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Copyright © 2016 by Hollan Publishing, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.
Cover design by Brian Peterson
Cover photo by Megan Miller
Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-0597-5
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0607-1
Printed in Canada
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: After School
Chapter 2: Lightning Strikes
Chapter 3: Strange Storms
Chapter 4: Familiar Landscape
Chapter 5: Burning Down the House
Chapter 6: It Gets Real
Chapter 7: Igloo
Chapter 8: Trapped and Terrorized
Chapter 9: In the Jungle
Chapter 10: Survival in the Overworld
Chapter 11: Where’s Michael?
Chapter 12: Battle of the Blazes
Chapter 13: Mobs at Night
Chapter 14: Struggle in the Swamp
Chapter 15: The Luck of the Draw
Chapter 16: Call Me Mr. Anarchy
Chapter 17: Safe and Sound
Chapter 18: New Friends
1
AFTER SCHOOL
Simon had already gotten two warnings from his teacher about passing notes, but he couldn’t help himself. He did want to learn about long division, but he also wanted to remind his friends Lily and Michael about the Minecraft game they had scheduled after school that day. Simon had spent the last few months playing with his friends on a multiplayer server where they had created a small town. Today they were going to finish a large roller coaster they were building outside of the village. Simon couldn’t wait to test the roller coaster. He had to remind his friends about the meet up. When the teacher wasn’t looking, he quickly tore a piece of paper from his notebook and ripped it in two. He wrote the same message on both sheets: “4pm. Today. Meet in the Overworld. Let’s ride the coaster.”
As Simon’s teacher discussed a long-division problem on the blackboard, he passed the first note to Lily, who sat next to him. She read it and nodded her head. Simon knew passing the second note was going to be a bit more complicated because Michael sat at another table. He looked over at Michael, who was busy trying to figure out the math problem on a piece of paper and didn’t see Simon staring at him. Simon aimed and threw the note at Michael, but the teacher turned around and spotted the flying paper.
“What was that?” His teacher, Mrs. Sanders, asked, walking over to where the note had fallen on the floor. She picked it up and looked at the note, then asked, “Who wrote this?”
Simon’s heart was racing. He sat silently and didn’t raise his hand.
“Okay, I’m going to ask one more time. Who wrote this note?”
Again, nobody raised their hands.
“I told you guys, I don’t like note-passing. You have to pay attention to get the most out of your education.” Mrs. Sanders lectured the class on the importance of long division.
Simon didn’t want to admit that he wrote the note. He already had two warnings and he could feel Mrs. Sanders staring at him.
“The class is going to lose recess if someone doesn’t admit to throwing this note,” Mrs. Sanders announced.
Simon panicked. He knew he might get sent down to the principal’s office if he admitted that he wrote the note. He didn’t know what to do, so he did nothing.
“Nobody will admit to writing this note?” Mrs. Sanders held the paper up, walking around the classroom to show the kids the note. Her red nail-polished fingers clutched the small piece of paper.
“Everyone is losing recess. You get to spend the half-hour you usually get to spend playing in the schoolyard, sitting in this class working on five long-division math problems I’ll write on the board.”
The class let out a collective groan.
Melanie, who sat next to Lily, raised her hand, “I don’t want to be a snitch, but I think I know who wrote it.”
Mrs. Sanders said, “Melanie, I want the person who wrote it to admit they were passing notes.” Mrs. Sanders looked at the note again. She knew it was about Minecraft.
Simon looked down at his black t-shirt with an image of a creeper on it. He could feel Mrs. Sanders staring at him. Simon didn’t want Melanie outing him in front of the class or telling everyone that he was responsible for the class losing recess after school.
Simon raised his hand and admitted, “I wrote the note.”
“Thank you for admitting that you wrote it.” Mrs. Sanders looked at Simon, and then said to the class, “You will have recess. But Simon, you must stay behind. I need to talk to you.”
Simon sighed. He could see Michael staring at him and whispering, “I’m sorry.”
The class left for recess and Simon stayed in his seat. Mrs. Sanders called him over to her desk. “Simon, please come here.”
Simon walked with his head down. He feared what Mrs. Sanders would say. He didn’t want her to call his parents or send him to the principal.
“Simon, I know you love Minecraft and you’re very excited to play the game with your friends after school, but you have to pay attention in class. Math is a vital skill. You might even need to use a bit of math in Minecraft.”
Simon thought about the ways he used math in Minecraft. He did need it when he was building and creating servers. He nodded. He knew Mrs. Sanders was right.
“Do I have to go to the principal’s office?” he asked.
“No, you can go outside and join the others at recess. I am not giving you another warning. I was impressed that you took responsibility and admitted you were wrong in front of the class. Although you made a bad decision in writing the note, it shows good character that you admitted your fault. But if this happens again, you will go to the principal’s office.”
Simon promised he would never pass another note in class, and left to join his friends in the schoolyard.
“Simon,” Lily shouted across the schoolyard.
Michael and Lily rushed toward him. “What happened?” asked Michael.
“Nothing, really,” he replied. “But that was pretty awful, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” Lily agreed. “You can’t pass notes anymore.”
“If I had only caught it, everythin
g would have been fine,” Michael apologized.
“That’s not the point,” Lily remarked. “Simon shouldn’t be passing notes at all.”
“Agreed,” Simon said. He quickly added, “I am so excited to ride the new coaster.”
“Me, too.” Michael was talking about the most recent updates he had made to the ride, when Melanie walked over to them.
“Didn’t you learn the first two times you got in trouble? Passing notes isn’t allowed in class,” Melanie said matter-of-factly.
Simon had been avoiding Melanie since kindergarten, when she was labeled the class snitch. Now they were in fifth grade, and she was still telling on people. “You should mind your own business, Melanie.”
Melanie just shrugged and walked away.
Just then, the lunchroom monitor announced that everyone had to go inside for lunch. The gang walked into the lunchroom and got in line.
“I hope they have chocolate milk today,” said Lily.
“How can you think about chocolate milk when we’re going to test out the most extreme roller coaster in Minecraft? Man, everyone on our server is going to be jealous of us.” Simon rattled on about the ride.
“I hope nobody destroyed it. You know how much I hate griefers,” Lily remarked.
Simon’s jaw dropped. It had never occurred to him that a griefer might destroy his coaster, but now it was all he could think about. He couldn’t concentrate for the rest of the school day. He was too preoccupied with his roller coaster. He couldn’t wait to get home and see if it was still functioning.
2
LIGHTNING STRIKES
When the school day finally ended, Simon rushed home and turned on his computer. Lily and Michael weren’t on the server yet. In the Minecraft world, his name was HeroSi, Lily was QueenLil, and Michael was DiamondHunter. The group always stuck together and went on numerous treasure hunts.
HeroSi had a large house and a farm where he grew potatoes and carrots. He also had a flock of sheep and an ocelot named Meow. Simon loved his Minecraft world. It was his escape from the real world, where Mrs. Sanders forced him to learn long division, and where his parents reminded him to do his chores. In fact, he knew he needed to take out the recycling right after he finished his Minecraft game. He was only allowed to play for one hour and then his screen time was over.
Simon was relieved to find the coaster still intact—nobody had destroyed it. With a smile, he began to add the finishing touches to the ride.
A message popped on the screen. His friends were on the server.
“Are you excited to test out the coaster?” asked Simon.
“Is it done?” Michael replied.
“Almost.” Simon finished the last of the minecarts they would ride in. “Now it’s done.”
Simon, Lily, and Michael hopped into one minecart, cheering, “Let’s go!”
The trio rode in the coaster. Simon let out a scream as his and his friends’ characters went down the first big drop on screen, and he was glad his friends couldn’t hear him.
The roller coaster climbed toward its second big drop and Simon couldn’t wait until they reached the top.
“We’re almost there,” said Lily.
“I know! This rocks,” added Michael.
“Whee!” Simon was thrilled as they reached the bottom of the biggest drop.
The ride was over. Simon could barely believe that they hadn’t ridden an actual roller coaster. Although it was crafted on the computer, he had felt all the drops.
“Now that we’ve ridden it, we have to come up with a name. What should we name the coaster?” Lily loved naming everything. She had named their town, their houses, and all the pets. She had even named Simon’s ocelot “Meow.”
“The Big Dipper?” suggested Michael.
“I think that one’s been used. Let’s make up something really cool.” Lily said and then followed it with a list of potential names, “The Flyer, Dropper—”
“Let’s not worry about names right now,” Michael said. “I just want to ride it again!”
“Okay,” Lily replied, and they all hopped in the minecart for another ride on the unnamed coaster.
Simon thought the coaster was better the second time around because he didn’t have to worry if there were any glitches, and he knew he was in for a smooth ride.
“Again?” asked Simon. But before he could hop into the minecart for a third ride, his mother walked into their small home office, where they kept the family computer.
“Simon, you have to get off the computer. There’s been a tornado warning.”
“A tornado?” Simon couldn’t believe it. There were never severe storms in his part of the country. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, the news is warning everyone. We have to get to a safe spot in the house. Your brother is already in the basement. Come quickly.” Her voice shook, and she sounded very nervous.
“Guys, did you hear there is a tornado warning?” Simon asked Michael and Lily.
“What? How do you know?” Michael hadn’t heard about the warning.
“My mom just told me. I have to shut off the computer and go to the basement.”
“My dad just told me that we have to go to the basement, too,” Lily said, just as they all heard the crash of thunder in the distance.
“Wait. Do you see that person near the coaster?” Michael asked them.
Simon looked at his computer screen. There was a person dressed in a green jumpsuit walking toward the coaster. He was carrying what looked like a brick of TNT.
“We can’t leave. That looks like a griefer,” Lily remarked. “But my dad is really upset. He says we have to get to the basement as fast as we can because the storm is approaching.”
Simon could hear his mother shout his name from the basement. “Where are you? This isn’t a joke! You could get seriously hurt.”
Simon knew his mom was right, but there was someone about to blow their coaster up. They had worked on that roller coaster for three months. He didn’t know what to do.
“Michael, Lily. Are you still there?” he asked.
“Yes,” they both replied.
“We have to stop this griefer now.” Simon grabbed his diamond sword and dashed toward the person in the green jumpsuit.
Michael and Lily joined their friend. As the trio leapt at the griefer, he grabbed a bottle from his inventory and splashed a potion of weakness on the gang. They grew frail, but they still had enough energy to strike the griefer with their diamond swords.
“He’s not alone,” Michael spotted another person in a green jumpsuit carrying bricks of TNT.
Lily used her last bit of energy to move toward the other griefer. She lunged at him, destroying the griefer with her diamond sword.
“Good job,” Simon told Lily as she ran back to help her friends battle the stronger griefer.
“Simon!” His mother hollered from the basement, “Get down here!”
The sound of thunder boomed through the house again. “Did you hear that, guys?” Simon asked his friends.
“It sounds like a TNT explosion, but it’s coming from the real world,” Lily wrote. “My dad is calling me.”
“I got him.” Michael was lost in the game, not paying attention to the storm. He struck the griefer and destroyed him.
“Simon!” His mother sounded frantic, her voice halfway drowned out by another peal of thunder. The lights and the computer screen flickered as lightning lit up the sky.
Simon was starting to shut the game down, already reaching for the computer’s power button, when a lightning bolt struck the house and the lights went out completely. He fell to the ground. That was the last thing he remembered.
3
STRANGE STORMS
“Simon!”
Simon thought his mother was calling his name, but when he opened his eyes, he saw Lily.
“Lily, what are you doing here?” Simon was confused.
Michael stood next to Lily at the foot of a large roller coaster. Though Si
mon remembered a thunderstorm, the sky over their heads was sunny and dotted with clouds. “Do you realize what’s happened to us?”
“No,” Simon looked around. “Where are we?”
Lily shook her head in disbelief. “I think we’re in Minecraft.”
“What?” Simon looked around. He wasn’t sure what had happened to them.
“We’re in Lisimi Village,” Lily announced.
Lily had named their town Lisimi Village after the group of friends, taking the first two letters from each of their names and putting them together to create the name.
“How did we wind up inside a game? That seems impossible.” Simon walked around the coaster. He couldn’t believe he was actually in Lisimi Village, standing next to the ride he had crafted.
“Maybe it was the storm?” Michael theorized. “Did you ever make it to the basement?”
“No, the last thing I remember was my mom calling my name and a lightning bolt striking our house and shutting off our electricity. We had a blackout. My mom and brother were in the basement with the flashlights, but I never made it down there.”
“Do you think we’re trapped here?” Lily’s voice trembled.
“I don’t know, but I want to go home. My mom must be really upset.” Simon paced as he spoke.
“My dad is probably worried sick about where I am. He’d never think to look in my Minecraft game,” Lily said.
“Don’t worry,” Michael reassured Lily. “Everything is going to be okay. We’ll get out of here.”
“But how? There’s no way out!” Lily replied.
Michael paused, “Don’t say that. We could …” But he had no ideas.
“I’m sure we’ll find a way to leave the game. Let’s brainstorm,” Simon suggested.
“Maybe there will be another lightning bolt and we’ll fall out of the game, just like we fell in,” Lily said.
“I don’t think we can count on that,” Simon stifled back tears. “We have to come up with a more strategic plan.”
Michael looked at the coaster. “Since we’re here, maybe we should ride the coaster? I mean, it stinks that we’re trapped here, but we should try to have some fun.”
Lily squared her shoulders and nodded. “Yes, that does sound like fun.”
Trapped in the Overworld Page 1