“Lonnie?” I said.
He shuffled back into the darkness of whatever room we were in, taking his maybe-smile with him, his face hidden in the shadows.
“You saved me,” I said. He looked at me briefly, then turned away.
Esme and Anton were also off to the side, looking on silently.
“You saw it, didn’t you?” I asked, excitement sending my voice to a higher octave. “He’s getting better.”
Esme sighed heavily, clearly not convinced. Anton completely ignored me. He lit a torch and surveyed the small narrow space.
“He saved me,” I told them.
Again, neither of them bit.
“He did,” I whispered.
Then Esme said, “Sometimes the brain can play tricks on the eye.”
Esme’s comment and cold stare seeded dread in my stomach.
“I found the way up,” Anton said, interrupting the fear moving through my veins.
Outside, there was the sound of scraping and then another series of small explosions.
“Since when do zombies know how to use explosives?” I asked.
“I think that was the ladder,” Esme said. “Sounds like it came from the same part of the room.”
“Good thing we didn’t use it, then,” Anton said. “And that we waited for me to figure things out.”
Anton had found what was little more than a crack in the wooden wall panel. He fit himself into it, and was immediately sucked up, like in one of those pneumatic tubes at the bank.
Esme pushed Lonnie in next, and then she followed. I entered last, and was whisked up through what felt like an elevator shaft without a floor or walls. When it stopped, I stepped forward into a lighted room—the greenhouse I’d been trying to break into when I set off all the traps. Esme spotted me staring out at the destruction I’d created.
“It would’ve been cool if you’d actually made it, I guess,” she said.
I didn’t know what to say. Thanks seemed like too much, and yeah seemed like too little. “I’m sorry I didn’t” is what I finally said.
She nodded slightly at me, then turned away to explore the room.
If I hadn’t thought that A.J. was impressive before, with the multilayered traps and bombs he’d created to keep everyone out of the house, I was definitely impressed now. We were standing inside an extended greenhouse that was meticulously planned out. Fruit trees surrounded the floor on three sides, and at the center were rows of edible plants in boxed gardens with clear paths between them. The kid could have survived in here for weeks without ever having to leave. Between this and the traps outside, he could hold out like it was the end of the world. Some parts of the greenhouse had glass flooring that looked down on other parts of the house.
“Glass floor, Lonnie! See?” I said, excited.
“It’s like a fort. Some kind of hideout,” Esme said.
“Looks like he was prepping hard-core for some big mission,” Anton said.
“The End, perhaps,” I suggested. I looked around, hoping this place would have everything we would need.
Anton’s eyes flicked in my direction. He wandered over to a perfectly square strawberry patch and gathered some to eat. “It’s amazing in here. How did he even make these in-game?”
Lonnie moved up to a tree and picked an apple. I chuckled. Only in a digital world could any and every fruit grow at the same time. I started stocking my inventory. I would need food once I got to the Nether.
“I don’t know how he did it,” I said.
“Very careful planning,” Esme said. “Over a long period of time.”
I whistled. My life was on pause at age fourteen thanks to the accident, and would be for a few months. But what if your entire life had been set on pause? Minecraft was probably A.J.’s only way to escape.
“What else is there?” I wondered.
Anton touched a place between two of the trees against the long wall, and a door opened. “Let’s see.”
“Come on, Lonnie,” I said, fully anticipating I’d have to go over there and grab him and make him follow, but he looked up, and came right over, as if he understood. I froze, not wanting to do anything that might throw him off, but what I really wanted to do was cry or laugh or scream or shout to Esme and Anton that I’d been right all along. Instead, I stood still and waited for Lonnie to walk up beside me. I smiled just a little, and walked ahead through the door that Anton had found, with my best friend following.
He was coming back. I was sure of it.
“He’s not,” Esme said drily.
“What?” I asked. “I didn’t say anything.”
“I know what you’re thinking,” she continued. “You called him and he came, right?” She paused, perhaps waiting for me to respond with a nod or an actual yes, and when I didn’t do either, she went on. “You think he’s himself again. He isn’t.” She moved off into the new room without further explanation.
It was another food room, only this one was filled with chicken coops, and sheep and pigpens. There were plants in this room as well, though many fewer than in the other one.
“Don’t play with the chickens,” I reminded them.
“What do you think will happen if we do?” Anton asked.
“I don’t want to find out,” Esme said. She stepped toward a sheep pen, picked up one of the sheep, and began to shear it.
“You’re going to have to do more than that to convince me that what I said was happening really isn’t,” I said. “Why else would he come when I call him?”
“It’s A.J.’s coding,” she said simply. She finished shearing the sheep and put away the wool, and placed the sheep back in the pen, where it baaed along with all the rest. “He’s just responding to your voice commands. You think this is Lonnie, and that he’s reacting to you, but he’s not acting on his own.”
“He is acting on his own,” I insisted. “I’ve seen it, he’s been communicating with me through my memories.”
Esme put up her hands as if I had just proven her point. “Hey, I’m just trying to warn you, the game doesn’t work that way.”
“The game I’m playing does,” I said. “Why won’t you believe me? Why aren’t you helping?”
Esme looked at me, dead serious. Her voice, however, was gentle as she said, “That’s exactly what we’re trying to do.” She took a deep breath. “Your friend Lonnie is gone, he was never checked into the trauma ward or the children’s ward. I don’t know what else to tell you, but he’s not here with you right now.”
I looked at Lonnie, hoping he’d do something to prove her wrong. But he was simply standing there. Then I looked over to Anton, but he was far away from us on the other side of the long room, gathering supplies and muttering. I could only make out “great,” and “genius,” and “get out of here.” There was no help to be had from him.
“You’re wrong,” I whispered, moving away from her and taking Lonnie with me.
We moved up one level to what looked like a sleeping floor with carved wood walls, a couple of beds, and two tables. Then there was another room with a library, complete with a trampoline in the middle, maybe for reaching the highest shelves, and finally a random room of what looked like the frameworks for portals.
“Nope, he’s a kid all right. I mean, a genius kid, but definitely a kid.” Anton reached into one of the portal frameworks and his hand disappeared.
“Don’t do that!” Esme shouted.
“I can feel something,” he said. He pulled his hand back and in it was an orange, which he immediately ate, and laughed. “This is amazing! Seriously, what mods are these?”
Looking at the portal, I had a sudden thought. “Do that again,” I said. “But on my count.” I went back to the greenhouse and shouted, “Now!” I looked at the orchard to see if Anton’s hand showed up there. Sure enough, I found it near
a high branch of one of the orange trees. I climbed up and slapped him high-five.
“Was that you?” he called.
“Yep!” I said.
“That’s so cool!” he called back.
I returned to the portal room, where Esme and Anton were trying out some of the other arches.
“How did he do it?” Esme asked.
“The kid can do anything, I guess,” I said. I was feeling more and more hopeful, especially given the portals didn’t seem to have any exits where they led. Only entrances. It was a clever way to get around, for sure. Only A.J. would know how to use them.
“Well, great as this is, he’s obviously not here,” Esme said pointedly. “There are no cheat codes to get. So now what?”
“We should wait for A.J. to get back,” Anton said.
“That’s a waste of time,” I said. The longer we waited, the more Esme was going to try to convince me to abandon my quest. “I have all the materials for a nether portal, why should I wait around?”
“We’re supposed to stick together, remember? That was the promise we made to each other,” Anton said. “Or do you break those as often as you do plans?”
“Listen, you don’t know me or Lonnie,” I said, feeling an angry heat rise in my chest. “I don’t have to keep promises to you!”
“What about you?” Esme looked at Lonnie. “What do you think about Bianca’s inability to face the truth?”
“Don’t do that,” I said.
“What?” Esme asked, putting her hands on her hips and staring me down.
“Don’t talk to Lonnie like that.”
“Like what? I was only asking him a question. Engaging him in conversation. The same as you’ve been doing since we dragged him along. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? Try to get him to respond?”
“That’s not what you were doing,” I said. “You were being mean. Don’t do that to my friend.”
“I’m trying to be your friend, Bianca! I’m trying to show you the truth! He wouldn’t know if I was being mean to him or not, because he’s not even there!”
I don’t know when I got over to Esme and pushed her to the ground and started to hit her with my fists, but she was back up on her feet a moment later, punching back. And she didn’t feel like a twelve-year-old. I put my hands up to shield my face, hoping the blows would end soon, and a moment later she stopped. I looked up, expecting to see Anton pulling her off me, but it was Lonnie. He had picked her up and moved between the two of us. She backed off.
A moment before, I was nearly convinced that she was right, and that my friend was gone. But now, I didn’t know what was going on.
“You two need to stop,” Anton said sharply, but he looked directly at Esme. “This isn’t how we work through stuff, and it’s not going to help anything. And anyway, we should get moving. We’ve been in here two days already.”
“Two?” I said.
He nodded. “You guys haven’t been paying attention to the light, but I have.” He pointed outside, where the light was just beginning to brighten.
“It’s only been one night,” I said. “I’m sure of it.”
He shook his head. “Two. When we got to the house it was just before nightfall. Then we had the zombie attack and we found the way up here. And while we’ve been exploring, an entire day and night went again.” No one moved for a few beats, and I was scared they were going to suggest we leave the game again.
“Are you two coming with me to the Nether or not?” I didn’t like how my voice wavered when I asked the question, but I had to know.
“We’re coming,” Anton said, eyeing Esme carefully. “Let’s just gather some more supplies.”
“How much of it can we take?” I asked, considering a raid on the kid’s stores. It seemed kind of rude. “Can we just take his stuff? Won’t A.J. mind?”
“That’s the game,” Esme said. “Either you’re playing it, or you’re not.”
“Fine,” I said. “I’m giving you one more day to gather what you need before Lonnie and I head into the Nether, with or without you.” I stormed off to the greenhouse where I moved through the apple trees, gathering up all the ones that had dropped.
I double-checked all my supplies to make sure we had what we needed for the Nether. I had plenty of snowballs collected. I repaired my diamond pickaxe, and grabbed a bow and arrows from A.J.’s arsenal. I loaded up on torches and buckets. I’d even enchanted my armor to add Fire Protection. My inventory was close to full by the time I finished.
Anton, Esme, and Lonnie sat waiting for me outside the orchard in the small panic room filled with chests. They were also armed to the teeth. Anton and Esme had even figured out a way to attach more arsenal to Lonnie, who now had his own armor. As I walked in, I caught the tail end of a conversation between Esme and Anton.
“What happens when you cross over to teenagerhood?” Esme asked Anton as they started enchanting their armor. “Why does everyone your age get all weird and angsty?”
“High school is like being in Jumanji,” Anton said. “You get tossed into the jungle and you have to figure it out on your own, and if you don’t, you’ll get trampled.”
“Lonnie didn’t seem to think much of high school either,” I said. “He said there were just different types of mobs and bosses.”
“He sounds like he knew what he was talking about,” Anton said, his tone softened with something that resembled sadness. For a moment, I wondered what it would be like if all four of us were just regular kids playing Minecraft. Perhaps we would all be friends.
“We need to keep playing our way out,” I said, getting back to the task at hand.
“Great,” Esme said. “Too bad A.J. never showed up. He would have been a good player to have on our side.”
“We’ll be fine just the four of us. We’ve been fighting off mobs like crazy ever since we got in here, we’re good. The Nether has nothing we haven’t seen already in the Overworld,” I said. I gestured at the stack of chests. “Now let’s open those babies up and see what’s inside.”
Anton shook his head. “No can do.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“These are empty, and that one is an ender chest.”
How didn’t I see that before? The chest was black with purple particles hovering all around it.
“I think we’ve done all we can here,” Esme said. “It’s time to go.”
She started for the hole in the floor to get out.
“Don’t forget, the only way for us to survive this is for us to stick together,” Anton said. “If I make a portal for us to leave, we all have to go through it this time.”
“Fine,” I agreed. Lonnie had made so many improvements since the last time Anton tried to get me to leave that I had to believe he would be fixed by then.
As Lonnie descended, he looked at me and then down into the hole like he was asking if I was going to follow. “I’m coming,” I said. He seemed satisfied enough to climb down.
We regrouped in the greenhouse. Esme located a couple of regular chests and raided the few supplies inside. A.J. was clever enough to have stored all the good stuff in the ender chest, it seemed.
“Last call to check your supplies,” I said. “Once I build the portal, I’m going through whether you’re ready or not.”
“Wow, you got bossy,” Anton commented.
“I prefer to think of it as leadership qualities, thank you very much,” I corrected.
I chuckled, and Lonnie turned to me with a smile. It was exactly the kind of thing we would have found funny, you know, out in real non-Minecraft life. I was reminded that Lonnie had also mentioned we would need a fishing rod in order to pull the blazes into melee range. I shook my head in amazement; Lonnie was somehow communicating with me through telepathy. I was sure of it. How else had he been able to plant all these memories
to help guide me in our quest? Then I caught a scowling look from Esme, and I stopped.
Anton clapped his hands together and rubbed them like he was an old-school cartoon villain without the thin twirly mustache. “All right, let’s do this! Once we finish this trip to the Nether, it’s off to the End, and then we’re outta here!”
I was going to explain why we should maybe wait to leave and instead find a fishing rod, then stopped. There was a chill inside the room. I looked around, searching for the source of it. Outside the window, in the places not messed up by the blasts I had caused, the icy tundra stared back. Nothing appeared different, but it almost felt like someone had come into the house and left a door open. The chill came over me again.
Anton had already exited down the suction lift. Esme had moved on to another room, looking for more stuff to raid.
I walked carefully around the greenhouse, searching. A little way down the path was something shadowy standing between two apple trees. It turned.
An enderman.
With a white scar slashed across its face.
I heard my own breath sucking in, and then the sound of my own scream. I pushed Lonnie out of the way, knocking him into the carrot garden. A chicken flapped across my vision, blinding me for a couple of seconds. When it was gone again, the enderman was closer. I pulled up my inventory and took out the diamond sword.
“This isn’t going to work,” I called at the enderman. “You don’t scare me.”
But something about the enderman’s scar chilled me to the bone.
It came, as fast as ever, straight toward me as I thrust upward with the sword. I caught the enderman’s arm. It staggered back a step, but then reached around with its other arm to strike me. I ducked. My health points were still low. I had to be careful. The enderman took a side step and came at me again. I moved as it moved, and slashed with the sword again. This time I struck its torso. The enderman’s arm flashed out, lightning quick, thwacking my face. The blow burned like fire. I pulled back, then ran in, with the blade of the sword held parallel to the floor. Another stab. Another swipe from the enderman. Another smack that made my arm feel like it was aflame.
The Crash: An Official Minecraft Novel Page 12
