Madness in the Mine Read online

  “Or a snowball,” said Poppy.

  “What’s that?” asked Calvin.

  “I’ll explain later,” said Poppy as she threw a snowball at a blaze, destroying it. Poppy, Brett, Joe, Grant, and Helen battled the blazes as Ivan and the others tried to help, but they weren’t yet skilled enough to battle well in the Nether.

  The blazes were gone, and they sprinted into the fortress. Poppy heard people talking. “Quiet,” she whispered to her friends. “I hear voices.”

  The gang tried to remain as quiet as possible as they made their way through the fortress. They walked down a narrow hall, and Poppy heard a voice call out, “Poppy! Help!”

  “Nancy?” Poppy sped down the hall, looking in each room for Nancy. As she looked in the final room, she felt something on her shoulder. She turned around and was standing face-to-face with a wither skeleton.

  The fortress was full of wither skeletons, and she struck the beast with her diamond sword and destroyed the Nether mob. It dropped its stone sword, and she picked it up as she attempted to battle another wither skeleton.

  “Poppy!” the voice called out again. “Help!”

  “Nancy?” asked Poppy as she struck the wither skeleton with her sword, but it didn’t impact the beast.

  “Yes,” Nancy called out. “I need your help!”

  Poppy couldn’t reply. She had one heart left and two wither skeletons surrounding her. Helen dashed toward Poppy, thrusting her diamond sword at the wither skeletons and destroying them. She handed Poppy a glass of milk.

  Poppy took a sip and said, “Nancy is here.”

  “She is?” asked Helen. “Where?”

  “We have to find her,” Poppy replied as she raced through the fortress, calling out her friend’s name.

  In the other section of the Nether fortress, magma cubes surrounded Joe, Grant, and Brett, and they had to battle the slimy boxy cubes while also explaining how to battle them to their friends, who only knew about life under the sea.

  Bea slammed her diamond sword into one of the cubes. “What?” she exclaimed. “You strike them and then it creates more of these blocks?”

  “They break into pieces,” explained Brett.

  “But the pieces can attack you. This is crazy.” She struck the smaller cubes with her sword and was relieved when she destroyed a tiny cube. Her relief was short-lived, because she looked up and spotted at least seven more magma cubes in the room.

  The gang plunged their swords into the cubes. Then Poppy rushed in and screamed, “Nancy!”

  “Is Nancy here?” Joe asked.

  “I bet that means the portal is here,” said Brett. “We have to destroy these magma cubes so we can get to Nancy.”

  They were battling a never-ending group of magma cubes, and they were down to a handful of cubes when Nancy bolted into the room.

  “Help! They are going to destroy me!” Nancy cried.

  “Who?” asked Brett as he obliterated a magma cube.

  Nancy didn’t have to respond. Within seconds the room was flooded with masked criminals. One of the criminals spotted Bea.

  “Traitor! You’re the treasure-hunting traitor!” the masked criminal hollered.

  “She took off her mask! You’ve betrayed Mikayla!” another criminal called out in disbelief.

  The criminals spotted Vera in the distance. “Another one!”

  “I can’t believe they took off their masks,” said the criminal.

  Bea slammed her sword into a magma cube as she rushed toward Mikayla’s soldiers. “Mikayla is controlling you.”

  “She is our leader!” declared one of the criminals.

  “No, she is your controller, and she doesn’t care about you. She just wants you to work for her. She tried to imprison me because I like to look for buried treasure even though I was planning on giving her the treasure I had found.” Tears formed in Bea’s eyes as she spoke.

  “You are our prisoner,” asserted the criminal. “We are bringing you back to Mikayla.”

  “No, you are our prisoners,” said Calvin as he and Ivan sprinted in and hit two magmas with their swords. “Now lead us to the portal.”

  The criminals spoke, but nobody could hear them. The room filled with more magma cubes, and five wither skeletons spawned in the room. As the group battled these mobs, a crop of blazes flew into the room and began to shoot fireballs at them. They were battling three different mobs in a small room in a Nether fortress. Bea had one heart left when she sprinted past a barrage of fireballs and toward one of the soldiers.

  Vera, Bea, Ivan, and Calvin were getting a fast lesson on how to battle all of the mobs of the Nether, and it wasn’t easy. They were losing hearts, and the battle was intense.

  Bea didn’t want to waste her energy battling the mobs when she really wanted to stop Mikayla’s soldiers. She struck one of the criminals with her diamond sword. “Show us where the portal is,” she demanded.

  Nancy tore toward them. “I think I can find it,” she said as she destroyed a wither skeleton and quickly picked up the stone sword.

  “Let’s make our way to the portal,” Brett instructed his friends.

  “Follow me,” Nancy called out breathlessly as they fled past the mobs.

  They rushed toward a room down the hall. The minute they entered the room, Brett knew they had found the portal. There was an icy breeze that felt as if they were standing by the ocean in the middle of the winter. The cold burned his cheeks, and he knew that the portal was just inches away. He watched as Nancy hopped into the portal. Brett braced himself for the cold. He knew there was no way to prepare for it. Whenever he fell down a portal, he froze and his skin got goose bumps. He wanted the frigid air to turn warm. He wanted to land in his old time period. As he fell deeper into the portal, he thought about Grant and how he was time traveling for the first time. If they landed in their time period, Grant would see how Meadow Mews had developed. He’d also find out that nobody had heard from him in ages. Brett wondered how Grant would take that news.

  12

  BATTLE UNDER THE SEA

  The portal put them on a beach. Brett landed in the sand with a thump, right after Nancy. The others fell from the portal, and soon they were all crowded together on the beach. The sun beat down on them, and Brett was happy to feel the warmth on his skin.

  “Is everyone here?” asked Brett.

  Grant was confused. He looked around, trying to place where they were, but he couldn’t. “What time period are we in? Where are we?” His voice cracked. He appeared nervous.

  “We have no idea,” said Helen as she looked around. “Nothing looks familiar to me.”

  “I don’t recognize anything,” said Bea, “and I have been on many beaches because I love looking for buried treasure in the sand.”

  “I have an idea,” Vera said as she pulled out a potion of Water Breathing. “Let’s go under the sea and see if we can find anybody we know.”

  “But everyone under the sea wants to capture you. You are a traitor, and Mikayla will make you her prisoner,” said Ivan.

  Calvin reminded her, “We were sent here to capture you and Vera.”

  Vera said, “And look at how the criminals reacted when they saw you in the Nether fortress.”

  Bea sipped the potion. “This is the reason I have to go under the sea. I have to defend myself, and I have to confront Mikayla. I can’t let her bully me and everyone else who lives under the sea.”

  Grant eyed the potion. He had just traveled through a portal for the first time in his life, and now he had to go under the sea. He wasn’t familiar with underwater life, and he was scared. He looked over at Bea, who fearlessly drank the potion. She was ready to battle the person who wanted to imprison her. Grant wanted to be like Bea. He wanted to be brave, but he was scared. He took a sip of the potion and looked over at Joe. “You will stick by me when we are under the sea, right?”

  “Yes,” Joe said as he gulped the potion. He was also scared about going under the sea and was glad to have Gr
ant by his side.

  Grant was about to pause and run away when he heard a loud thump. He turned around to see Mikayla’s soldiers fall from the portal. He looked at the sea all of his friends had jumped in. The only person he could see was Joe. Joe was floating in the water and he called to Grant, “Come on.”

  Grant felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest as he jumped into the water. He was surprised at how peaceful he felt as he swam deeper into the ocean. A school of yellow pufferfish swam past, and he wanted to reach out and touch them, but he didn’t. He knew he shouldn’t disturb them. He spotted tropical fish swimming below. The brightly colored fish appeared almost magical and were a stunning sight.

  “This is gorgeous,” Grant told Joe.

  “I know. I didn’t think it would be this lush and colorful. I love seeing all of the fish swim past us,” said Joe.

  Grant was glad he drank the potion and was able to experience life under the sea. However, he still wanted to know what time period they were in and if they were in the future. He was fearful he’d never be able to make it back to the past. He calmed down as he swam past a group of tropical fish, but his heart raced as he spotted something in the distance.

  “What’s that?” Grant asked. A green man in the distance looked as if he were covered in seaweed. “Or shall I say who is that?”

  Bea called out, “It’s a Drowned. They are like zombies of the ocean. If you destroy them, you can sometimes get a trident, which is like the coolest weapon in the world. You can’t even craft them. You can only get them when you destroy a Drowned.”

  Vera said, “We have to swim toward the Drowned and destroy it. We need as many weapons as we can use to battle Mikayla.”

  The ocean folk swam toward the Drowned. Each of them wanted to battle the underwater zombie.

  Four more drowned mobs spawned on the ocean floor. Ivan said, “Great, we’re so lucky we have more to battle.”

  “I wouldn’t call that luck,” Grant said.

  Calvin swam toward the Drowned, pulled out his sword, and swung at the undead mob. Grant watched as the Drowned was destroyed and dropped rotten flesh that was similar to a zombie’s.

  “So annoying,” said Calvin. “I wanted a trident.”

  Grant swam toward a Drowned and pulled out his diamond sword. He was glad the Drowned didn’t have the same odor as a zombie. He struck the Drowned with his diamond sword, but he wasn’t able to destroy it. He hit the Drowned two more times and destroyed it. He picked up a trident on the ocean floor.

  “You got a trident! Good job!” exclaimed Bea.

  As they battled the remaining Drowned, a voice called out, “You have betrayed me.”

  Bea turned around and saw Mikayla swimming toward her.

  13

  THIS IS HARDCORE

  Mikayla had flaming red hair and wore a crown. She wasn’t known to ever leave her ocean monument, so Bea was shocked that she was swimming toward them. Bea swam toward her. She was afraid of Mikayla, but she was going to face the queen and let her know that Bea had the right to look for buried treasure. Bea also wanted Mikayla to know that she was terrorizing everyone under the sea.

  “You have returned,” Mikayla called out, “and now you will be punished.”

  “She hasn’t done anything wrong,” hollered Ivan.

  “Ivan,” Mikayla said, “you surprise me. I sent you to capture the traitors, not side with them.”

  “Well, I did.” Ivan swam toward Mikayla with his diamond sword. Calvin followed behind him.

  Calvin said, “You are outnumbered.”

  “Calvin,” Mikayla laughed, “you too? I thought you were smarter than that.”

  “You’re going to be destroyed,” said Calvin. “We have you cornered.”

  Mikayla laughed even louder, and the water shook. “Seriously? You think I’d let myself be trapped?” She called out, “Soldiers, attack.”

  The second these words fell from her lips, the gang was surrounded by hundreds of masked criminals. The soldiers swam around them and shot arrows.

  “Now I have many prisoners.” Mikayla laughed again as she instructed the soldiers to stop shooting. “I’ve placed them on hardcore mode, and I don’t want them to be destroyed forever. I’d rather watch them spend the rest of their days in my prison, where I can visit them and laugh.”

  “Should we put them in the prison?” asked one of the soldiers.

  “You have to ask?” Mikayla was annoyed.

  The gang reluctantly swam toward the ocean monument. Once they were inside, they were led through a series of rooms until they reached a room with bars.

  “This is where you will stay,” said Mikayla as she slammed the bars shut.

  She ordered the soldiers to provide the prisoners with a lifetime supply of potions of Water Breathing. “I need to know that they will be here. I don’t want any one of them being destroyed.”

  She watched as they drank the potion of Water Breathing. Bea asked, “Why don’t you just take us off of hardcore mode? I have no idea why you want to keep us down here forever. It doesn’t make sense.”

  “You have no right to state your opinion. This is all your fault,” declared Mikayla.

  “My fault?” Bea asked. “Just because I wanted to look for treasure? Now, that doesn’t make sense. I was going to give you the treasure I found too.”

  “You think that giving me the treasure would make everything okay? You can’t give me anything because I already own everything you have. I am in charge in the ocean world. Everything here is mine. That reminds me.” She looked at Grant. “Give me your trident right now.”

  “Don’t do it, Grant,” cried Bea.

  “Bea,” Mikayla screamed. “You don’t tell anybody what to do when you are in my world. You were always such a troublemaker.”

  Grant pulled the trident from his inventory. He didn’t want to give it to the queen, but he also didn’t want to be destroyed. They were on hardcore mode, and that was serious. He clutched the trident as she opened the gate and swam toward him. Mikayla had several soldiers swimming behind her, ready to stop any of the gang from escaping this underwater prison.

  “Give me the trident,” she demanded.

  “No!” Grant surprised himself.

  “Since you are new, you have no idea how powerful I am, so I will give you a moment to collect your thoughts and understand what you are saying. Then you will give me the trident.”

  Grant struck the queen with the trident. She lost a heart and screamed in pain, then screamed, “Soldiers, destroy him forever!”

  Bea cried out, “Stop! Leave Grant alone.” Bea tried to reason with Grant. “Just give her the trident.”

  Grant wouldn’t listen. Instead he struck Mikayla again, which infuriated her, and she swung her diamond sword at him, and he vanished.

  “Grant!” Brett called out.

  Helen screamed, “Do you know what you just did?”

  Mikayla replied, “Of course, I was the one who did it. I destroyed your annoying friend. It doesn’t really matter.”

  “It doesn’t matter?” Helen screamed. “By destroying Grant, you have changed the history of the Overworld forever. He was a person who settled most of the towns that you were looting.”

  “That means nothing to me. He was a person who disobeyed me, and that is all that matters,” said Mikayla.

  “All that matters?” Helen was upset. “What is wrong with you?”

  “I should ask you the same question,” said Mikayla, and then she ordered the soldiers to destroy Helen.

  “What did you do to Helen?” asked Nancy.

  “It seems like you guys don’t learn anything. Do you all want to be destroyed? If you do, I will destroy all of you.” She looked at Bea. “Except for you. I want to keep you here so everyone in the ocean world can see what happens when you decide to do your own thing.”

  “You are terrible,” said Bea.

  “Say what you want,” Mikayla laughed. “It will get you nowhere. I
don’t care to destroy you. You will be here forever.”

  “I will get the people to turn against you,” Bea threatened.

  “Do you think that scares me?” Mikayla asked.

  “I hope it does,” Bea replied.

  “You are too funny,” Mikayla giggled.

  “I just want to—” But Bea stopped talking.

  “Finally, you are doing something right.” Mikayla smiled.

  Bea was upset. She had lost two friends, and she was stuck in the ocean prison for the rest of her days. She had a lot of things to say to Mikayla, but she decided to say nothing. She wanted Mikayla to swim away so they could plot their escape.

  14

  WHERE ARE YOU?

  “We have to get out of here,” said Bea.

  “I can’t believe Mikayla destroyed Grant and Helen,” Nancy cried.

  “I know,” Bea said. “I’m sorry, it’s my fault.”

  “It’s not your fault,” Brett told her. “You didn’t have anything to do with this. This is all Mikayla, and you’re right: we have to escape, and we have to stop her.”

  Poppy said, “I wonder if Meadow Mews even exists anymore. I mean, if Grant isn’t alive to found it, then we might be returning to a land that doesn’t exist.”

  Joe said, “We don’t even know if we will ever get out of here. We shouldn’t focus on Meadow Mews. We have to focus on how to escape.”

  Vera looked through her inventory. “You know what’s weird? Mikayla didn’t even empty our inventories, which means we have lots of resources.”

  “You’re right,” said Joe as he looked through his inventory.

  Ivan pulled out a pickaxe. “Let’s dig our way out,” he said, but as he spoke, four of Mikayla’s soldiers swam to the prison bars. He stopped talking.

  “We are the prison guards, and we will also provide you with food,” said the guard.

  “We hope you like fish,” the other guard said as she handed them some rotten fish.

  The fish smelled awful, and although Poppy had no food in her inventory, she didn’t take it. “Won’t we get sick if we eat this?” she asked the guards.

  “Only one way to find out,” replied one of the guards.