Chapter 3

BACK IN THE NETHER

The sun was shining and students were on their way to their classes. Lucy realized with a start that visiting Isaac had made her late. She excused herself and dashed toward the building that housed her classroom.

Lucy was the last person to enter the class, and as she walked in, the teacher, Eitan, noticed. “We have to be on time, Lucy,” he reprimanded.

Lucy wanted to explain that she had been late because she was helping Victoria get to the bottom of this sudden skeleton attack, but instead she just apologized. There was always an excuse when somebody was late, and she didn’t want to be one of those people who threw a series of justifications at the teacher. She had known that the class was scheduled to take another field trip to the Nether, and that it was important for her to be on time.

Eitan raised an eyebrow, then redirected his attention to the front of the class and announced, “I want to introduce you to a new student.” A girl wearing a red sweater and jeans stood up and walked to the front of the class. “This is Maya. She will tell you a little about herself.”

Maya flinched. She looked at the floor and spoke quickly, apparently nervous about talking to the class. “I’m Maya. I’m from the desert biome.”

“Thanks, Maya.” Eitan looked at the class. “As you know, today we are going on a field trip to the Nether. Everyone, get into your groups, and check your inventories for supplies.”

Lucy walked over to Phoebe and Jane. “My inventory is almost empty. Is it possible I can borrow some stuff and then work on replenishing my supplies?”

“Sure. What do you need?” Jane looked through her inventory.

Eitan walked over to them, Maya tailing behind him. “Lucy, Jane, Phoebe, I want Maya to join your group. She is going to travel to the Nether with us.”

Lucy and her friends introduced themselves to Maya and followed the rest of the class outside to craft a portal. As Eitan and the students stood on the portal, purple mist surrounded them.

They emerged next to a lava stream. “Move away,” Eitan warned them. “You don’t want to fall in.”

Lucy said, “After spending most of the day removing lava from the basement, I’m not worried about this small lava stream!”

“Don’t be overly confident,” Eitan said, with a glance at Lucy. “The Nether is full of surprises. If you don’t watch out, you’ll be destroyed instantly.” As if on cue, four ghasts flew past them and shot fireballs.

“Should we shoot them with an arrow or punch the fireballs?” Lucy asked Eitan as she tried to dodge the blast from a fireball.

“You choose. But remember, running away isn’t an option,” Eitan instructed the class.

Lucy ran toward an oncoming fireball and used all of her strength to punch the fiery ball. It struck the ghast, and the blazing beast exploded.

Phoebe and Jane also used their fists to destroy the fiery mobs, but Maya hid by the lava stream.

Eitan approached Maya. “You can’t hide. You have to learn how to battle ghasts. This is basic survival in the Nether.”

More ghasts flew through the sky toward the group. Phoebe, Jane, and Lucy fought by punching the fireballs and destroying the ghasts, but Maya stood by and did nothing.

“Maya!” Eitan repeated. “I’ll be forced to make you travel back to the Overworld and give you a failing grade if you don’t participate.”

Lucy could see that Maya was shaking, so she walked over to the new student. “I know the Nether can make anyone nervous, but Eitan is a good teacher.”

Another ghast flew through the Nether sky. “I guess I have to destroy that,” Maya said, her voice trembling.

“You can do it,” Lucy said.

Biting her lip but nodding, Maya sprinted over to the fireball and punched it, destroying the ghast. The group cheered.

“Wow,” Eitan said. “Why were you frightened? I can hardly believe that was your first time fighting this hostile mob!”

Maya shrugged. “I wasn’t that good.”

“We need to move toward the Nether fortress,” Eitan instructed. “Today we’re going to learn about unearthing treasure.”

Lucy had been to many Nether fortresses, but she never enjoyed it. She believed finding a Nether fortress and surviving in the inhospitable climate was too much of a challenge, and the rewards weren’t worth it. It was like how her friends, Henry and Max, loved looting ocean monuments deep beneath the blue water; she didn’t enjoy those, either, because she was afraid of elder guardians. She preferred desert or jungle temples. But now, determined to learn something about treasure in the Nether, she walked behind her friends toward the distant fortress.

Four zombie pigmen walked past the group, and Eitan reminded them to avoid eye contact. But, without listening, Maya grabbed her diamond sword and leapt at one of the passive mobs. Enraged, he turned his pig and attacked Maya. In an instant, all four of the zombie pigmen turned on Maya and overwhelmed her. As she cried out, they destroyed her.

Eitan and the group were next in the line of attack, and they reluctantly charged the zombie pigmen with their diamond swords, ready to defend themselves. Lucy struck a pigman with her sword, but he was quite strong. It wasn’t an easy battle.

Eitan called out to his students, “Grab your potions of healing and splash them on the zombie pigmen.”

While battling the pigmen with their swords, the gang attempted to gather bottles of potions from their inventories. Lucy was the first to get the potion, which she quickly splashed on the zombie pigman closest to her, destroying him. Lucy rushed over to the pigmen that were battling her friends. She splashed potions of healing on all three of them, depleting their strength, and Jane struck them with her diamond sword, destroying each of them one at a time.

“Good job!” Eitan told his students.

“What happened to Maya?” asked Lucy. “If this was her first day, will she even be able to respawn on campus?”

“I think she arrived yesterday, so she should respawn in her dorm room,” Eitan reassured her.

As they walked toward the Nether fortress, Lucy thought about Maya and the zombie pigmen. Eitan had told them not to attack the neutral mob, yet Maya had disobeyed, running toward the pigmen with her diamond sword. Maya confused Lucy. She didn’t understand how someone who was so afraid of destroying a ghast would start a fight when she didn’t have to. It was almost as though Maya had wanted to be destroyed. But why?

“Lucy,” Eitan looked at her, pulling her out of her thoughts. “Can you tell us the best place to find treasure in a Nether fortress?”

Lucy was still thinking about Maya instead of paying attention. Luckily, she was a treasure-hunting expert. “We need to find a corridor. And the treasure is usually located on a right angle.”

“Correct,” Eitan said. “Now, lead us to the treasure, Lucy.”

Lucy walked slowly, because she wanted to make sure she was prepared if a hostile mob spawned in the fortress. Lucy looked in a room. “That’s a lava well room,” she said, warning her friends not to enter.

“Look!” Phoebe pointed out a corridor with a right angle. There were two treasure chests where the hallway turned, just as Lucy had said.

“Good job, Phoebe and Lucy.” Eitan led the class to the treasure chest. He opened the first chest, which was filled with gold ingots.

Lucy opened the second chest. “Golden chest plates!” she cried, thrilled.

“This is a great find,” Eitan said, and he distributed the treasure among the group.

As Lucy placed her golden chest plate in her inventory, she heard a familiar voice call out in the distance.

“Maya?” asked Eitan. “Is that you?”