9

BREWING

Who was calling to them? Keep reading!” said Harriet.

“No, this isn’t helping. I thought reading the journal was going to help us figure a way out of here, but it’s done nothing for us. I truly believe this book has cursed us.” Jack paced around the small room.

“I told you, there is no such thing as being cursed.” Toby looked through his inventory. “Does anyone have TNT? We’re going to have to blow up the door.”

“We can’t blow up the door! We’ll be destroyed,” cried Jack.

“We’re trapped. How did we let this happen?” asked Harriet.

“I’m sure we can find a way to blow up this door with TNT and not get destroyed in the process. Go into the other room.” Toby grabbed a brick of TNT from Jack and placed it by the door. He ignited the TNT and then sprinted back toward the room with the beds.

Kaboom!

The door was blown apart and the trio made their escape out of the ice biome and toward the mountain.

“I don’t think we should retrace their steps to the Nether,” Jack called out as they climbed up the side of the mountain.

“I agree with you.” Harriet disliked the Nether almost as much as William. “They were in a rush to get out of there anyway. They probably didn’t leave any clues there.”

When they climbed down the other side of the mountain, they reached a grassy biome.

“It’s so peaceful here,” Harriet said, but the minute those words fell from her mouth, the sky grew dark and it began to rain.

The group looked for a place to get shelter from the rain, but there was nowhere to hide.

Skeletons began to spawn in the fields. The gang prepared to battle the bony beasts until the rain stopped.

“We are cursed,” Harriet said sadly.

“We can’t give up. We’re going to save William and Oliver.” Toby shot an arrow at a skeleton.

Jack ran toward the skeletons and struck as many as he could with his diamond sword.

“More are spawning,” Toby shouted as he splashed potions on them.

Harriet struck a skeleton with her sword and destroyed it. As she reached over to pick up the bone the skeleton had dropped, another skeleton struck her, and she was destroyed.

Exhausted, Harriet respawned in the blue army’s secret room with the beds. She could hear voices in the other room. She kept quiet, not wanting to alert anyone to her presence. She listened.

“They blew up the door,” she heard Julian say in the other room.

“Wow, they’re resourceful,” a second person replied.

“I really thought I’d be able to keep them here for a little while. I wanted them to meet you.” Julian spoke again to the unknown person.

Harriet wanted to see who was there, but she didn’t want to get trapped in the room. She waited for the others to respawn, hoping she’d have backup soon. Meanwhile, she continued to eavesdrop.

“I was able to save the second journal. I don’t think it’s a good idea that they read it.”

“You did a good job, Julian,” the man said. “I want to thank you for all your effort. But the job isn’t done. I need to meet with these new explorers. And I need the first journal. The longer they have it in their hands, the stronger the curse will become.”

Harriet’s heart skipped a beat. She wondered if they could really be cursed. But she still wanted to finish reading the journal.

“I will get the journal from them and I will lead you them to you,” Julian told the man.

“Thank you, Julian. You’re a good friend.”

“I’ll admit, I don’t know where they are, but I’ll search the entire Overworld until I find them. I promise.”

“Julian, I know you’re a loyal friend,” the man replied.

Harriet heard Julian and the man leave the room. They walked up the stairs. She tried to catch a glimpse of them on their way out, but she was too late. When they had been gone for a while, Harriet walked into the room to search for clues. Maybe they had left something behind that would help her identify the man who had been with Julian.

“Harriet?” a voice called out from the other room.

“Who’s there?” Harriet asked nervously.

“It’s me. Jack.”

“Where’s Toby?”

“He’s still battling the skeletons.” Jack walked into the room.

Within seconds, Toby respawned. “Jack? Harriet?”

“We’re here,” Harriet called to him.

“That was an intense battle.” Toby was exhausted. He grabbed a potion of healing and drank some. Then he offered it to the others.

Harriet took carrots from her inventory and shared them with the others. “We need to eat and get our energy up. I have a lot to tell you.”

She told them about Julian and the stranger. And she told them about the journal actually being cursed.

Toby asked, “Really cursed? Could it really be?”

“I wonder who that person was with Julian,” said Jack.

“I know this might sound naive, but I don’t think Julian wanted to hurt us,” said Harriet. “He just wanted to trap us so we could meet this man.”

“Once we find out who he is, maybe this will all make sense,” said Toby.

“And how are we going to do that?” Jack’s voice shook as he asked the question.

“I don’t know,” said Harriet, “but he meant a lot to Julian. In fact, Julian promised him that he would search the entire Overworld to find us.”

“Why? We’re not that important,” said Jack.

“No, we’re not.” Toby paused and then took William’s journal from his inventory. “But this is. I don’t think they want to find us; I believe they want to find this journal.”

“I bet they think we read the entire thing, which means we know a lot of things we shouldn’t,” said Harriet.

“That’s what makes us important.” Jack gulped. “But I don’t think that’s a good thing.”

“We’re cursed!” Harriet cried.

“Stop.” Toby looked at the book. “We need to read the rest. It’s our only hope.”