Chapter 6

FRIEND OR FOE

After the skeleton attack, Stefan announced that the meeting would be rescheduled for the following day. “You should get back to your rooms before night falls. We don’t want you to be caught in the middle of another attack at night, when hostile mobs spawn naturally.”

The students made their way to their dorm rooms. As Lucy walked across the campus with her roommates, she mused, “I wonder what happened to Maya. This isn’t the first time she’s disappeared. Remember how she was destroyed in the Nether?”

Jane nodded. “She acted quite strange when we were battling the wither skeletons. She seemed to have given up fighting and just let them attack her.”

Phoebe added, “It was like she wanted to be destroyed.”

Lucy paused. “I also thought it was odd that she battled the zombie pigmen. They are usually a neutral mob, but she immediately began to attack them.”

“Maybe she thought they were hostile?” questioned Jane.

“No … I think she knows more than she lets on,” said Lucy. “And you know, we’re all assuming that she was destroyed in the attack, but did any of us actually see her fighting the skeletons tonight? How do we know she didn’t sneak out before the attack started?”

“What are you saying?” Phoebe asked.

“I guess … just that I’m going to keep an eye on her,” Lucy told her friends.

“Okay,” Phoebe said. “But don’t get carried away. We don’t know her, so we don’t want to make any quick judgments.”

Lucy knew her friend was right. She shouldn’t assume Maya was behind the attacks. Maybe she had a perfectly normal reason for being destroyed so often.

The trio walked past the jail again, and Lucy peeked in the window out of force of habit. She was relieved when she spotted Isaac sitting in his cell.

“I told you there was going to be another attack,” Isaac called out to Lucy.

Lucy shook her head; it would be a waste of time to question Isaac. He wasn’t going to tell her anything, and they needed to get back to their dorm before it was dark.

As the friends entered the dormitory, Maya came in another door and waved to them. “That was a crazy battle today! I am not very good when it comes to the Nether. It makes me very nervous.”

Lucy raised her eyebrows. “What happened during the talent show meeting? Did you get destroyed and respawn in this dorm?”

“No, I wasn’t destroyed during the meeting. I just thought I saw something suspicious outside, and I went to check. When I came back, the battle was over.”

“What was suspicious?” asked Lucy.

“Oh, it wound up being nothing,” Maya replied.

Lucy wasn’t satisfied. “But what about what happened in the Nether?”

“Oh, yeah,” Maya blushed. “Thanks for not making a big deal out of that. It’s so embarrassing to be destroyed twice on your first day of class.”

Maya really did look ashamed. Lucy wasn’t sure what to think.

“Anyway, they just moved me into this dorm,” Maya said, brightening. “In fact, I think I’m in the room next to yours.”

“Well, we should head up to our rooms now,” Lucy suggested. “It’s getting dark, and I don’t want to be in the middle of another attack.”

“Me neither,” Maya said as she followed them up the stairs.

Lucy and her friends said good night to Maya and entered their room. Lucy crawled into her comfortable bed and pulled the blue covers up to her chin. She thought about what Maya had just said to them. Maybe Maya was just nervous when she was in the Nether, and that was why she had acted so strangely. And her explanation about the talent show meeting made sense. Was Lucy just paranoid because of everything the school had been through?

Still wondering, Lucy fell asleep and dreamed about a peaceful Overworld, where everyone could build whatever they wanted without fear of it being destroyed by some griefers with TNT. She dreamed of a world that was challenging like Survival mode but as liberating as Creative mode.