The Secret Treasure Read online

  “Yes,” Violet clarified, “and I realized a serious weakness of the griefer army. I believe many of them aren’t truly skilled fighters.”

  “Why would he use bad fighters?” Kyle wasn’t sure how Daniel could employ a useless army.

  “Shh!” Hannah told them as she saw someone approach below. She waved for them to join her.

  The others walked softly to the window.

  “Why is he alone?” Violet whispered, watching Daniel walking in the forest.

  Noah grabbed his bow. “Do you think I can hit him from here?”

  “No!” Violet grabbed the bow from Noah’s hands.

  “What are you—crazy? I can do a sniper attack!” Noah didn’t understand Violet’s hesitation.

  “What if you miss? We don’t want him to know our hiding place. We have to fight him on the ground.”

  Wearing armor and carrying swords, the friends descended the ladder and sprinted toward Daniel in a surprise attack.

  “I knew I’d find you here,” Daniel said calmly. “Please stop—don’t fight me. I will only respawn and find you again, so there’s no point. I can offer a better alternative.”

  “We have no interest in hearing your plans. We want you to leave this town and leave us in peace.” Noah pointed his diamond sword at Daniel.

  “You should join the rainbow griefers. I will make you the most powerful men in my army.”

  “Never!” Violet shouted.

  “Look at you, Violet, so determined to save your village. It’s a losing battle. You’ll never free your town of us.”

  “Yes, we will.” Ben stood next to Violet.

  “Violet, you have convinced these poor people to follow you, but you know that in a few days you’ll all be prisoners in my palace.” Daniel shook his head.

  “No, we won’t!” Violet shouted.

  “I see you have three of my prisoners in your makeshift army. They can tell you all about your future in a jail cell.” Daniel smiled.

  “Okay, capture me,” taunted Violet.

  “I don’t want to capture you. I want you to join me. If you come now, I promise no one will harm you.”

  “Being a part of your army is harmful,” Noah called out.

  “My army isn’t harmful. And everyone here is quite useful to me. I want you to join me.” Daniel approached Violet. “You also have something I need. You stole my book. That was my secret treasure. You are a thief. You’re lucky you’re not in jail.”

  “Me? You stole from everyone in this town,” replied Violet.

  “No, I’ve improved this town. I’m going to help the Overworld. We keep order and help people survive hostile mob attacks.”

  “You force people to cater to all of your needs. You destroy towns and control them with violence. Ever since you took over this town, I haven’t been able to build anything.”

  “Violet, if you join my army, I’ll let you build all over the Overworld. I can have you construct palaces for me in every biome. You will become the most world-renowned builder in all the Overworld.”

  “I would never build anything for you.” Violet rushed forward and struck Daniel with her sword.

  A sea of colorful griefers emerged from the leaves and descended upon the group.

  “It’s a trap!” Ben shouted.

  Hundreds of rainbow griefers flooded the forest. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

  “You should have joined my army when you had the chance,” Daniel laughed as he watched his army battle Violet and her friends.

  Violet used every bit of energy to battle these evil griefers. She knew they weren’t skilled. Hannah emptied her inventory of potions, splashing as many as she could at the enormous army.

  “Yes!” Hannah called out when she realized she did have one potion of invisibility bottle left among her liquids. She splashed it on her friends and screamed, “Sprint!”

  As they raced through the leafy forest, Violet heard Daniel shout, “Where did they go?” He was dumbfounded.

  The gang didn’t stop until they were beside the ocean and the potion was wearing off. They could see their hands. Once they were fully visible, Violet took a deep breath and asked, “Does everyone still have their TNT blocks?”

  14

  POTIONS AND PORTALS

  “I don’t think we’re safe.” Violet could hear footsteps. “In minutes, Daniel’s army will be here.”

  “Oh no!” Ben called out. “I think they’re here now.”

  A red body rushed through the leaves. Noah shot an arrow, but the voice called out weakly, “Don’t shoot!”

  “It’s the woman from the palace,” exclaimed Violet.

  The woman wearing the red jumpsuit emerged from the leaves. “Daniel and his army are on their way and they have seriously bad plans for you. You won’t just be kept as prisoners. He is going to do something sinister.”

  “What? Did you overhear anything?” asked Noah.

  “I couldn’t hear everything, but it was something about switching you guys to hardcore mode and forcing you to destroy each other.”

  Violet gasped. “That’s horrible.”

  “I know. I’m sorry I ever doubted you,” said the woman. “But you have to go, and fast.”

  Violet began to place blocks of obsidian on the ground.

  “What are you doing?” asked Noah.

  “We have to go to the Nether. There’s no way out.” Violet ignited the obsidian portal.

  The group stood on the platform, but the woman with the red jumpsuit remained behind.

  “Do you want to join us?” Violet asked quickly before the portal closed.

  “No, I’ll stay here. When Daniel comes, I’ll tell him you’re under the water looking for Ocean Monuments. He thinks I’m on his side.” She smiled through the purple mist.

  “Should we trust her?” Noah asked as they resurfaced by a lava waterfall.

  “I guess we’ll find out if she’s trustworthy if Daniel follows us to the Nether,” replied Violet as she tried to get her bearings in their new surroundings.

  The only person who was happy to be in the Nether was Hannah. “I can gather materials to brew potions while we’re here! That will help us.”

  A ghast flew from the sky, shooting a powerful fireball at Hannah. She jumped back and narrowly avoided the blast. The white ghast flew closer and shot another fireball.

  “Get your snowballs out,” instructed Noah.

  The gang threw cold snowballs at the hot ghast, quickly destroying both the fireball and the evil creature.

  “The Nether is filled with all sorts of destructive mobs,” said Kyle, looking at the lava-filled landscape with dread.

  “Yes, but we have a lot of snowballs, so we should be fine,” reassured Violet.

  The group explored, looking for Nether wart and soul sand for Hannah’s potions.

  “Guys!” Hannah called out. “I think I see a Nether fortress in the distance.”

  “You do!” Noah was excited. “Look, it’s just beyond that lava waterfall.”

  As the group walked toward the grand fortress, Violet reminded them, “We have to stay focused. We need to find a way back into Daniel’s palace. We have to destroy it. Losing the palace will seriously weaken him, and it’s our only hope of regaining our freedom.”

  “Look out!” warned Ben.

  Four blazes flew through the sky, aimed at the group.

  “Snowballs!” shouted Noah.

  The group blasted the blazes with snowballs. As the final blaze was destroyed, Noah checked his inventory. “I am running low on snowballs. How about you guys?”

  The others were also low, leaving them at a clear disadvantage in the Nether.

  Violet reminded Hannah to pick up the blaze rods that the blazes had dropped when they were destroyed. “You can use that to brew potions.”

  “Thanks,” said Hannah, placing the rods in her inventory.

  “The Nether fortress is just steps away. Let’s go in, get the Nether wart, and then
head back to the Overworld. We need to stage our attack,” demanded Violet.

  The group walked into the Nether fortress. Kyle looked at the staircase with Nether wart growing from its side and commented, “Although this place is dark and creepy, there is something beautiful about it.”

  “I agree,” Hannah said as she gathered the Nether wart and placed it in her inventory.

  As Violet explored, she noticed the reddish walls glowing. “It’s glowstone!”

  Noah banged his pickaxe against the temple wall, picking up the blocks of the rare glowstone.

  “We have to get going,” Violet demanded.

  “I don’t think we’re going anywhere,” Kyle stuttered as she pointed at three Wither skeletons coming straight for them.

  Violet leapt at them with her diamond sword, but before she could attack, one of the black skeletons struck her hard.

  Noah and Ben rushed to join Violet in battle. They struck the bony creatures until they were destroyed and dropped Wither skulls on the ground.

  “The battle isn’t over!” cried Hannah.

  “I don’t see any more Wither skeletons,” replied Violet.

  “Look down!” Hannah lunged at a magma cube, splitting it into smaller cubes, which the group struck with their enchanted diamond swords.

  “This place is a death trap,” Violet proclaimed as more magma cubes spawned around them.

  “There must be a magma cube spawner in the fortress! We have to find it!” Noah searched the fortress, but couldn’t find the spawning room. Violet joined Noah on his search while the others skillfully battled the magma cubes.

  “Watch out!” Violet shouted to Noah, who was inches from a lava well. “Don’t fall in!”

  The duo raced through the structure until they came upon the treasure hidden in every Nether fortress.

  “We should unearth this treasure,” said Noah, walking up to the chest and opening it.

  “Flint and steel! How useful!” Violet placed the flint and steel in her inventory as Noah moved on to explore the fortress further.

  “Look what I found,” he called back to Violet.

  She raced to him and lit a torch in the room where he stood. They had found the magma cube spawner; now they had to work fast to deactivate it.

  “We need lava!” Noah sprinted to the well and filled a bucket with lava. Violet followed, filling a bucket of her own.

  They had to be very careful as they extracted the lava, because it was very harmful and they could be destroyed. Violet especially didn’t want to respawn in the tree house, because she was worried that by now it would be filled with rainbow griefers.

  “Throw it on the spawner,” instructed Noah.

  Together Noah and Violet flooded the spawner with lava, then raced to the main room to help the others battle the remaining magma cubes. As they entered the battle, they struck as many small cubes as they could. The room was filled with the tiny magma cubes. Hannah picked up the magma cream each cube dropped when it was destroyed. When the final cube was gone, the group let out a collective sigh of relief.

  “Violet and I found treasure,” Noah told the group.

  The gang was excited.

  “Did you find gold ingots?” asked Kyle.

  “Did you find diamonds?” questioned Hannah.

  “No, but we have flint and steel, which will come in very handy when we head back to the Overworld and stage our attack,” Violet informed the group.

  “I think the plan to blow up the palace is terrific, but how are we going to get into the palace carrying bricks of TNT? It doesn’t seem realistic. They will attack us before we even get through the door.” Kyle was confused; she liked Violet’s idea, but didn’t think the execution was fully developed.

  Violet’s eyes lit up. “Don’t worry, I have the best plan!”

  15

  BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE

  “We have to change our skins,” Violet said as they stood in the fiery Nether fortress.

  “What?” Hannah was confused.

  “We need to become rainbow,” explained Violet, “so they’ll think we’re part of their army and we can stage a sneak attack.”

  “Speaking of a sneak attack!” Noah jumped as four yellow blazes flew in their direction.

  One of the fireballs struck Kyle and Hannah, instantly destroying them.

  “Oh no!” Violet threw a snowball at the blaze, but she wasn’t fast enough and was the next to be hit by the fiery blast.

  Noah and Ben were left to defeat the blazes on their own. When six more shot through the sky, they knew it was an impossible fight. Even with an inventory full of snowballs, they were going to be destroyed. They gathered all of their energy to battle the flaming mob, but it was a losing battle. Both Noah and Ben were destroyed.

  When Violet respawned in the tree house, she was relived to find it intact. Her fears of rainbow griefers taking over the home were unfounded. They were safe and could stage their attack on the palace.

  “Is everyone okay?” asked Violet as her friends began to respawn in their beds.

  There was a collective response ranging from “Yes, I’m okay,” to “Wow, that was a crazy trip to the Nether.” Everyone was relieved the tree house was still there.

  Violet discussed her plan of changing skins and asked everyone, “What color do you want to be? I think I want to be pink.”

  “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Noah questioned nervously.

  “Yes, it’s the only way we can get into the palace,” Violet defended her plan. “Now we have to choose new rainbow skin and we have to do it fast.”

  The group chose various colors. Violet was shocked to see Noah change from his usual black helmet and diamond armor to a bright sparkly purple.

  “It’s so strange to see us this way.” Ben looked at his new green arm.

  Hannah worried, “I hope this works out. I’m really nervous.”

  “We have to do this, Hannah,” said Violet. “We don’t have any choice; it’s the only plan that might work.”

  “We should go now, before night sets in,” Noah said as he climbed down the ladder. The others followed him, and the newly minted fake rainbow people walked through the forest toward their old town.

  “Do we agree on where we should place the TNT?” asked Violet.

  “Yes, we should leave blocks all around the palace to maximize the destruction.” Noah rattled off a list of locations.

  “That’s the entire palace,” said Ben. “How are we going to casually place TNT blocks around the palace and then ignite them?”

  “We’re going to have to separate. We each take some blocks, ignite them, and then run. Each brick of TNT should be placed by a window or a door, so we have an easy escape,” Violet told them.

  The palace was just in sight and Noah felt a lump in his throat. “I hope this works.”

  “It will. I’m telling you, I know it will,” Violet said with confidence.

  “Famous last words,” joked Ben.

  “This isn’t the time for jokes or doubt.” Hannah was annoyed. “It’s time for action. And we need to get this right.”

  “We’re almost there. Since there are five of us, four should each take a corner of the building and one can take the entrance. Let’s look at our clocks, and at half day we will all set off the TNT and sprint out of the palace. We meet up at the tree house.” Violet looked at her friends and hoped this plan would work.

  They each went their separate ways heading toward the palace. Violet chose the entrance, because she assumed that was the trickiest to blow up, and since she came up with the plan, she believed it was her responsibility to take the riskiest part.

  As Violet walked toward the palace steps, she was greeted by a purple rainbow griefer. She smiled at the griefer and he smiled back. It was so strange to feel at peace in her old town. It was also odd to be wearing rainbow griefer skin.

  A townsperson walked by and the purple rainbow griefer lunged at him, demanding an apple. The townsperson c
owered as he took an apple from his inventory and handed it to the rainbow griefer.

  The purple griefer insisted, “I want another one for my friend.”

  Violet shuddered when she heard the word friend. She wanted to refuse the apple, but she didn’t want to give herself away. She took the apple and placed it in her inventory. She promised herself that she would return it when the war was over.

  But she was wasting time, and Violet knew she had to act fast. She had seconds to ignite the block of TNT. She sprinted toward the doorway. The purple griefer was suspicious and trailed behind her.

  “What are you doing?” the purple griefer questioned as Violet hid behind the pillar that stood in the entrance of the grand palace.

  “Daniel asked me to fix something,” Violet replied.

  “Pink griefers don’t fix things. Only green and orange griefers fix stuff. You aren’t telling the truth,” the purple griefer shouted. “I’m reporting you.”

  Before the purple griefer got any closer, Violet ignited the TNT and ran as fast as she could toward the tree house. She looked back and didn’t see or hear any explosions. She hoped she wasn’t off with her timing.

  “Oh no!” she worried. “I hope my friends are okay.”

  Kaboom!

  She paused and looked back to see a series of explosions. The palace was destroyed. She hoped for the best as she dashed through the dense forest and climbed the ladder to the tree house.

  When Violet reached the final rung, she heard a familiar voice. “You think you’re going to get away with this?”

  She was alone in the tree house with Daniel.

  16

  FACTS OVER FICTION

  “I thought you were Violet and her makeshift army,” Daniel said, not realizing that Violet was disguised as a rainbow griefer.

  “They blew up your palace.” Violet tried to sound angry.

  “They will pay for it. Don’t worry—I have a plan.” He looked out at the palace. “They won’t get away with this.”

  “No, they won’t.” She hoped Daniel couldn’t hear her heart pounding. She didn’t want to get caught and was very nervous.

  “They’ll show up here soon. They have no other place to go.” Daniel paced as he waited for Violet and her friends.