13

NOBODY WINS

Good, we don’t know if he returns to the stronghold. He could still be trapped in the Nether,” said Harriet.

“But we still need to find him,” added Jack.

“But where?” asked Ezra.

“I feel like every time we make progress, we just wind up back where we started. It’s getting very tiresome.” Harriet was frustrated. They had been so worried and now she just wanted to find William.

“We have to be thankful for our small victories,” said Julian. “We did find Oliver.”

“That’s true,” Harriet replied.

They were interrupted by Toby’s cry. “Watch out!”

A group of ghasts and blazes flew through the sky and both of the hostile mobs shot fireballs at the group. They fought back with everything they had. They didn’t want to respawn in the Overworld.

Snowballs and arrows flew through the sky. Some struck the beasts. Harriet used her fists to battle the ghasts, feeling strong when she hit a fireball and it flew back at the ghast and struck it.

Ezra and Julian threw snowballs at the blazes, destroying them. When all of the hostile mobs were destroyed, Toby said, “Wow, we are getting pretty good at this.”

“Fighting is a great skill to have, but I wish we didn’t have to use it,” Julian remarked.

“Let’s travel further into the Nether,” Jack said, studying the clear sky. “It looks like we have a small break from battling hostile mobs.”

As they walked past lava waterfalls and through the netherrack landscape, Harriet spotted Veronica standing alone.

“Watch out, guys. Veronica’s here.”

Veronica called out, “Don’t worry. I’m not going to attack you. I was wondering if I could join you guys. I can’t trust Valentino anymore and you guys seem a lot more trustworthy.”

The gang was stunned. They didn’t want to tell Veronica that they didn’t trust her, that they believed this was a trap. “What happened?” asked Harriet.

“Valentino wants to destroy you guys. He wants to use command blocks to put you on Hardcore mode and destroy you. He doesn’t like having you trailing us on our quest to find William,” confessed Veronica.

“Your quest!” scoffed Harriet. “Ha!”

“And why aren’t you with him?” Jack asked Veronica.

“I don’t want to destroy you. I just wanted to find William first and get all the credit, but I don’t want to set anyone to Hardcore mode. That would be awful.”

“We aren’t going to take credit for finding William. This is just about helping him return to the Overworld. Would you be okay with that?” asked Julian.

Veronica paused. “You aren’t going to take credit for finding one of the most famed explorers in the Overworld? I don’t understand. It doesn’t make sense.”

“We are only here to help free my friend. I was a prisoner for many years and it’s awful. It’s not about becoming famous because you found someone; it’s about helping others,” explained Oliver.

Veronica looked surprised. “I just thought it could be about both. You could help others and you can get credit.”

The debate was cut short when a swarm of blazes flew toward them, shooting fireballs at the gang.

Veronica grabbed snowballs from her inventory and threw them at the blazes. Everybody else joined in. Harriet was about to get struck by the blaze, when Veronica pushed her out of the way.

Veronica was destroyed by the blaze, but Harriet survived.

When they had defeated all of the blazes, Harriet said, “I think Veronica has proven herself. If we see her again, we should let her join us.”

The others agreed. But for now they had to move on. They had already spent a large portion of time in the Nether and right now they had no clues and were no closer to finding William.

“I see a Nether fortress,” Harriet announced.

The group walked toward the Nether fortress. They were happy to see that it wasn’t being guarded by blazes, and they walked right in.

They entered the temple and looked for treasure. Two magma cubes bounced toward them. Harriet took out her diamond sword and struck one of the magma cubes. The others joined in and they quickly defeated the boxy creatures.

Harriet walked toward the room where they kept the treasure and saw the two purple-helmeted treasure hunters from the Overworld.

“You are following us,” one of the purple-helmeted treasure hunters called out to the group, aiming his bow and arrow.

“No. We aren’t. We promise,” Harriet called out.

The group didn’t want to get into a fight. They just wanted to find William. Three blazes spawned in the fortress and shot fireballs at the two treasure hunters. They were destroyed instantly. The gang used their snowballs to fight the blazes. When the blazes were gone, the group walked over to the treasure chest.

Ezra opened the chest. “Look, diamonds!”

“I feel bad about taking the diamonds. The purple treasure hunters found them first,” said Jack.

Veronica sprinted toward them. “I found you!”

“You just missed being attacked by two treasure hunters,” Harriet told her.

“Were they wearing purple helmets?” Veronica asked.

“Yes,” replied Harriet.

“They work with Valentino. They are trouble.”

No longer feeling guilty, the group gathered the diamonds and placed them in their inventories. Toby spotted something on the ground next to the treasure chest. “Guys, I think I see more pages from the journal.”

“I wonder if the purple-helmeted treasure hunters dropped them,” said Harriet.

“Could they also be searching for William?” asked Jack.

“I’m sure they are,” Veronica told them. “I told you that they work with Valentino. He has his heart set on finding William.”

“We have to read the pages,” said Toby.

The group gathered around and Toby read the journal aloud.