When Lava Strikes

by Greyson Mann

  This book is not authorized or sponsored by Microsoft Corp., Mojang AB, Notch Development AB or Scholastic Inc., or any other person or entity owning or controlling rights in the Minecraft name, trademark, or copyrights.

  Copyright © 2017 by Hollan Publishing, Inc.

  Minecraft® is a registered trademark of Notch Development AB.

  The Minecraft game is copyright © Mojang AB.

  This book is not authorized or sponsored by Microsoft Corp., Mojang AB, Notch Development AB or Scholastic Inc., or any other person or entity owning or controlling rights in the Minecraft name, trademark, or copyrights.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Sky Pony Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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  Sky Pony® is a registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.®, a Delaware corporation.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

  Special thanks to Erin L. Falligant.

  Cover illustration by Grace Sandford

  Cover design by Brian Peterson

  Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-5107-1328-4

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-1329-1

  Printed in the United States of America

  Interior design by Joshua Barnaby

  CHAPTER 1

  Will zoomed down the dark tunnel in his minecart, leaning from side to side as the tracks jogged left, then right. He braced himself as the cart climbed upward, slowing to a crawl. It teetered at the top of the tracks and then—

  “Will, watch out!”

  Mina’s warning jolted Will out of his daydream. He glanced down, realizing he was about to topple into a deep ravine. Yikes! He jumped backward, gripping the branch of a spruce tree for support.

  “You’re moving too fast!” cried Mina, her hand on her heart. “We’re in the extreme hills now. You have to watch for drop-offs, ravines, even streams of hot lava. That’s why we left Shadow at your house, remember?”

  Will’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. “I know,” he snapped. “I’m fine.” But as the wind whipped through his hair, he glanced back down at the steep ravine and shuddered. That was a close call.

  “What were you daydreaming about, anyway?” asked Mina as they picked their way carefully along the path. “Were you thinking about Shadow?”

  Will shook his head. Sure, he missed the yellow tabby cat that he and Mina had found in the jungle. But he knew Shadow would be safest staying at home with his brother, Seth.

  “No,” he admitted, “I was actually imagining how much fun it’ll be to find an abandoned mineshaft.” He felt a rush of excitement just saying the words.

  Mina hoisted up the pack on her back and nodded happily. “I know. The hills up here are full of treasures. I can’t wait to—”

  “—ride some minecarts!” interrupted Will.

  “—mine some redstone!” finished Mina. “Wait, what? Minecarts? Sure, that’ll be fun. But the caves around here have real treasure, Will. Like the redstone I need to make my potions last longer. And giant slimes, which drop slimeballs. I need those to make magma cream for my potion of fire resistance. And we might find gold and diamonds—even emeralds!”

  Will shrugged. Right now, he wasn’t thinking about all that stuff. Maybe he and Mina just disagreed about what real treasures were.

  I know Mina’s all about her potion ingredients, he thought as he followed her bobbing ponytail up the trail. But why call this land the “extreme hills” if you can’t have extreme adventures? And a little fun?

  “You know, Will,” she called over her shoulder, “if we find diamonds, you could craft a diamond sword.”

  That stopped him in his tracks. Will glanced at the iron sword strapped to his side. It was strong and quick, for sure. But a diamond sword? He could battle any mob with that—from zombies and spider jockeys to the Ender Dragon itself!

  “Yeah,” he said dreamily. “I guess a diamond sword would be cool.” And with that, he was off in another daydream, battling a winged dragon with his sparkly new sword.

  So when Mina stopped to enjoy the view ahead, Will didn’t stop. He walked right past her. Right over the edge.

  He felt the rocks slide out from beneath him, and then he was falling! Down, down, down …

  Mina screamed from up above. Or was he the one screaming?

  He scrunched his eyes shut, pulled himself into a tight little ball, and braced for impact.

  CHAPTER 2

  Splash!

  The icy cold took Will’s breath away. As he plunged deep into the dark pool of water, he opened his eyes. Which way was up? He searched for light but saw nothing.

  Swim, he ordered his frozen limbs. And, with some effort, they did.

  Finally his head broke the surface. He gasped for breath. He spun in a circle, treading water, trying to see through the darkness at the bottom of the ravine.

  “Will!” Mina’s voice rang out from above.

  He glanced up and was relieved to spot her red-haired head dangling down toward him, a patch of blue sky behind her. But, boy, she was a long way up!

  Don’t panic, thought Will, trying to catch his breath.

  “Are you okay?” Mina called down.

  “I—I think so,” he answered, his teeth chattering. His arms and legs felt stiff with cold. He had to get out of this cave pool before … well, before he couldn’t.

  Now that his eyes were getting used to the dark, Will could make out the edge of the pool. He paddled toward it and gripped the slippery rock, but he didn’t have the strength to pull himself out.

  My pack’s too heavy! It felt like a thousand pounds. He struggled to slide his arms out of the straps, one by one. Then with a kick of his legs, he hoisted the pack up and onto the rock.

  Finally, with every ounce of energy he could muster, he lodged his fingers into the crevices of the rock and pulled himself out, too.

  “Will!”

  Mina kept calling his name, but he was too tired to answer. Finally he rolled onto his back and gave her a shaky thumbs-up.

  “I’m dropping down a rope!” she called. But as she snaked a knotted rope down into the ravine, Will heard the flutter of wings.

  He sat up straight. A gazillion bats were waking up in the shadowy cave around him. All at once, they lifted off from every nook and cranny in one giant swarm. He ducked, his heart racing, and reached for his bow and arrow.

  “Will, no!” Mina pleaded. “Don’t hurt them! They’re harmless.”

  “How do you know?” he asked, his voice coming out weak and wobbly.

  “Because I’ve seen them before,” said Mina. “They don’t drop any potion ingredients either. They’re as worthless as silverfish.”

  Silverfish? Will didn’t know what those were. But as his eyes searched the corners of the cave, wondering where the bats had come from, he saw two gaping holes—no, three. Tunnel openings! Where did they lead?

  “Can you reach the rope?” asked Mina.

  Will didn’t even look for it. “You should come down here instead,” he called exci
tedly. “I see tunnels!”

  Mina hesitated. “We don’t know where they lead, Will. It’s not safe. We should wait till we find a real mineshaft.”

  Will groaned. This wasn’t the time to play it safe. This was the time for adventure! How could he convince Mina to come down?

  He thought hard and then smiled into the darkness. “You know,” he called to Mina, “I think there could be redstone down here. Yup, I think I see some. And diamonds! And giant slimes—hey, there’s one right now!”

  Mina giggled. “There is not.”

  But it worked. She tied the rope to a tree and soon was climbing carefully down.

  “Alright,” she said, winding the rope back up. “We have to move slowly through the tunnels, Will. We have to watch for signs of danger.”

  “Like what?” he asked, wringing the water out of his clothes.

  “Like the bubbling sound of hot lava. Or glowing drips of molten rock on the ceiling, which means that lava could flow down on us at any moment. We have to be very careful where we mine.”

  Will nodded as if he were listening, but really he was thinking about which tunnel to enter first. “This one,” he said, pointing toward the largest opening.

  “Why?” asked Mina.

  Will shrugged. “I just have a feeling.”

  So Mina lit a torch and they started into the winding tunnel. Will fought the urge to run ahead. What would they find around the next bend?

  “Slow down,” Mina reminded him. Then she spotted something.

  “Redstone! Good call on the tunnel, Will!” She crouched low and held out the torch to show him the flecks of red in the stone.

  Mina pulled out her pickaxe and started hacking at the base of the wall. “Oh, this axe is getting so worn out,” she cried in frustration, examining the pointed end. “Can you help?”

  Will shrugged. He wasn’t much of a miner, but Seth had made sure he brought a pickaxe this time. So he pulled it from his pack and started whacking at the wall next to Mina.

  Small blocks of redstone piled up at her feet, and she quickly gathered them up. But hard as he tried, Will couldn’t get his stone to break.

  “What’s up with this rock?” he said. “It’s super hard.”

  “It is?” Mina looked over. She sucked in her breath before hollering, “Stop! It’s a monster egg!”

  Will heard the words just as he took his last whack at the rock. And as it exploded into shards, something popped out and scurried around his feet.

  “Silverfish!” said Mina, clamping her hand over her mouth.

  “Oh! So that’s a silverfish,” said Will, squatting to get a better look at the gray bug. “He seems harmless enough.”

  “Sure he is,” whispered Mina. “But wait until he wakes up all his friends.”

  Will watched with horror as the rock wall crumbled. Silverfish tumbled out, climbing over one another and spilling onto the floor. Soon the scuttling, squeaking bugs surrounded him.

  And then they began to attack.

  CHAPTER 3

  Will lashed out at the silverfish with his sword, again and again. But for every one he killed, more seemed to spill out of the walls!

  “Get up here!” cried Mina, who had climbed onto a stone block.

  Will jumped up beside her, teetering. He pictured himself toppling into the sea of silverfish. Would they eat him alive?

  From the safety of the rock, he attacked the bugs. One, two, three … ten, twenty, thirty. Finally there was only one left. As the black-eyed bug scurried toward the rock, Mina struck it with her sword.

  “Nasty, annoying little creatures,” she muttered. “I told you they were worthless!” She shuddered and shook her arms and legs, as if the bugs were still attacking her.

  Will couldn’t agree more. But as he looked at the gaping hole the bugs had left in the wall, he saw something. Or rather, he saw nothing. The hole led straight through the wall to a giant, open cavern.

  He stepped toward the hole and peeked through. “Um, the silverfish weren’t totally worthless,” he whispered to Mina.

  “Huh?”

  “Look what they found for us,” he said, pointing. “An abandoned mineshaft!”

  Mina knelt carefully beside him, and together, they peered over the edge.

  The shaft was so deep, it made Will’s head spin. A long ladder led straight down, past glowing torches and tunnel openings.

  And the base camp below was bathed in soft light. It was a mineshaft, alright, but it didn’t look abandoned.

  “Should we go down?” he asked. But he was already reaching for the top rung of the ladder, lowering himself backward into the shaft.

  “Okay,” said Mina. “But be careful, Will. Sometimes miners set traps so that people don’t loot their mines.”

  Traps? Will didn’t see anything like that below. In fact, the miner’s camp looked pretty inviting. He sped down the ladder, eager to reach the bottom.

  Just before he hopped to the floor, Mina called out, “Stop!”

  Will’s foot froze only a few inches above the stone. “What?” he cried. “You almost gave me a heart attack!”

  “Don’t you see the trip wire?” she asked, pointing from overhead. “There are hooks on either side! See?”

  Will glanced back down. He could barely make out a thin, white string in his path. And beyond it? A wooden trapdoor. Did the trip wire open the door? If it did, he might have fallen through that door into who knows where.

  He took a deep breath and stepped sideways off the ladder, clearing the wire. Mina was right, Will thought with a sigh—which meant that now she’d be more cautious than ever.

  As Mina pulled out a pair of scissors and carefully snipped the string, he scanned the mineshaft. Was the miner here somewhere? Suddenly this base camp seemed a lot less inviting.

  “Hello?” he called out. His greeting bounced off the walls and came back to him like a boomerang. “Hello?”

  Mina froze beside him, waiting for a response. After a moment, she whispered, “I don’t think there’s anyone here.”

  Will pointed upward. “But the torches are lit. See? Someone must have been here this morning.”

  Mina glanced up at the glowing lamps and shook her head. “Those are redstone torches. They can stay lit like that for forever.”

  Will shrugged and took a few steps into the mine. As he wandered past the bed, furnace, and crafting table, he wondered about the miner who had created this camp. Where was he now?

  “Over here!” called Mina. “There’s an old sack of potatoes. See the roots growing out of these? I really don’t think anyone has been here for a while.” She sounded relieved.

  The potatoes did look old and wrinkly. Then Will saw the wooden chest beside the potatoes. “Is that what I think it is?” he asked, pointing.

  Mina jumped up. “Ooh, a treasure chest! There could be anything in there: diamonds, gold, redstone. Should we look?”

  Will felt a shiver of excitement. He nodded and hurried over. As Mina squatted beside the chest and lifted the creaky lid, he leaned forward and peered inside.

  CHAPTER 4

  “Ew!” The first thing Will spotted in the chest was a loaf of moldy bread.

  Mina lifted the bread out with two fingertips and dropped it onto the ground. “Look, a velvet pouch!” she said, reaching for the sack that had been beneath the bread. As she shook it next to her ear, she smiled.

  “Emeralds maybe?” she said hopefully. But as she poured the dark stones slowly into her palm, she scrunched up her nose. “Just seeds. Watermelon seeds.”

  “But wait, what’s below that?” asked Will, catching the glimmer of something shiny. Please let it be a diamond sword, he chanted in his head. Please let it be a diamond sword.

  It wasn’t—but close. “A diamond pickaxe!” said Mina, lifting the heavy tool from the chest. “This could sure come in handy down here.”

  Will swallowed his disappointment as Mina admired the pickaxe. Then she spotted something else and nearly dr
opped the axe. “Is that what I think it is?” She dug down deep into the corner of the chest and pulled out …

  “An old apple?” asked Will.

  “Not just an apple,” she explained slowly, her voice full of awe. “A golden apple. Don’t you know how precious this is?”

  Not as precious as a diamond sword, he wanted to say. But he clamped his mouth shut. The spark in Mina’s eyes said she would have disagreed.

  While Mina admired her apple, Will took another walk around camp, hoping to find treasure of his own. Judging by the old potatoes and moldy bread, he was pretty sure the mineshaft had been abandoned. So it’s ours for now, he told himself.

  Thunk! Will’s foot hit something hard. He tripped forward and landed on the cold, smooth bars of a track. A minecart track.

  Ignoring the pain in his bruised knee, Will hopped back up, searching for the cart. Now he could finally take his minecart ride! But where was it?

  He followed the tracks to a large, iron door. No matter how hard he pressed and pulled on it, the door wouldn’t budge. “How is a cart supposed to get through this thing?” he asked, leaning against the door with all his weight.

  Mina looked up from the chest and cocked her head. “There must be a lever or button somewhere,” she said.

  Will slid his hand up and down the stone walls on either side of the iron door. But try as he might, he couldn’t find a switch. “The minecart tracks must go to the mines,” he thought out loud. “Is there another way to get there?”

  Mina stood up and brushed off her leggings. “Maybe through one of the tunnels?” she suggested.

  “Good idea.” Will was beside her in a flash, exploring the mouth of the nearest tunnel. “It’s so dark,” he said, straining his eyes to see.

  Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop! Suddenly, the tunnel lit up with a long row of blazing torches.

  “How … ?” Will was about to ask.

  Then he saw Mina standing by the tunnel opening, her foot on an iron plate. She pointed down, a satisfied smile on her face.