s talent.”
“Will we be able to participate?” Phoebe asked. “I mean, we are working on the show, but can we also perform?”
“Of course. I hope every one of you auditions.”
Just then, Maya and Debbie slipped into the meeting room and stood in the back. But the meeting was wrapping up. Stefan announced, “We will have auditions tomorrow after breakfast,” and then stepped away from the podium.
As everyone shuffled out of the room, Lucy forgot about talking to Stefan and instead followed Maya and Debbie out of the meeting. She was curious to see where they were going and why they had been late, but she was disappointed when she found them just walking back to the dorms.
Lucy entered her dorm room and climbed into bed with a sigh. Maybe Maya and Debbie would audition for the talent show the next day, and she could spend the time searching through their room for clues.
Phoebe and Jane walked in the room. “Are you in bed already?” Phoebe asked.
“Aren’t you going to prepare for your audition?” added Jane.
“I don’t have a talent,” Lucy replied.
“Of course you do.” Phoebe smiled. “You’re one of the most skilled hunters in the Overworld.”
“Thanks, but I just can’t stand the thought of all those eyes on me,” Lucy said with a shudder. “Besides, how am I going to hunt on stage?”
“That’s easy. Stefan is working on having people brew potions, hunt, and battle on the stage. He wants the show to highlight everything we do at Minecrafters Academy,” Phoebe explained.
Jane said, “I overheard Debbie talking about auditioning to be in the battle.”
“Well, she is an amazing fighter,” said Lucy. “I just wish she wasn’t secretly working with the rainbow griefers.”
“Just because you saw her spawn the Wither with Maya doesn’t mean she is actually working with the rainbow griefers. They could have done that for some other reason,” said Jane.
“But what?” Lucy asked.
Phoebe and Jane shrugged. “I just think that, although spawning the Wither was awful, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions,” Phoebe said.
Lucy wanted to scream. “But what other conclusion could there be? Why won’t anyone just believe me?”
Her words were cut off by a knock on the door, and Phoebe opened it to find Maya standing there, Debbie just behind her. “There is something we’d like to explain,” Maya said.
Chapter 15
BONY BEASTS
Lucy was eager to hear Maya and Debbie’s story—she was sure they were going to confess to working with the rainbow griefers—but the second Maya began to speak, there was a loud explosion.
Kaboom!
“What was that?” Lucy ran to the window.
Smoke rose from the Main Hall, and skeletons were marching across the grassy campus.
“Oh no!” Lucy cried. “We are under attack again!”
“It’s almost evening—even more will be able to spawn in this light!” Phoebe said as she grabbed her diamond sword from her inventory and ran from the room to battle the bony beasts.
Lucy and the others followed Phoebe out of the dorms and into the thick of the battle. Lucy snapped her armor on as she ran, choking back her frustration that she hadn’t gotten to hear Maya and Debbie’s confession.
As they reached the foot of the stairs, four armed skeletons shot arrows at them.
“Ouch!” Lucy cried out in pain when an arrow struck her unarmored arm.
To Lucy’s surprise, Maya lunged at the skeleton with her diamond sword and destroyed it. Lucy didn’t know what to make of Maya’s actions; she had summoned the Wither, but she always defended Lucy in battle. It didn’t make any sense. But she didn’t have time to puzzle it out now, so she reached for her diamond sword and joined her classmates in battle.
Using potions and swords, Phoebe and Jane obliterated the rest of the skeletons in the stairway. They were confident as they sprinted out of the dorm, but stopped in their tracks when they saw the massive bony army that filled the campus.
“How are we going to battle all of these skeletons?” Lucy asked in shock.
“We have a lot of help,” Phoebe said as she pointed out all of the other students who were battling skeletons.
Though the entire student body battled the undead mobs, it was still a tough fight. Lucy called out to her friends, “We have to find the spawner. It’s the only way we can survive.”
Maya nodded. “Follow me,” she cried, and led them back into the dorm and down the stairs to the dimly-lit basement. Maya took out a torch and placed it on the wall, illuminating the spawner in the center of the room.
“Maya, you knew where it was all this time?” Jane asked as she helped Maya and Debbie deactivate the spawner.
Maya didn’t reply. She pursed her lips and worked silently to deactivate the spawner.
“Debbie, can you explain?” asked Phoebe.
“What is going on with you two?” Lucy demanded.
“The spawner has been deactivated,” Maya replied coldly. “What more do you want from us?”
“You came into our dorm to tell us something,” Lucy said. “What was it?”
Maya paused. “We were going to tell you something, but I think it’s best that you don’t know. We were making a mistake.”
“Telling the truth is never a mistake.” Lucy looked at Maya and Debbie.
Debbie looked at Maya and began to cry.
“What are you doing?” Maya snapped. “Stop it.”
“I can’t take it. I can’t keep the secret anymore. I never wanted to be a part of this,” Debbie cried.
“You can’t tell them,” Maya told her friend. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Why?” Lucy asked.
Before Debbie could answer, a familiar voice called out from the stairs, “I can explain.”
The group looked over and saw Isaac, standing on the stairs with a diamond sword in his hand.
Chapter 16
BATTLE AT SCHOOL
“Isaac, you really were behind these attacks?” Lucy was shocked. She thought Isaac had redeemed himself.
“It isn’t Isaac,” Maya rushed to his defense.
“It’s Liam and Dylan,” blurted Debbie.
“Who are they?” asked Phoebe and Jane in unison.
“They are the new leaders of the rainbow griefers. Both Isaac and I have been working for them,” Maya said, hanging her head. “They told us that they would put us on Hardcore mode if we didn’t help them.”
Lucy gasped. “When did this start?”
Maya looked at Lucy. “Liam and Dylan surprised me as I was traveling to school to start the year. They forced me to find out where Isaac was being held and to meet them while everyone else was in class so we could set up the pistons to break Isaac out of jail. They made me lure you guys into the mine so they could trap you, too.”
Lucy, Phoebe, and Jane shared a look.
“But how was Debbie involved?” questioned Lucy.
“I needed to tell someone what Liam and Dylan were making me do, so I told her. She knew they had told me that if I didn’t summon the Wither the day of their attack, they would capture me and put me on Hardcore mode that night, so she offered to help me.” Maya was shaking.
“Thank you for being honest,” Lucy said. “I think we can all understand how scary the threat of being
put on Hardcore mode must be.”
“They’re not finished with us, or with Minecrafters Academy,” Isaac said. “They want me to summon the Ender Dragon today. Two griefers just helped me escape from jail so I could do it. But I don’t want to. I’d rather be put on Hardcore mode and get destroyed.”
Lucy gripped her diamond sword tightly and set her jaw. “We’ll find a way. We will defeat these griefers, and we will do it together.”
“How?” Maya’s voice quivered.
“Where are Liam and Dylan?” asked Lucy.
“They live in the cave on the side of the mountain,” said Maya.
“Then we will travel there and destroy them.” Lucy bounded up the stairs and everyone followed.
But they didn’t have to leave the campus to find the rainbow griefers. “There they are!” Maya shouted, pointing to the entrance to the dorms.
Lucy sprinted over to a man wearing a leather helmet dyed orange, waving her sword. “Surrender!” she demanded.
The man laughed. “I’m not listening to you.”
Maya ran to Lucy’s side. “The man in the orange leather helmet is Dylan. Liam is the one in the blue leather helmet.”
Phoebe and Isaac charged at Liam and he said, “Isaac, Maya, you’re not very good at keeping secrets.”
Dylan added, “Tonight we will put you on Hardcore mode. Say goodbye to all of your friends.”
“No!” Lucy struck Dylan with her diamond sword. “Your days are over. We don’t want people like you attacking our academy. This is a peaceful place to learn.”
Liam laughed. “You think I don’t know all about Minecrafters Academy? I was a student here years ago, before Isaac was the headmaster.”
That made Isaac pause. “I didn’t know.”
“That’s right.” Liam pointed his enchanted diamond sword at Isaac. “You didn’t know. I was one of the best students at this school. I was awarded a certificate of excellence. But when I left, I realized that it was a lot more fun to use all of the skills I mastered here for evil. I don’t want to develop the Overworld—I want to destroy it!” Liam let out a sharp, piercing laugh.
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