3

FINDING WILLIAM THE EXPLORER

What happened next?” Harriet asked Toby.

Toby put the journal down. “That was the end of the first entry. Would you like me to read more? It looks like the next entry is about Oliver.” He scanned the pages. “I think Oliver goes—”

Jack cut him off. “Don’t tell us anything unless you’re going to read the entire entry. We want to know everything. Don’t just read excerpts.”

“Okay, I’ll keep reading.” Toby opened the book, but before he could read the first word aloud, they were interrupted by an army of skeletons entering the abandoned mineshaft.

“We have to get out of here!” Harriet shouted as she shot an arrow toward the bony beasts pouring into the mineshaft.

“It must be night!” Toby called out. “And we never built a shelter. This is awful.”

Jack splashed potions on the skeletons, which weakened the hostile mobs. Harriet ran toward them and attacked with her diamond sword. The wobbly skeletons began to fall. “I think we’re going to win this battle!” she shouted.

“Not so fast!” Toby shouted. A new horde of zombies lumbered toward the group.

Jack kept throwing potions, but the zombies were persistent. One zombie walked over to the journal.

“Stop him!” Harriet shouted to Toby as she fought off the monsters that surrounded her.

Toby lunged at the zombie and destroyed him with one blow from his enchanted diamond sword. He picked up the journal and placed it in his inventory.

“The journal is safe,” Toby shouted to the group.

“But we’re not!” Jack cried as he battled the exhausting mobs. Two creepers floated in and exploded by the skeletons. Things were getting out of control.

Toby raced to Jack’s side and helped him battle the zombie and skeleton invasion. Jack had just destroyed one last particularly vicious skeleton when he realized he couldn’t see Harriet in the mineshaft. “Harriet?” he called out nervously. He was worried his friend had been destroyed.

“I’m here,” her voice called back.

Jack couldn’t see Harriet anywhere. “Where? Where are you?”

Her voice grew louder. “I’m right behind you.”

Jack turned around, but there was still nothing but empty mineshaft. “Where?”

Harriet tapped him on the shoulder. “Guys, you should drink a potion of invisibility. Then we can sprint out the exit and get to safety.”

Jack grabbed a potion of invisibility from his inventory and handed it to Toby. The two drank the potion and followed Harriet out of the mineshaft and into the night. They sprinted through the dark, and as they reached the jungle, their skins began to become visible.

“I can see you guys.” Jack stopped to catch his breath.

“And we can see you,” replied Harriet.

Jack spotted two Endermen walking toward them. “I think we should build a place to stay for the night. Quickly.”

Toby and Harriet agreed, and the group quickly constructed a crude structure to spend the night in, narrowly avoiding attack from the two Endermen carrying blocks. Once they were safely in their beds, Harriet started to think about the journal again. “Do you really believe reading the journal will lead us to William the Explorer?”

“Imagine if we find him. We’ll be famous!” exclaimed Jack.

“That’s not the reason to find him. If he’s missing, he might be in trouble—we could try to help him,” said Harriet.

“I think we should follow the journal and retrace his steps. I bet that will lead us to him,” said Toby.

“Wow, tracing the steps of the famed explorer. That does sound like fun,” said Harriet. “And we might be able to help him. Let’s do it!”

“I’ll read the next journal entry aloud, and we can try to figure out where he was in the Overworld,” said Toby. “Then we’ll plot our trip.” Toby took the tattered journal from his inventory.

But Jack was having doubts about reading from the journal again. “We’ve encountered a lot of hostile mobs since we started reading. Do you think we might actually be cursed?”

Toby was annoyed. “I told you there is no way you can be cursed from reading a book!”

A gasp came from Harriet as someone ripped the door from the hinge. “Who’s out there?”

“Oh no!” cried Jack. “More zombies!”

The gang jumped out of bed, put on their diamond armor, and began to battle the zombies in front of their small house. It was a quick battle, but they were going to have to do something about that door.

Harriet looked through her inventory for supplies to rebuild the portion of the house that had been destroyed in the attack. “I could use some help here!” she said.

When the door was complete, they all climbed back into their beds.

“Should we continue with our bedtime story?” Toby joked.

Harriet hesitated. “Maybe Jack was right and we shouldn’t read the journal after all.”

“I’ve changed my mind—I don’t care if we’re cursed, I want to hear the rest.” Jack was feeling bold after the battle and eager to hear the next chapter.

“But what if more hostile mobs spawn as Toby starts to read?” asked Harriet.

“The zombies have nothing to do with the journal,” said Toby, and he picked up the book.

But before he could start reading, Jack interrupted. “Do you think Charles and Thao had something to do with William’s disappearance?”

“Have you ever heard of Charles and Thao?” asked Harriet.

“No. When we studied the great explorers of the Overworld, I don’t remember hearing about them at all,” Jack replied.

“Don’t you find that strange? If they were the noted explorers before William, why wouldn’t we have heard about them?” Harriet wondered.

“I don’t know, but you’re right—that is very strange,” Jack agreed.

“There’s only one way we’ll find out.” Toby looked at the journal. “Should I start reading again?”

Harriet looked at the door. She crawled out of bed and opened it. There were no hostile mobs in sight. She lit a torch and placed it by the entrance of the building. “Okay, go ahead. Read,” she said as she walked back into the house and snuggled down into the comfort of the bed.