“What happened to Andrea?” I asked, bracing for the worst.
“A.J. managed to calm her down while we fought off the mobs. We had to rebuild everything from scratch on a different server. She ended up moving, and she eventually made friends at her new school,” Esme said. “She doesn’t play in this realm anymore, but she still writes to us. She said—”
“Listen, the important part is,” Anton interrupted, “that after that, we built mods so that any emotional messiness shows up as low-level things we can ignore or easily handle.”
“We also make an effort to solve our problems in the real world,” Esme said. “Before we come into the game.”
“Lucky for you guys, I don’t have problems in the real world, other than having to heal myself,” I said. “Lonnie’s fine too, it’s just his avatar that’s glitched.”
Esme and Anton shared a look that I couldn’t read.
“What I’m trying to say is that it might not be Lonnie…” Anton began.
“Of course it’s him!” I yelled. “I saw him, he looked at me!”
I was tired of talking. Each second we wasted was another second my best friend was stuck in a villager body. I dodged Anton and ran off into the desert, in the direction of the forest biome where I had spawned.
“You have no idea what’s happening,” I called back. “You just want someone to blame. For all I know, you two are the ones messing with me!”
I was going to get to the bottom of things, starting with finding Lonnie again. It was always him and me against the world. I didn’t need anybody else.
Esme and Anton followed me out into the desert, and eventually I allowed them to catch up with me. They tried to talk to me, but I wasn’t having it. The fact is, all I knew was that the villager was him, but there was no way to prove it until we made contact. I never responded to either of them, so eventually we moved along in relative silence, stopping occasionally to harvest whatever neutral mobs we came across. Night fell, and we encountered hardly any mobs in the desert.
“Listen,” Esme began again.
“Nope,” I said.
“I just want to prepare you,” she tried.
“She doesn’t want to hear it, Esme,” Anton said. “Let her find out for herself.”
“It’ll be better if Bianca—”
“Esme,” I interrupted. “Can we just get to the forest biome first, before we jump to conclusions?”
Esme slowed down, as if she was going to stop and let the two of us continue on our own.
“Whatever we do, we need to stick together,” Anton said. “We can work through anything if we just work as a team.”
Esme huffed and picked up speed again.
Behind some trees, I spotted a wolf. It snarled as I got closer, but it seemed a better companion at the moment than the two actual humans I’d found inside the game. I pulled out one of the bones from a skeleton mob we’d defeated, and offered it to the wolf. It walked away at first, bounding up a couple of levels on the hill, so I offered it a few more. It moved forward, eyeing me and the gift, and then it jumped closer, pounced on the bones, and they disappeared. I gave it one more. It made a low whining sound, and nuzzled close to my legs.
“I thought we were supposed to be looking for your friend, not taming pets,” Anton said. He was right behind me.
“We are,” I said. “But you said to prepare, right? We could use the backup.”
I struck out again, with the wolf following behind. We moved rapidly down the hill until I came to the one-room house I’d built. Most of it was destroyed, as if someone had come through with TNT. Two walls were blown out, there was no door, and nothing inside. Even the floor had holes in it, dug down farther into the earth.
“It’s basically a lean-to,” Anton said, without an ounce of humor.
“I haven’t been here that long,” I said. “It was a basic shelter. I would’ve added to it eventually.”
“I wasn’t criticizing,” Anton said.
“None of this is important now,” Esme said. “Let’s just find that villager.”
I was about to turn around when I thought I noticed something moving in one of the holes in the floor. I went closer, and a cave spider skittered out. I tried to jump back and out of the way, but in my cramped home base there wasn’t much room to move. I crashed into Esme and my sword came down on the spider’s head. It looked toward me, as if it was seeing me for the first time.
“Watch it!” I yelled to Esme and Anton as I picked up my sword again and hacked at the charging spider. It broke into blue pieces and fell to the ground. I would have taken a breath, but no sooner had I dispatched that one than another, and another, came out. Esme rolled her eyes at me and said, “Really?” She and Anton flanked me and did more damage with their stone swords than I could do with my wooden one. But soon the broken house was spilling over with spiders, which proved too much even for all three of us and the wolf, who was getting in there attacking spiders as much as it could. We were pushed out of my shelter and backward toward the riverbank.
If there had been any time at all, I might have made a snarky remark to Anton about befriending the wolf, but I could barely catch my breath.
“What are you doing to the game?” Anton shouted at me, as one of the spiders attacked him.
“I didn’t do anything,” Esme and I said at the same time.
Anton laughed.
“Oh no, not you, Bianca. Spiders and witches are Esme’s specialty,” Anton said, as he skidded back. “It’s pretty legendary when she gets jealous.”
“Shut your face, Anton. I’m busy!” Esme said. She and I moved toward the river, cutting through the spiders as we went, but they were resilient, and required several hits to die.
“What? You blabbed all my secrets, so I’ll tell some of yours,” Anton said. He did a spin and swiped at another spider. It broke apart, but the river of spiders just kept pouring out of the house. Another enemy dropped in front of him. “Esme’s unpleasant in real life as well, you know. She’s pissed off most of the nursing staff, and her doctor, and hardly anyone ever comes to visit her. So when she says she’s in here hiding from nausea, she’s really in here hiding from loneliness.”
Esme screamed and ran a spider through with her sword, and it felt like everyone, including the mobs, paused to watch her rage shatter the creature into a few bouncing blocks.
“Whoa,” I said.
“I told you. Legendary.” Anton turned back to the spider in front of him and resumed the battle. “They always show up when she’s insecure.”
“Whatever,” Esme said. “I’m not the ticking time bomb here. She is.”
The wolf, who I’d decided to call Howl, aided us in the fight. As another spider died, it dropped a couple of experience orbs, which Esme swiped quickly.
I tried to copy her moves and land a few hits on the mob in front of me, but I wasn’t as good. Esme dispatched it for me, so I ran over to help Anton finish off the last cave spider. That’s when I noticed that he was down to half a heart.
“You got poisoned,” I said.
“Didn’t I say I’d get poisoned?” he said. He looked over at Esme. “Didn’t I?”
“No, you didn’t,” Esme replied with an edge to her voice. She softened a moment later, though, and said, “Good thing we passed that mob of cows earlier. Here, take it.” She gave him some milk from her inventory. It helped a little. His health bar, I mean. Not his attitude.
“The two of you are going to get us killed,” he said. I frowned at his thoughtless reply, and he shrugged. “What? It’s true!”
We were alone on the riverbank, holding our weapons, and looking around like another attack was going to happen any moment. Luckily the sun began to rise, and we lowered our weapons.
“So where do you think Lonnie is?” I asked. “Is there a place where most p
layers spawn?”
They both looked at me, and then at each other, and nodded.
“Let’s go back to where you first saw him,” Anton suggested.
A rabbit hopped into view and Anton turned his sword on it.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I don’t know if this thing is going to attack me next.” He lowered and raised the sword as if he was getting ready.
He looked at the rabbit. The rabbit looked at him. And then it hopped away.
“Frightening,” I said.
He growled at me, and then jerked his chin toward the village. “You saw your friend in there, right? Let’s go.”
“Before another bunny shows up,” Esme said teasingly.
“Ha ha,” Anton said drily. “Look, the game’s gone weird.”
Esme snickered, so I did too. In a moment, we were both openly laughing.
“Haven’t you ever been spooked by something everyone else thinks is a nonissue?” Anton asked.
“No,” Esme said.
“Pirates,” I said.
“You know pirates don’t exist anymore,” Esme said.
“They definitely do,” I said. “Everyone’s been thrown off by Johnny Depp, but pirates exist and they’re scary!”
“Maybe you’re thinking of an amusement park ride,” Esme said.
“No, they’re still around,” I said. “When my dad was a kid, he and his family were sailing their yacht between a couple of Caribbean islands where he grew up, and they were attacked.” I felt a shiver run up my spine. “I only found out because I was playing pirate at the playground one day and his face went pale and he made me leave right away. I couldn’t figure out why he was so upset. It was my mom who told me what had happened. His family was fine, but the pirates took everything they had on board. He was just a kid. It terrified him.”
Anton looked like he was going to say something, but Esme interjected. “That’s definitely scarier than bunnies!” She started laughing again.
“Fine. Laugh it up,” Anton said. “But do you have any idea what other stuff is going to be messed up? Do you?”
I shook my head.
“How about you, Spidey?” he asked Esme.
She rolled her eyes, but didn’t respond.
“Okay then, so let’s just be prepared for whatever,” he said. “I’ve read Watership Down. Those things cannot be trusted.” He pointed at the bunny, hopping away in the distance.
“And by Watership Down, he means Bunnicula,” Esme said.
I snorted.
* * *
—
The boat slid across the river. The scenery was seamless and beautiful, and I wished I could show it to my family. I wondered what they were doing at that moment, and as I stared at the water I remembered the feeling of my mother fiddling with my braids, and how nice it felt to get a big bear hug from my dad, and I even smiled a little bit thinking about how Carrie sometimes would crawl over to my bed to snuggle before the alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. on a school day. My heart lurched, and a deep chasm seemed to open up inside. I really missed them. And I missed Lonnie, too. If there was some way to get rid of all the painful feelings while keeping all the good ones, I’d do it in a nanosecond.
“What was that?” Anton asked.
“Nothing. I didn’t say anything.”
“You did,” Esme said, turning on me. “Something about your feelings.”
Maybe it was just the way avatars gave blank, unblinking stares, but her face gave me a chill right then. She was scary. What does she look like in real life, I wondered. I guessed dark hair and eyes, since that’s what she chose for her game skin, but sometimes people liked to switch things up.
“How long do you think we’ve been playing?” I asked, trying to change the subject away from my feelings.
Anton shrugged. “It’s hard to tell how long you’ve been inside the game. Game time and real time don’t often match up.”
“Why?” Esme asked. “Are you worried?”
“No, I’m just wondering what my family is doing.”
“They’re probably still asleep,” Esme said. “It’s probably still night and A.J. is looking for another set of goggles so that he can play too.”
“I hope he doesn’t find one,” I said. “I don’t want to know what his problems are.”
“Me neither,” Esme and Anton said together.
“Jinx!” they both said.
Then, “Double jinx!”
And, “Jinxy jinx!”
Then they both bent over with laughter.
The boats jerked to a stop at the shore, and we all got out. Howl appeared by my side moments later, and I grinned at her before heading off to the village. Just like the last time, villagers gathered around to see what we were doing, and immediately began offering trades and making their usual muttering sound.
“Do you see your friend?” Esme asked.
“Not yet,” I said. I moved past the villagers and into the town.
We walked past the shops and to the street of buildings filled with villagers going about their digital lives. Anton and Esme stopped to trade with the butcher, but I kept walking.
I spotted a villager in a blue shirt with its back to me, in the middle of a garden. I resisted the urge to shout for Esme and Anton. I wanted to talk to Lonnie alone.
“Hey,” I said, keeping the tremble in my voice down.
The villager turned around. There was the white X.
“Lonnie?” I asked.
He didn’t respond, only turned back in the direction he was facing before, and began to move off. I tried to stop him.
“Lonnie, come with me,” I said. “I want you to meet some people.”
He jerked to a halt, then walked back over to me. Esme and Anton looked like they were purposefully hanging back, as if they were a little afraid of what would happen next.
I turned to face them, Lonnie by my side.
“It’s definitely him,” I said. “It’s Lonnie.”
“Based on what? He looks—” Anton started to say.
“I just know,” I said.
“How? He isn’t talking,” Esme said.
“His face. I know that face,” I said.
The two of them looked at each other, but didn’t say anything to me.
I knew it sounded crazy. He looked like an oddly dressed villager. But when he looked at me, I felt it. Just like the first time I saw him in the game.
“I’ve got to get him to come with us,” I said. “His avatar must be glitching.”
“But he’s not playing,” Esme said. “I don’t think we can get him to come along.”
“I’m not doing a single thing without him.” I crossed my arms, or at least tried to with my avatar.
Lonnie turned and moved into a path between vegetable beds, away from me. He didn’t respond to anything Esme and Anton said, but I wouldn’t have either. They were talking about him as if he couldn’t hear them. Maybe if I got them doing a mission together, Lonnie would wake up from whatever trance he was in.
“Bianca, I’ve been thinking,” Anton said. “Maybe we should exit the game and meet in real life. You know, clear our heads for a while.”
“But we just found Lonnie,” I said. “Why don’t we try to fix him?”
“Because I don’t think we can,” Anton said. “He’s not participating. He’s just—there!”
“Let’s do a few missions together, you’ll see,” I suggested. “Lonnie’s a genius at making up traps. You two will definitely get along.”
“Bianca…” Anton’s voice trailed off, like he didn’t know what to say.
“Just one mission, to the Nether. Come on, it’ll be fun,” I said. “Either way, I’m not leaving until Lonnie and I get to the End.”
Esme
pulled Anton to the side. I could hear them whispering urgently, but couldn’t make out their words. After a moment they returned.
“It’s fine,” Esme said. “We can take him with us.” She took a breath. “How much string did we manage to get from those spiders?” she asked Anton.
“A lot,” he said.
“Then make some rope,” she said. “Let’s guide him with it.”
“We can do that?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Esme said. “A.J. put the mod in when I wanted to play as Wonder Woman, and he’s never taken it out.”
“That’s awesome,” I said with a grin.
“Could you get him?” Anton asked as Lonnie wandered off. I nodded and stuck near Lonnie, herding him so he wouldn’t get too far as Anton crafted the rope.
“Do you think maybe Lonnie fell into a coma or something?” I asked. “Maybe in the middle of gameplay?”
Esme sighed. “It’s possible, I suppose. Andrea’s avatar also somehow stayed behind. We guessed it was because she didn’t exit herself, so her skin got stuck inside the game, and it’d just wander around aimlessly.”
“Weird. So is she still stuck in here?”
Esme shook her head. “No. After we rebooted the realm and came back, we couldn’t find her again.”
“Maybe Lonnie was put into this game so we could help him get conscious again.” I knew I was grasping at theories, but it was all I had. “Maybe this is like group therapy!”
“Maybe, maybe, maybe,” Anton said, mimicking me. “We don’t know what is really happening, which is why we should log off and get to the bottom of it in real life.”
“You said yourself that no one is probably awake now; why don’t we try something in-game first?”
Esme frowned and, after a moment of hesitation, asked, “You really think you need to play through to the End?”
I turned to look at Lonnie, and he turned to me as well. It was like he finally recognized me. I smiled at him and said to Esme, “Yeah, I really do.”
Anton sighed dramatically and said, “Fine. You said we should go to the Nether? Well, let’s go then.” He put the rope around Lonnie to lead him, and pulled Lonnie out of the garden and back into the cobblestone street in front of the butcher’s shop. “Back to the boat!”
The Crash: An Official Minecraft Novel Page 6
