Stolen Treasure Page 7

  “I feel bad for you,” Peyton said. “The celebration is a lot of fun.”

  “That’s because we don’t have anyone in the town that is as nice as you,” said Anna. “Do you think you could plan a joint celebration for both towns?”

  “You’d want me to do that?” Peyton was surprised.

  The town cheered.

  “I think we all want you to do that,” said Anna.

  A week later, on Founder’s Day, all of the residents from Farmer’s Bay and Verdant Valley got together for a large celebration. Edison made a new batch of fireworks with the gunpowder from the treasure hunt in the woodland mansion, and they used Farmer’s Bay’s supply of fireworks too. The fireworks show was one that could rival any in the Overworld.

  The finale had a spiral of red and green fireworks, followed by pink and purple ones that were shaped like stars. Edison took in the show as he thought about the old man’s prophecy.

  The only way you can succeed is through friendship.

  “Thanks for helping put this together,” Edison said to Peyton as he watched the sky light up in purple and pink.

  The End

  READ ON FOR A SAMPLE OF THE NEXT BOOK ...

  1

  GREAT NEWS

  “That’s amazing!” Edison exclaimed to Omar.

  “What’s so amazing?” Billy overheard them. They were standing at Edison’s potion stand in the center of town.

  “Omar is building a castle in Verdant Valley,” Edison blurted out.

  Billy didn’t find this to be amazing news. “Oh no, you’re leaving Farmer’s Bay?” he asked.

  “Just for a few months,” Omar reassured Billy. “I won’t be gone long, and you can visit me.”

  Edison reasoned, “He’s only moving one town over. It’s a quick trip. It will also give us an excuse to visit Anna.”

  Billy looked down at the ground when he spoke. “I know you’re right, Edison.” He looked at Omar. “I want to apologize. I realize you told me something really great, and I immediately thought about myself.”

  “You don’t need to apologize. I’m flattered that you care about me moving to Verdant Valley.” Omar smiled.

  “Tell us about the castle,” Billy said. “Will you build a moat?”

  “Yes.” Omar described the castle in great detail as Billy and Edison listened attentively.

  “What made you decide to do this?” asked Billy.

  “I was asked to build it,” Omar replied.

  “By whom?” Edison questioned.

  “It’s a rather odd story, but a few days ago I went to the village to trade some of my wheat for emeralds, and I encountered a cloaked man named Dante.”

  “A cloaked man?” asked Edison.

  “Yes, Dante wore an orange cloak, and he asked me if I knew who had built the mansion by the water. Dante told me that he was living on a boat and had seen the mansion from the water and was instantly drawn to the structure. I told him that it was my home, and he immediately offered me countless diamonds for the building. I was taken aback because nobody has ever offered me a large sum of diamonds for anything I have ever built. There was a part of me that wanted to sell my home and take the diamonds, but I remembered that I love my home and never want to sell it. I explained that the home wasn’t for sale, but Dante wasn’t happy with this news.

  “I told him that I could build him a home, and he suggested that I craft a large castle. I agreed. I didn’t hear from Dante for a few weeks, but yesterday he knocked on my door and told me that he acquired a bunch of land in Verdant Valley and asked if I was available to start constructing the castle. I told him I could start this week.”

  “So you aren’t moving there?” asked Billy.

  “Dante wants the castle built very quickly, so I’m afraid I will be staying in Verdant Valley until the project is complete,” said Omar.

  Edison wanted to tell his friends about the great news in his life. He had run out of ghast tears for his potions, and he traveled to the Nether on his own and was able to refill his supply of rare ghast tears. The trip wasn’t easy, and there were many times when he thought he’d be obliterated by a ghast or a blaze, but he had made it home in one piece, and he was quite pleased with the outcome. However, this news seemed rather minor compared to Omar’s.

  “I have ghast tears,” Edison told his friends, “so I have to go home and start finishing a bunch of potions I was unable to brew before.”

  “Wow,” Omar remarked, “ghast tears are hard to get.”

  “Yes.” Edison told them about the trip to the nether.

  “Next time,” Billy said, annoyed, “can you ask me to go with you? I heard about a great Nether fortress I want to loot.”

  Edison agreed he’d tell Billy about his next trip to the nether, but Omar interrupted as he looked up at the sky, “It’s almost dusk. I have to get to Verdant Valley before night. I want to get an early start on Dante’s castle. Anna said I could stay at her house tonight.”

  Omar turned around and waved as he left the town ready to start building Dante’s castle.

  Billy asked Edison if he needed help closing up for the night. Edison was a respected alchemist and sold his potions at a stand in the village in Farmer’s Bay. People came to visit his stand from all across the Overworld. As they placed the final bottle of potion into the case, a woman with long dark hair and glasses called out, “Can you just wait one second?” She rushed over, and catching her breath she asked, “Do you have any more potions for breathing underwater?”

  Edison looked through his inventory and found one bottle of the potion of Water Breathing. “Only have one. Do you want it?”

  “Yes,” she said, “I’m so glad you have even one. I’m not a very good alchemist, and I’ve been in dire need of this potion. How much does it cost?”

  “One emerald.” Edison held the potion as the woman picked an emerald from her inventory.

  “Thank you,” she said. “You have no idea how helpful this is to me.”

  “I don’t mean to pry,” said Edison, “but it’s very late. Where are you from? How are you going to get home before dusk?”

  The woman pointed to the sea. “I live on a boat. Don’t you see it docked at the edge of town?”

  Edison and Billy looked over at the beach and saw a large pirate ship in the water. Billy asked, “Wow! That’s incredible. That’s your boat?”

  “Yes.” She blushed. “I built it. I’m a huge fan of pirate stories, and I’ve always wanted to live on a pirate ship.”

  Edison said, “Me too. I love pirate ships.”

  “If you’d like to go on the boat, I am staying here overnight, and I’d be more than happy to give you a tour of the boat tomorrow.”

  “Can I come too?” asked Billy.

  “Of course,” she replied, and then she added, “I’m Amira.”

  Billy and Edison shook her hand as they introduced themselves. Amira smiled and excused herself. “I have to get back to the boat before nightfall.”

  The two friends also had to get home before night. They didn’t want to fight off the hostile mobs that spawned in the darkness. As the two cleaned up and raced back to their bungalows, an arrow pierced Edison’s unarmored shoulder.

  “Ouch!” he called out.

  Four skeletons aimed their arrows at them. Edison put down his case and pulled out potions and threw them at the bony beasts. Dousing the skeletons with potion weakened them, and Billy slayed the skeletons with his enchanted diamond sword. One by one, Billy destroyed the beasts, and they dropped bones and an arrow.

  “We did it!” Edison smiled as he picked up one of the dropped bones. “Let’s go home before anything else happens.”

  Kaboom!

  “I think it might be too late,” Billy said as he regained his balance after the explosion.

  “What was that?” asked Edison.

  Smoke billowed from the shoreline.

  “Amira’s boat!” they exclaimed in unison.

  2

&n
bsp; PIRATE SHIP

  “We have to help Amira!” instructed Edison.

  “We can’t! It’s nighttime—we have to wait until morning,” said Billy. “If we leave now we’re going to be incredibly vulnerable to hostile mobs. Besides, we don’t really know Amira at all.”

  The night sky camouflaged the dark smoke. Edison stood in front of his bungalow, stared into the darkness, and said, “We have to go. There was an explosion in our town. We have to find out what happened, but I should leave my case in my house. If we get destroyed, I don’t want to lose all of my potions.”

  Peyton and Erin raced out of their homes. Peyton asked, “What was the explosion?”

  Erin held onto her torch as she looked toward the sea. “It sounded like it was coming from the shore.”

  “We think a ship exploded,” said Billy.

  “The pirate ship?” asked Peyton.

  “We think so,” said Billy.

  Edison quickly placed the case of potions on the floor of his small living room, closed the door behind him, and hurried toward his friends when he spotted zombies lumbering in the darkness.

  “Turn around!” Edison hollered.

  “Oh no!” Billy cried when he felt a zombie grab his shoulder. He held his breath to avoid feeling sick from the odor of rotting flesh.

  Peyton and Erin weren’t dressed in armor, and the zombies pulled at their arms as all four friends tried to grab diamond swords from their inventories. Billy readjusted his armor and raced to the zombies. Edison sprinted after Billy. He clutched a bottle of potion in one hand and an enchanted diamond sword in the other, and as he ran he splashed the undead creatures with potion.

  Erin fumbled with her diamond sword, accidently dropping it on the ground. She tried to fight the zombie that attacked her while she picked up the sword, but the zombie was too powerful. With each strike, her hearts depleted until she respawned in her bed.

  Peyton swung her diamond sword at the zombie that destroyed Erin. Slamming the sword into the fetid-smelling beast, she annihilated the zombie. Another zombie lurked behind Peyton, but she swiftly battled the zombie until it was also destroyed.

  “Peyton!” Erin emerged from her house with a replenished health bar. She was dressed in armor and ready to battle any undead mob that spawned in the thick of the night.

  Edison and Billy were in the midst of their personal battle against three zombies. Both struck the smelly zombies with their diamond swords. When the final zombie was destroyed, Edison picked up the rotten flesh they dropped on the blocky ground and said, “We have to race to the shore.”

  They hurtled past the town farm, and a familiar voice called out in the distance, “Edison! Billy! Help me!”

  “Amira!” Edison screamed.

  “We’re over here!” Billy called out.

  Peyton asked, “Who is Amira?”

  “She’s the person who lives on the pirate ship,” explained Billy. “We met her today when she bought a potion of Water Breathing from Edison.”

  Amira followed the sound of their voices and reached the farm. Tears streamed down her face. “It was awful.” She could barely speak.

  “I know you’re upset, but you’re going to have to take a deep breath,” Billy said calmly.

  Edison suggested everyone head to his house, where they could talk safely. “There are zombies spawning all over here. It will be easier to talk in my house.”

  The gang crowded in Edison’s tiny living room, and Amira spoke, “I was about to go on my ship when it exploded. Who would do that to me? I am just an explorer, I’m not someone who loots others’ treasures.”

  Edison asked, “I know you say that you’re just an explorer, but can you think of anybody who might be a suspect? We should have a list.”

  “Wow, you sound like a detective,” Amira said as she paced the living room trying to come up with any potential suspects. “Are you one?”

  “I’m not a detective,” Edison replied.

  “We did solve the mystery surrounding a string of robberies in town,” said Billy. “Edison, our friend Anna, who lives in Verdant Valley, and I did it together. It wasn’t easy, but we did it.”

  Peyton wanted to change the subject and remarked, “You did a good job with that, but we have to concentrate on Amira’s pirate ship. I was admiring it earlier today. I can’t believe somebody destroyed it.”

  “I’ve been traveling around in that boat for over a year. I’ve explored all of the shore towns.”

  “All by yourself?” asked Erin.

  Amira paused before she replied, “Yes.” Edison found the pause slightly suspicious and made a note of it.

  “Wow, that sounds lonely,” remarked Peyton.

  “It’s not.” Amira brushed her dark hair from her face. “I don’t mind being by myself. Some might call me a loner.”

  “Well, if you don’t mind some company,” said Edison, “you can stay here until you rebuild your boat.”

  “Thanks,” Amira smiled, “That’s so nice of you.”

  Edison wanted Amira to stay in his house so he could keep a close eye on her; there was something about Amira that he didn’t trust. He recalled how she paused when he asked her if she was alone on the boat. He wondered if she was telling the truth. He was also a fan of pirate stories, but he knew that pirates weren’t good people. Maybe Amira wasn’t just a fan of pirates, but was also a lone pirate who traveled from port to port, plundering villages. At the moment, she was his only suspect. Perhaps she had blown up her own boat? There were many questions, and Edison wanted answers.

  Peyton yawned. “I think I have to go back home. I need to sleep.”

  Erin said, “Me too. Let’s all walk out together. It’s safer if we stick together.”

  Billy, Peyton, and Erin walked into the dark night while Edison showed Amira her new room.

  “I can’t thank you enough for doing this for me,” Amira said, and she climbed into bed.

  Edison was too nervous to sleep. He hoped that Amira wouldn’t rob him while he slept. After he finally closed his eyes, he awoke to the sound of thunder. He rushed to the window to see the rain pattering on the glass. It was morning and the ground was muddy, and he noticed footprints on the ground. The footprints belonged to a wild ocelot that raced around his property. He looked through his inventory for fish to tame the ocelot. Once he picked fish from his inventory, he opened the door and put his hand out for the feral ocelot. It raced into the dry doorway. Leaning over his hand, the ocelot smelled the fish and took its first bite. The wild ocelot transformed in a tamed cat, and Edison invited this new pet into his home. The cat rubbed against Edison, and he spoke to the animal. “I think I’m going to call you Puddles, since I discovered you in a puddle.”

  Puddles explored his new home, peeking his head into Amira’s room. Edison followed the ocelot and called out, “Amira, my new pet wants to say hi.”

  There was no reply. Edison looked in the room. The bed was made and the room was empty. Amira was gone.