Escape from the Overworld Read online

  We hesitantly moved toward the computer. I could see the Overworld through the screen. The problem was that the screen looked so solid. It wasn’t swirling colors or looking like a normal portal. I put the tip of my sword to the screen. It sank through, without hurting the screen or changing the picture on the other side.

  I glanced back at Maison, who was watching the sword closely.

  “Remind me to never touch that computer screen unless I mean it,” she said.

  I took a deep breath. And then I plunged in.

  It was awkward because I had to jump up to do it, but it worked. I saw the computer portal coming right at me, and then I was out of Maison’s room and surrounded by colors. First there were the pulsing greens. Then everything turned a sky blue, and finally my whole world went red as a spider’s eyes.

  I plopped out at the other end, back in a world where everything looked so square and blocky and right. Home! As much as I’d enjoyed Maison’s world, I had to admit that this was the world that just felt right in the end.

  But there wasn’t time to celebrate. Because almost immediately I noticed three things: the sky was overcast. My dad, a few feet away, was battling off a group of zombies. And the color red was shining right in front of me, but it had nothing to do with the portal. The red I was seeing was the eyes of a giant spider inches from my face.

  CHAPTER 19

  “STEVIE!” DAD HOLLERED OVER THE ZOMBIES. INSTANTLY, I jabbed my sword out. It could have been a direct hit, but I missed it by the tiniest amount, and the spider clamped its mouth down. Before my eyes the sword was smashed to bits.

  I dropped the handle and tried to grab the spider, using all my strength to push it back. It wasn’t going to work. I wanted to call out to Dad, but I could see he was already trying to rush over to me, only to be blocked off by zombies. His diamond sword was flashing, trying to break through in time.

  Right then a giant stick hit the spider over the head, knocking it back. The spider stumbled, shook itself, and looked again. Maison stood right over me, brandishing her baseball bat.

  “Come and get me, you overgrown tarantula!” she shouted. “You don’t attack my friend!”

  “Maison!” I said in relief.

  The spider charged, but Maison was too quick. She drew the baseball bat back over her shoulder before sending it swinging. It hit the spider straight in the face, flipping it back and making it disappear.

  “Stevie!” Dad cried, his voice really panicked this time. I’d never heard him sound like that. He was still slashing his way through the zombies to get to me, but the spider’s attack and Maison’s appearance through the portal must have distracted him. He’d let his guard down for the slightest second and the mobs were all over him, circling him, pulling him down into the center of their swarm.

  “Dad!”

  I couldn’t get to him in time. A zombie swiped at him just right, knocking the diamond sword from Dad’s hand. The sword flew up in the air, sparkling against the gray sky before landing on the ground just out of Dad’s reach. The blade knifed down into the ground while the handle trembled in the air from the force of the zombie’s blow.

  I dove for it, seizing the handle. Dad became lost inside the circle of zombies.

  Was it already too late? Quickly I leapt toward the zombies, raising my weapon, desperate to break through the group and get Dad to safety.

  I’d never actually held his diamond sword before. Now I swung it with all my might, drawing my arm back like Maison had done with her baseball bat. And Maison was beside me, attacking the zombies along with me. One swift, sparkling swipe of the sword and some of the zombies fell, one by one.

  The rest of the zombies turned from Dad to stare at Maison and me, but that was fine, I was ready. The diamond sword bit clear through the mobs. There were ten zombies, swarming all around me. My vision was full of flashes of blue as I flung out with the sword. The zombies kept getting right up close to me, their breath on my face, but each time they got that close I would hit back, slicing them with the sword before they could actually touch me. Ten zombies turned into five, and then two. And now I was facing the last one. It plunged toward me, only to disappear as soon as it touched the tip of the diamond sword’s blade.

  Now there was only Dad, Maison, me, and the portal. The mobs were gone.

  CHAPTER 20

  “STEVIE,” DAD SAID IN WONDER. HE WAS REALLY HURT, but he tried to sit up and couldn’t. He sat back down and looked up at me in awe. “What happened? Where were you? I was so worried.”

  There were too many things he wanted to say and ask that all seemed to come out at the same time.

  “I went through the portal,” I said, pointing.

  “And who is this?” He looked toward Maison.

  “This is Maison,” I said. “I met her at the other side.”

  Dad reached into his pouch where he kept food and milk. He needed these things now to regain his strength. There was an uncomfortable silence as all three of us stood there, still overwhelmed from adrenaline, trying to understand that we really were safe. For the moment, anyway. Some clouds began to break apart and let sunlight through. It felt different from the sun in Maison’s world, but it was so good to have that light shine down and protect us from the dangerous mobs.

  “If you’re Stevie’s dad, we need to get something straight,” Maison said firmly. “You have no right telling him you’re disappointed in him. Do you know what just happened? Stevie came out into my world, which I don’t think anyone from the Minecraft world has ever done before. And when I took him to school with me, the mobs came out too and attacked. But do you know what? Stevie knew what to do and he saved everyone at the school. I’m talking about hundreds of kids.”

  I could tell Dad wasn’t used to being talked to this way. He was The Steve, not someone you could lecture! But then he said, “You saved all those people?”

  “He did,” Maison said, crossing her arms.

  “Well, Maison helped,” I said, because it wasn’t fair otherwise. “She acted like a general and told the kids what to do. She also followed me here and took care of that spider with a baseball bat.”

  “But you were the one who reacted when the zombies were first there,” Maison said. “And you made all those weapons out of trees. Those kids needed something to protect themselves with, and no one else would have been able to make weapons that fast. And you had your sword.”

  We both looked down at my broken-to-bits sword from shop class. Nothing I made ever seemed to stay in one piece.

  “You both saved all those children,” Dad said. “And you saved me.”

  “And that’s why you should never be disappointed in your son,” Maison said.

  Dad looked down. “I’m not. I shouldn’t have said that. Stevie, is that why you ran away? I came home and looked everywhere for you. I could have kicked myself for what I’d said. It just came out, because . . . I didn’t want to admit how scared I was of losing you.”

  I was stunned. Maison looked proud of herself for turning the conversation this way.

  “What you did on the tree house wasn’t the best way of handling things,” Dad said. “You hadn’t kept track of time and you panicked when you saw the creeper instead of fighting it. But we all make mistakes. I guess the point is to learn from them.” He pushed more food into his mouth. I think it was partly because he really did need the food to heal up, but also partly because it was an excuse for him not to talk. I knew it was hard for my dad to say these things. He always liked to look so in-charge and never show his emotions.

  But I needed this moment. After all the years of “Stevie, what were you thinking?” and “Stevie, you’re doing that wrong,” it was nice to have him finally say something positive. And know that he meant it. It was a start, at least.

  I was surprised to hear Dad go on, “You were amazing with the diamond sword. I see I did train you well.”

  Maison gave him a disapproving look. Dad cleared his throat and corrected, “I see yo
u are skilled with a sword. And it takes more than me training you for you to be able to do what you did.”

  Maison smiled approvingly.

  “We should go back home, Stevie,” Dad said. “I need to rest for a bit. But your friend is welcome to come along. She can have something to eat and meet Ossie. Maybe in my garden I have something that will help her feel better.”

  “Feel better?” Maison said blankly.

  “I assume you have allergies,” Dad said. “You’re so soft and not squarish.”

  Maison made a face. I said, “No, Dad, that’s how people look in her world. She doesn’t have allergies.”

  “Oh,” Dad said. He didn’t apologize to Maison for his misunderstanding. He would still have to work on that. “Well, if you want to come along, you’re more than welcome.”

  “Wait,” Maison said. “We took care of the mobs in my world, so we’re safe for now. But we need to do something about the portal so more mobs don’t get through. Our world doesn’t have any mobs, so people don’t know how to handle them there.”

  I sucked in a breath. So it had finally come down to it. We couldn’t take Maison back to eat because that would leave the portal unattended. Sure, the sun was coming out now, but if the sun got covered by clouds again, more mobs could make their way through. The portal needed to be destroyed as soon as possible.

  “Maison,” I said, but I was looking at the ground. This was so hard. What do you say to someone you just met, who understood you like no one else did, and who helped you save a school and your dad? “So long”? “Nice knowing you”? Nothing would be good enough.

  “What?” Maison said. “If you have some tools, we can get started right now.”

  “Maison,” I said sadly, “the only way to protect your world from the mobs is to destroy the portal.” Now I forced myself to look up at her. “I’m so sorry, Maison. This has to be goodbye.”

  Maison was alarmed. “No!” she said. “No, don’t even tell me that!”

  “I’m sorry, Maison.” Wow, I’d blown it. I hadn’t made it sound nice at all. I’d maybe saved a school and my dad, but I didn’t know how to save this conversation.

  “I’m not going to never see you again!” she went on heatedly.

  “The only way for that to happen is if one of us lives in the other’s world,” I said. “I couldn’t ask you to live here forever. Your family is in your world. Your mom. Your home. And I can’t leave here. Even with all its problems, I love it here.”

  CHAPTER 21

  SHE STARED AT ME FOR A LONG MOMENT. “THERE IS another way,” she declared.

  “There is?” A bit of hope clutched at me.

  “Yes,” she said. “We’ll build an obsidian house around the portal. Creepers can’t blow up obsidian. We’ll put iron doors on it so no mobs can enter, and we’ll put torches near it so no mobs can spawn near here at night. We can even put all sorts of booby traps with arrows in dispensers and pressure plates in the house just to be extra safe. I’m not saying goodbye, Stevie. We’re keeping this portal!”

  I looked to Dad. “She’s right,” he said. “That would work. And I’ve got a lot of obsidian sitting in storage back home that you could use.”

  This time I knew exactly what to do. I ran over to Maison and hugged her. “Maison, you’re brilliant!” I said. “We can still visit both worlds, and we don’t have to lose each other! You’ve saved the day!”

  Together Maison and I built the house around the portal in the Overworld so we could keep it safe. For years Dad had let his supply of obsidian sit around, waiting to make a great project out of it, because obsidian is really hard to get. For my tree house I’d made the point of getting all my own supplies, but Dad understood how much this portal mattered and how important it was we protect it right away. Out came the obsidian blocks and Maison and I got to work.

  It was a simple house, but it was effective. First we just put up the walls, roof, windows, and door. I was able to work rapidly, and Maison knew exactly where everything should go. I knew she would make a great architect one day.

  We used sticks and coal to make torches. The only thing left would be the booby traps, though they’d have to wait for another day because of the amount of time that was passing. This house should be just fine without them, but Maison figured we’d use them just to be extra, extra, extra careful. As we were finishing up, the sun was setting.

  “I need to go home,” Maison said. “My mom is probably worried. And who knows what they think at the school!”

  We arranged a time for her to try coming back, a few days later. That would give me more of an opportunity to fine-tune the house (and hopefully nothing would go wrong) and take care of the booby traps. I watched as Maison stepped through the portal, hoping she would make it back okay, hoping she’d be able to return and our plan would work.

  Quickly Dad and I made our way back home before it got fully dark, with me propping him up since he was still kind of weak. In my one hand I held his diamond sword.

  Ossie was at the door and eager to greet us. I shut the heavy iron door behind us, helped Dad sit, put the diamond sword back on the wall and got some more food for us. I was starved and the food in Dad’s pouch had only helped him a little.

  “Stevie,” he said. “There’s something else you should know.”

  “What?” I asked, setting up the food. Too bad we didn’t have any cereal. I needed to get more of that stuff from Maison’s world.

  “It’s not as if I haven’t made mistakes, either,” he said. “When I was twelve and got the diamonds to make my sword, I almost got killed.”

  “You did?” I was so shocked I almost dropped my food.

  “Yes,” he said. “I got so completely caught up in finding those diamonds that I didn’t notice some mobs sneak up behind me. Luckily I wasn’t alone. My father, your grandfather, was also there, and he saw the mobs and saved me. If he hadn’t been there, well, let’s just not think about it.”

  “I didn’t know that,” I said.

  “Well,” he said. “After that I made my diamond sword and practiced really hard with it. I promised myself I’d never be in that situation again.”

  Ossie rubbed against me, purring, and I reached down to pet her. “So you didn’t?” I asked.

  “No,” he said. “I did. A few times. The latest being today. I had searched everywhere for you, and when I found that portal, I wondered if you’d gone through it. I thought, No, he couldn’t have. Then I began to hope you had, because then maybe you were just safe on the other side. I was going to go through the portal, but then I saw all the mobs surrounding it and going in. Something was attracting them to that portal.”

  He continued, “Then some of the zombies attacked me, and I saw you flying out of the portal. When that spider broke your sword and came at you, I thought I’d lose you. Your friend Maison showed up and saved you and I got so caught up in what I was seeing that I didn’t finish fighting the zombies around me. You saw what happened.”

  “Yeah,” I said softly.

  He reached into his pouch and pulled out the broken pieces of my shop class sword. I hadn’t realized he’d grabbed them.

  “Oh, that,” I said, embarrassed. “It’s not very good.”

  “Yes, it is,” he said. “You used this to defend the lives of others. I think we should hang it on the wall, next to the diamond sword.”

  “Even though it’s in pieces?”

  “Especially since it’s in pieces. It shows you used it.”

  Within minutes my broken sword was on the wall. We stood back, admiring it.

  “I also like that weapon your friend had with her,” he said. “I should make myself one of those.”

  “The baseball bat?” I said. “It’s not really a weapon. It’s supposed to be for playing games.”

  “What a strange world,” he said.

  CHAPTER 22

  “NEED MORE OAK BLOCKS OVER HERE!” MAISON CALLED.

  “I’m on it!” I said. It was several day
s later and Maison had safely returned back into the Overworld. Together we had started anew on my tree house, making it even bigger and better than my original plans for it. Maison had a whole idea for a balcony and everything and I was watching it come together before our eyes.

  While we worked, she filled me in on what had happened since I left her world.

  “Well, no one could really figure it out,” she said. “I haven’t told anyone that my computer is also a portal. So it’s a mystery to them how you and the mobs all got out there.”

  “Was everyone okay from the attack?” I asked.

  “A few kids got hurt, but nothing that a trip to the school nurse couldn’t fix,” she said. “We were all really lucky. Ms. Reid said she’s going to teach us how to make swords in shop class class, and she said you’re welcome back any time. She said she’s been experimenting with different ways to make swords, but she still can’t figure out how you made them so quickly. She said if you ever come back, you’re going to have to teach her and the class.”

  I laughed a little. “Well, all right.”

  “The principal also said you’re an honorary student,” Maison said. “My mom got there after everything was over. She was pretty freaked out about the mess the house was in, but mostly she was just glad that I was safe.”

  I was stacking up blocks of wood for one of the walls while Maison straightened furniture in the middle of the room. This time she’d made a bed, and she’d used three planks of wood and some wool. You know, the nice, normal way to make a bed. With this bed I could spend the night out here in the tree house if I wanted to sometime.

  “And you wouldn’t believe what happened to Mitch and Dirk!” she said. “They realize we saved them, and now they practically kiss my feet every time they see me. It’s all, ‘Maison, we’re so sorry! Maison, we were wrong!’ I told them they have to help me make my little house again because it’s their fault it got broken.”

  Maison paused from work for a minute to go out on the balcony and lean on the railing, staring out at the land around us. “This blocky world is going to take some getting used to, but I kind of like it,” she said. “It’s a good place to visit, especially since I can help build things on a large scale.”