by Greyson Mann
“It’s a pressure plate. Whoever mined down here was a redstone inventor!” she said, admiring the glowing red trail running from the floor to the first torch.
Will didn’t have time to appreciate the mysterious miner’s handiwork. Now that he could see his way along the tunnel, he was eager to find out where it led. He raced down the corridor almost as quickly as the redstone current itself.
“Will, slow down!” Mina called from behind.
But he didn’t. He couldn’t! He was sure that the minecart track was running alongside him, just on the other side of the wall.
The tunnel branched off several times, but the redstone torches lit the way. Will was getting closer to the heart of the mine now—he could feel it.
As he slowed down to turn a sharp corner, he felt something else: a blast of warm air coming from the cavern at the end of the tunnel. A sign hung just above the doorway.
Will read it and stopped dead in his tracks.
CHAPTER 5
“What now?” Will asked Mina, who had finally caught up with him.
“We keep going,” she said. “Just a little more carefully and a little more slowly this time.” She was still breathing heavily from chasing after Will.
“So we head straight into the lava?” he asked. The heat coming through the doorway was already making him sweat.
“Well not into it,” she said. “Just near it. There could be lots of great resources in there. Where you find lava, you sometimes find redstone and diamonds!”
Will shrugged and followed Mina into the cave. He could hear the bubbling, popping lava before he saw it. And the heat grew stronger. As they came upon the glowing stream of red-hot lava, he pushed his sweaty bangs off his forehead.
“We sure don’t need redstone torches in here,” said Mina, taking in the orange glow of the lava on the cavern walls.
In the flickering light, Will could see across the hot lava stream to the other side. And what he saw there made his heart skip a beat.
“The minecart!” he said. “What’s it doing all the way over there?”
Mina scratched her head. “Maybe there wasn’t always a lava stream running through this cave. Sometimes when miners dig too quickly, lava strikes. It can fill a room in seconds!”
Will was only half listening. He had just spotted a stone bridge arching across the lava stream, and he wasted no time in jogging toward it.
“Be careful!” Mina pleaded.
But Will crossed the stones as quickly as he could. In the rising heat from the lava below, he felt like a melting candle. He had to get to that minecart. He’d been dreaming about riding one of them for so long!
The metal of the cart felt hot to his touch. He almost jumped in, but first, he had to figure out what powered this thing. Was there a coal engine? Will searched the carts before and behind. Nope.
Was it powered by redstone? Will examined the tracks for signs, like Mina would have. He saw torches placed beside the tracks, but they were turned off. Was the railway broken?
No. There must be a button or pressure plate somewhere, he told himself, just as there had been to light the torches in the tunnel.
He knelt to examine the track in front of the minecart. There! A square iron plate rested in the middle of the next track. Was this the “on” button?
Will turned to ask Mina, but she was just stepping through an opening carved into the side of the glowing cavern. And out of that little cave came a giant “Whoop!”
Will jumped about a foot at the sound. “What is it?” he called to Mina.
One word echoed back: “Diamonds!”
Will took a step toward the bridge, and then looked back at the minecart. Did Mina have to find the diamond treasure right now, when he was about to set off on his minecart adventure?
He ducked down beside the minecart track and pretended like he hadn’t heard her. If he could just activate the pressure plate, he could finally take that ride …
Mina’s voice rang out again, louder than before. “Will, get in here! You won’t believe this!”
He stood up with an exasperated sigh. It seemed like every time he found something amazing, Mina was pulling him back in the other direction. “It’s not fair,” he mumbled as he crossed back over the bridge, moving much more slowly this time.
Mina stood in the center of a small room, staring at a wall. Every other stone in that wall sparkled with whitish-blue flecks.
“I wish I’d brought my pickaxe,” she said. “But somebody was in such a hurry to explore the tunnel that we left our pickaxes at the camp.” She grinned at Will. “Let’s walk back and get them!”
A seed of an idea grew in Will’s stomach. “I have a better idea,” he said. “Let’s ride back and get them!”
Mina cocked her head. “The minecart, you mean?” She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “No, that could be old and rickety. The track might split off or be broken in parts, and we could get lost—or even hurt. Let’s walk back along the lit tunnel instead.”
Will’s chest was about to burst. He wanted to argue, but he couldn’t. What Mina said made sense. He couldn’t be sure that the tracks would lead safely back to camp.
But why do we always have to play it safe? he wanted to say. And why do you get to decide what we do?
He didn’t say either of those things. He clamped his mouth shut and followed Mina along the tunnel, dragging his feet with every step.
CHAPTER 6
“What’s wrong with you?” asked Mina. “Do you get grumpy when you’re hungry?” She offered him a hunk of chicken from her lunch sack as they walked down the long tunnel.
“I’m not hungry,” he mumbled.
“Well you should eat something if we’re going to mine diamonds,” she said. “It’s a lot of work.”
“I said, I’m not hungry,” Will said again, louder this time.
Mina held up her hand. “Okay, okay,” she said. “But remember what happened in the jungle when you didn’t eat.”
Why did she have to bring that up? He shuddered at the memory. He’d been so weak with hunger in the jungle that Mina had fed him a spider eye to restore his energy. He could still feel the slimy ball slipping down his throat.
He fought the urge to gag and then rummaged around in his pack for a piece of bread. He wasn’t really hungry, but he didn’t feel like arguing with Mina about it.
As soon as Mina finished her chicken, she started planning their mining expedition. “If we’re mining diamonds,” she chattered brightly, “the diamond pickaxe in that miner’s chest will work better than our iron ones. Do you think he’ll mind if we borrow it?”
Will shrugged. “How should I know?”
Mina shot him a look. “Really, Will?” she said. “We found diamonds today. The least you could do is be a little happy about it!”
But he couldn’t be. Not when that minecart was sitting empty, waiting for a rider. Not when Mina was calling all the shots.
He quickened his pace down the lit tunnel, leaving Mina in his dust—that is, until he ran straight into a giant cobweb hanging from the ceiling.
“Gross! Get if off!” he hollered, trying to peel the sticky strands off his face. But the web was super strong. For a split second, he panicked, wondering what he’d do if a cave spider showed up right now. He’d be spider bait!
Mina burst out laughing. “Serves you right!” she said. “I should leave you in there, since you’ve been acting like such a grump.”
“Just get me out!” whined Will.
Mina giggled. “Hold still,” she said, pulling the scissors from her pack. “If I cut the web carefully, we can use the strings for trip wire.”
Will shook his head, or at least he tried to in the super sticky web. “Who are you going to set a trip wire for?” he asked. “There’s no one down here except us!”
But no sooner had he said the words than they heard voices—loud voices, echoing down the hall.
“Shh!” said Mina. “Hold still.” She qui
ckly snipped a few strands of the spider web so that Will could push through.
He stood beside her, facing the voices, which were coming from the direction of base camp. Is it the miner? he wondered, feeling a wave of anxiety roll through his stomach.
A bobbing circle of light appeared on the wall at the end of the tunnel, growing bigger and brighter. Then three figures rounded the corner.
The first was a teenaged boy wearing a headlamp around his forehead. As soon as he saw Will and Mina, he smiled and waved. “Hello there!”
Will felt his muscles relax. This boy was too young to be the miner, and he seemed friendly enough. But the lanky girl with the dirty-blonde braid beside him wasn’t smiling. Not at all.
And behind her? Will could just make out the hulking shape of a man. He wore a black eye patch, and he stared with his other eye—a cold, blank stare that made Will swallow hard.
Something was wrong. Mina must have felt it, too, because she grabbed Will’s hand. But she greeted the three strangers in her usual Mina-ish way.
“Is this your mine?” she asked brightly. “It’s really well made. The redstone wiring is especially cool.” She nodded toward the torches.
“It’s our uncle’s mine,” said the boy, gesturing toward the man behind him. “But, hey, feel free to look around. Who knows? You might find a few surprises.”
Is he telling us about the diamonds? wondered Will. That seemed strange. Why would a miner want to share a treasure like that?
He stepped aside to let the boy and girl pass. As the man with the eye patch pushed past, too, Will held his breath. Don’t look at him, he thought, staring at the ground below. He swallowed another lump in his throat.
Finally, the strangers had disappeared down the tunnel, but Will and Mina stood perfectly still.
“That boy was lying,” she said matter-of-factly. “This isn’t his uncle’s mine.”
“How do you know?” whispered Will, hoping their voices wouldn’t carry.
“Because all three of them had iron pickaxes strapped to their belts. Why would they use iron pickaxes and leave the diamond one back at camp?” she asked. “They stumbled onto this mine, just like we did.”
Will was about to compliment Mina on her detective work. But suddenly he heard a pop, and everything went black.
“Will?”
“I’m here,” he whispered. “What happened?”
“The power!” she said. “It went off. Or maybe it was shut off.”
A chill ran down Will’s spine. “Shut off?” he asked weakly.
“Yes!” Mina insisted. “That’s why that boy was wearing a headlamp. They planned to leave us in the dark all along! Those treasure hunters don’t want us finding the diamonds—that much I know.”
As they fumbled forward in the dark, Will realized something, too. Without the torches to guide their way, they’d soon be lost in the maze of dark tunnels. And without the light of the torches, monsters would spawn. Everywhere.
“We’re in trouble,” he whispered. “That much I know.”
CHAPTER 7
Will reached for Mina’s arm in the darkness but felt nothing. “Mina?”
“Back here,” she called, her voice echoing in the tunnel. “I have an idea.”
Will heard the tinkling of glass bottles, and then Mina thrust one into his hand.
“Drink this,” she ordered. “It’s a potion of night vision.”
Will hesitated. Ever since the spider eye incident, he’d been wary of anything Mina tried to give him. But do you have a better idea? he asked himself. Nope. So he raised the bottle to his lips.
The thick liquid tasted like carrot juice. Ugh. But as soon as he’d swallowed some, he could see the bottle in his hand. Orange liquid splashed at the bottom.
Then he could see Mina beside him, too, clear as day. “Cool!” he said, waving his other hand in front of his face. “I can see everything!”
“It won’t last forever,” Mina warned, zipping her pack back up. “Let’s try to find base camp. We can turn on the torches from there.”
But even with night vision, Will and Mina couldn’t figure out which way to go. With the torches turned off, every tunnel looked exactly the same, and one branched off the next. Will had the sinking feeling that they were walking around in circles.
Just as he was about to admit that, he heard a sound that made his stomach drop. It was the scuttle of spider legs—lots of them. Uh-oh. He drew his sword in a flash, ready for battle. But where were the spiders?
Mina whirled around too, searching for the monsters. “Where are they?”
Will looked one way down the tunnel, then the other. He searched for holes in the rocks at his feet—cave spiders were small enough to squeeze through them.
Then he heard the sound again—above him.
Will whipped his head upward just as the hissing, red-eyed spider dropped from the ceiling.
He swung his sword wildly and flung the heavy creature away from him. But others were coming, hissing and squealing from the depths of the tunnels.
Will raced toward the sound, hoping to catch the spiders off guard. If he hit them at a sprint, he could knock them back. But Mina called after him. “Those are cave spiders!” she warned. “Their bite is deadly. Run away from them—fast. Don’t get bit.”
Will stopped short and started backing away, just as the first spider scuttled around the corner. He swung his sword again and again as the red-eyed monster pushed him backward down the tunnel.
Other spiders dropped from the ceiling, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mina ducking and dodging them. But he couldn’t take his eyes off the furry-legged beast in front of him. Don’t get bit, he reminded himself.
The red-eyed spider lunged, and Will stepped back, swinging his sword. As they did their battle dance around another corner, Will felt a wave of heat at his back. That could only mean one thing: lava.
Now Will had the advantage, because he knew exactly where he was and what to do next.
He led the spider into the glowing cavern, where the monster seemed confused by the light. He took a step toward Will, then backward, and then sideways, his legs moving in all different directions.
Will poked the monster with his sword, trying to anger him. It worked! The beast came alive again and lunged toward Will. Slowly, he lured the spider forward, closer to the bubbling lava, and then closer still.
With one wild swing, he knocked the spider into the red-hot stream. The monster sank with a long, slow hissss.
Exhausted, Will slumped to his knees. Then he heard a cry of pain from the dark tunnel beyond.
Mina.
CHAPTER 8
Will was at Mina’s side in seconds. The spiders had cleared the tunnel, which was now lit with the glow from the lava stream. But Mina lay crumpled on the floor, tiny and pale. She whispered something to him.
“What?” He leaned closer.
“Milk.”
Will dove into the stash of bottles in her pack, searching through colored potions to find anything that looked like milk. There, a full white bottle! He unscrewed the cap and lifted it to her mouth.
Some of it streamed down Mina’s chin, but she managed to swallow a mouthful. As the color returned to her cheeks, she kept her eyes closed.
Will felt a wave of guilt. “I’m so sorry I left you behind,” he whispered.
She smiled weakly. “It’s okay. I guess I just wasn’t as fast as you.”
Will shrugged and glanced at the milk bottle in his hand. “You’re a quick thinker, though,” he said. “And your potions are pretty amazing, too.”
As he tucked the bottle back inside Mina’s pack, she propped herself up on an elbow. “Do I have any food left in there?”
Will dug deep into the pack. At the very bottom, his hand grasped something smooth and round. It was an apple. No, not just an apple, he corrected himself. A golden apple.
As he pressed it into Mina’s hand, she smiled with relief. She took a big bite of the ju
icy fruit. When she opened her eyes again, they looked clear and bright.
“You know, you really should eat something too, Will,” she said with a grin. “You look terrible.”
He laughed out loud. Mina was back! And she was going to be okay.
Who needs a diamond sword? he thought, remembering how disappointed he had felt when Mina had opened the miner’s chest. Maybe that golden apple was the real treasure after all.
He helped Mina to her feet and then leaned against the tunnel wall, looking in both directions. “Now what?”
“Well,” she said, “we can’t go back the way we came—not unless we want to visit our friends the cave spiders again.”
“So this way?” asked Will, pointing toward the lava stream.
Mina nodded. “Maybe we can find another button or pressure plate in there to turn the torches back on.”
But as soon as they stepped into the steamy hot cavern, Will heard voices. He grabbed Mina’s arm and froze. “I think they’re in the diamond cave,” he whispered.
“So … we’ll go the other way,” she said, walking slowly backward as if she were fighting off a cave spider.
“Right,” said Will. But when he tried to back up, he hit something solid—or someone.
The one-eyed man said nothing. He gripped Will with one hand and Mina with the other. Before Will could even think about reaching for his sword, the man had dragged them into the diamond cave.
This time, the teenaged boy seemed much less happy to see them. He lowered his pickaxe and nudged the girl at his side. She scowled too, but kept hacking at the diamond-flecked wall.
The boy took a step forward and narrowed his eyes. “Maybe you didn’t hear me the first time,” he said. “This is our mine. You’re trespassing.”
Will’s mouth went dry, but chatty Mina had no trouble speaking.
“Actually,” she said, “we were just leaving. If you could, um, turn on the lights for us, we’ll be on our way.” She plastered on a smile and turned to go, but the one-eyed man stood in her path. His hand reached for the handle of his sword.
