Never Say Nether

by Greyson Mann

  Will heard the screech of the ghast, which sounded not so friendly anymore. And when the screeching finally stopped and Mina darted out to collect the ghast tears, Will rolled onto his back with relief.

  Seth dropped down beside Will.

  “Did you hurt your arm?” he asked, carefully peeling back the smoking shards of Will’s cape. When Seth caught sight of the burn, he turned his face away.

  “Is it bad?” Will asked, afraid to look.

  “It’s bad,” said Mina, hurrying back into the base. “But I can heal it, in time.” She quickly pulled a purple potion from her sack. “Potion of regeneration. It doesn’t work as quickly as potion of healing, but it’ll have to do. And, believe it or not, it’s made with ghast tears.” She smiled as she held the vial to Will’s lips.

  He wrinkled his nose, afraid that ghast tears would taste gross and salty. But the potion smelled like watermelon, and he guzzled it right down, suddenly realizing how thirsty he had become. Mina’s potions were the closest thing to water he’d find here in the Nether.

  “Thanks,” he said, wiping his mouth.

  “Thank you,” she said, holding up the ghast tears she had collected. “Now I can make more. But next time, Will, wait for us!”

  Next time, he thought, holding his throbbing arm, I think I will.

  Inside the Nether fortress, the air felt cooler. Will stopped to enjoy a faint breeze as he followed Seth and Mina down the long, dark hallway. His arm still stung, but the potion was beginning to work—at least, that was what Mina kept telling him.

  Up ahead, Seth looked twitchy. He glanced nervously over his shoulder, as if a ghast or zombie pigman might pounce on him at any moment.

  “Just look for a stairwell,” Mina said gently, as if to distract him. “If we can find a stairwell, we’ll find a Nether wart garden.”

  The word garden seemed to calm Seth down. He hurried past Mina around the corner ahead.

  “Hey! Check it out!” he called.

  “Did you find one?” asked Mina, racing after him.

  “I think so, but … wait, something’s wrong.”

  The tone of Seth’s voice sent Will sprinting ahead, too. When he rounded the corner, there was his brother, stuck in what looked like a patch of grayish brown mud.

  “I can’t … move … my feet,” said Seth, his eyes wide.

  Will tore into the mud after his brother, determined to get him out. But as soon as his own feet hit the mud, they stopped. He tried to take a step—just a single step—but his feet seemed to suddenly weigh a thousand pounds.

  “I’m stuck, too!” Will cried. So much for saving his brother. Was this quicksand? If it was, they were both going down …

  CHAPTER 5

  “Is it quicksand?” Will cried. “Mina, get us out!”

  But Mina had turned away, her shoulders shaking. Was she crying? Will had never seen her cry before. If she had given up on him and Seth, there was no hope—none at all.

  Panic seared through Will’s chest like hot lava. He didn’t know whether to scream for help or cry.

  Then Mina turned around, and he saw that she was laughing. His fear instantly turned to frustration. “What’s so funny?” he demanded to know. “Get us out of here!”

  “I’m … sorry,” Mina sputtered, trying to take a breath. “You just look so … funny. It’s not quicksand, Will. It’s soul sand. And you know what that means? Nether wart is nearby.” She ran past the patch of soul sand and down another hallway. “There!” she cried. “I see a stairwell!”

  “Wait, aren’t you forgetting something?” Will called behind her.

  Mina laughed again and raced back. “Sorry.” She held out a hand toward Will and began to tug. Will discovered that he could walk through the soul sand, but it took an eternity to take just a few steps. When he finally reached dry ground, he turned around to help Seth out, too.

  But Seth had somehow managed to make it out all on his own. He blew past Will and started jogging after Mina down the long red tunnel. “Where’s the stairwell?” he called to her. “Do you see the Nether wart garden?”

  At the end of the hall, Mina stopped suddenly and held out her arm. “Wait!” she whispered.

  “What?” called Will. “What now?” He picked up his pace, afraid of missing something.

  “Blazes!” said Mina. She sounded annoyed. “I see one just around the corner—over the stairwell. Get your weapons ready.”

  As Seth fumbled with his sword, Will squatted beside him and got his own bow and arrow ready. Finally! he thought. Here’s my chance to help Seth.

  Mina had already sent an arrow around the corner at the floating, flaming mob. She ducked back into the hall and whispered, “Wait for it. One, two, three …” Sure enough, the blaze sent three vicious fireballs in Mina’s direction. As soon as they hit the wall above her, Mina rounded the corner and raced toward the stairs, keeping her head low.

  “You ready?” asked Will.

  Seth didn’t respond. His sword quivered.

  “I’ll go first,” said Will. “Just do what I do.” He poked his head around the wall, aiming his crosshairs at the flaming mob hovering above the Nether brick staircase. He shot off an arrow—and after Mina’s attack, one arrow was all it took. The blaze exploded and a golden blaze rod dropped to the steps below.

  “You did it!” said Seth, sounding surprised.

  But Mina’s shouts at the base of the staircase meant the fight wasn’t over yet.

  “C’mon!” hollered Will, taking off down the stairs. At the bottom, he ran smack into Mina, who was coming back up.

  “Blaze spawner!” she shouted. “Right by the garden. We’ll never get close to the Nether wart now!”

  Sure enough, as she spoke, another blaze popped out of the spawner.

  Will heard the first fireball blast into the wall behind him.

  The second bounced off the stairs.

  And the third knocked him right off his feet.

  CHAPTER 6

  “Run!” shouted Mina. “I’ll cover you!”

  Will couldn’t run. He tried to push himself up off the stairs, but the fireball had knocked the wind right out of him. As he finally sucked in a ragged breath, he realized: Seth is missing.

  Will scrambled up and looked over the stone rail. Had Seth fallen to the garden below? No, but there was the blaze spawner—a small black cage with a flaming monster spinning inside. Another blaze popped out, launching into the sky just inches from his face. As he lurched backward, he saw Mina’s arrow strike the fiery mob.

  “Run!” she shouted again to Will. And now he could—and did.

  As he raced back up the stairs to the safety of the Nether brick tunnel, he was relieved to find Seth there waiting for him.

  “Are you okay?” Will asked, scanning his brother for injuries.

  “Yeah,” said Seth. “I was just thinking …”

  “Thinking?” cried Will. “Who has time to think during a blaze attack?”

  “I was thinking about how to contain that spawner,” Seth continued. “I’m pretty sure I could build something.”

  Will laughed out loud. “You want to build something? Seth, we’re in the Nether, not Little Oak.”

  But as Mina slid into the hall beside them, she was all ears. “You mean like a trap?” she asked.

  Seth cocked his head. “Maybe.”

  “That would be perfect,” said Mina, her eyes lighting up. “I could get to the Nether wart and collect blaze rods and glowstone dust from the trapped blazes!”

  Yeah, perfect, thought Will, his spirits sinking. Even down here in the Nether, it was Seth who kept saving the day.

  But I’m supposed to be the one saving him! thought Will miserably.

  He set down his bow and arrow with a sigh. It didn’t look like he was going to be needing them again any time soon.

  “It’s working!” cheered Mina.

  Seth had created a “cage” around the spawner out of Nether brick. He’d left just a small window i
n the trap. As blazes popped out of the spawner, one by one, they had nowhere to go—except out the window. And Will had his bow and arrow aimed and ready.

  “This is almost too easy,” he said, faking a yawn. He fired another arrow at the window, and a glowing blaze rod bounced out and onto the ground below.

  “Can I try?” asked Seth.

  “Sure,” said Will, taking a step back. “It’s all yours.” He handed Seth his bow and arrow.

  “Can one of you help me gather Nether wart?” called Mina, who was already halfway to the garden. She carried her sack at her side.

  Will expected Seth to jump at the chance, but he didn’t. He seemed to be having too much fun shooting the blazes.

  Really? thought Will. Now you want to fight them?

  That meant Will was stuck with gardening. He trudged behind Mina toward the clusters of leafy red plants bursting out of the patch of soul sand.

  “Watch out for wither skeletons,” Mina called to Seth. “They sometimes spawn near blazes.” Then she turned to Will. “And you—remember not to step in the soul sand!” She chuckled as she squatted by the first row of plants, but when Will didn’t laugh, she glanced up at him. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “Nothing,” Will said, tearing a Nether wart plant out of the dirt and stuffing it into Mina’s sack. “I’m just tired of Seth winning every battle.”

  “Huh?” Mina sat back on her heels.

  Will wished he could take it back, but now it was too late. He took a deep breath and went on. “I just thought that down here, I could teach him something for a change. But I don’t know how to build things like he does. I can’t compete with him!”

  Mina shook her head. “Who said it was a competition? Look at this place!” She waved her arm around. “In the Nether, it’s not about winning or losing. It’s about staying alive. And we have to work together to do that. So stop keeping score, okay?”

  Will knew Mina was right. And now he felt ashamed. He could barely meet her eyes.

  Suddenly, a dark figure stepped out of the shadows behind Mina.

  A skeleton. That was what Will’s mind told him it was, but it was so black. And it carried a heavy sword instead of a bow and arrow! Was this one of the wither skeletons Mina had warned Seth about?

  Will tried to warn Mina, too, but his words seemed stuck in soul sand. He opened his mouth just as the skeleton raised its sword—and struck.

  Mina’s eyes widened in pain. Then she slumped to the ground like a withered Nether wart plant.

  CHAPTER 7

  “Seth!”

  It came out like a croak. But Seth heard and came running.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  Will couldn’t answer. He was battling the skeleton as if Mina’s life depended on it. And it might, he realized.

  He struck the wither skeleton again and again with his sword, but it kept coming. Will darted around the Nether wart garden, lunging toward the skeleton and then retreating.

  When he saw that Seth had lifted Mina from the ground, Will screamed at him, “Run! Bring her back to the base!”

  Seth ran toward the staircase. The last Will saw of Mina was her head slumped back in Seth’s arms, her red ponytail skimming the steps below.

  Whoosh! The wither skeleton’s sword sliced the air, narrowly missing Will’s nose. As he yelped and jumped backward, his sword clattered to the bricks below.

  In one swoop, the skeleton gathered it up.

  Will reached for his bow and arrow and then remembered it was gone—he had given it to Seth back at the blaze spawner!

  Two realizations hit Will like fireballs: He was empty-handed, with no weapons at all. And no one was guarding the blaze spawner.

  Sure enough, a fiery mob slipped through the window of the brick trap and streaked through the sky toward Will. He tripped backward over Mina’s sack of Nether wart and nearly stumbled into the garden.

  Just stay alive, he told himself, remembering Mina’s words. Stay out of the soul sand. And stay alive.

  But as he reached down to pick up the sack, an idea struck. He didn’t know how to build brick traps like Seth’s, but he had learned a thing or two about soul sand. So he ignored the blaze and lunged instead at the skeleton, taunting him.

  As the skeleton sprinted forward, Will leaped over the Nether wart garden, praying he’d land on the other side of the soul sand. He did—just barely. But the skeleton stumbled right into it.

  With a groan and a rattle, he tried to get out. But his bony limbs moved in slow motion.

  “Take that, you bag of bones!” screamed Will, pumping his fist in the air.

  But the blaze overhead was heating up. As the first few fireballs came raining down on Will, he turned and ran—tripping up the staircase, fleeing down the long halls of the fortress, and bursting out again into the flaming cavern of the Nether.

  Where was the base? There! He raced toward the Nether brick wall—the solid wall that Seth had built to protect them. All he could think about was getting back to Mina and Seth.

  We’ll be okay if we’re together, thought Will. He only hoped it was true.

  Then he saw the ghast.

  The white ghostlike mob hovered over the base, as if beckoning Will forward. Then it opened its mouth and unleashed a high-pitched scream.

  The fireball headed directly for Will. His hand darted for his sword and then for his bow—for any weapon he could grab. But he had nothing!

  So at the last moment, just before the fireball exploded in his face, Will drew back his arm. He swung his fist with fury and desperation.

  Smack!

  He heard the explosion. Then the world went dark.

  CHAPTER 8

  “I don’t know what to do!”

  Will recognized the voice. It belonged to Seth, and as darkness gave way to light, his face came into view. His eyes looked swollen. Had he been crying?

  Will sat up with a start. “Where’s Mina?” Then he saw her, slumped onto the Nether rack beside him. Her face was pale as moonlight.

  “I don’t know how to help her!” Seth cried.

  “Potion!” Will shouted. “She needs one of her potions.” He scrambled to her sack and pushed past handfuls of Nether wart leaves. He found two glass bottles wrapped in cloth at the bottom.

  One of the bottles held purple liquid. The other held orange.

  Will stared at Seth, trying to remember. “What are they? What did she use them for?”

  Seth shook his head and shrugged. He seemed fresh out of ideas.

  Will unscrewed the lid of the orange liquid and sniffed. Nothing. The bottle might as well have held water. He suddenly wished he’d paid attention all those times that Mina was talking about her “potion of this” or “splash potion of that.” But he never had, because potions were her thing, like building was Seth’s thing.

  Will unscrewed the lid of the purple potion, which smelled familiar—like watermelon. And with that scent, it all came back. “Potion of regeneration!” shouted Will. “She needs this one. Help me sit her up.”

  Mina moaned as Seth propped her up into a sitting position. Will raised the vial to her lips and poured a few drops, which rolled off her chin. But the smell or the taste seemed to wake her up a little. She opened her mouth and let Will pour a few more drops inside.

  As they lowered her back down to the ground, Seth stared at Mina. “How long does it take to work?” he asked, his voice cracking.

  Will shrugged. “It doesn’t work right away,” he said. “At least, it didn’t on my burned arm.”

  He hadn’t thought about that burn for hours now, but as he peeled back his clothing, he saw that it had begun to heal. Seth saw it, too, and his face relaxed. Now they knew that the potion did work. It was just a matter of time.

  Mina’s breathing sounded shallow. Does she have enough time? Will wondered.

  He tried to remember everything she’d told him about healing. She was always pushing Will to drink milk or to eat more to keep his strength
up. “What do we have for food?” he asked.

  “Mushrooms,” Seth said, checking his pack. “I can make mushroom stew.” He seemed relieved to have something to do. He quickly filled three bowls with red and brown mushrooms, which he heated over a small pool of lava.

  The smell made Will’s mouth water. He only wished he had a big glass of ice water to drink with the stew.

  Taking care of Mina took Will’s mind off his thirst, and it seemed to help Seth, too. They took turns feeding her sips of stew, and slowly—very slowly—she began to come around.

  “The Nether wart,” were the first three words she said.

  “It’s fine,” Will said. “It’s here.” He patted her sack.

  Mina closed her eyes with relief. “Good,” she said. “I dreamed that a ghast blew up the garden with a fireball.”

  Will hid his smile. “There might have been a ghast or two,” he said. “And a wither skeleton.”

  “Will blew up a ghast with his bare hands,” said Seth.

  “What?” Mina’s eyes opened wide.

  Will turned, too. Was Seth making up stories now?

  “Don’t you remember?” Seth asked, gazing at Will with admiration.

  Will slowly shook his head. “I remember the fireball,” he said. “It was coming straight for me, and I grabbed my sword. I tried to grab my sword or my bow, but … I didn’t have anything.”

  “Except your bare hands,” Seth said, nodding. “I watched it over the wall—you hit that fireball with your hand and sent it right back up to the ghast. It exploded. Ghast tears fell like fireworks.”

  Mina pushed herself up to her elbows. “You really did that?” she said. “I’ve heard stories about fighting ghasts that way, but I’d never be brave enough to try it. Wow. Score one for Will.” She smiled at him.

  Will felt heat rise to his cheeks. “Who’s keeping score?” he said with an embarrassed laugh. “I’m just glad to be alive. I’m glad we’re all alive.”