“A Nether fortress,” Lucy exclaimed. She asked Eitan, “Can we search for treasure?”
“I’m sure it’s been emptied, but I will teach you how to search for valuable resources for various potions. And I will also teach you how to battle magma cubes,” Eitan said, and then led his team toward the Nether fortress.
Four blazes flew high above the entrance to the Nether fortress.
“What should we do?” Phoebe asked nervously.
“Get out your bow and arrows,” Eitan instructed them.
The gang shot arrows at the blazes.
“I got one!” Lucy called out when she destroyed a blaze.
“Me too!” exclaimed Jane.
“You can do it, Phoebe.” Eitan watched as Phoebe nervously aimed at the blaze.
“I destroyed it!” Phoebe was both shocked and thrilled.
Eitan said, “Okay, you did a good job, Phoebe. But I want you to destroy the last blaze.”
“I have to destroy another one?” she asked, taking a deep breath.
“Yes, I want this to become routine. I don’t want you to think about destroying the blazes. Having control in the Nether is the only way you can survive. If you panic every time you see a blaze, you will lose the game. Now, destroy it.”
Phoebe listened to Eitan’s words and aimed at the blaze. With one hit from her arrow, the blaze was destroyed.
“That was fantastic. Now, you get to enter the Nether fortress first,” Eitan told her.
“First?” Phoebe asked Eitan, “But what if a magma cube attacks me?”
“Then you’ll take out your diamond sword and you will attack it.” Eitan added, “And we’ll be right behind you, and will help you battle the smaller cubes.”
Phoebe walked into the fortress, clutching her diamond sword. She was nervous. As she entered the main room, she calmed down. She didn’t spot any hostile mobs.
Lucy could hear people speaking in the other room. As Eitan lectured them about the importance of Nether wart and potions, Lucy walked off and tried to eavesdrop on the conversation that was taking place in the other room. She walked down the hall and peeked in the room. She spotted Headmaster Isaac talking to three people she had never seen before. They were three men dressed in blue suits.
“I will take over the Minecraft Universe,” Isaac told the men in the blue suits.
Lucy almost gasped, but she knew she had to remain quiet and still. She didn’t want anyone seeing her. She tried to hide behind the door.
“Yes, we will help you. What else do you want us to do?” asked one of the men dressed in a blue suit.
“I want you to increase the amount of zombie attacks,” Isaac told them.
“What about spawning more hostile mobs?” asked one of the men.
Another man asked, “Can we spawn the Ender Dragon?”
“No,” Isaac answered. “We want to make this attack look as if it might be a natural occurrence or a glitch.”
“Okay, just tell us what you want us to do and we’ll do it,” one of the men told him.
“Tonight we must stage something at the big meeting. We have lots of students there, and we must show them we are in control.”
“What do you have in mind?” one of the men asked.
“Well, I was thinking that in the middle of the meeting we could have—” Isaac’s voice was cut off as Lucy heard Eitan calling for her.
“Lucy!” Eitan sounded annoyed. Lucy wanted to listen to Isaac talk about his plans. She had to make a decision. She had to decide if she should listen or leave. As Eitan’s calls grew louder, she feared that Isaac would discover her, and she sprinted toward Eitan.
“Don’t wander off.” Eitan was upset with Lucy. “I was in the middle of teaching you about Nether wart.”
“I’m sorry. I was just so excited to be inside the Nether fortress and I started to look around.”
“You can’t do things like that. We have to stick together.” Eitan continued to lecture Lucy on the importance of following the rules.
Lucy stood silently and listened. She wanted to explain what had happened and how the headmaster was planning taking over the Overworld, but she didn’t say anything except, “I’m sorry. I’ll never do it again.” She wasn’t sure who she could trust.
“Okay,” Eitan said. “Just don’t do it again. We’ve lost a lot of time talking about this, and I have a lot to teach you.”
Headmaster Isaac walked into the main room. He was alone. The men in blue suits must have vanished. Lucy wondered where they were. She assumed that they had taken a potion of invisibility and were possibly walking past the gang at that very moment, but she wasn’t sure.
Eitan looked shocked to see the headmaster. “Headmaster, how nice to see you in the Nether fortress. I was just teaching my students about the importance of Nether wart when brewing potions.”
“Good job,” Isaac said as he walked out of the Nether fortress.
Lucy wanted to shout at the headmaster. She wanted him to know that she knew his secrets, but she kept quiet and listened to Eitan talk about Nether wart.
Boing! Boing!
“Did you hear that noise?” Phoebe asked nervously.
“That’s a magma cube,” Eitan said calmly. “I’ll teach you how to battle them.”
Everyone took out their diamond swords.
“Over there!” Lucy shouted.
“I know you can battle these cubes easily. You guys know how to work together and trust each other,” Eitan said, and then he watched his students destroy the slimy beasts.
Lucy thought about her new friends and how they would react to her news about the headmaster. She was able to trust them as they played these games in class, but she wondered how trustworthy they would be in a real battle.
Chapter 9:
SECRETS AND LIES
Purple mist enveloped them as they made their way back to the Overworld.
“That was an amazing trip,” Phoebe said as she walked off the portal.
“I’m glad you enjoyed your first trip to the Nether. There is a lot more to learn about the Nether, and that is only the first of many trips we will take during your time at Minecrafters Academy,” Eitan explained.
“I’m excited to learn all about the Nether,” Phoebe told her teacher.
“Great. Now it’s time for us to eat dinner and then we all have to attend a meeting about the blackouts,” said Eitan.
Lucy started to panic. She wanted to tell her friends about the attack Isaac was planning at the meeting. As they walked toward the dining hall, Lucy burst out, “Isaac is evil!”
“What are you talking about?” asked Phoebe.
“Have you lost your mind?” Jane was upset. “He’s the headmaster. He’s also the one who chose us and invited us to study here. He isn’t a bad guy.”
“But I overheard him talking to three men dressed in blue suits at the Nether fortress. They were helping him plot an attack on the school,” Lucy blurted out.
“That’s not true,” said Phoebe.
Jane added, “When we saw Isaac in the Nether fortress, he was alone. I didn’t see any men in blue suits.”
“They must have taken a potion of invisibility or something, but I’m telling you that I overheard Isaac, and he has plans to take over the Minecraft Universe. He is a griefer,” Lucy explained, but she could tell her friends didn’t believe her. She had thought they trusted her, but she also knew that they had just met. They really didn’t know Lucy.
“Isaac. A griefer? Now, that is the silliest thing I’ve ever heard.” Phoebe looked at Lucy in disbelief.
“But it’s true. I wish you’d believe me,” Lucy pleaded.
“I don’t want to hear anymore of this nonsense.” Jane was upset with Lucy. “I just want to eat my dinner and go to the meeting.”
Lucy walked behind her two friends. When they entered the dining hall, Phoebe and Jane went off and left Lucy. Lucy felt very sad. She regretted telling her new friends about Isaac’s plan. She also beg
an to wonder if she hadn’t heard Isaac properly. Maybe he was talking to those men to help stop the attacks. But Lucy was sure she had heard him right. Isaac was a griefer. Isaac was going to attack the school and was plotting to take over the Overworld. Isaac had to be stopped. She might have lost her two new friends, but she knew that there was one person at Minecrafters Academy that would believe her. She had to find Adam.
Lucy grabbed a tray and filled it with chicken, potatoes, and other food. All the while, her eyes searched for Adam in the dining hall. She looked all around the room, but she didn’t see him. Lucy carried her tray around the room, but he was nowhere in sight. Lucy was worried that something had happened to her friend. She began to wonder, and her head filled with scary thoughts. Maybe he was also suspicious of Isaac and was destroyed? She couldn’t think this way. Adam could be in his room—or maybe he finished his dinner before her. Lucy took her tray over to the table closest to the faculty. Now that she had no friends, she wouldn’t be distracted when she wanted to eavesdrop on Isaac.
“We have to eat quickly and get our energy up,” Lucy heard Isaac say to the other staff members. “We have the meeting soon, and we want to be prepared. There is a possibility that the school is under attack and we have to stop it.”
“Do you think it’s seriously under attack?” one of the teachers asked Isaac.
Isaac paused. “I’m not sure. But I don’t want another blackout or another zombie invasion. We must do something to stop it.”
“Why would someone want to attack the school?” asked another teacher.
“We are a school filled with the most elite Minecraft players. Can’t you see why we are a target?” he replied.
“I guess so,” one of the teachers said, “but I also thought we would be strong enough to stop any attack.”
“Yes, why would someone attack us? We are too strong,” added another teacher.
“I guess they are testing our power and our egos.” Isaac looked over at the teachers.
Lucy wondered what was motivating Isaac to try to destroy the school and to take over the Minecraft Universe. He must have a large ego and crave power, but could there be something even more sinister?
Lucy listened to the conversation between the faculty members, but there wasn’t anything important being discussed. They were all chatting about the meeting and their food. She wanted more information. She wanted to run over to the table and confront Isaac. Instead, she scanned the dining hall for Adam, but she didn’t see him anywhere.
Isaac raised his voice and announced, “We should all finish our food and head to the main meeting hall. We must discuss the blackout.”
The minute Isaac said the word blackout, the dining hall went dark and zombies filled the room.
“Help!” a voice called out. Cries filled the room.
Lucy grabbed her diamond sword and began to strike as many vacant-eyed zombies as she could hit.
The students of Minecrafters Academy were involved in a serious battle against the zombies. Lucy watched several students being destroyed. Three zombies surrounded her. She fought back, but soon she was losing energy. Lucy knew that she was losing the battle and she would be destroyed. She was about to use her last bit of energy to strike a zombie, when Adam came up behind her and splashed a potion on the zombies and struck them with his diamond sword.
“Take this.” He handed Lucy a potion to regain her strength.
“I have something important to tell you,” Lucy said as she battled zombies.
“I think we have to concentrate on this battle,” Adam called back. He was busy destroying zombies. This was a tireless battle.
Without warning, the lights turned on again. Isaac stood on a table and announced, “I’m sorry for that blackout and zombie attack. It appears someone must be targeting our school. I believe there have been too many zombies and too many blackouts for this to be a coincidence.”
Lucy looked at Isaac. It took a lot of willpower not to shout at him and announce that he was a griefer.
Adam looked over at Lucy and said, “I don’t trust Isaac.”
Lucy smiled. She had someone she could trust. Maybe there was hope after all.
Chapter 10
BIG BATTLES
Adam stood next to Lucy during the meeting about the blackout. Everyone was quiet as they listened to Isaac talk about the attacks. Lucy’s heart was beating fast. She was certain that Isaac had been planning something, but she didn’t know what he had on the agenda. She looked over at Adam. She had told him briefly about what she heard Isaac discussing with the men in blue suits.
Adam looked at Lucy. “When do you think he is going to attack?”
“I’m not sure,” Lucy replied. “I left too soon. Maybe he called off the attack. Maybe it already happened in the dining hall.”
“No, that was a very small-scale attack. I bet he is planning something much bigger.”
“You’re probably right, Adam.” Lucy was scared. She didn’t want another attack. She wanted to go back to her room and talk to her roommates. She was still upset that they hadn’t believed her when she had told them about Isaac.
“We need to be prepared,” Isaac called out. “I dislike telling students to think about something other than their studies when they are at Minecrafters Academy, but we need to be on the lookout for other attacks. We need to always have our diamond swords ready for battle. But remember that we are still on Survival mode, so if you are destroyed during one of these attacks, you will respawn.”
Lucy hoped Isaac didn’t plan on changing their settings to Hardcore with command blocks. She didn’t trust him at all. Adam kept looking over at her. He was wondering when the major attack would take place. She was wondering, too. But she continued to listen to Isaac’s speech.
At the podium, he said, “This is just something that will distract us for awhile, but it will not stop us from learning. We will conquer this enemy.”
Lucy wanted to shout out that Isaac was the enemy, but when the meeting ended and there was no attack, she began to question herself.
Phoebe and Jane walked over to Lucy. Phoebe said, “I guess you were wrong. There wasn’t a big battle at the meeting.”
“I know, but I heard him talking about the battle with the men in blue suits,” Lucy defended herself.
Lucy was shocked when Adam turned to her and said, “You have to get your facts right. This is serious. You can’t accuse someone of being a griefer.”
“But you said you didn’t trust him!” Lucy looked at Adam.
“I do now,” Adam said to Lucy. “After listening to Isaac talk to us about the school and how strong we are, I realize that we are in this together. Maybe you heard Isaac talking about getting help to end the attack when you were in the Nether fortress. Maybe they were protectors of the Overworld, not criminals?”
Phoebe and Jane agreed with Adam. Jane said, “You have to admit that what you’re saying sounds really crazy.”
“But I overheard him talking. He was plotting to take over the Overworld,” Lucy pleaded with her friends. She watched Adam side with Phoebe and Jane, and Lucy felt very alone. She had lost one of her closest and oldest friends, and she had also alienated her two new friends and roommates. Phoebe and Jane were her partners at school, and if they didn’t trust each other, she would be very isolated during her time at the academy.
The room had emptied out, but the four of them remained. Stefan walked over to the group. “Is everything okay?” Stefan asked them.
“Yes,” Lucy replied. “I’m just very worried about the attacks and my friends are trying to comfort me.”
“Yes, I can see a lot of people are worried. I wish I could tell you that the attacks would end soon, but I know as much as you do. The attacks are just a nuisance. They won’t destroy this school. We have a fantastic and trustworthy headmaster, and we must follow him.”
“I know. You’re right,” Lucy replied, but she wasn’t sure she was telling the truth.
Chapter 1
1
LOST FRIENDS
Lucy felt very alone. She walked back to the dorm room and held her head down when she entered her room.
Phoebe and Jane were in their beds. Lucy climbed into her bed and pulled her wool cover over herself. She wanted to disappear. Her friends must have noticed, because Phoebe said, “I want to apologize for being mean. I know you thought you heard Isaac talk about attacking the school. But you have to admit that you were wrong.”
Lucy could have just replied that she was wrong and misheard Isaac, but she didn’t want to lie. Before she could respond, they heard a loud explosion.
“What’s that?” Phoebe leapt out of bed and sprinted toward the window.
Jane, too, sprinted to the window and stood beside Phoebe. Lucy stayed in bed. She wasn’t sure what she should do.
“Oh no!” Jane looked out the window. “It looks like one of the classroom buildings was blown up.”
There was a knock at their door.
“I’m too scared to answer it,” confessed Phoebe.
Jane stood next to Phoebe and continued to stare out the window. Lucy got out of bed and opened the door.
“Hi.” Stefan stood at the door. “There was an explosion in a classroom. Someone has placed TNT around the campus and we don’t know when they are going to activate it. We need all students on campus to search for TNT. We aren’t safe here.”
“But it’s dark out. We can be attacked by naturally spawned hostile mobs.” Phoebe was scared. She didn’t want to search for TNT. She wanted to stay in the room.
“I know. We have placed as many torches around the campus as we could, but there is nothing we can do about it. It’s not safe to stay here. If these dorms explode, you will have no place to respawn.”
Phoebe began to pace the room and panic. “Then where we will we respawn?”
“It’s going to be okay,” Lucy comforted her as they walked into the hall and exited the building to search for TNT.
Lucy spotted Adam in the dark. He was searching around the dorms. She called his name.
Zombie Invasion Page 4