Clash in the Underwater World Page 4

  “I was at the public pool with my parents,” Yancy said. It sounded like he wanted to go into something deep.

  “What’s a public pool?” I asked, confused.

  “A pool’s like a lake with chlorine in it that you can swim in,” Yancy said. “Public means anyone in the community could go there.”

  I didn’t know what chlorine was, though I decided it didn’t matter right then. Yancy went on, “I was probably about four. My parents told me to stay in the shallow end of the pool, because I didn’t know how to swim yet. My mom was sunbathing and reading a book and my dad was resting with his eyes shut. There were other kids in the pool with me, but the bigger kids who could swim all went out to the deep end, where the water was about eight feet deep.”

  “Okay,” I said. I wasn’t sure where he was going with this.

  “The bigger kids started making fun of me,” he said. “There were other four-year-olds who could swim, so they said I was a baby. I wanted to show off, and swimming didn’t look too hard. I went into the deeper water and tried to copy what they were doing.”

  The bigger kids didn’t sound very nice to me. “And what happened?” I asked.

  “I couldn’t swim, and I went under,” he said. “When I couldn’t breathe, I started to panic. I couldn’t have been under for too long, but every second felt like it was the end and I was never going to get out of the water. Panicking made it worse. Then the lifeguard— the person working there who makes sure nothing bad happens—dove in and pulled me out. He got me back on the pavement and I was choking and still scared. My dad showed up, and I was hoping he’d make me feel better. Instead, he was mad at me for not listening.”

  A dad who wasn’t happy with something you’d done that was foolish? I could relate.

  “And the kids were still making fun of me,” Yancy said. “After that, I was just scared of swimming. I loved looking up stuff about the ocean, but I felt like a coward because I couldn’t actually go swim in the ocean.”

  “Your ocean sounds too dangerous to swim in,” I said.

  Yancy shook his head. “I shouldn’t have scared you about the Earth ocean. You don’t need to be scared of it, you just need to respect it. Does that make sense? For years I didn’t learn how to swim, and then Destiny finally taught me how to swim when I was twelve.”

  He said this as if it were supposed to be extremely embarrassing. I didn’t know what age kids tended to learn to swim on Earth, so it meant nothing to me. But when I thought about it, I realized Maison was eleven and Destiny was twelve, and they both already knew how to swim. In fact, they looked more confident in their swimming than Yancy did.

  “People learn how to do things at different ages,” I said. It still didn’t seem like a big deal to me.

  “It’s embarrassing to learn how to swim that late, and to be taught by your kid cousin,” Yancy said.

  I thought of my cousin, Alex. She was always doing impressive things, especially if it involved bows and arrows. Maybe the difference was we were the same age. If Alex were several years younger and that much better than me, I probably would have been embarrassed.

  “You know how to swim now,” I said. “Isn’t that what matters? And you swam when we defeated the Endermen in the tunnel.” That had been after we found the first Ender crystal shard.

  “Yeah,” Yancy said. “Water can still make me nervous, though. Especially this deep. Especially in this ocean. There wasn’t that much water when we fought the Endermen in the tunnel, compared to all this. I thought fighting the Endermen was proof that I’d finally gotten over my fear of deep water, but as soon as we got in the boat and lost sight of land, I realized I was as scared as ever. In the Earth ocean, unless you do something foolish or aren’t paying attention, probably nothing is going to attack you. Here, you know things are going to attack you.”

  “So that’s why you tried scaring me with those pictures?” I said. “And why you played that stupid rock-paper-scissors game? That’s cheating, you know.” I made sure to peer over a sponge and look Yancy in the eyes when I said that.

  Yancy dropped his eyes. “Yeah, I know,” he said. “And I shouldn’t have done it.”

  “And you want to go into a cage with a shark circling you?” I asked skeptically. If Yancy were as scared about water as he said he was, I didn’t understand why he’d want to get in a shark cage!

  “Well . . . yeah,” he said. “I love sharks. I feel like people choose to be scared of them because of how they look instead of learning anything about them. Back when I was bullying people online, I kind of felt like a shark. No one wanted anything to do with me and they judged me without knowing me. So if they thought I was some jerk, I decided I was going to be some jerk. I don’t want to be like that anymore. But no one changes overnight.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “I mean I don’t attack people like I used to, but I still hide from my fears,” he said. “The way I used to hide behind the computer screen.”

  He let out a long sigh that sounded like a confession, as if he were thinking about all the things he’d done that he regretted now.

  I felt some of my anger toward Yancy melting away. Things made more sense when I heard his story, and he was owning up to his mistakes now. I’d had a bad experience in the tunnel with the Endermen and all the flooding water, but that was more because I was exhausted and hurt by the time the water had flooded around me. I’d never had the sensation of not knowing how to swim and feeling I was going to drown and there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn’t imagine how bad that must feel.

  “It’ll be okay, Yancy,” I said. “You’re showing a lot of bravery just being down here. I bet you’ll be brave enough to go into a cage next to sharks someday.”

  He gave me a smile that said “thank you” better than words could. It was a nice moment.

  A second later the moment was broken. An evil voice crowded into my head, and I realized I wasn’t alone.

  CHAPTER 11

  FRIENDSHIP WILL ONLY WEAKEN YOU, STEVIE, SAID the menacing voice. It was so close it felt as if it could have been whispered in my ear. But I knew better. It was the voice of the Ender Dragon, speaking straight into my mind.

  “Get out!” I shouted, gripping the sides of my head.

  “Stevie, what is it?” Yancy cried, his eyes widening. “Is it . . . her?”

  I knew she would never leave me alone for long. The Ender Dragon loved to torment me, to try to make me her servant. She whispered all sorts of sweet promises I knew were lies, but sometimes she sounded so convincing I believed her for a while. I needed to fight her evil power!

  You think you can trust this boy, Yancy? she continued. I tried to have a friendship once upon a time. There was one whom I would have given my life to protect, only to be betrayed by him.

  What was she talking about?

  She chuckled cruelly. Oh, Stevie, you think you know so much, yet you know so little. I will be free soon, even if you get this next crystal.

  It sounded like she was admitting that her minions couldn’t get to the bottom of the sea. At the same time, I didn’t doubt that her powers were growing stronger.

  Of course, she went on, you could get the crystal for me. For us. You and I could work together.

  That was definitely a lie. She only wanted the crystal for herself, no matter how much she attempted to make it appear otherwise.

  Yancy was trying to speak to me in a frantic voice. I couldn’t make out the words and I jerked as if I could shake the Ender Dragon out of my head. Then Yancy seemed to be calling to the others, telling them to get over here.

  It’s a very big monument, she said. I could help you.

  The others were swimming over, alerted by Yancy. The Ender Dragon’s voice sounded so loud in my head that I still couldn’t make out their words when they tried talking to me. I could just see their scared faces. Right now, the only sound I could hear other than the Ender Dragon was the elder guardians’ roars from above.
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br />   Even as we speak, you’re losing air, she said. Yancy knows what it feels like to almost drown. You’ll know the same feeling soon enough, but there will be no “almost” about it.

  I couldn’t stop shaking my head, trying to get her out. She was targeting my worst fears.

  Accept it! she was yelling now. You’ve lost!

  “You said friendships will only weaken you!” I shouted back. In front of me, the others heard and looked really confused. Since they couldn’t hear the Ender Dragon’s side of the conversation, it had to look especially confusing and chilling. “So why do you want to be friends with me?”

  Friends? she repeated. We are not talking about friendship. We are talking power, the power you and I could have together.

  I didn’t know what to do. Dad grabbed hold of my shoulders, as if to brace me. I saw his mouth move and I helplessly, painfully shook my head at him.

  Another voice.

  Stevie, it called. It was a calm, strong voice. I’d heard it once before, but never again after that.

  “Steve Alexander?” I whispered. Was it really him? Just the sound of that voice in my mind seemed to push the Ender Dragon back.

  You must face your fears, he said.

  No! the Ender Dragon hissed, furious. Stevie, don’t listen to him!

  Look inside yourself, Stevie, the other voice said. Go deeper.

  Despite everything that was going on, Steve Alexander’s voice had a calming effect on me. My eyes slowly drifted shut. I could hear my heartbeat and feel the ocean move around me. The ocean stopped being scary or magical. It just was. I felt its water and its animals. In my mind I could almost see the pufferfish and clownfish swimming a little outside of the monument. I felt the squids nearby, pushing forward with their tentacles.

  Good, the strong voice said. What did I say in my book?

  I thought back on the words written in Steve Alexander’s book: There is much yet to be discovered in the depths of the ocean. The guardians’ lasers will burn you, so bring armor. To your left and to your right, there will be elder guardians. Avoid them as best you can. Find the glow, and find your treasure.

  What did all that mean?

  I zeroed in on the last part.

  To your left and to your right, there will be elder guardians. Avoid them as best you can. Find the glow, and find your treasure.

  My eyes were still closed, and it was as if I could sense more of the ocean monument. It was as clear as reading a map. I saw where the elder guardian was in the left wing of the monument, and I saw where the elder guardian was in the right wing of the monument. They were even bigger than I had imagined: giant gray fish with their own share of spikes and their own single, staring eye in the middle of their foreheads. I did not want to mess with creatures that looked like that.

  So then . . .

  In my mind, I saw a purple glow.

  And I knew where the crystal was hidden.

  Go for it, Stevie, and don’t doubt yourself, the kind voice said.

  I opened my eyes and began swimming as quickly as I could. Everyone looked at me in shock. When they said my name, I could hear them again, but I ignored them, even when Dad called for me to come back. My whole being was concentrated on the crystal.

  Good, good, the calm voice said. I could hear the Ender Dragon hissing her fury, yet her voice was being pushed back and the man’s voice was moving forward so it was all I could hear in my mind. Don’t look back, Stevie. Go for the crystal.

  Yes, I thought. Yes, I will. I am.

  For some reason I didn’t feel terrified, even though I knew I had to go to the most dangerous place in the ocean’s depths. I had to go into the lair of the elder guardian at the very top of the monument. The home of the elder guardian that made roars that shook the whole monument.

  That was the only way the crystal could ever be ours.

  CHAPTER 12

  I LEFT THE SPONGE ROOM AND ENTERED THE FULLER, middle part of the ocean monument. Then I began to swim upward.

  “Stevie!” Dad hollered. “Stop!”

  “I know where the crystal is!” I shouted back without pausing. “Steve Alexander told me!”

  “Did he just say what I thought he said?” Yancy asked, astonished.

  I glanced over my shoulder and saw they were all following me now. Dad was swimming the quickest, and even though I could see Yancy was really trying now, he was still last in line.

  “Are you sure about this?” Dad called. “It’s not the Ender Dragon trying to trick you? You’re going straight for the topmost elder guardian!”

  “We don’t want the elder guardians on the right or left!” I said. “We want the main one!”

  “Stevie, slow down so we can catch up!” Dad said. “You can’t go after that thing alone! You have no idea how strong it is!”

  “There isn’t time!” I said. “We’re going to run out of air!”

  I still had a slight sense of where things were, but now that I was moving with my eyes open and the voices had stopped, I didn’t have the clear-as-a-map picture of the ocean monument in my head anymore. However, I had a good enough idea, and I was full of energy, ready to get this mission done.

  What I didn’t expect was for the whole figure of the elder guardian to flash before me then, causing a shudder to go through my entire body.

  I cried out and swung at it with my sword. But the guardian I had seen was already gone and my sword sliced through nothing but water. What had happened?

  “Did you just see that?” Destiny cried, shuddering.

  “I know what that was!” Maison said. “In Minecraft, you see the elder guardian flash over your screen when it gives you Mining Fatigue.”

  “That means we’re getting close,” Dad said.

  Seeing the elder guardian was like being splashed abruptly with freezing water. I was cold, startled, and shaken. When Steve Alexander had been talking to me, I had felt ready to take on the elder guardian. But now I didn’t feel so certain. If the elder guardian could do this to people without actually being near them, what would it be like to fight it face-to-face?

  Then I remembered what Steve Alexander had said. That I had to face my fears. That I shouldn’t doubt myself. Whether or not I could still feel him or hear his voice, I had to believe he was with me. And that he believed in me.

  So I took a deep breath and kept swimming, with the others behind me.

  The image flashed in front of me again and I felt the same ice-cold sensation pour over my body. I also thought I saw something purple and glowing.

  Find the glow, and find your treasure.

  There was a room in the ceiling above me, and I could see a small, square hole that led into it. I grabbed the edges of the hole and pulled myself through.

  As soon as my head popped up, I saw it. An enormous elder guardian, even larger than I had sensed the other two elder guardians were. It took up almost the whole room, and was much more terrifying than any image Yancy had shown me in his book. First I saw its single, pinkish eye, which was partially covered by an angry-looking eyebrow that slanted down. Next I saw rows of jagged, blue-purple spikes pointing out of its body like spears. Each one of those spikes was bigger than my diamond sword.

  A purple glow was rising from its midsection.

  That had to be where the missing Ender crystal shard was. Inside the belly of the beast.

  Telling myself not to be scared, I swam forward and struck out with my sword.

  Argh, what was I thinking? Not doubting myself wasn’t the same as charging forward without knowing what I was doing. Its spikes were out, and I felt the sting of pain zap through me. It hurt so much worse than hitting a regular guardian.

  The others were pulling themselves through the hole and into the room with me.

  “Holy cow,” Yancy said.

  “I’ve never seen an elder guardian that big!” Dad cried. “Back up, Stevie! Its spikes are out!”

  If I backed up, I was sure it would get ready to shoot lasers at us, just
like the regular guardians. If just hitting its spikes hurt worse than hitting a guardian, its lasers probably did more damage than anything we’d felt so far.

  I didn’t know how all of us could take this beast on. Our five weapons were nothing compared to a mob this size. And the Ender crystal was actually inside the monster, as if it had swallowed the shard!

  An idea crossed my mind.

  Oh, no, I thought. Not that! Anything but that!

  Except I couldn’t come up with any other ideas. I thought back to earlier in the boat, when Yancy and Destiny were arguing over whether sharks went around eating people. Sharks might not, but guardians did.

  I’d been sucked inside a guardian once before and gotten out in one piece.

  “Everyone, I’m going in!” I shouted. “Attack it from the outside and I’ll attack it from the inside.”

  “Stevie, no!” Dad exclaimed. “That’s too risky!”

  I knew it was risky. I also knew I had the strangest feeling then, as if Steve Alexander were standing by my side, even though I couldn’t see him. I couldn’t even hear his voice anymore. It didn’t matter. I knew what I had to do.

  Instead of attacking the elder guardian, I flung myself straight for its face. Its enormous mouth gaped open like a nightmare, and the beast swallowed me whole.

  CHAPTER 13

  I WAS SURROUNDED BY THE RED WALLS OF THE ELDER guardian’s insides. Like before, it was comparable to being in a red room, but so many times bigger.

  And something was glowing right in front of me. Glowing like the fish in the bottom of the Earth’s ocean, shining light to find their prey. I swam forward and my hand closed around the Ender crystal shard.

  As soon as I did that, I could sense the elder guardian’s power weakening a little. This crystal could be used as a weapon or as a power, and I realized the fish had held this crystal in its stomach for so many years that the magic had made it grow and grow. Now that I had my hand on its power, it might be more like fighting a normal elder guardian.