When Lava Strikes

by Greyson Mann

  Will’s heart thumped wildly in his chest. These treasure hunters won’t actually hurt us, will they? He chanced another look at the man’s cold, dark face and had his answer.

  Run! he wanted to scream at Mina. But where? He searched the walls of the cave looking for clues—anything that might help them survive.

  The diamond-studded walls looked thicker than thick. But just above the area where the girl was mining, Will saw something: a thin, red crack. The longer he stared at it, the wider and brighter it became.

  Then he heard it—the bubbling sound Mina had warned him about when they’d started exploring this ravine.

  Lava.

  CHAPTER 9

  Mina saw the trickle of lava, too. She and Will locked eyes for a moment. But instead of warning the girl with the braid to stop mining, they stayed quiet.

  One more whack was all it took. The stone crumbled, and a red-hot river roared into the chamber.

  When the one-eyed man jumped backward in surprise, Will and Mina were ready. They sprang into action and raced past him.

  “This way!” hollered Mina, veering left toward the dark tunnel that led back to camp.

  Will shook his head. In a split second, he could imagine it all: even if they could find their way through the twisting tunnel, it would quickly fill with lava. They’d never be fast enough. But he had an idea.

  “Follow me!” he said, sprinting toward the stone bridge that led to the minecart. He hoped that this time Mina would let him lead.

  As he raced across the bridge, lava licked at his heels, but he kept going, toward the minecart toward the tracks that he hoped would carry them to safety.

  When he heard Mina’s footsteps behind him, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Get in,” he ordered, whirling around to help her into the minecart.

  “But where does it go?” she asked in a shaky voice. Her wide green eyes searched the shadowy tunnel ahead.

  “I don’t know, but sometimes you just have to leap in,” said Will.

  When she was sitting down safely, he grabbed the edge of the heavy cart and slowly pushed it forward. If he could just get it to roll onto the next piece of track … He gave one great heave, and the wheels squeaked forward.

  Sure enough, as soon as the cart hit the iron pressure plate, the track ahead lit up. Glowing red rails stretched deep into the dark tunnel, with redstone torches placed every few feet along the track.

  Mina gasped in surprise, but Will didn’t have time to admire the lit tunnel. He couldn’t waste another second. He leaped into the cart and held on for dear life.

  The cart lurched forward. Then it took off like a shot, flying down the rickety rails.

  While Mina covered her face with her hands, Will looked over his shoulder at the cave they were leaving. Lava had already begun to pour onto the track behind them. This is a one-way ride, he realized. There’s no going back.

  “Will!” Mina shrieked.

  As he whirled around to face forward, he saw the split in the track ahead.

  “Which way?” she cried.

  “I don’t know!” he said. But even if he did, he didn’t know how to control the cart. “Just hang on!”

  Sparks flew as the cart veered sharply to the right, up an incline and back down again, and around another bend.

  Will held his breath, hoping the track would lead them to camp and not back into the depths of the lava-filled mine. He kept his eyes trained on the tunnel ahead. And then he saw it: a dark mass where red tracks should have been.

  “What’s that?” he asked, pointing into the darkness. “Is that a door?”

  Mina’s jaw dropped, and she buried her face in her hands again. “I can’t look!”

  Sure enough, a heavy iron door blocked the path ahead.

  And as the minecart barreled toward that door, it showed no signs of opening.

  CHAPTER 10

  As the cart raced toward the iron door, Will’s eyes scanned the dark tunnel, searching for an escape route. This was all my idea, he knew. And I put Mina in danger!

  Then his eyes spotted something shiny in the track ahead: an iron pressure plate. That could only be for one thing.

  Will clung to the side of the cart and closed his eyes, making one last wish. Please let it open the door.

  As the minecart zoomed over the pressure plate, Will heard a creak, and his eyes flung open. Yes! The giant door swung open just as the minecart reached the end of the tunnel.

  In seconds, they had popped out of the darkness and back into the bright mineshaft. As the cart screeched to a halt, Will recognized the base camp. A wide-open room. Ladders to the world above. Safety.

  His legs felt limp as he crawled out of the cart.

  “Are you okay?” he asked Mina, whose face looked nearly as pale as it had after the spider bite.

  She took a shaky breath. “I think so.” She glanced back at the iron door. “That was sure a wild ride.”

  Will smiled. “Yeah. Even better than I thought it would be.”

  Mina punched his shoulder. “You enjoyed that? You’re crazy.”

  Then her voice softened. “But you got us out of there, Will—faster than fast. How’d you know how to operate the cart?”

  He shrugged, feeling heat rise to his cheeks. “I did what you do—I slowed down and looked for the signs. Kind of like in the diamond cave. You and I both saw that lava coming, but the treasure hunters sure didn’t!” He paused and swallowed hard. “Do you think they made it out alive?”

  Mina sighed. “I don’t know. They seemed to know this mine better than we do. Maybe they found another way. I’m just sorry you didn’t get your diamond sword, Will.”

  His hand gripped the handle of his iron sword. “That’s okay. My iron one worked just fine against those cave spiders. But hey, you didn’t get your slime!”

  Mina fell silent beside him. When he turned to ask why, he found her staring at the minecart—or where the minecart used to be.

  A giant green slime was sitting on the tracks instead.

  Will sucked his breath in as the slime slid off the track and bounced toward them.

  Mina was on her feet in seconds. She drew her sword and struck the slime, sending three or four smaller slimes bouncing toward Will. “Get the little ones first!” she called. “Or they’ll surround us!”

  Will drew his own sword and attacked the squishy, bouncing slimes. But each time he hit one, it exploded into smaller slimes. The gooey little mobs stuck to his legs, squished under his feet, and sprayed water until his pants were drenched.

  But after a short, wet battle, he and Mina were finally staring down at a peaceful sea of green slimeballs. They lay perfectly still, like emeralds on the stone floor. Mina pulled out a sack and happily gathered them up.

  Will thought about helping her, but the balls looked so sticky. He wiped his hands on his pants and said, “Now you can make your magma cream!”

  Mina grinned. “That’s not all,” she said. “Watch this.”

  Using the miner’s crafting table, she formed about nine of the slimeballs into a square slime block. “Help me with this,” she grunted as she lifted the jiggly mass off the table.

  Will helped her carry it to the floor, just beside the ladder.

  “My turn first!” she announced, climbing the rungs. When she was about ten feet up, she stepped off the ladder and dropped to the slime block below.

  Will cringed, but instead of the rough landing he was expecting, Mina bounced off the block and soared back up into the air.

  “Whee!” she said. “This is fun!”

  She bounced again, this time on her knees, and sailed back up. Her laughter rang like chimes throughout the open mineshaft.

  “It’s like a trampoline!” said Will, amazed by Mina’s invention. But he was even more amazed by how much fun she was having right now. So Mina does know how to have fun, he realized. Once the hard work is done.

  After Will took a turn on the slime block and they had packed up their sacks, they cli
mbed out of the mineshaft. The long ladder led to another ladder, and another, until they finally pushed open a wooden trapdoor and climbed out into the blinding light.

  “Oh, sunshine!” exclaimed Mina, lying flat on her back and soaking up the rays. “I think we should explore the desert next. No more dark, damp caves.”

  But Will had spotted something in the distance: a jagged row of ice-capped mountains. “Or,” he suggested, “we could head farther north. I’ve heard you can make crazy-fun snow slides on those icy slopes!”

  Mina groaned. “I don’t know how you do it, Will. You go straight from minecart rides to snow slides!”

  “What?” he asked. “What’s wrong with a little fun and adventure?”

  She shaded her eyes. “Nothing’s wrong with it—nothing at all.” She sighed. “But you know, we’re not always going to agree on what to do next.”

  Will thought of the lava-filled cavern below—of the adventure they’d just had together. “Maybe we won’t,” he said. “But we sure work well together when we need to.”

  Mina smiled warmly. “You’re right. We really do.” She hopped to her feet and pulled her messy hair back into a smooth ponytail. “So, should we get going?”

  Will nodded. “We can make good time heading downhill.”

  Mina laughed as she started down the steep slope. “This time,” she called over her shoulder, “watch your step!”