Destruction in the Desert Read online

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

  Cover design by Brian Peterson

  Cover illustration by Megan Miller

  Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-3737-2

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-3742-6

  Printed in the United States of America

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: Game On!

  Chapter 2: Rain Check

  Chapter 3: The Big Prank

  Chapter 4: In the Living Room

  Chapter 5: Back in History

  Chapter 6: Sandy Vista

  Chapter 7: Brewing Lessons

  Chapter 8: Save the Queen

  Chapter 9: Night Attack

  Chapter 10: Nether Again

  Chapter 11: Hiding from the Husks

  Chapter 12: Folktales

  Chapter 13: Spiders and Skeletons

  Chapter 14: Strong Potions

  Chapter 15: The Return of the Husks

  Chapter 16: New Plans

  Chapter 17: Desert Duel

  Chapter 18: Practical Jokes

  1

  GAME ON!

  The list of rules was short. There were only two.

  “What are the rules again?” asked Joe.

  “Seriously?” Poppy shrugged, her brown braids fell onto her shoulders, and she readjusted her glasses. “The rules are that nobody gets hurt and that we all have fun.”

  Poppy, Joe, and Brett were in the last stages of planning a practical joke competition. They stood in the spacious living room in Poppy’s new house she had designed. The project took Poppy a long time, and she was happy to have her friends Laura and Callie help her design and construct the house. She had built two extra bedrooms for her two builder friends. Poppy wanted them to stay with her when they visited Meadow Mews. Both Callie and Laura were participating in the competition, and Poppy was happy to have them as her guests in the large wooden home with a picture window overlooking the verdant landscape of Meadow Mews. The town farm, which Brett and Joe had constructed, could be seen in the distance.

  Joe stared out the window and looked at the farm. He recalled the first time he met Poppy and Brett. He was summoned to work on a farm with Brett. After a few months of enjoying his new friends and new job, he decided to relocate from Farmer’s Bay to Meadow Mews. Poppy helped him build a small stone house. It was down the road from Brett’s house, and his window had a direct view of the farm. Joe loved waking up and looking out the window at the farm.

  Although Joe loved his friends dearly, there was one aspect of the friendship that often bothered him. Ever since Joe met Brett and Poppy, he was aware of their constant pranking. Brett and Poppy were known pranksters, but now they wanted Joe to join in. Joe wasn’t sure he wanted to pull a prank on anyone.

  “I’m not sure I want to participate,” said Joe.

  Brett explained, “You have to join us, it will be fun.”

  Poppy added, “This is our first annual practical joke competition, and we really want you to be in it. Nancy and Helen are also taking part in the competition. Callie and Laura are arriving soon, too, because they’re also competing.”

  “You can list a million people who are participating, but that doesn’t mean I want to be in it,” said Joe.

  “But—” Poppy was about to list another reason Joe should participate when he cut her off.

  “You can’t peer pressure me,” said Joe.

  Brett said, “We don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do.”

  “Yes,” said Poppy. “If you really don’t want to play a practical joke on anyone, we understand.”

  Brett’s eyes widened. “I have a great idea. Why don’t you judge the contest? You can decide who pulled the best joke.”

  “That’s a good idea,” said Joe. “I don’t mind watching you guys pull pranks, but I don’t like doing them myself.”

  “Great,” Poppy said as Helen and Nancy walked into Poppy’s living room. “Helen, Nancy!” she called out. “Joe is going to judge the practical joke competition.”

  As Poppy spoke, Callie and Laura arrived. Poppy was thrilled to have all of her friends at her house and ready to start the practical joke competition.

  Laura said, “I have a really fun prank. I can’t wait to play it on someone. When does the competition begin?”

  Poppy replied, “Since everyone is here, we should start now. As you all know, this is the first year we are having the competition. Joe is going to judge it. There aren’t any awards to hand out,” she reminded them. “This is just a fun way to spend the day.”

  Joe said, “Your reward is knowing that I think you pulled the best prank.”

  “When is it over?” asked Laura.

  “Tonight,” said Poppy. “Everyone should be done with their pranks, and we will meet back here to go over what we pulled. Also, the two major rules of the competition are to have fun and to make sure nobody gets hurt during a prank.”

  “Smart rules,” said Callie.

  Brett added, “Tonight after we meet up to talk about the pranks, we will have a big dinner. I picked a lot of new crops from the farm, and we can have a feast.”

  “This is going to be a fun day,” Poppy said and grinned.

  Joe took out a hat and placed slips of paper with their names written on each piece. “Everyone pick a piece of paper and don’t tell anybody what name you chose. This is the person you will be pranking.”

  Poppy put her hand in the hat and was ecstatic when she pulled out Brett’s name. She had prepared the ultimate practical joke, and it was only going to work if she chose a person who had a house in Meadow Mews. She was going to empty all of the chests in their house and fill them with apples. Of course she would return all of the items in the chests once the competition was over, but she couldn’t wait to see the look on Brett’s face when he looked for his emeralds but found a chest full of apples. Poppy wondered if Joe would think her joke was the best one in the competition. She giggled when she thought about her prank. She wondered who was chosen to prank her. The fact that she could be pranked at any moment while she was pranking someone else added to the thrill of the competition.

  Brett was the last one to choose a name from the hat. He chose Joe. He wasn’t sure which prank he would try on Joe. Brett was upset he had Joe’s name because he knew how much Joe disliked being pranked. He reassured himself that Joe had wil
lingly put his name in the hat and he knew he would be pranked. Brett thought of the best prank to play on Joe. Joe had mentioned earlier that he was going to work on the farm. Brett thought of drinking a potion of invisibility and removing wheat from the farm as Joe tended to the land.

  As everyone looked at the names they had chosen from the hat, Joe called out, “Let the competition begin!”

  2

  RAIN CHECK

  The gang opened Poppy’s door and rushed outside to begin their day of pranking. As they sprinted onto the grassy path, Joe felt a splash of water land on his arm. A light flashed in the distance, and the sound of thunder boomed.

  “Oh no!” Poppy cried. “It’s raining.”

  “Is this somebody’s idea of a prank?” Helen asked. Her long red hair was drenched with rain.

  “I didn’t pull this prank,” said Nancy.

  “Me neither,” Callie and Laura said in unison.

  A stinging sensation radiated down Brett’s arm, and he shrieked in pain, “Ouch!” He pulled his diamond armor from his inventory and put it on. Clutching his enchanted diamond sword, he searched for a skeleton he assumed had shot an arrow into his arm, but he couldn’t find one.

  Callie cried out, “Someone shot me with an arrow.”

  “We have to suit up. We need our armor,” said Brett, “and then we have to find out who is shooting these arrows.”

  A barrage of arrows flew across the rainy skies toward the gang. Callie was putting on her armor when an arrow struck her leg. She wailed, “Who is shooting these arrows?” She looked around, but there was no one in sight.

  There was a bright flash. Thunder followed. A bolt of lightning shot dangerously close to the wet grassy path near them. The lightning bolt nearly hit Brett. He looked at his arm, inspecting it for burns.

  “Are you okay?” asked Callie.

  “Yes,” Brett replied. “It was just scary.”

  “I feel like someone is pranking us,” said Poppy. “This storm is too intense and unnatural.”

  “Storms happen all the time,” said Callie. “It should pass soon.”

  Another group of arrows flew toward the gang. Two arrows struck Callie and Poppy, and they shared a bottle of potion as they worked to heal themselves from this surprise attack.

  Callie rushed in the direction of the arrows. She thought she saw someone hiding behind a tree and raced toward it. The rainwater made the ground slippery, and she could barely keep her balance. As she reached the tree, Callie saw someone in a blue sweatshirt, but as she approached, the person splashed on a potion of invisibility and disappeared.

  “There was someone there!” Callie cried out. Her friends raced to her side.

  “Who?” asked Poppy.

  Before Callie could reply, two skeletons appeared and unleashed a bunch of arrows at the gang, weakening all of them. Brett was the first one to leap at the skeletons, striking one of the bony beasts with his diamond sword. The bones clanged as he battled the skeleton. Joe attacked the second skeleton. With a few hits from their swords, the skeletons were defeated, but there was no time to celebrate the skeletons’ demise, because two new skeletons spawned in their place.

  Laura and Callie were in the middle of battling the new skeletons when Poppy hollered, “Look!” Her finger shook as she pointed to a zombie army that lunged toward them. The smell was overpowering. Brett wanted to hold his breath, but he knew it was pointless. You couldn’t hold your breath that long, and he needed his energy to battle these undead beasts that walked into Meadow Mews with their arms outstretched.

  Poppy raced toward the zombies. As she swung her sword at the closest zombie, Brett stood beside her, splashing potions on the zombies that crowded outside of Poppy’s house. One of the zombies ripped her door from the hinges. “My house!” she cried as she slammed her sword into the belly of a zombie. She watched its oozing flesh fall out the gaping hole. She hit the zombie a second time, destroying the beast and quickly picking up the rotten flesh it dropped on the ground.

  She raced toward her house, ready to attack the zombie that was destroying the home she had worked so hard to construct. The zombie that ripped her door from the hinges was in the middle of the living room. Poppy hit the zombie with her sword, pulled a potion from her inventory, and doused the zombie until it had one heart left. She plunged her sword into the zombie’s flesh and destroyed it. She looked at her door, which was on the wet ground. Poppy wanted to fix the door, but she knew this wasn’t the right time because she had to help her friends battle the zombies.

  While racing out of her house, she didn’t hear a silent creeper trailing her. Brett tried to warn her, but it was too late. By the time Poppy turned around, the explosive enemy destroyed her, and she spawned in her bedroom. When she got up from her bed, she was surprised to see the sun shining.

  Callie and Laura put Poppy’s door back on its hinges. “Thanks,” Poppy said as she took a bite from an apple. She was exhausted from the battle and needed to restore her energy.

  Brett, Nancy, Helen, and Joe walked into Poppy’s living room and assessed the damage.

  “It’s not bad,” said Brett.

  “I agree.” Joe surveyed the area. “It could have been a lot worse.”

  “That was some crazy storm,” said Poppy.

  “I know,” said Laura. “It was so unexpected.”

  Callie surprised everyone when she announced, “I think it wasn’t unexpected. I believe it was a planned attack.”

  “What are you talking about?” questioned Poppy.

  Callie told them about the person she had seen. “I saw someone behind a tree. I think it was a girl with green hair in a ponytail. She had a blue sweatshirt. I tried to get a closer look, but she splashed a potion on herself and disappeared.”

  “Who would attack us?” asked Brett.

  “I don’t know, but do you guys know of anybody who fits that description?” asked Callie.

  The group stood in silence as they tried to recall meeting someone with a green ponytail and a blue sweatshirt. None of them had seen anybody who looked like the person Callie had described.

  “I can’t believe how excited I was to play practical jokes on my friends, and now I am not in the mood for the competition.” Poppy frowned.

  “We can’t let this person destroy all of our fun,” Brett said. “We have to start the competition now. The sun is out, and we have a few hours before it sets. I want to play our pranks and have a feast tonight. Let’s put all this behind us.”

  Poppy and the others agreed: they had to stick with the original plan. It was time to start pranking.

  3

  THE BIG PRANK

  Poppy splashed a potion of invisibility on herself before she opened the door to Brett’s house. She hoped the potion would last long enough as she emptied all the chests in his house and replaced all the items with apples. She carefully put all of the items from Brett’s chests in a large chest she had crafted and placed it in his closet. Poppy giggled as she left Brett’s house. When she was standing outside his house, she could see Brett lingering around the farm, staring at Joe. She realized Brett must have chosen Joe as the person he should prank.

  She stood by and watched as Brett splashed a potion of invisibility on his body. Once he was invisible, he began to pluck wheat from the ground as Joe tended the farm. Joe was confused and annoyed, because he had just placed seeds on the farm and didn’t want the wheat removed. Poppy giggled as she watched this exchange. Joe heard her laughing and turned around.

  “Poppy?” he called out.

  “Yes,” she replied and walked toward Joe.

  “I assume someone is pranking me. I know you can’t be the one behind this.” Joe laughed.

  “I’m glad you think it’s funny too.” Poppy wiped the tears from her eyes. “I found it hilarious, but I’m not the one behind this prank.”

  Joe didn’t have to ask who was pranking him because Brett’s potion wore off. He laughed as he stood clutching wheat in his hand.


  “Brett!” Joe was shocked. “I can’t believe you would pick up the wheat. You know how hard we worked on the farm.”

  “I know, but you should have seen the look on your face. You had no idea what was going on, and it was really funny.” Brett laughed and added, “I only picked a small amount of wheat, and I will reseed the area.”

  “You’re right; it was funny,” said Joe.

  “It was funny from where I was standing,” declared Poppy.

  “Will I win the best prank?” questioned Brett.

  “We have to see what everyone else has done,” replied Joe.

  “Who did you prank, Poppy?” asked Brett.

  “I’m not going to tell you.” She smiled. “You’ll find out when everyone else learns about it at the feast.”

  “I can’t wait to hear about everyone’s pranks,” said Brett.

  “Me too,” said Poppy.

  Brett looked up at the sky. “It’s getting dark. I assume most of the people have finished their pranks. It looks like nobody pranked me.”

  “You’re lucky,” said Joe.

  Brett excused himself. “I just have to go home before the feast. I have to get a few things. I will meet you guys at Poppy’s house.”

  Poppy wanted to ask Brett if she could follow him home. She wanted to be there to see him search through his chests filled with apples. Instead, Poppy watched from afar as Brett entered his house, and once he closed his door, she hurried to a spot outside his home. Joe called out to Poppy, asking her where she was going, but she didn’t turn around and respond. She didn’t want Joe knowing that she was going to spy through Brett’s window.

  Poppy reached his house and peeked through Brett’s bedroom window. She could see him searching through a chest and pulling out an apple. Poppy almost fell down when Brett stood up and looked out the window and pointed at Poppy. She raced to his door and opened it.

  Brett stood in his living room. “I knew it was you!”

  “Did you think it was funny?” she asked as she pulled the chest from the closet. “This is where I placed all of your belongings.”

  “Now that I have my stuff back, I think it’s really funny,” and then he asked, “Do I get to keep the apples?”