Down into the Nether Read online

  I knew then that there was no more time for fighting the idea of going down into the Nether.

  Alex packed up more weapons and supplies and the two of us approached the Nether portal, her first. I still held my music disc close to me, hoping against hope I’d hear Maison’s voice again.

  Ossie rubbed against my legs, taking me out of my thoughts. “Oh no!” I said. “What do we do with Ossie?”

  Normally I would have felt fine leaving Ossie in the house by herself. That was in my pre-Herobrine life. I didn’t want to tempt fate by leaving her unwatched and taking any chance of letting her get snatched again. However, I also didn’t want to bring her into the dangers of the Nether.

  Ossie started rubbing against the portal as if she approved of it. That silly cat.

  “Well, I guess she made up her mind on her own,” Alex said. “Why don’t you carry her on your shoulder so she doesn’t wander off?”

  Good thinking. I lifted Ossie up and set her securely on my shoulder. “You stay close, Ossie,” I said, and she rubbed my head and purred as if agreeing.

  “I’ll go first,” Alex said, and leapt through the portal and into Nether.

  I waited, took a deep breath, and then jumped through after her.

  For a moment everything went purple and hazy. Then I fell through and into the Nether, falling clumsily on my hands. “Ouch!” I said, because Ossie’s claws dug into my shoulder so she could hold on. As strange as Maison’s world was to me, especially when I first saw it, I can’t say it was as alien to me as the Nether.

  The air was dark red, as if you mixed together the colors of night and spider eyes. Above us we could see the ground, giving me a closed-in feeling. How could anyone live without seeing the sky or sunlight? The stones around us were all reddish and built into random plateaus and jutting edges. Here and there were blocks of flames, their orange-red fires licking up as if to taste anyone who might fall on them. The darkness went on and on and on, enfolding us.

  And we were not alone.

  Just a few feet away were a whole herd of zombie pigmen. They had bodies shaped like the bodies of zombies in the Overworld, but their skins were blotched with both zombie green and pig pink. They even had little pink pig snouts, and I remember Dad telling me they couldn’t be hurt by lava, and that you can create a zombie pigman by having lightning strike a pig. Not that I wanted to create any more of these things.

  I saw the golden swords they were carrying, and my hand automatically raised my diamond sword in defense.

  “Stevie, no!” Alex cried, thinking I was going to attack them. “Zombie pigmen leave you alone unless you hurt them, and then they’ll start defending themselves. Viciously. And trust me, you do not want that whole swarm on us.”

  “Right, right, I knew that,” I said. And I had known that—Dad had drilled a million rules about the Nether into my head over the years—but I was so worried about Dad and everything else that it had slipped my mind.

  “Ah ha!” Alex said, noticing that the glow on the music disc she held was pointing us eastward. Or, at least, I think it was east. It was really hard to tell directions in this underground world.

  Alex briskly began walking the way the music disc wanted her to go, strolling right by the zombie pigmen as if they didn’t bother her in the least. I nervously followed, staring at the zombie pigmen, expecting them to get us.

  When the portal was far enough behind us that it was almost out of sight, Alex stopped and pulled some supplies out of her toolkit.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, confused, my eyes darting around for any signs of danger. There were several more swarms of zombie pigmen I could see, but no overly dangerous mobs. The zombie pigmen grunted as we walked by.

  “If this music disc stops working—or, if it leads us in the wrong direction—I’m not getting caught looking like an idiot,” Alex said. “My mom taught me that when you’re in the Nether, you always leave yourself a trail so you can follow your way back out.”

  I was glad that Alex was thinking through these things. I knelt down and helped her set up a torch on the ground by putting a stick and piece of coal together. Within seconds the torch was working just fine, a little fire among all the other fires here.

  “Stevie,” Alex said as we started walking again, “I can tell you’re super nervous, but it’s okay. These music discs haven’t lied to us before, and we should be able to get the stones and make the new portal in no time. Once we get the portal made, we join with the others and make more plans. If you try to figure out everything now, it’ll be too much.”

  I guess she really did think it could be that easy. “It’s too much already!” I said. “What if we don’t even make it to the stones because we’re attacked by mobs? The Nether is a dangerous place, Alex! It’s not some fun adventure.”

  “If you have an attitude like that, life will be miserable,” Alex said. She suddenly stopped and looked at me straight on. “Wait, I get it,” she said. “You’re scared of the Nether.”

  “I’m not scared!” I said, even though I knew everything about me said otherwise. I was basically shaking there, looking left and right and clutching my diamond sword.

  “I know your dad told you that sometimes you have to do unpleasant things,” Alex said, “but it’s also true you can make things unpleasant just by expecting them to be. Look, even your cat is more excited about this Nether adventure than you.”

  Ossie purred and rubbed against my head. Darn cat.

  We came up to a bridge between two cliffs of rock. Peering down, we saw a lava lake below. Even from up here I could feel its heat against my face. I didn’t want to think about how much it would hurt to touch it. Or to fall into it.

  The bridge shook unsteadily as Alex and I made our way across it.

  “At least it’s a full bridge,” Alex said, since bridges in the Nether often broke off into nothing and didn’t actually get you anywhere. “I still think this music disc isn’t going to take us anyplace bad.”

  She spoke too soon. When we stepped off the bridge and onto the other cliff, we heard an awful sound coming our way. It sounded like a baby crying, or someone having a really hard time breathing. Soft and creepy at the same time. Before we could even think of how to respond, three ghasts burst out of the darkness, coming straight for us.

  “Duck!” I cried as the ghasts opened their mouths and hurled balls of fire.

  CHAPTER 13

  ALEX AND I BOTH DOVE TO THE SIDE, NARROWLY missing the fireballs. I felt the heat of one fireball whiz by my face and go over the cliff, landing in the lava below. In the panic Ossie jumped off my shoulder and ran.

  There was no time to call her back. Another fireball blasted at me, and it would have hit my shoulder if I didn’t roll away as fast as I could. Alex was jumping and rolling, too. She kept trying to shoot with her arrows, but the fireballs came at us so fast she wasn’t getting time to aim. And whenever a fireball hit the ground, it exploded and turned to flames.

  In a rush I got back to my feet and lifted my sword. I knew it was possible to use weapons to hit the flames back at ghasts. If you hit them back with their own blast, that was a good way to defeat them. Too bad I’d never had any practice doing it. A ghast blasted at me and I swung and missed.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Alex, still ducking and blocking, trying desperately to get a shot in. Another fireball shot out at me and I swung, missing again. One ghast was especially interested in getting me, and the other two circled over Alex, spraying her with flames. The ground below us chipped away as more fires leapt up from the fireballs.

  I swung my diamond sword, and this time I felt the impact as my sword struck the fireball. Finally! But then I saw the fireball shoot back toward the ghast and just barely miss it. So close!

  The ghast overhead zipped around, making me turn toward it with my diamond sword out. I realized it was trying to push me closer toward the edge of the cliff.

  “Alex, help!” I called out.

  “I c
ould use some backup myself!” Alex cried. She aimed her arrow at one of the ghasts. The other ghast opened its mouth to blow fire at her, but she jumped away from the fire blast just in the nick of time.

  I could tell that the ghasts were trying to push Alex over to the cliff as well. They weren’t just trying to take us out with their spitting flames or knock us into the fire they created—they wanted us to fall into the lava pit below, where there was zero chance of survival.

  “Alex, we have to stay on the cliff!” I said.

  “You think I don’t know that?” Alex snapped back.

  Ossie came running back out of the red-blackness and threw herself on one of the ghasts circling over Alex. She landed on top of the white square head and dug in her sharp claws. This startled the ghast, who began swinging in circles, trying to knock Ossie off.

  Now that Ossie had the second ghast busy, Alex jumped up, ripped back her bow and sent an arrow flying, taking out the other ghast over her head. As soon as her arrow hit the ghast, it disappeared into nothingness.

  “Good job, Ossie!” I shouted. Big mistake. Hearing her name, Ossie looked up for a moment, and the ghast was able to knock her off its back. Ossie landed on the red rocks just beneath her. Thankfully she was not hurt. Alex drew back her bow and took out the ghast Ossie had been attacking.

  The ghast over me continued to press in, shooting another round of fire. When I swung my sword, I felt the blade hit fire again. This time the fire shot back and struck the ghast straight on, making it vanish.

  “Yes!” I said, feeling victorious. Stevie: one. Ghast: zero!

  Maybe I shouldn’t be so scared after all, I thought.

  “Stevie, look out!” Alex yelled.

  I almost didn’t see it before it was too late.

  The moment before Alex’s arrow hit the third and final ghast, that ghast had let out one last breath of fire. The fire was hurtling my way!

  I dived to the side, feeling a blaze of fire rush right past me.

  Two things happened right then, one very good and one very bad. Alex’s arrow successfully hit the final ghast, defeating it. But at that same moment, I found my feet on shaky ground.

  I looked back behind me and saw I was on the very edge of the cliff, teetering, my feet half-standing on solid rock and half-standing on nothing.

  I began windmilling my arms like crazy, trying to catch my balance and pull myself forward. I even dropped my sword to the side so I had both hands free. But it wasn’t working. I was slipping backward! I saw Ossie running toward me, crying out, but she was a little cat and couldn’t help me. Alex was dashing my way too, her hand stretched out, calling, “Grab my hand!”

  I reached for her hand. Too late! Alex’s hand was only inches away from mine when I felt my balance tip, and fell back, plunging over the cliff and into the lava below.

  CHAPTER 14

  I WATCHED THE LIP OF THE CLIFF GO OUT FROM UNDER me and saw Alex’s panicked face as she hurtled herself toward the edge, her hand still out trying to catch me.

  Everything was going in slow, terrifying motion. First I felt my feet give out, then I was surrounded by a rush of gravity as I plummeted. In those few seconds I didn’t look at the lava, but every inch of me knew it was there. It was an ocean of orange-yellow liquid fire below, ready to suck me in and never let me go. No weapon, not even a diamond sword, was going to protect me from that liquid fire.

  I’m sorry, Dad, I thought as I fell. I’m sorry, Maison. I wasn’t able to save you.

  It was all up to Alex now. Would she be able to find the stones, build a new portal, and help Maison and the others save the two worlds? Would she rescue my dad in time?

  I braced myself for the impact, my eyes squeezed shut. I pictured Dad, and Maison, and all the people I cared about, even that weirdo Yancy, and I said “good-bye” to them all in my head. Because that was the only “good-bye” I was ever going to be able to give.

  But instead of hitting the lava below I felt something strong clamp around my hand.

  My eyes flew open and I looked up. Alex was on her stomach, leaning half off the cliff, gripping my hand with all her might.

  “Alex!” I said, relieved.

  “Don’t thank me yet,” Alex said through gritted teeth. She was struggling to pull me up over the cliff. “Try to grab on to something!” Alex grunted as she strained to lift my weight.

  My free hand reached out to the cliff and tried to catch something. I found my hands slipping against solid rock, not able to get a good grip. I swung my feet out, trying to plant them against the cliff. Nothing was working.

  I felt Alex’s grip on me start to loosen.

  “You have to pull harder!” I cried. The longer this was going on, the more Alex’s strength was being used up.

  She reached down and grabbed my other hand. My legs kept trying helplessly to get some footing on the cliff.

  For some stupid reason I looked down at the rippling lava. That was about the worst thing I could do. Sick with dizziness, I forced my gaze back up and shouted, “Hurry, Alex!”

  “I’m doing the best I can!” Alex said.

  I felt her grip on me loosen a little more. She was barely holding on.

  I realized how panicked I sounded. I mean, I had a million and one reasons to be super panicked, but I knew that my panic couldn’t be helping Alex, who had to be horrified enough herself right now.

  “Alex,” I said, “I know you can do this.”

  Alex’s grip tightened on me.

  “I’ve seen you take out mobs and face really scary things. And whenever something bad happens, you always find a way to fix it,” I went on. “And you always like a good challenge, don’t you? Then take this challenge and help me up!”

  She gave one huge tug and pulled me back up onto the edge of the cliff. I was able to grab the cliff and hoist myself up. Solid ground had never felt better in my whole life.

  For a moment I lay there on the red-black ground surrounded by fire. I tried to catch my breath, hardly believing that I was alive. Ossie happily danced around my head, purring and mewing loudly.

  “Oh, man,” Alex groaned. “Let’s not do that again.”

  I sat up and put Ossie back on my shoulder. I picked up my diamond sword. “Alex,” I breathed. “Thank you.”

  “Hmm?” Alex said. She was busy picking up her tools and toolkit that she had flung to the side to rescue me. “Oh, it was nothing.” But I could tell from her posture she didn’t think it was nothing. She had been scared, too.

  Alex began quickly making another torch with a stick and piece of coal. We needed a new torch so we could find our way back, though I believe she also needed something to keep her occupied right then. I thought I saw her hands shaking.

  When the new torch was made, she looked at the music disc with the glow in it. The glow had gotten stronger.

  “Maybe the glow gets brighter the closer we get to the rocks we need?” Alex suggested.

  “I hope so,” I said, rubbing my aching back. My hands were definitely shaking. “I also hope we don’t have to go over any more cliffs.”

  There was no way the Nether would be that easy on us. It turned out we did have to go over a couple more cliffs, and we half-inched, half-ran across them, wanting to be done with them as soon as possible. At the same time, we couldn’t be so fast we’d get clumsy and have an accident.

  We passed by more zombie pigmen and I kept my eye on them, but like Alex said, they left us alone because we left them alone.

  Following the music disc’s glow, we turned a corner and walked under a lava waterfall. I was a little nervous that sputters of lava might fly off and hit us. Plus I was nervous that mobs might be on the other side because the lava was blocking most of our view.

  “It’s glowing really brightly now,” Alex said, studying the music disc.

  When we stepped out from under the lava waterfall, a whole new section of the Nether revealed itself like a stage. We both froze, awestruck by what we found.

&nb
sp; CHAPTER 15

  IT WAS A NETHER FORTRESS.

  I’d never seen a Nether fortress with my own eyes, though Dad had told me about them. Nether fortresses were like dark, enormous castles you could only find in this world. No one knew who built them, and inside you might find all sorts of useful things, like mushrooms, Nether wart, or even treasure chests.

  But it was also a place where extra mobs, like blazes and wither skeletons, dwelled.

  The Nether fortress in front of us was absolutely huge. All the people from my nearby village could live there and there’d still be room to spare! I wondered if all the Nether fortresses were this big and darkly majestic.

  We could tell from the way the music disc was glowing that it wanted us to go inside.

  Alex and I slipped into the Nether fortress slowly and quietly. Over to the right, we saw a dark hallway going as far as our eyes could see. The hallway had multiple doorways leading into who-knew-what. To the left, we saw the same thing—darkness and doors and more doors. It was so dark the inside of the castle felt as if it were made of shadows. We were thankful to have the glow from the music disc to help us see.

  Without the music disc, we never would have known which one of those millions of doors to try. Thankfully, the music disc was helpfully pointing us to a very specific door.

  “Watch your step and stay close,” Alex warned. “We don’t want any more accidents.”

  As if I needed reminding.

  I heard a noise coming from the side and I swiped out into the darkness with my diamond sword. But I just hit the wall and knocked one of the blocks out of the way. Alex asked me to stop being so jumpy.

  “Wait,” I cried out. “I think there’s something here.” I knocked out a few more blocks with my diamond sword, then quickly drew back. At first it looked as if removing the blocks had given us more space, but now I saw there was no floor beneath them. If we walked over there without paying attention, we could have fallen through and landed … well, I didn’t know exactly where we would land, and I didn’t want to find out.