Chapter One: Mala And Henry

Mala Desai sat on top of the monkey bars, swinging her legs as she watched the other kids running around the yard. It was recess—her favorite part of the day. A wind picked up, setting her dark hair fluttering. As Mala sat there braiding her hair, above the laughter and playful screams, the unpleasant words of one of her classmates floated over to her, disrupting her thoughts.

Mala twisted around to look over at the other side of the play structure. A boy with black hair and glasses was sitting on one of the colorful benches. He had a book in hand, but the three other boys who stood in front of him had sneers on their faces.

“Oh my god,” one of them said. “What’s Henry Oh reading today?”

“Henry Oh My God!” Another boy pointed at Henry. “Give us your book!”

Henry frowned at them. “If I give it to you, can you even read it? My reading level is the highest in our class.”

The boys exchanged a glance before lunging forward. Henry was faster, and Mala watched him jump over the back of the bench and sprint off. As the boys gave chase, Mala noticed a thin piece of paper standing out against the yellow plastic on the bench.

She swung down from the monkey bars, dangling in mid-air for a moment before dropping to the sand below. Mala made her way over to the bench and picked up the paper. It was a bookmark. The blocky letters were familiar, and Mala turned it over to look at the other side. A smile spread over her face. There was a Minecraft creeper looking up at her.

Mala turned to search the yard for Henry, bookmark in hand, but he had vanished. Mala looked down at the bookmark again instead. So Henry played Minecraft too. Mala didn’t think any of her classmates played Minecraft anymore, but it seemed like Henry might.

Mala spent the rest of her recess searching the yard for Henry. She came across the boys who had been chasing him, but from how they were sulking around, it looked like they had lost track of Henry as well.

The bell rang and Mala lined up for class. She waited until she saw Henry, then hurried over to stand behind him. Mala held out the bookmark to him. “I found this on the yard. Is this yours?”

Henry nodded, blinking as he quietly took it from her. “Thank you.”

Mala smiled, then lowered her voice. “You play Minecraft? I do too!”

“I don’t,” Henry said shortly.

“What?” Mala said in dismay. But Henry’s bookmark clearly had a creeper on it!

“The bookmark isn’t mine,” Henry told her. “I just found it stuffed in a book in our classroom library.”

Mala’s expression fell as Henry turned away.

At lunch, Mala watched Henry eating alone on the far side of the long cafeteria tables. She had never paid him much attention before, but now she found herself sneaking glances at him. He was reading his book, and his glasses were slowly sliding down his nose before he quickly pushed them back up. As she watched, one of the boys sitting close to him reached over and stealthily snatched Henry’s lunch box.

Mala rose to her feet and marched over. That was it.

Mala came to a stop behind the boys who were now snickering to each other as they scribbled on the lunch box with black markers. “Hey!” Mala put her hands on her hips. “What are you doing?”

Henry seemed to notice the commotion and put down his book. When he realized his lunch box was in the hands of the other boys, he reached over and grabbed it back. Henry’s name had been written on the box in neat letters, Henry Oh, but now two more words had been added to read Henry Oh My God.

Mala pointed at the boys. “That’s not nice! Stop making fun of his name!”

The boys laughed as they stuck out their tongues. One of them jeered at Mala as the others howled with laughter. “What is a girl like you going to do about it?”

Mala just rolled up her sleeves and punched him in the face.

✦ ✦ ✦

Mala sat in the principal’s office with her arms crossed over her chest. The boy she had punched was there too, crying loudly as he clutched an ice pack to his face. Mala turned her nose in the air.

“She hit me!” the boy wailed.

“You stole Henry’s lunch box first!” Mala shot back.

The principal sat in front of the two of them. She let out a tired sigh. “I’ve already called both of your parents. Mala, your parents are working and can’t come get you until the end of the day. Toby, your dad is on his way right now.”

Mala tapped her foot as she sat there. It didn’t take long for Toby’s dad to pick up his son, and he shot a disapproving look in Mala’s direction before leaving the office. Mala continued to sit there. The principal had left to take care of other business, and Mala was left alone. She wasn’t sure how long she was sitting there before there was a quiet tapping at the door.

Mala hopped to her feet to open it. Henry stood on the other side, still clutching his lunch box tightly as if protecting it from being stolen again. Henry dropped his gaze. “Thank you.”

Mala reached out to examine the lunch box.

Henry held it tightly, hesitant to let it go.

“Come on in,” Mala said, holding the office door open. “The principal is gone. We can try to wash off the marker in the office bathroom.”

This time, Henry let Mala take the lunch box and followed her into the office. The two of them went to the bathroom and stood at the sink. Mala washed the lunch box with soap and water until, slowly but surely, the black ink began to fade.

Mala dried it the best she could with the paper towels before handing it back to Henry. “You really don’t play Minecraft?”

Henry didn’t meet Mala’s gaze. “I do,” he admitted.

Mala grinned. “I knew it!”

“The bookmark isn’t mine, though,” Henry said as the two of them left the office bathroom and closed the door behind him. “I really just found it stuffed inside a book.”

“Could I see it again?” Mala asked. “Maybe it belongs to one of our other classmates.”

Henry took out his book and opened it to where the creeper bookmark was pressed between the pages. Henry held it out, and Mala reached to take it. With Henry holding one end and Mala the other, there was a sudden flash of purple particles.

Mala and Henry both jumped, and the bookmark fell from their hands. As rapidly as they had appeared, the glowing particles vanished from the office.

Mala’s heart raced in her chest. “Did you see that?” she whispered.

Henry nodded. His mouth was open in shock.

Ever so slowly, Mala knelt down to poke at the bookmark with a finger. Nothing happened.

“Henry,” Mala whispered. “Try touching it too.”

Henry crouched down and reached forward. This time when his hand made contact with the paper, the purple particles roared to life again. Mala gaped in shock as they filled the principal’s office, swirling dizzily. The particles were blocky, and that was when Mala realized what they looked like. “Isn’t this an enderman?” she called over the winds that had suddenly descended upon them.

“Let go of the bookmark!” Henry was calling.

Mala tried to remove her finger, but she was stuck. The next thing she knew, the swirling particles had filled her vision, and everything faded to black.

✦ ✦ ✦

Mala awoke to the sound of wind rustling in the grass. That’s strange, she thought. But aren’t I in the principal’s office?

Mala sat up. A blue sky stretched infinitely above her. And as she looked on, clouds began to make their way across her vision. They were white and fluffy and blocky. Wait, blocky? She looked around, this time taking a good look at her surroundings. Mala’s mouth fell open. The world around her was made entirely of colorful blocks. She raised her hands in front of her only to find that they were blocky as well.

“Henry!” Mala called, her voice rising in disbelief. “Henry?” She glanced around to find Henry lying behind her. Mala gasped. He was made out of pixels—even his glasses were pixelated. Getting over her shock, Mala quickly shook him awake.

Henry slowly stirred, blinking in the light.

“Henry!” Mala said in a rush, “I think we’re in Minecraft!”

Chapter Two: Into Minecraft

Henry instantly sat up. “We’re in Minecraft,” he echoed in disbelief.

Mala nodded as the two of them looked out at the pixelated fields of swaying grass. The square sun beat down from the blue sky, and blocky mountains rose up in the distance. “It must have been the bookmark,” Mala said after a long moment. “When we touched it, I saw enderman particles.” Then her eyes widened. “They were portal particles!”

Henry was still in shock. “The bookmark was a portal? But I had been using it for weeks. Nothing happened to me all that time.”

“That’s because this time, we touched it together! Henry, do you think the two of us were transported here for a reason?”

“Where’s the bookmark?” Henry began frantically looking through the grass. “Mala, quick, help me look!”

Mala and Henry searched through the grass, but there was no sign of the creeper bookmark.

Henry turned to Mala, panicked. “Without the bookmark, does this mean we’re trapped in Minecraft?”

Once Henry said the words aloud, Mala began to worry too. “The bookmark must still be in the principal’s office!”

Henry’s face went pale. “If we’re stuck in Minecraft . . .” He trailed off, and the two of them slowly raised their heads to watch the square sun floating across the sky. Both of them sprung to their feet a moment later and hurried toward a growth of trees.

Mala looked at the tree apprehensively as she made her blocky fingers into a fist. “Punching trees is the first step after making a new world, but all of this already feels too real. Won’t punching the tree hurt?”

“You punched Toby earlier,” Henry pointed out. “Didn’t that hurt?”

Mala blinked before nodding. “That’s true. I’ll imagine the tree is Toby and punch him in the face again!” She took a breath and brought her first against the tree. Instead of the feeling of her knuckles making contact with the hard bark, a crack formed along the square trunk. Mala punched the tree again, and the crack grew larger. She continued to punch the tree until a block of wood came free from the rest of the trunk. The middle of the tree trunk popped into view and levitated there in the air.

Mala was grinning giddily as she reached to pick it up. The top of the tree was now floating in the air, defying the laws of gravity without a care in the world. Henry joined Mala at the trees, and together, the two of them collected four trees worth of wood.

“Let’s plant the saplings too,” Henry said as he handed a few to Mala. “This way we’ll have more wood to harvest here later.”

Mala took the saplings. “Good idea.”

Once they were done planting, Henry was frowning again. “How do you think we open our inventory?”

Mala lifted her blocky hands in front of her. She tried with her right hand first, then tried with her left hand. Henry watched her trying to tap the air as if there were invisible buttons there. “E is inventory,” Mala said after her attempts failed. “What happens if I draw an E in the air?” She tried, but still nothing happened. Mala sank to the ground under the remaining trees. “We collected all that wood, but I don’t know how to access it.”

Henry sat down as well. “When night comes, what do we do?”

Mala buried her head in her hands. While a part of her had been excited when they first appeared in Minecraft, she was now worried. How were they going to get out? If they died in the game, would they respawn? Mala’s stomach let out a rumble. And now she was hungry too.

Henry offered Mala an apple. “The trees were dropping these.”

Mala took it from him and took a bite.

Suddenly, Henry motioned for Mala to get down. He held his fingers to his lips. “Shh, something’s coming.”

Mala’s heart rate quickened as the two of them hid behind the trees. Cautiously peering around the trunks, Mala watched as figures appeared. There was a boy and girl leading the group, and there were around ten people in total.

Mala looked to Henry, not sure what to make of the approaching group. “They don’t look like NPCs.”

“We see you,” the boy at the front of the group called out. “Come join us. We’re not here to hurt you. We’re here to help.”

Ever so slowly, Mala and Henry came out from around the trees.

“What are your names?” the girl asked. “I’m Emma, and this is Elijah. We’re the leaders here.” Emma had long pink hair and wore an iron chestplate over her clothes. Elijah was tall and sported iron boots and a cape.

“Your hair is really cool!” Mala exclaimed as she marveled at Emma’s hair.

Emma smiled. “Thank you! After you come back to our base with us, I can show you how to customize your appearance as well.”

“Base?” Mala asked.

“Come,” Elijah said. “We’ll explain everything on the way. We need to get back before it gets dark.”

Mala and Henry joined the group and followed Emma and Elijah through the fields. “Are you also from the real world?” Mala asked Emma.

Emma nodded. “Yes. All of us are. We’ve been trapped here for a while now. The arrival of the two of you has given us hope to return to the real world.”

“Us?” Henry asked.

“We need to work together to get out,” Elijah explained. “Every hundred days, a portal opens somewhere in the world. Everyone has to work together to activate it. The only problem is, some of the kids who got stuck here with us abandoned us. They made their own base and call themselves griefers. Now, we’re constantly having to defend against them. But without being able to work with them, none of us will be able to make it back to the real world.”

“When does the next portal open?” Mala questioned.

Emma showed Mala a compass glowing with a soft purple light. It was enchanted! “This compass glows whenever something magical happens in the world. It glows whenever a portal opens, and it also glows whenever new people arrive here. Based on our observations, a portal to the real world opens around every hundred days.”

Chapter Three: Welcome To The Cherry Wood Academy

Mala exchanged a glance with Henry. “A hundred days?”

“We’ll be stuck in Minecraft for a hundred days?” Henry echoed, thunderstruck.

“Emma and I have been here for a couple of years already,” Elijah said with a sigh. “One hundred days will be if you’re lucky. What are your names?”

“I’m Henry.”

“I’m Mala.”

“We’ll be at our base soon,” Emma reassured them. “Look, you can see it in the distance.” Emma was right—a large building had appeared. It was surrounded by a wall of colorful clay, and even in the daylight, Mala could see the torches glowing on it.

“There’s many colors,” Elijah explained. “Different groups are responsible for protecting different sections of the wall. Normal mobs can’t get in, but we have to watch for griefers.”

“Will they kill us?” Mala asked, worried.

“No,” Emma replied. “They’re trapped here like we are. They don’t want to hurt us, but they’ll try to take our stuff. They’re as desperate to return to the real world as we are. They’ve just gone a little crazy from staying here too long.”

When they arrived at the clay wall, Emma shot off a firework, and a boy stuck his head over the wall. He was standing on top of it, and he waved when he saw Emma. Emma waved back, and a moment later, the wall was opening for them.

“I built this with redstone,” Emma said proudly as Mala and Henry gawked in awe.

“Emma is our redstone master,” Elijah told them with a grin. “I’m the combat master, and together, we built this place to keep everyone safe while we’re stuck in Minecraft.”

“So then the two of you were the first ones to get transported here?” Henry questioned.

“Yep,” Elijah answered. “Emma and I are classmates. We got brought here together.”

“Was it by a bookmark too?” Mala asked quickly.

Emma sighed. “Yes. That’s how we all got here.” Then her tired expression changed to a smile as she motioned to the walled city they were now standing in. “Welcome to our base!”

Mala and Henry eagerly took in their surroundings. There were farms and barns, and as they passed the open doors of one of the buildings, Mala spotted cows inside.

“We have cows and chickens,” Elijah said, pointing them out as they walked past. “Emma uses redstone to help with the farming too. There’s a lot of us here, so we need to produce a lot of food.”

“Look!” Henry said to Mala. “There’s pumpkins over there!”

Once they made it past the farms, they came to a stop in front of a large building. Emma turned around to face the two of them. “Welcome to class. This is our How To Survive Minecraft school. Elijah and I built most of it. I call it the Cherry Wood Academy.”

The building was multiple stories tall and made from a dark wood. Cherry trees grew around the school grounds, scattering their pink petals onto the grass. Flags bearing a flower hung displayed on the walls, and Mala looked up to the very top where a bell tower stood tall and proud. There was a wall of stone bricks around the school, closing it off from the farms outside.

The group of kids following Emma and Elijah made their way into the school through the front doors. Once the doors closed behind them, Elijah turned to address Mala and Henry. “Since you two are new here, we’ll give you a tour. I know everything might still not feel real, but we’ll do our best to explain.”

Elijah led them to the doors and opened them. Mala and Henry stepped past him to find themselves in a hall filled with long tables. Lanterns hung from the ceiling, illuminating the cozy space, and large windows let the sunlight stream in.

“This is the cafeteria,” Elijah explained, then pointed to the hallway. “Each of those doors leads to a classroom. If you keep going down the hallway, you’ll get to the principal’s office.”

“Who’s the principal?” Mala asked with wide eyes.

“Elijah and I take turns there,” Emma explained. “Most of the time it’s just our vice principal there. You’ll meet him soon.” At the end of the hallway, Emma motioned to a staircase. “There’s more classrooms on the second floor. We have a small library on the third floor, and from there, there are stairs to the bell tower.” Emma pushed open the door in front of them. “Here we have the courtyard.”

Mala looked on in delight. There was a stone fountain in the center of the courtyard. The blue water bubbled as it flowed into the fountain’s basin. The courtyard was full of grass and cherry trees in full bloom. There was something beautiful about it, and the faint scent of the blossoms was sweet in the air.

“Our main library is on the left,” Elijah said, motioning to a building behind a row of cherry trees. It was built of the same dark wood as all the other buildings around the courtyard. “The dormitories are right in front of us, opposite the main school building. The training ring is opposite the library. We’ll show you to your rooms next.”

“We’re going to be living at the school?” Henry asked.

“Everyone lives at the school,” Emma explained. “The girls’ dorms are on the left side of the building, and the boys are on the right. We have an opening for the girls on the first floor, and one for the boys on the second floor. Let’s have you change into your school uniforms first.”

“We have uniforms?” Mala asked eagerly.

“This is when we customize your appearances,” Elijah told them importantly. “To make sure we know you’re not griefers, we have everyone here wearing the same uniform. Our vice principal designed them. His name’s Jose, and he’s the most artistic of all of us. We don’t do too much building anymore because we don’t want to risk fall damage, but he also helped with the little decorations on the outside of the buildings here.”

Emma lifted a hand with one blocky finger extended. “To open your inventory, use one finger. Think about your inventory, and draw a line down. It took us a while to figure out that we have to write an ‘I’ in the air, not an ‘E.’ It turns out ‘I’ was the original inventory button. How about you try.”

Mala and Henry both raised their fingers to draw a line in the air. This time, a transparent window opened, hovering in the air in front of Mala. She looked to Henry. He was gazing at the air in front of him in awe, but Mala couldn’t see into his inventory.

“You can only see your own inventory,” Emma added. “If you want an item, reach for it with your hand and you can grab it.”

Mala reached for the wood she had collected earlier, and her hand closed around it. After taking it out, she put it back into her inventory, and it stayed there in the transparent window.

“Put your hand down and it will close,” Elijah said. “I’m sure the two of you still need some time to take everything in. After getting your school uniforms and seeing your dorms, you can wander around the campus. When it starts getting dark, we’ll have dinner for everyone in the cafeteria. If you want, you can leave campus and walk around the farms, but sometimes the classmates on farm duty get annoyed if people get in their way.”

“Let’s go see the dorms,” Henry said once he stopped looking at his inventory.

“We’ll show you the girl’s dorms first,” Emma said. She opened one of the doors along the hallway and motioned for them to step inside. The room beyond was cute and cosy. Paintings and framed flowers hung on the walls, and lanterns flickered softly on the tables. There was a pastel pink carpet, and Mala rocked on her feet in delight as Emma motioned to a top bunk with the same colored blankets. “Mala, this will be your bed. You can choose what color you want for your blankets.”

Mala shook her head. “No, no, don’t change it. I like the pink.”

Emma handed Mala a piece of paper. “This is our uniform design.”

Mala stared at the paper. “Isn’t this a map?”

Emma nodded. “Our vice principal Jose designed it and made a build of it out of colored wool and clay. Then he made maps out of it so we can see the whole design and carry it around. We have two options for the school uniform: the skirt version, and the one with long pants.”

“I’ll take the skirt,” Mala said.

“I’ll take the pants,” said Henry.

Emma handed Henry a second map. “To change your appearance, open the skin menu. It’s like the inventory, and you can change your appearance. Make sure to wear the uniform so we know you’re one of us.”

Once Mala had copied the design, she closed the skin menu and looked down to admire her new appearance. She had made her hair longer, and when Henry was done with his own appearance, she noticed that his glasses were gone.

All of them went upstairs next to see Henry’s room. Henry was on the bottom bunk next to the window. From his dorm room, they had a fantastic view of the courtyard with its bubbling fountain and cherry trees.

Henry chose red for his blanket color, and then Emma and Elijah left the two of them to hang out until dinner. With the rest of the day free, Mala and Henry made their way back out to the courtyard. Mala took a seat on one of the benches. She raised her head to where the sun was still drifting lazily among the blocky clouds. “Are we really going to be stuck here for a hundred days?”

Henry sat down as well. “I’m not sure. I’m really hoping that this is just a dream.”

Mala turned to him. “How can this be a dream? If it really is a dream, how can the two of us be having the same dream?”

Henry sighed. “I know. It seems like we’ll be part of the Cherry Wood Academy for now.”

Mala glanced around the empty courtyard. “Is everyone still in class? Since Emma and Elijah dropped us off at the dorms, I haven’t seen another person.”

“Want to check out the library?” Henry suggested. “We still have a lot of time until dinner.”

Mala nodded, and the two of them made their way to the library. Mala pushed open the doors and stepped inside. Rows of bookcases greeted them. There was a spiraling staircase in the corner of the room, and Mala followed it to where a loft overlooked the lower floor.

Mala tapped Henry as her eyes lingered on something. “Henry, there’s someone up there.”

Henry quickly looked up, and then after exchanging a glance with Mala, the two of them started to climb the stairs.

A girl with blonde hair was sitting in the corner reading a book.

“Hello?” Mala called out, trying to sound as friendly as she could.

The girl blinked and looked up. She looked at Mala and Henry, then went back to reading without saying a word.

“Are you skipping class?” Mala tried making conversation.

“None of your business,” the girl said.

Mala just stared at her. “We just arrived here today,” she tried changing the topic.

The girl looked up from her book again. “So you’re the new arrivals?”

“Is there something wrong with that?” Henry asked at the girl’s nonplussed expression.

“I’m Mala,” Mala introduced herself. “And this is Henry. What’s your name?”

“I don’t care,” the girl said. She rose to her feet, closed her book, and walked past the two of them. They stared after her as she walked down the stairs and out of the library.

“What was that about?” Henry asked quietly, surprised. “Did we say something wrong?”

Mala shook her head, stunned. “She’s a little odd.”

Henry walked over to one of the bookshelves and began looking through the books. “I’ve never seen any of these titles before. Were these actually written in Minecraft? Do you think villagers wrote them?”

“You can pick out some and try reading them,” Mala suggested as she joined him at the shelf.

The two of them both picked out a book and sat down to read. When the sun began to set outside the windows, they returned the books to their shelves and headed downstairs. They went through the courtyard and back into the main school building. This time, there were students milling around. Both the courtyard and the halls of the main building had students lingering and chatting with each other.

Mala and Henry walked through the hallway to where they remembered the cafeteria was located. They joined the line of students getting food, then found empty seats along one of the long tables. The sun had gone down by now, and the square stars twinkled beyond the windows.

There was fish, potatoes, and stew for dinner. Mala and Henry had grabbed a cookie each as well. It was only after they set their food down in front of them that Mala frowned. Henry had the same expression on his face.

“There’s no rice,” Henry said.

Mala’s expression changed again as it struck her. “There’s no rice at all in Minecraft!”

Henry’s mouth fell open. “We have to go a hundred days without rice?”

“There’s no noodles either,” Mala said in despair. “There’s no curries, no sauces . . .”

A boy sitting next to Mala turned at the sound of her grievances. “You two must be the newcomers. I understand how you feel. A lot of us crave foods from back home, but whenever we try to make them here, the crafting table won’t let us. We can only make stuff by the game’s design. I’m Wilder,” he introduced himself. “But I have another name here too.”

“Really?” Henry asked.

Wilder nodded. “Fire Arm.”

Henry inhaled sharply. “You have guns?”

Wilder shook his head. “No, no. My arm is made of fire. See?” He lifted his arm to show Henry the red and orange pixels scattered like flames over it.

Henry gave him a look, not sure what to make of it. “Oh.”

Wilder ran a hand through his white hair. “This is my newest look. Pretty cool, right? My hair was just red, and before that, it was pink and orange.”

As they talked, Mala lifted her bowl of mushroom stew to her lips. The flavor was not bad. None of the food was bad, but she wasn’t sure if she could eat it for a hundred days.

After dinner, she and Henry went back to their dorms. Wilder turned out to be one of Henry’s roommates, and Mala bid both of them a goodnight before entering her room. All of her roommates were there already. Two girls were sitting on the carpet chatting together, and the third was sitting in the corner with a book. There was something very familiar about her blonde hair . . .

“You’re the one from the library!” Mala exclaimed.

Chapter Four: School Time

The blonde girl looked up with a frown.

“That’s Kite,” one of the other girls explained. “Kite was the newest one here until you showed up. I’m Lola, and my friend here is Isla. Isla and I are classmates. We arrived in Minecraft together.”

“I’m Mala,” Mala said, offering Lola and Isla a smile.

“Your hair is really pretty,” Isla complimented her.

Mala smiled brightly. “Thank you! I like the bows in your hair.”

“Really?” Isla said as she twirled on the spot. “I’m happy you noticed them! I designed them.”

“In the real world, Isla is a very popular Minecraft skin maker,” Lola said proudly. “She helped me with the highlights in my hair.”

From the corner of the room, Kite let out a scoff.

The three of them glanced over at her only to find that she had gone back to reading her book.

“What’s up with her?” Mala asked, lowering her voice.

Lola rolled her eyes. “She thinks we’re too girly for her.”

“Pink and skirts are gross,” Kite shot back.

“Wilder likes pink too,” Isla pointed out. “Are you saying there’s something wrong with him too?”

As the two of them argued, Lola lowered her voice. “Isla has a crush on Wilder.”

Mala giggled at that. She spent the next hour chatting and playing with Lola and Isla. When it was time to go to sleep, Mala crawled under her covers and pulled the blanket tight around herself. Some part of her hoped that when she woke in the morning, she would find herself back in her bed at home. While it had been exciting to be in Minecraft, Mala was already starting to feel a little weary.

✦ ✦ ✦

The next morning, Mala sat up in bed and blinked in the light spilling in through the windows. Once everyone was ready to go to the cafeteria, Mala opened the door to their room to find Henry waiting outside.

“Good morning,” Mala said, smiling. After introducing him to her roommates, she turned to Lola and Isla. “The two of you can go ahead. I’ll go with Henry.”

The girls nodded and started on their way outside. Kite had already vanished through the doors to the courtyard.

Mala and Henry set off as well. “I can’t believe we’re still in Minecraft,” Henry said as they walked.

“Me too,” Mala agreed. “Are you getting along with your roommates?”

Henry nodded. “Wilder introduced me to them. They’re nice, but they’re kind of quiet and keep to themselves.”

As they passed through the courtyard and entered the hallways of the main school building, Mala glanced at the glass wall to the principal’s office. A boy she hadn’t seen before was pacing back and forth behind the desk, with a troubled expression on his face.

Henry followed her gaze to the office. “That must be Jose, the vice principal. I wonder what’s bothering him.”

In the cafeteria, there was bread, milk, and apples for breakfast. Wilder was sitting at their table again, and he wrinkled his nose as he looked down at his food. “If I have to eat this another day, I’m going to go crazy.”

Lola and Isla were sitting at the table as well, and Isla leaned around Lola to address Wilder. “You said the same thing yesterday morning too, remember? But you’re still fine.”

Mala leaned over to talk to her roommates. “What’s the first class of the day?”

“Follow us,” Lola said with a wink. “We’ll make sure you don’t get lost.”

Shortly, chimes sounded from the bell tower, and everyone shuffled to their feet. “It’s time for our first class,” Wilder said. “We have crafting class first.”

Mala and Henry followed Lola, Isla, and Wilder up the stairs to the second floor. They entered one of the classrooms, and Mala and Henry took the two empty seats in the row behind Lola and Isla.

Mala leaned over the desk. “Who are the teachers? Are they also kids like us?”

Isla nodded. “Emma and Elijah picked the ones that have the most knowledge of Minecraft to teach the rest of us. If we want to survive long enough to leave, we have to become pros in building, crafting, mining, and fighting. Maybe you were pretty good at those things while playing Minecraft as a game, but they’re completely different now that we’re actually living it.”

“What do we do in fighting class?” Henry questioned.

“We’ll go to the training ring next,” Lola said knowingly. “Our teacher will be here soon. Get your books ready.”

After crafting class, Mala and Henry went to the training ring with the others. Mala’s head was spinning from all the crafting recipes they had gone over in class. In the training ring, Mala was surprised to see that their teacher was no other than Elijah.

“Today we’ll start with running laps,” Elijah announced once everyone arrived and the bell signaling the start of class rang. “After the warm up, we’ll practice shooting targets. Tomorrow we’ll work with swords.”

Henry exchanged a glance with Mala. “Run laps?”

Before long, the two of them were running with the rest of their classmates. Out of breath, Henry began to fall behind. Mala slowed to keep pace with him. “Come on, Henry!”

Henry shook his head, clutching a stitch in his side. “I can’t.”

Mala took his arm and tugged him along. “What will you do if we encounter monsters?”

“I’m trying,” Henry panted.

Next, the two of them were holding bows. Wool targets had been set up, each with a single block of red wool in the middle as the bullseye. Mala notched an arrow, pulled back the bow string, and focused with all her might. But once she let the arrow fly, the arrow zoomed too far to the right and missed the target completely. Mala notched a second arrow and tried again. This time, the arrow zoomed too far to the left. She sighed.

Henry was struggling too. His arrows were falling short of the target, landing on the grass all around it.

An arrow zoomed through the air from close by, hitting the target perfectly in the center. Mala and Henry turned to see Lola standing behind them, smiling. Both of them clapped enthusiastically. Lola walked over to join them. “Here, I’ll show you some tips.”

The next class was building, where they were learning about redstone. All of the talk about redstone and making circuits went completely over Mala’s head, but Henry seemed to cling to every word as he listened intently.

When they left the classroom for lunch, Mala looked at Henry, impressed. “You like working with redstone?”

Henry nodded. “I used to like playing in creative mode and making redstone builds.”

When all the classes for the day were over, Mala and Henry went to the main library to study. They noticed Kite reading on the second floor and decided to stay on the first floor to avoid making conversation.

“I can’t believe we have to memorize all these crafting recipes by the end of the week for the quiz,” Mala said as she opened one of her books.

Henry already had his head buried in his stack of books. “They also want us to create redstone circuits.”

Mala groaned and flopped over to rest her head on the table. “Redstone again? Where do they get all these materials anyway?” Mala suddenly sat up as she pondered her question. “Henry, where do they get their materials?”

“There must be mines here,” Henry said thoughtfully as he looked up from his book. “I don’t think they’ll be on the school grounds, but maybe where the farms are, they also have mines.”

Mala lowered her voice. “Isn’t mining dangerous? What if someone falls? Are there mobs in the mines? There could be lava too!”

“The mines are very dangerous.” A voice sounded, and Mala and Henry looked over to find Kite walking down the stairs. “The people who cause trouble here have to work in the mines. It was Emma and Elijah’s idea.”

Henry looked worried. “Has anyone gotten hurt there before?”

“Of course people have,” Kite said shortly. “I wouldn’t trust Emma and Elijah so easily.”

“What do you mean?” Mala asked quickly.

Kite walked closer. “The griefers are the ones Emma and Elijah kicked out of their base. Watch out, or they’ll kick you out and call you greifers too. Then you can only survive on your own.”

Mala let out a gasp, and Henry’s mouth fell open. Henry blinked a few times before asking, “Is this true?”

“Just watch your back around here,” Kite said. “If they don’t like you, you’ll be gone from here in a matter of days.”

Mala and Henry stared after Kite as she walked away.

“If what she’s saying is true, what do we do?” Henry asked in a worried whisper.

“We should be as careful as we can,” Mala whispered back. “We just need to stay here long enough to get back to the real world.”

✦ ✦ ✦

That night, Mala opened the door to her dorm room to find Lola and Isla inside. The two of them were sitting on the pink carpet, chatting quietly among themselves. They looked up when Mala entered.

“Mala,” Isla said as she patted a spot on the floor. “Come sit with us.”

Mala walked over to join them, glancing around the room. Kite wasn’t back yet. “Can I ask the two of you something?”

Lola blinked. “Of course. What is it?”

“Kite seems to be suspicious of Emma and Elijah,” Mala told them quietly.

Lola and Isla exchanged a glance. Isla lowered her voice. “If anything, Kite is the suspicious one. She gets sent to work in the mines a lot, but as her roommates, Lola and I get the feeling that she’s doing it on purpose. I don’t know what she needs to be doing in the mines, but the mines are dangerous. Normal people try to avoid them if we can help it. But whenever people do go down there, they’re given health potions and fire resistance potions in case anything happens.”

Mala frowned. She would have to tell Henry what she had learned when she saw him tomorrow.

When Kite got back that night, Mala found herself glancing over at the blonde girl. She would keep her guard up around Emma, Elijah, and Kite.

Chapter Five: A Trip To The Nether

The next week went by without any problems, and Mala and Henry were slowly beginning to adapt to their new life in Minecraft. The week after that, the two of them were in their crafting classroom when their teacher made an announcement. “It’s that time of the month again to do a Nether trip together. It’s time to stock up again on glowstone dust and blaze powder. Tomorrow, instead of normal class, we’ll meet Elijah by the Nether portal.”

At lunch, Mala and Henry sat at one of the long tables. “Is going to the Nether dangerous?” Henry asked Wilder.

Wilder just shook his head. “Since everyone goes together, the Nether isn’t dangerous. Just think of it as another experience to have while you’re here.”

The following morning, Mala was putting on her iron armor in her dorm room. Lola and Isla had donned their armor as well. Kite had already left. When Mala and her roommates made their way to the door, her armor clanked softly with each step. Henry and Wilder were waiting outside, and the five of them made their way to the front of the school where the rest of the students were already gathered.

Elijah stood at the front of the group. He too was wearing a full set of iron armor. “Ready to go?”

Elijah led the way off campus. They walked past the farms and to the corner of the base. Elijah pressed a button, and the grass opened up. Sticky pistons pulled back to reveal a stone staircase leading down into the earth. Torches glowed along the walls, and Elijah stepped inside.

They walked down a long hallway and eventually arrived at a large obsidian wall. Elijah pulled a lever, and a door in the wall opened to reveal a Nether portal frame. Elijah took out flint and steel, then there was a spark as the portal ignited in roaring purple. Mala took a step backward to get a better look at the square purple particles now glowing in front of them. These were the same ones that had come out of the bookmark.

“Two at a time through the portal,” Elijah explained before turning and stepping through it. He vanished into the swirling purple light.

When it was Mala and Henry’s turn, they stepped through the portal together. A wave of nausea washed over Mala as the world swirled and warped around her. Then a blast of heat hit her the face as she emerged on the other side. She was sure Henry’s shocked expression was a mirror of her own. Even though Mala had gone to the Nether many times before when she had played Minecraft, being in the hellish landscape in person was completely different. The world was colored in shades of brown and red, and fire burned over the ground.

Fortunately, the area around the portal was fenced off by iron bars, and Elijah led them into another tunnel in the netherrack walls. They walked for a while before Elijah led them to an opening.

The sound of loud breathing sounded in the hot air. It was like the labored and wheezing breaths were coming from a crackling furnace. It had to be blazes.

The blazes came into view behind a barred window. There was a Nether fortress parallel to the tunnel passageway.

“This is the easy part,” Elijah told them. He pulled a lever, and instantly, a volley of arrows shot through the air. They struck the blazes, and the blazes flashed red before disappearing in puffs of smoke. Blaze rods floated where they had disappeared. “Emma created the arrow dispensers. We put hoppers under the blazes. There’s a storage room under each blaze spawner. On the way back, we’ll take the passageway to collect the goods.”

They continued to walk, pulling levers along the way. Finally, they arrived in an open space. Glowstone grew along the cave-like walls, illuminating the smoky haze that seemed to hang in the air.

“Those who are experienced, build up to collect the glowstone,” Elijah instructed. “Those with less experience, guard the area and watch for mobs.”

As some of the students started to build up to the glowstone on the cavern walls, Mala and Henry followed the rest of the students to stand guard. Some of them had shields at the ready, and others had bows in hand.

Mala was a little nervous as she stood there with her bow and arrows, but with so many students around, she was confident even if they did encounter a monster, all of them would be able to easily fight it off.

Suddenly, Henry grabbed Mala’s arm. Mala blinked in surprise as he pointed into the distance. The Nether fortress where they had gathered the blaze rodes loomed above the ocean of lava far below. Mala looked on, confused, until she spotted it too. There was a figure running there. From the way they would run and stop and then run and stop again, they couldn’t be a monster.

As the figure continued to run, their classmates began pointing and murmuring as well. Elijah walked over to join them. He was frowning. “Stick together here. It must be a griefer.”

“Are they after our blazerods?” Wilder asked worriedly.

Elijah nodded. “They must be. Griefers can’t easily get into our tunnel, but once the blazes are gone, they can mine through the Nether fortress itself to get into our storage rooms.”

Once all the glowstone dust was collected, Elijah led the group back into the passageway. He collected the blazerods from the storage rooms as they went, but in one of the rooms, all the chests were empty.

Henry looked up at a hole in the ceiling. “The griefer must have come in through there.”

“Did they go through the passageway and get into our base?” Mala asked in a panic.

“We have people guarding the portal,” Elijah reassured her. “One griefer won’t be able to make it past all of them. Besides, it seems like they came here for the blazerods. They wouldn’t want to bring their freshly stolen goods right back to us.”

After collecting the rest of the blazerods, Elijah led the group back to the portal. The students were still whispering about the griefer. After going back to their dorms to put away their armor, Mala and Henry met up again in the courtyard.

Mala lowered her voice. “I was waiting in my dorm room for a while, but even after Lola and Isla left, Kite never returned.” She turned to glance at the doors to the dorms. From where they were sitting in the courtyard, they had a good view of both the doors of the main school building and the other buildings.

“Could Kite be working with the griefers?” Henry asked suddenly.

A frown tugged on Mala’s lips. “I’m not sure. But I think it’s worth investigating. She was trying to make us suspicious of Emma and Elijah. It worked, but it also made me suspicious of her too. Lola and Isla say she gets sent to the mines a lot.”

Henry’s face went pale. “Does that mean if we want to investigate, we have to go to the mines too?”

“I can go on my own,” Mala said quickly at Henry’s worried expression.

Henry shook his head. Even though he looked afraid, the resolve in his eyes was strong. “I’ll go with you.”

Chapter Six: Who’s In The Mines?

The next day, instead of going to class, Mala and Henry wandered off campus. They wandered around the farms, and it didn’t take long for a boy to find them. As he neared, Mala recognized him.

“What are you doing out here?” It was Jose.

“We don’t want to go to class today,” Henry lied.

Jose sighed. “Go back to campus. I’ll give the two of you a warning this time.”

“Actually,” Mala said quickly, “we wanted to see the mines.”

Jose blinked. “The mines?”

“That’s right!” Henry nodded in agreement. “We haven’t been in Minecraft long, and we really want to see what the mines look like.”

Jose sighed again. “I can send you down there if you really want me to. Maybe after you experience the mines, you’ll know that it’s not a fun punishment. Go back to campus. After school, meet me at the school gates. I’ll take you to the mines.”

✦ ✦ ✦

After school, Mala and Henry shuffled around nervously as they waited at the school gates. Jose showed up shortly. He silently led the way off campus, around the farms, and to a different building. Inside, chests lined the walls. Each of them had an item frame with a different block on it.

Jose motioned for them to take pickaxes from a chest. He gave them each a stack of dirt, a sword, healing potions, and potions of fire resistance. “Be careful,” Jose finally said. “You’ll see signs and other people mining. Just don’t wander too far.” After they nodded, Jose showed them to a passageway leading into the ground. “I’ll be waiting here.”

Mala and Henry walked down the steps together. Torches flickered along the walls. Before long, the light from behind them had vanished entirely. Their footsteps echoed over the stones, and Mala’s heart rate quickened. She slowed down.

“Is everything okay?” Henry asked. His eyes were concerned.

Mala took a deep breath to center herself. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. When we went through the passage to the Nether, I was okay.”

Henry had stopped as well. “Is it claustrophobia?”

Mala took another deep breath as she crouched down. Her shadow flickered around her in the torch light.

Henry crouched down next to her. He held out his arm. “You can hold my arm. I’ll guide you. Maybe if you close your eyes, you can pretend we’re somewhere else.”

Mala slowly nodded as she took Henry’s arm. Together, the two of them continued on their way further into the mine. Mala had her eyes squeezed shut as Henry guided her. Finally, Henry came to a stop. He tapped Mala, and she opened her eyes. They were standing in a mineshaft. Cobwebs snaked up the wooden beams, and minecart rails criss-crossed over the floor.

“The mine must be huge,” Mala said weakly. “How are we going to investigate Kite in this place?”

“Let’s just start looking for Kite,” Henry suggested. “If we can’t find her, let’s look for anything that seems out of place.”

Mala nodded. She climbed into one of the minecarts on the track. Henry climbed into the one behind her, and then he flicked the lever, activating the power rails. The minecarts took off, spiraling down into the depths of the mines.

The mine was illuminated brightly with torches to prevent mobs from spawning, but Mala still found herself feeling on edge. Even if they didn’t encounter monsters, what would Kite do if they discovered her doing something suspicious? Mala tried to push the bad thoughts from her mind. If it came down to a fight, she had Henry. It would be two against one.

Henry seemed to be thinking of the same situation because he leaned over to say, “If anything dangerous happens, we should run.”

“Good idea.”

The minecarts came to a stop at long last. They were in a ravine that appeared to have been completely mined out. There was no one else around, and a large stone bridge stretched over a long drop. This time, Henry grabbed Mala’s arm.

“Are you afraid of heights?” Mala asked quietly.

Henry nodded.

Mala smiled. “This time you can close your eyes. I’ll lead you across.”

Henry squeezed his eyes shut, and Mala led him over the bridge. Once they were on the other side, Mala walked over to the stone wall, pickaxe in hand.

“Are we really going to mine?” Henry said as he eyed the pickaxe.

“It would look bad if we went back empty handed,” Mala explained as she swung her pickaxe at the stone wall. “I’ll gather some blocks. You can start looking for anything out of the ordinary.” But just as the words left her mouth, a flood of water gushed in through the block she had just broken.

“Mala!” Henry called as Mala was washed backward.

Flailing her arms, Mala swam against the current and quickly replaced the block. Just like that, the rushing water turned to a trickle. All that remained of the water was the dampness left on the stones.

Mala let out a breath. She turned around only to find it was darker than before. The water had caused a number of the torches to sputter out.

Henry hurried over to Mala. “Are you okay?”

“I didn’t know that there’s water behind that wall,” Mala said weakly.

Henry frowned. But before he could say anything, Mala’s eyes widened in horror. “Henry! Oh no!”

Henry whirled around to follow Mala’s gaze. Mala yanked Henry to the side just as an arrow zoomed at them.

Henry’s face had drained of all color as the clanking of bones clattered through the cavern. “Sk-skeleton!”

Mala’s knees were shaking as she pulled out her sword. “Henry, use the shield!”

Henry quickly put up his shield. Together, the two of them slowly advanced toward the skeleton. The arrows bounced harmlessly off the shield, but with each hit, Henry would jump and whisper, “Please don’t hurt me, please don’t hurt me!”

As they advanced, the skeleton would retreat, but when they were finally close enough, Mala darted forward and struck the skeleton with her sword. The skeleton flashed red, and Mala quickly hit it again. Henry was there in an instant with his sword. The two of them attacked the skeleton, not giving it time to draw back its bow string. Finally, the skeleton disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Mala and Henry stood there panting, weapons in hand. Henry slumped against the wall. Mala was shaken as well. She could sense the skeleton’s hostile energy. If they hadn’t killed it, it would have killed them.

“Quick!” Henry said breathlessly. “We need to put the torches back!”

The two of them frantically scrambled for the torches that had been knocked off the wall by the flood, but that was when a foul scent filled the air. Mala clapped her hands over her nose. The smell was rotten. A growling noise followed. It was a growling crossed with a pained groan.

“Zombie!” Mala and Henry screamed in unison. The zombie was lumbering toward them out of the shadows, its arms extended. As it neared, Mala noticed its mouth of broken black teeth and its claw-like nails. Both its nails and teeth were long and jagged. Mala’s legs were weak again as she took a step back, clutching her sword tightly. She felt faint, and the stench of the zombie’s rotting flesh certainly didn’t help.

Henry had his sword in hand as well as he trembled. “I want to go home, I want to go home!”

Just as Mala raised her sword, a figure darted out from the shadows. Her blonde hair flew behind her as she struck the zombie.

“Kite?” Henry exclaimed.

Kite hit the zombie again with her sword. “Don’t just stand there! Help me!”

Mala and Henry rushed forward, getting over their momentary surprise. Together, the three of them slashed at the zombie until it too vanished in a puff of smoke.

“Thank you for helping us,” Henry said shakily as he put away his sword.

Kite looked around at the torches scattered over the floor. “What happened here?”

“There’s water behind the wall,” Mala explained as she helped Kite pick up and replace the torches. Then she paused. Should she have told Kite about the water?

Kite looked over at the wall. “Did someone take the sign down? There’s a waterfall that runs behind that one wall. It’s for the best not to mine it.”

Mala looked at the wall as well. “Oh.”

Kite just frowned. “The two of you shouldn’t stay down here. Take these.” Mala and Henry blinked as Kite gave them each a stack of stone, then gave them some iron ore and redstone. Kite held out her hand. “All I want in exchange is your health potions.”

Mala and Henry exchanged a glance before passing them to Kite. Kite put the potions in her inventory. “Bye, then,” Mala said uncertainly. She and Henry turned and started back toward the bridge.

“Aren’t we going to watch her?” Henry asked in a whisper.

Mala dipped her head in a faint nod. “Of course we are. But she won’t do anything if we’re right next to her the whole time. We need to watch her from far away.”

Mala helped Henry back across the bridge. Instead of returning to the minecarts, the two of them hid behind a pile of rocky blocks. Slowly, they peered around them together to spy on Kite.

Kite was standing in front of the wall. She had a pickaxe in hand and carefully swung it at the wall. Mala’s eyes widened when this time, nothing happened when the block broke. Kite mined another block, then stepped behind the wall.

Mala and Henry looked at each other in surprise. They waited for a few moments, but Kite didn’t come back. Mala grabbed Henry by the arm, and the two of them hurried back across the bridge. They came to a stop at the hole Kite had left in the wall. Mala cautiously looked inside. “Henry, there’s still water!”

Mala stepped aside to let Henry take a look. The water behind the wall seemed to only be about three blocks wide. It went upward into the dark and down into the depths of the ravine.

“Do you think Kite went up or down?” Henry whispered. “She must be up to something.”

Mala looked at the water flowing behind the wall. “I think we should head back. If Kite really is up to something, following her will just put us in danger. I think we’ve already had enough danger for one day.”

Henry nodded. “You’re right.”

The two of them crossed the bridge again and climbed into the minecarts. It didn’t take long before they were back where they started. The two of them walked in silence through the torch-lit passageway. They ascended back to the surface and finally emerged in the storage room.

Jose was waiting for them there, and they quietly handed over the blocks Kite had given them. Once they reached the school, Mala still felt uneasy. The way the skeleton and zombie had attacked them . . . She shivered.

Henry’s face was still pale when they arrived at the cafeteria. Wilder sat and chatted with them like usual, but Mala and Henry were more quiet. If Wilder noticed, he didn’t comment. After they finished their dinner, Mala and Henry made their way to the dorms.

“I’m not sure if I’ll be able to sleep easy tonight,” Mala said as they stopped in front of the door to the girl’s dorms.

Henry sighed. “Me neither.” Then he looked at Mala. “Be careful. Kite is your roommate.”

Mala nodded. “I know.”

After bidding each other goodnight, Henry went upstairs to his room, and Mala opened the door to her room. Mala was the first one back, and she started looking through her books to take her mind off their encounters in the mines. But try as she might, Mala found it difficult to focus on studying. Mala finally closed her books and tugged at her hair.

The night sky outside the window was full of stars, and Mala watched the square moon for a while. At some point, the door opened, and Lola and Isla stepped inside. The two of them were chatting together.

Mala spent the next hour talking with the two of them, but even after she had climbed into bed, there was no sign of Kite.

Chapter Seven: Trouble!

When Mala woke in the morning, she glanced over at the other top bunk. Kite was fast asleep there. Mala tossed her pillow at Kite, and Kite sat up, surprised. Lola and Isla were still sleeping, so Mala motioned for Kite to follow her outside. Outside their dorm room, Mala turned to face Kite.

“What were you doing in the mines yesterday?” Mala asked quietly.

“I was skipping class, so I got sent down there,” Kite said shortly. “What were you and Henry doing down there?”

“We also skipped class,” Mala said. “But that’s not important. What did you want our potions for?”

Kite gave Mala a look. “That’s not important either.”

“Kite,” a voice said. The two of them turned to find Henry at the top of the stairs. He walked down the stairs to join them. “Mala and I saw you went behind the wall with the water. What were you doing?”

Kite looked at them suspiciously. “Do you work for Emma and Elijah? Did they send you to spy on me?”

Mala blinked. “What? No!”

Kite lowered her voice. “I’ve seen Emma doing suspicious things in the mine before. I saw her go behind the wall. I want to investigate her, but no one else believes me when I tell them Emma is suspicious.”

The door to the dorm room opened to reveal Lola and Isla. Both of them looked confused. “Why would Emma be suspicious?” Isla asked.

“Yeah,” Lola said in agreement. “Emma and Elijah are the ones who set up this base for all of us to live safely while we’re trapped in Minecraft. There’s food to eat, and we don’t have to worry about monsters.”

“See?” Kite said, “You don’t believe me. But I saw it with my own eyes.”

“Are you sure it was Emma?” Henry asked.

Kite looked angry. “Of course it was Emma! I’d recognize her pink hair anywhere.”

A silence fell before Mala spoke up again. “Let’s go eat breakfast.”

Later when Mala and Henry were at the training ring, Mala swung her sword again and again at the armor stands set up for them. When Elijah came around to check on their progress, Henry asked, “What does Emma do during the day? Do you think we could talk to her?”

Elijah looked surprised. “Emma helps oversee the farming and helps guard the wall around our base. What do you want to talk to her about?”

“I want to ask her about some tips on redstone builds,” Henry said quickly. “All the things she builds with redstone are really cool. I want to learn how to make them too.”

Elijah smiled at that. “I’ll ask Emma to go to the principal’s office after school today. You can talk with her then.”

Henry grinned. “Thank you!”

After school, Mala and Henry hurried to the principal’s office. Emma was sitting behind the desk, and she looked up as they walked in. Emma was wearing an iron chest plate like usual. She smiled. “I heard that you wanted to learn some things about redstone from me.”

Henry nodded. “Can you show me how to make a piston door?”

Emma motioned for the two of them to follow her. “Let’s go to the building classroom. I can show you there.”

The three of them had the classroom to themselves when they arrived. Sunlight streamed in through the windows, and Emma walked over to the chests along the dark-wood walls.

“Did you get all these materials from the mines?” Mala asked.

“I don’t go to the mines much anymore,” Emma told them as she rummaged through the chest. “When we first made this place, though, Elijah, Jose, and I dug out most of the mineshaft and created the minecart railway.”

“You really haven’t gone to the mines recently?” Henry questioned.

Emma blinked as she looked at them. “Why do you ask?”

Mala quickly shook her head. “It’s nothing. We just thought you would oversee the mines too.”

Emma’s expression relaxed into a smile. “Jose looks after the mines.”

They spent the next hour learning how to build from Emma. When they were done, the sun was starting to drop from the sky, and they parted ways with Emma to go to the cafeteria for dinner.

Wilder sat with them again as they ate. “Where were the two of you today? I couldn’t find any of you guys after class.”

“We asked Emma about some redstone builds,” Mala explained.

Wilder wrinkled his nose. “Redstone makes my head hurt.”

The three of them were sitting there eating when Kite suddenly slid into the seat next to Mala. “I spotted Emma again in the mines!”

Mala blinked. “But Henry and I were just with Emma. She’s probably still in her office.”

Kite grabbed Mala’s arm and pulled her toward the hallway. Henry jumped up as well to hurry after them. Kite threw the door to the principal’s office open. A very surprised Emma was sitting behind the desk. “Kite?”

Kite’s mouth was open in shock. “But,” she sputtered. “I just saw you in the mines!”

Emma looked at Mala and Henry in confusion. “What’s going on? I’ve been here at the school since this afternoon.”

Kite pointed a finger accusingly at Emma. “I saw you in the passage behind the wall! You were talking to griefers! I know we have to work together with them to leave Minecraft, but peace talks should be public, not secretive! In secret, who knows what you could be talking about.”

Emma just blinked. “What passage? What griefers? I haven’t been to the mines in a long time. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Mala inhaled sharply as Kite drew a sword. “Emma, if you’re working with the griefers, you’re going to regret it!”

The door to the office swung open, and Elijah and Jose rushed into the room. The two of them grabbed Kite’s arms and held them behind her back so she couldn’t move.

“Kite,” Elijah said in shock, “what are you doing?”

Kite struggled against their gasp. “Emma’s working with griefers! I saw her giving them weapons!”

“Kite, you’ve been collecting health potions,” Henry pointed out as he stepped forward. “Are you the one working with the griefers? Are you trying to distract us by making us suspicious of Emma?”

Kite shook her head. “The health potions are for myself. I know investigating is dangerous, especially if the one betraying us is one of the leaders here.”

Emma and Elijah exchanged a glance. “If Kite really is working with the griefers,” Elijah said slowly, “we can’t keep her inside our base.”

Emma sighed as she nodded in agreement. “We’re sorry, Kite. Tomorrow morning, we’ll escort you out of our base.”

✦ ✦ ✦

That night, Mala and Henry returned to the dorms to find Lola, Isla, and Wilder waiting for them with worried expressions.

“Is Kite really working with the griefers?” Lola asked.

Mala sighed. “I don’t know. Either way, after accusing Emma, she’s become suspicious to the leaders.”

“They’re going to escort her out of the base tomorrow morning,” Henry concluded.

“But what if she’s innocent?” Wilder asked worriedly. “It’s dangerous to be outside the base all alone!”

“But what if she isn’t innocent?” Isla said with a sigh. “It’s better not to have anyone working with griefers inside the base. We just want to go home. Who knows what they want to do.”

Wilder was frowning now. “But to send Kite out like that, that seems a little unreasonable. Emma and Elijah have never done something this unreasonable before. Maybe Kite is right to be suspicious of them?”

Mala shook her head tiredly. “Kite helped Henry and me in the mines. Even if she is working with griefers, she doesn’t want to hurt us.”

For the next week, the mood in the school seemed to change now that Kite was gone. Everyone had heard of the incident, and the students would constantly whisper to themselves. Some of them agreed with Emma and Elijah’s actions, and others thought Kite was innocent.

Mala found herself at a loss too. She didn’t know what to believe. The next few weeks went by following the same routine, and before long, Mala and Henry had been at the school for almost two months already. Mala had been counting down the days, and they had just reached the halfway mark.

Mala and Henry were sitting in their crafting class, when suddenly, the bell on the bell tower began ringing frantically. All the students looked around in confusion as they began whispering among themselves.

“That’s the alarm!” Their teacher called. “Everyone to the wall of the base! The griefers are attacking!”

All the students frantically rose from their seats and grabbed their swords from their inventories.

“Our class is responsible for the green section of the wall,” their teacher instructed as the class hurried to the door. “I’ll meet all of you there!”

As Mala and Henry went with the flow of students streaming into the halls, Wilder fell into pace beside them.

“Have there been lots of griefer attacks before?” Mala asked as they ran.

Wilder shook his head. “They have happened before, but not often. We outnumber them, but they don’t like to play nice.”

They came to a stop at the green section of the wall and climbed the ladders to stand on top of it. Now able to see over the other side, Mala’s eyes grew large at the crowd of griefers on the other side of the wall. They were dressed in colorful clothing and pointed bows notched with flaming arrows at the students on the wall.

Henry grabbed Mala’s arm as he pointed to the griefer at the front of the group. Mala watched in shock as the griefer removed her helmet to reveal her pink hair. “It really is Emma!”

Mala’s head snapped over to the section of the wall where Emma and Elijah were standing. “It can’t be Emma, look! Emma is still on the wall with us!”

Wilder was in shock as well. “What’s going on? Why are there two Emmas?”

“Maybe Emma has a twin?” Mala suggested, but even as the words left her mouth, she found it hard to believe.

“Kite must really have seen an Emma,” Henry said faintly. “But it wasn’t our Emma—it was a griefer Emma!”

Chapter Eight: Griefers Attack

Their classmates were whispering in confusion, pointing at the pink-haired griefer. Griefer Emma was the spitting image of Emma. Her eyes, clothes, and hair were exactly the same, down to the finest details.

The Emma on the wall stared down at Griefer Emma and the other griefers. “Leave now, and no one has to get hurt.”

Griefer Emma aimed her bow at Emma. “Stop lying to everyone, Emma. We just want to go home. Why won’t you help us go home?”

“What are you talking about?” Elijah called down at them. “The next portal opens in fifty days. If we work together, in fifty days, all of us can go home.”

“He’s lying to you too!” Griefer Emma shouted up. “Us griefers have already found the portal!”

“You’re lying!” Emma called back. “The portal hasn’t even appeared in this world yet!”

Griefer Emma scoffed. “I’m sure all of you are tired of being stuck in Minecraft. I’m tired of being stuck in Minecraft. Emma and Elijah have failed you. Join us. We can help you.”

“How can you help?” Elijah said with a frown. “We have a way to find the location of the portal. What do you have?”

“We have a portal too,” Griefer Emma replied. “Those of you who want to go home, you should come with us.”

The students looked at each other, unsure what to make of Griefer Emma’s proposal.

Suddenly, the sound of hoofbeats filled the air, and everyone turned to find a blonde-haired figure racing toward the wall on horseback. “Don’t listen to the griefers!” Kite called.

Cries of, “It’s Kite!” sounded from their classmates.

“Attack!” Griefer Emma yelled.

Flaming arrows flew from the crowd of griefers. Mala and Henry instantly had their shields up as the arrows rained down on them. Glass shattered and liquid splashed as Wilder threw a potion of fire resistance on them and their nearby classmates.

Some of the arrows arched over the wall and fell toward the farms beyond. “Protect the farm!” Elijah called. Jose leaped down from the wall, leading a group of students to stop the arrows from ruining their crops.

“Look!” Wilder cried. “The griefers are building something!”

Mala and Henry looked on in horror. Those were TNT cannons. The griefers pulled the levers, and TNT went flying over the wall. Explosions erupted, and screams sounded as chaos broke out.

Emma and Elijah were firing back at the griefers, but the griefers had shields up as well.

Griefer Emma was smiling as she ran up to the gates with a block of TNT in hand. Boom! The gate exploded, and the griefers charged toward the opening.

“Wait!” Emma yelled shrilly. “Stop!”

Griefer Emma held out a hand, and the griefers paused. “We can stop, but we have a condition.” Griefer Emma looked up at the Emma on the wall. “We want you.”

“You can’t take Emma away!” Elijah called angrily.

Griefer Emma raised her arm, and the griefers rushed forward again.

“Wait!” Emma said again. She took a deep breath as she looked down at Griefer Emma. “If I go with you, will you really stop attacking?”

Griefer Emma nodded. Emma handed her bow to Elijah and jumped off the wall before he could protest.

“Good,” Griefer Emma said. She turned to the rest of the griefers. “Retreat! Back to our base.” And with that, the griefers left, taking Emma with them.

Mala felt weak. She was still trying to process what had just happened. Together, she and Henry turned to survey the damage. Jose and the other students were hurrying around, trying to put out the fires that had started from the arrows and the TNT explosions.

“The school,” Henry said weakly. The TNT had struck it in multiple places, and the bell tower now floated in the air, the walls beneath it torn apart.

Elijah was still shaken. “Let’s patch up the wall around our base. That’s the most important part. The rest we can worry about tomorrow.”

Mala and Henry returned to the dorms. Even though the main school building had been hit with TNT, the courtyard beyond hadn’t been touched, and the dorms were still fully intact.

Since neither of Mala’s roommates were back yet, she let Henry into the room, and the two of them sat on the floor. Henry’s face was still pale. “I don’t understand. Why are there two Emmas? And why did Griefer Emma want to take our Emma away? Do you think the griefers really found a way to leave?”

Mala’s head hurt trying to think about it. “I don’t understand either. But Kite showed up. She said not to trust the griefers.”

Henry looked over at Mala. “Do you trust Kite?”

“A little bit,” Mala admitted. “She helped us out in the mines. She must have seen Griefer Emma there and thought she was Emma.” Then she sighed. “I hope Kite is doing okay out there. She hasn’t joined the griefers, so that means she must be all by herself.”

Henry looked worried. “I hope the griefers don’t give her a hard time.”

Just then, the door opened, and Lola and Isla walked in. Isla blinked. “Henry? You’re here too.”

Lola sat down to join Mala and Henry. “What do the two of you think about what Griefer Emma said? Have Emma and Elijah really been lying to us?”

“I don’t think Emma and Elijah have a reason to lie to us,” Henry pointed out. “They have a way to find the portal, and they want to make sure everyone is safe and together.”

Isla shook her head tiredly. “I want to believe them, but we’ve been stuck here for so long already. We just want to go home. If we keep waiting on Emma and Elijah, who knows how long we’ll have to keep waiting. Now the griefers say that they have a way to get us home. Why wouldn’t I get my hopes up a little bit?”

“But if the griefers don’t have a way,” Mala countered, “then we would miss the chance to get home and be stuck here until the next portal opens.”

Lola shifted in her seat. “Actually, I’ve started to get disappointed in Emma and Elijah as well. Every hundred days, we’re all hopeful. We’ve seen the portal. But it never worked.”

“That’s because everyone has to work together,” Henry said. “Emma and Elijah told us that the first day we got here.”

Suddenly, the bell on the bell tower began to ring. “That’s the emergency bell!” Isla said, panicked as she jumped to her feet.

All of them quickly put on their armor and grabbed their weapons before hurrying out of the room. They ran through the courtyard where other students were hurrying around in armor as well. Jose was standing in front of the school, waiting for them. His expression was a frown.

“What happened?” Lola asked.

“Some of the students made a hole in the wall and ran out,” Jose explained. “I think they went to join the griefers. But now with a hole in the wall, mobs have gotten in. Elijah led a group of students to fight them off. Be careful. We’re not sure how many monsters got in.”

Wilder went to join them. “Let’s go help Elijah!”

Nodding, Mala and Henry took off after him.

A hissing sound cut through the night. Mala whirled. Through the moonlight, red eyes glowed through the dark. A moment later, the spider threw itself at them. All three of them screamed as the spider’s legs wriggled, its claws and fangs glinting.

Wilder was screaming as they took off running. “I hate spiders!”

“What do we do?” Mala cried as the spider scuttled after them.

“We have to fight it,” Henry said. His voice was higher than usual. “We can shoot it!”

All three of them pulled out their bows and began firing at the spider. Their arrows went everywhere, but with all three of them shooting, some of the arrows landed home. The spider flashed red before finally disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Mala clutched her chest. Her heart was pounding away.

Henry was breathing heavily as he put his bow away. “Look, there’s Elijah and the other students.”

Elijah’s sword flashed as he cut into a horde of zombies.

Wilder looked scared. “How many mobs got into our base?”

Mala squinted through the dark. “There has to be more than one hole in the wall.”

The three of them hurried in the opposite direction to look around the wall. It didn’t take long for them to find Lola and Isla in front of a hole, fighting off more zombies that had gotten in.

Mala and Henry quickly rushed forward to help. As they fought the zombies, Wilder pulled blocks from his inventory and patched the hole.

When all the zombies were gone, Mala turned to her friends. “Is everyone okay?”

But just as the words left her mouth, an arrow whizzed through the air. Mala barely registered what had happened until after the arrow struck her arm. She bit her lip as searing pain sliced into her.

“Mala!” Henry cried. He was at her side in an instant.

Mala blinked back tears. She could still move her arm, but each movement sent new waves of pain shooting through her.

She could see the skeleton out of the corner of her eye, and Isla hurried over to deal with it.

“Here!” Lola hurried over to her. She handed Mala a potion of healing. “Drink this. Then it won’t hurt anymore.”

Mala accepted the potion and tipped back the glowing red liquid. It had a weird, medicine-like flavor, but once she drank it, the pain in her arm faded. Gritting her teeth, Mala yanked out the arrow.

“Are you okay?” Henry asked quietly.

Mala just shook her head. “That felt way too real,” she whispered. “Now I understand how important the wall around the base is.”

When all the mobs were gone and all the holes in the wall were patched, Mala and Henry went back to their dorm again. Mala fell asleep the moment her head touched the pillow. She had been running on adrenaline, and now with her energy finally gone, she just crashed. Mala’s dreams that night were plagued with spiders and skeletons and zombies. She tossed and turned until morning.

When morning came, Mala and Henry tiredly made their way to the cafeteria. A good chunk of the wall was missing, and the entire cafeteria was quieter than usual as they ate. Instead of going to class, all the students worked together to fix the school. With all of them working together, the school was back to normal by dinner time. But even though the school was back, the atmosphere had changed again.

It was odd walking around knowing Emma wasn’t there. Whenever Mala and Henry passed the principal’s office, it would be either Elijah or Jose there.

As the days went by, the alarm bell would go off every other day as more students broke holes in the wall and snuck out. Every time Mala saw Elijah in the training rink, even though he still did his best to teach everyone, he looked more and more tired by the day.

To try and keep her mind off all the things that were happening, and to make sure she could better defend herself, Mala spent most of her free time practicing with her sword and bow. Henry spent most of his time in the library and the empty crafting classroom after school, learning more about redstone contraptions. Now that Emma was gone, their base lacked a redstone master.

Mala was practicing by herself in the training ring when Henry came over to her. “Hey,” Henry said quietly.

“Hey,” Mala said.

“I thought of some ways we can make the wall stronger,” Henry told her. “We can add pressure plates on the outside with dispensers attached to them. If mobs try to walk in, they’ll get splashed with potions and arrows.”

Mala nodded slowly. “That sounds like a good idea, but what if one of us accidentally sets it off and gets hurt?”

Henry sighed. “With students still trying to break out, they might set them off by accident. After seeing you get shot with that arrow, I don’t want anyone to get hurt. My other idea is to dig a hole. That way, the mobs will fall in and get stuck. It doesn’t have to be a big one, big enough so the mobs fall in, but small enough that we can still easily jump over.”

Mala nodded again in approval. “I like that idea. The next time you see Elijah or Jose, you should tell them about it.”

“How’s your practicing been going?” Henry asked, changing the topic.

Mala smiled. “Watch this.”

Mala took her bow, drew back the bow string, and let arrow after arrow fly. She hit the bulls-eye of all the targets, and Henry eagerly clapped his hands. “Wow, Mala! Elijah needs to watch out, or you might become the next combat master.”

Mala sighed as she lowered the bow. “I really hope nothing bad happens to Elijah. We lost one of our leaders to the griefers. Things will get bad if we lose Elijah too.” Mala turned to Henry. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I believe Emma and Elijah. They’re the ones trying to help us. The griefers are the ones lying. Yes, we’re all desperate to go home, but Emma and Elijah are the ones with a real plan.”

“I’ve been thinking the same thing,” Henry agreed. “If Kite shows up again, I wonder if Elijah will let her back into the base.”

Mala looked down at the bow in her hands. “With more and more people leaving the base every day, we need as many as we can inside.” Then she paused. “Do you think it’s a little strange how people keep leaving? I get that they no longer trust Emma and Elijah’s plan, but if they were convinced by the griefers, they would have left with them that day. Why are people suddenly making up their minds to leave?”

Henry’s eyes widened. “You think someone is convincing them that the griefers are right? But then, wouldn’t that mean there’s a griefer in our base?”

Mala nodded grimly. “I think it might be time for us to investigate the mine again.”

Chapter Nine: The Village

That night, the alarm bells sounded yet again. Mala and Henry had told Wilder about their plan to investigate the mines, and Wilder had agreed to help cover for the two of them. The first chance they got, Mala and Henry hurried to the mines. They had come prepared with armor, weapons, blocks, and potions. The mines were desolate as they took the minecarts into the depths of the ravine. The carts clattered over the tracks, their loud echoes bouncing off the stones.

Eventually, the carts came to a stop, and Mala and Henry crossed the bridge over the ravine. This time, Mala struck the stone wall with her pickaxe in the same place she remembered Kite had. The wall opened, and Mala peered around the corner to find the water flowing behind it.

“Do we go up or down?” Henry whispered. “Whichever one we chose, we should stick together.”

“Up,” Mala decided. “It doesn’t make much sense to go down.”

Henry nodded in agreement.

Mala squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. She leaped into the water, holding her breath. Mala kicked her feet, and then she was shooting upward. There was a faint splash as Henry followed her lead. Eventually, the water stopped, and Mala climbed onto the stones. She helped pull Henry up as well, and the two of them looked around at their surroundings. They were in a stone room. It was completely empty apart from the glowing torches flickering on the walls.

The light cast their faces in weird shadows, and Mala suddenly felt a chill. “There’s nothing here.”

“This must be a meeting spot of some sort,” Henry said. “Griefer Emma must have met with other griefers here. There must be a way to get outside from here.”

“If Kite saw Griefer Emma,” Mala said slowly, “Griefer Emma must have been in the mines.”

Henry looked worried. “Has she been coming in and out of our base all this time? Or has she always been inside our base?”

Mala shook her head. “People would have noticed if there were two Emmas running around at the same time.”

Henry took out his pickaxe. “Let’s see if we can find any passageways.”

Mala took out her own pickaxe, and they began to mine the walls. It didn’t take long for Henry to break a block, and water rushed in.

Mala and Henry swam up the water behind the wall. This time when they emerged, they were in a cave-like space. Mala squinted against the dark. There was a faint light at the end of the cave. Henry noticed it too because he pulled out his sword. “I think we might be outside the base,” he whispered.

The two of them stood there, unsure of what to do. Just then, there was a soft fizzing hiss from behind them. Mala grabbed Henry’s hand. Her heart leaped in her chest as they sprinted. “Don’t look back!” Mala called as they ran toward the light at the end of the cave.

“Creeper!” Henry yelled as they ran even faster.

The two of them burst out of the cave and into the night. Checking that the creeper hadn’t followed them, Mala and Henry collapsed onto the grass, exhausted. The area was empty, without a single monster in sight. The stars glinted above, and the blocky moon floated lazily in the center of the sky.

When she finally caught her breath, Mala looked around. Grassy fields and hills stretched out around them. In the distance, the walls of the base were visible. Mala had her sword in her hand as she slowly climbed to her feet. She didn’t see any monsters around, but the night still made her uneasy.

“Should we get rid of the passageway?” Henry asked uncertainly.

Mala shook her head. “I’m sure the cave is full of monsters. We shouldn’t go back that way to be safe.”

“Where do we go?” Henry whispered. He was clutching his sword too as he scanned the grass for monsters. “The longer we stay out here, the more likely mobs will find us.”

Mala frowned. “All the monsters in the area must have gone toward the base already. Going to the base won’t be safe until morning.” Just as she was debating whether they should set up camp, a familiar voice sounded.

“Mala? Henry? Is that you?”

“Kite!” Mala exclaimed as she spun around.

Kite was on top of her horse. She had a diamond helmet over her blonde hair and a bow in her hand. Kite jumped down from her horse. “What are the two of you doing out here?” she asked.

“We decided to investigate the mines,” Henry explained. “We found a passage out. The cave we came out of must be full of monsters, so going back the way we came isn’t safe.”

Kite glanced over at the base in the distance. “I just came from the base. I was helping fight off some of the monsters around the wall. Come with me. I’ll take you to a safe place to spend the night.”

Mala and Henry followed Kite farther away from the base. The next time Mala looked back over her shoulder, the base had vanished entirely. A new walled area appeared on the horizon, and Mala squinted as she tried to make it out. “Kite, is this your base?”

Kite shook her head. “This is a village. They’ve been letting me take shelter with them. I also helped them construct a wall around the village so the monsters can’t get in.” The wall was only around three blocks tall, and Mala could see the roofs of the village houses behind it. As they got closer, Kite opened a door in the wall and motioned for Mala and Henry to follow her inside.

“It’s Kite!” a voice exclaimed.

“Hi, Yvaine,” Kite said. “I brought some friends.”

Mala and Henry turned to find a girl playing with a couple of softly meowing cats. The girl stood up, cradling one of the cats in her arms. She wore a long brown robe, and her head was shaved. She smiled. “I’m Yvaine, a farmer here. The two of you must be from the same world as Kite.”

Mala nodded as she looked around the village, awed. The lanterns glowed softly, illuminating the streets and houses. The streets were empty save for Yvaine. “I’m Mala, and this is Henry.”

Yvaine followed Mala’s gaze. “You’ve never been to a village before?”

“We have,” Henry said. “Just not like this one.”

“Kite was the one who built the wall,” Yvaine said brightly. “Before that, we could only cower inside at night.”

“You can’t fight back?” Mala asked.

“It goes against their religion,” Kite explained. “Villagers don’t partake in any sort of fighting.”

“We’ve always been very peaceful people,” Yvaine went on. “Tomorrow morning when everyone wakes up, you should stick around and meet our priests.”

Kite sighed. “Sorry, Yvaine, Mala and Henry aren’t here to get converted. They just need a safe place to spend the night.”

“That’s alright,” Yvaine said. “Come with me. We can sit in the library.”

The four of them walked through the quiet streets of the village. When they reached the empty library, they gathered around at one of the tables.

“Were you waiting for me to get back?” Kite asked Yvaine.

Yvaine nodded. She still had a cat cradled in her arms, and she set it down on her lap. Now in the light, Mala noticed that Yvaine had green eyes. Her nose was larger than what Mala would consider normal, but it didn’t look nearly as exaggerated as she remembered from the villagers on her screen. Even with her shaved head, there was something youthful and full of life about the villager.

Mala turned to Kite. “I’m glad you ended up here. I’m glad you didn’t join the griefers, and I’m glad you’re not alone either.”

Henry nodded in agreement. “You were right to be suspicious of the Emma in the mines. No one would have thought there were two Emmas.”

Kite frowned. “Griefer Emma must have been going down there often to pass information and items to the griefers.”

“I just had an idea,” Henry said slowly. “If griefers have been hiding out in our base, who says we can’t hide out in their base? We need to find out what they’re up to and what they want with Emma. We need to find out if they really do have a portal.”

Kite looked at the two of them. “You want me to sneak into the griefer’s base? But they all saw me that day on the horse. They won’t let me join them after that.”

“You should just camp out here for now,” Mala suggested. “I still don’t think it’s safe to sneak into the griefer’s base.”

When morning came, Yvaine gave them a tour of the village. They got to meet some of the other villagers, and then Kite was leading them back to the base. “I’ll drop you off here,” Kite said as they stopped in front of the wall. “If you’re ever outside the base again, you know where to find me at the village.”

Mala and Henry waved goodbye to Kite and watched her ride off on her horse. Then they turned and waved up at the guards on the wall. Recognizing them, the guards quickly opened the wall, and Mala and Henry stepped inside. After explaining that they had gotten stuck outside when fighting off the monsters the previous night, they walked to the school and arrived just in time for breakfast.

“Mala, Henry!” Wilder called as he waved them over. He lowered his voice as they slid into the seats across the table from him. “How did it go?”

“There was a passageway in the mines,” Henry told him. Then he paused. “Your hair is purple?”

“Yup,” Wilder said with a grin. “I couldn’t sleep last night after fighting the mobs that got in, so I worked on a new design for my appearance instead. What do you think of the purple?”

Mala and Henry looked at each other at the same time, thunderstruck.

“I completely forgot we could change our appearances,” Mala whispered.

Henry worriedly looked out at all the students in the cafeteria. “Griefer Emma could be right here in this room with us.”

“What are you talking about?” Wilder asked, confused.

“Griefer Emma isn’t Emma,” Henry said quickly. “Someone is just pretending to be Emma.”

Wilder furrowed his brow. “But why would they do that? Just to confuse us?”

Mala was looking around the cafeteria as well now. “They must not want us to know who they really are. And if that’s the case, there’s a very high chance that they are a student here.”

“Mala,” a voice said. Mala nearly jumped as she spun around. Lola and Isla were standing behind her. “We didn’t see you come back to the room last night,” Lola said.

“Is everything alright?” Isla asked.

Mala stared at the two of them before standing up. She grabbed Henry’s arm and pulled him to his feet as well. “I forgot something,” she said quickly before dragging Henry with her out of the cafeteria.

In the hallway, she finally slowed to a stop.

Henry’s face was pale. “I think it’s Isla!”

Mala clapped a hand to her head. “I just realized it too. She even told me before that she designs skins. It would have been easy for her to disguise herself as Emma. And whenever Griefer Emma would show up, she never was back in the dorm room!”

“But what if it’s not Isla?” Henry’s voice dropped.

“Come with me.” Mala tugged Henry along down the halls and out the doors to the courtyard. They hurried around the fountain and into the student dorms. Mala threw open the door to her room and hurried over to Isla’s chest. She rummaged around and nearly gasped as she pulled out a bow. There was something odd about the way the bow glinted and gleamed. It was enchanted. “This must be the fire bow Griefer Emma used!”

Mala passed it to Henry. Henry looked it over. “How can we be sure?”

Mala went back to rummaging through the chest. “Keep it in your inventory for now. We’ll test it at the training ring later.”

Suddenly, the door flew open. Mala and Henry whirled around in horror to find Isla standing in the doorway. There was an odd expression on her face as she looked over at them. Then she stepped aside to reveal Elijah standing behind her.

“I told you,” she whispered to Elijah. “Mala is Griefer Emma!”

Chapter Ten: Betrayal

Mala and Henry’s mouths fell open as they stared at her. “What?”

Elijah was frowning as he stepped into the room. “Is this true?”

“No!” Henry said quickly. He frantically pulled out the enchanted bow and showed it to Elijah. “Mala and I just realized Isla was suspicious. We searched her chest and found this!”

Isla looked at the bow. “That’s not mine. If I didn’t get here in time with Elijah, would you have put that bow in my chest and blamed everything on me?”

“Isla . . .” Mala shook her head as she looked at the other girl. “We trusted you.”

“I trusted you too, Mala,” Isla said sadly. “I trusted you and Kite.”

“Kite started getting suspicious first,” Henry said. “You knew that if she kept investigating, she’d realize you were working with the griefers. So you thought of a way to make her believe you were Emma and got her kicked out of the base!”

“Why are you slandering me like this?” Isla asked.

Elijah stepped forward. “Mala, Henry, come with me.”

Defeated, Mala and Henry followed Elijah out of the dorm room. They entered the principal’s office where Jose was waiting for them.

“Watch over these two,” Elijah instructed Jose. “Once classes for the day start, escort them out of the base.”

Mala was speechless as she watched Elijah go to the corner of the room and put on the diamond armor from the armor stand.

Elijah turned back to Jose. “I’m going to go save Emma.”

“You can’t!” Mala said desperately.

Elijah blinked. “Why not?”

“You’re not thinking straight, you can’t go by yourself even though you are our best fighter,” Mala pushed.

“Just send us out,” Henry added hopelessly, “but you need to stay here. The griefer in our base is still at large and will continue to cause chaos.”

Elijah sighed. “That’s why I’m sending the two of you out. I’ll feel safer knowing that there aren’t any griefers in the base.”

“It can’t be us,” Mala tried again as Elijah walked over to the door. “It doesn’t make sense for it to be us! We were the latest ones to arrive here—we never had any contact with the griefers at all!”

Instead of responding, Elijah just left the room. The door swung shut behind him. Mala turned to Jose instead with pleading eyes. He had to believe them.

Jose sighed softly. “I believe the two of you. Right now, Elijah’s judgment is cloudy because he’s too worried about Emma. I believe you aren’t working with griefers, but I can’t go against Elijah’s orders either. Once classes start, I still have to escort you out.”

“Keep an eye on Isla,” Henry told him worriedly. “I’m afraid she’s the one causing trouble.”

Once the bell rang, Mala and Henry reluctantly followed Jose out of the school. Before long, the two of them were standing outside the wall, still in a state of disbelief.

“What do we do now?” Mala finally asked, breaking the long silence.

Henry sighed. “I guess we go to the village and find Kite.”

The green grass swayed in the wind as they started on their way to the village. The sky was a bright blue, and the sun was warm as it beat down on them.

“I still can’t believe Isla is working with the griefers,” Henry said quietly. “I’m glad nothing happened to you. You were her roommate for all those weeks, after all.”

It was Mala’s turn to sigh. “She still got us kicked out of the base.”

Henry offered Mala a small smile. “At least we’re together.”

Mala smiled back. “I’m really glad you’re here with me, Henry.”

“I’m really happy I have you as a friend,” Henry said. “Back at school, the bullies made sure no one got close enough to me to be my friend. It’s nice not having to face everything by myself.”

“That’s what friends are for,” Mala said, smiling brightly as she nudged Henry. “Our meeting brought us into Minecraft, and I know the two of us will be leaving together too.”

Henry’s smile faded. “We have less than fifty days left until the next portal opens. Now that Jose is the only leader left at the base, I’m not sure what’s going to happen with Elijah gone. Isla could cause a lot of trouble.”

“The griefers want to get home too,” Mala pointed out. “I think our next move is to sneak into the griefers’ base. Portal or no portal, we have to figure out how to convince everyone to work together. I believe that’s the only way we’re going to get home.”

Henry nodded in agreement. They arrived at the village and opened the door in the wall that surrounded it. The villagers welcomed them, and it didn’t take them long to find Kite.

Kite looked surprised when they walked over to her. “You’re back so soon?”

“It’s Isla,” Mala said by way of greeting. “She’s the one working with the griefers, and she’s the one who was pretending to be Emma.”

Kite’s mouth fell open in shock. “Isla? Our roommate?” Then her expression darkened. “It all makes sense now. Isla is a pro at making Minecraft skins. I should have put the pieces together.”

“We didn’t figure it out until it was too late,” Henry said. “We were all tricked by her.”

“What is she up to?” Kite pondered.

“That’s what we need to find out,” Mala said. “Will you join us?”

“You want to sneak into the griefers’ base!” Kite paced back and forth before finally nodding. “This is the only thing we can do now. Do you have a plan?”

“We’ll all have to change our appearances first,” Mala said importantly. “We have to make sure they don’t recognize us.”

The three of them spent the rest of the day working on their new skins. Mala had given herself violet hair, dark sunglasses, and a set of black clothing. Henry had turned himself into a half-penguin, half-human creature in a tuxedo. Kite had done her best to copy the robes of the villagers, but instead of the bald head, she gave herself red hair.

“Now all we have to do is find the griefers,” Mala declared.

Henry turned to Kite. “Do you know where they are?”

Kite nodded. “I’ll get horses for both of you. We’ll need a few boats as well. The griefers’ base is about half a day’s journey from here. They’re not hard to find.”

The three of them began their journey to the griefers. They rode through the plains, into forests, and across deserts. Finally, they arrived in a snow biome where a giant structure surrounded by water floated about the ground. Water poured off the sides of it, creating a lake underneath it. Because of the cold, some parts had frozen over, and ice spikes shot dangerously out of the ground.

Kite climbed off her horse and placed two boats in the water. “The water is really cold, and the ice is even colder. We’ll try to stay out of the water as long as we can.”

Kite climbed into one of the boats, and Mala and Henry got into the other. Mala picked up the oars, and then they were paddling toward the floating base. When they reached the water streaming down the sides of it, Kite stood up, took a deep breath, and started to swim up. Mala and Henry followed her lead. The water was freezing, and Mala shivered as she swam. Soon, the water gave way to a stone room surrounded by bars.

“Halt!” a voice said. A boy in a bright orange vest was standing on the far side of the room. He had an axe in hand, and he pointed it threateningly at the three of them. “Who are you?”

“We’re here to join the griefers,” Mala said as convincingly as she could. “We don’t believe Emma and Elijah can help us anymore.”

The boy lowered his axe as he eyed them up and down. “Okay. Come with me.”

They followed the boy down a passageway and deeper into the floating base. The inside of the base was designed from different blocks, and paintings were placed along the walls.

“So,” Mala said hopefully, “what kind of portal do you have to take us home?”

“Our boss is still figuring out how to activate it,” the boy told them.

“Is your boss Isla?” Henry asked quickly.

The boy paused. “How do you know it’s Isla? Aren’t you new here?”

“Isla’s the one who convinced us to join the griefers,” Kite said. “We’re tired of waiting. We want to go home.”

The boy gestured to one of the paintings on the wall. “This will be your room.”

The three of them looked at him blankly. The boy just walked forward and stepped right through the painting.

“Oh!” Mala’s eyes grew large. “It’s a secret painting door! I remember making those with signs before.”

They followed the boy inside. Three beds sat beyond, and a single window gave them a view of the icy landscape outside.

“We heard that you captured Emma,” Henry said. “Will she help us with the portal somehow?”

“We’re having her use redstone to design weapons for us,” the boy replied. “Activating the portal is dangerous, and the only way to get the stuff we need is if we’re smart and use redstone. Emma is working on designing water weapons for us. Stay here for the night. There’s food in the chest. We’ll assign you jobs tomorrow.”

Once the boy left, Mala leaned in close and lowered her voice. “Activating the portal is dangerous?”

Henry’s face suddenly drained of color. “The first time we saw griefers was in the Nether. And they stole blaze rods. It must have something to do with the portal.”

Mala furrowed her brow. “Blaze rods . . . blaze powder . . .”

“Eyes of ender,” Kite whispered. Mala and Henry turned to her. She had a surprised expression on her face as if she couldn’t believe it herself. “They want to go to the End.”

“They must have found a stronghold, and they need Emma to help them find a way to kill endermen for ender pearls,” Henry said faintly.

“But the End is dangerous!” Mala sank down on a bed. Her knees felt like jelly. “All those endermen . . . and there’s the ender dragon too.”

“Not to mention the void,” Kite added. “Even if everyone went to the End together, would we really all survive?”

“It does make sense in a way,” Henry said slowly. There was still a tremor in his voice. “Once you slay the dragon, you beat the game. The end credits play. Will finishing the game let us out?”

“Emma and Elijah had a special enchanted compass that would find portals in the overworld,” Kite said as she shook her head. “I still think those portals are the way out. Besides, even if you beat the dragon and play until the end credits, you can still keep playing in the world. The game doesn’t just end. The griefers are crazy to try something so dangerous.”

“What do we do?” Mala whispered.

Henry sat down next to Mala. “Should we look for Emma? Isla knows the griefers need more people if they want to have a chance against the dragon. If we can find Emma and leave, they won’t have weapons to kill endermen and get ender pearls. And with no ender pearls, they can’t go to the End.”

All three of them nodded.

They spent another hour sitting around in the room. Then after eating some potatoes and pumpkin pie, they wandered out. The hallway was filled with paintings, and Mala was afraid to touch any of them in case she stepped into griefers’ rooms.

They finally found a ladder at the end of the hall and climbed it, only to find themselves in another hallway. This time, it was lined with doors. Henry cautiously opened the closest one. The room beyond was filled with chests. Mala stepped inside and began to look through them. “Potions!” she exclaimed. “Look, Henry! They have potions of invisibility. This is perfect. We can turn invisible and search for Emma!”

“Do you think Emma is even here at their base?” Kite questioned as Mala passed out potions.

“Let’s hope so,” Mala said.

They tried all the doors along the hallway before finding another ladder and taking it to the next floor above. The floor was completely empty. Mala and Henry looked around wearily. The griefers’ base made no sense. Kite walked to the opposite side of the room. “There’s nothing here at all.”

Suddenly, a redstone door in the wall opened. Mala gasped, grabbed Henry’s arm, and quickly threw a splash potion of invisibility over herself and Henry.

A group of griefers stepped through the door. They all had weapons, which they immediately pointed at Kite.

“Who are you? What are you doing in this area?” one of them said. “You’re suspicious! You must be a spy.”

Kite rapidly shook her head. “I’m not. I’m just new here. I’m lost.”

The griefers exchanged a look. “There’s been a lot of suspicious people here recently. Our boss just got back. I think it’s about time we test your identity.”

Chapter Eleven: Tests And Trials

Mala watched in horror as the griefers motioned for Kite to follow them through the redstone door. Mala tugged Henry along, and the two of them hurried through the door just before it slammed shut. They followed the group down another hallway and into a large room with glass walls.

There were glass boxes pressed against the wall, and the griefers pushed Kite into one of them. “Don’t break the glass,” one of them warned. “You’re standing on a pressure plate now. If you move, you’ll get shot.”

Mala looked on as the griefers brought out about ten other students and pushed them into the glass boxes as well.

“Welcome to the test,” a familiar voice said.

Mala turned to watch Isla step into the room. She felt Henry’s grip tighten on her arm. Slowly, the two of them made their way toward Kite’s box.

Isla was still wearing her school uniform as she placed her hands on her hips. “I hear that all of you here have been behaving suspiciously. It’s time to put your identities to the test. We can’t have any spies here to mess with our plan.”

“What kind of test is this?” one of the trapped students called.

Isla smiled. “This is a skin comp. A special skin competition. We’ll do three rounds. Every round, I’ll give you a theme. I’ll rate how well you can dress up. Pass each round and you can stay.”

As Isla explained the rules, Mala tapped softly on Kite’s glass box. “Kite,” she whispered. “Can you hear me?”

Kite didn’t let her surprise show as she scooted closer to the wall. “Yes.”

“We’ll help you,” Mala reassured her.

“The first theme is zombie,” Isla announced.

“This one I got,” Kite whispered.

Before long, zombies were standing in all the boxes. Isla walked down the row with a block of green stain glass in hand. She put the green next to each of the boxes. “You all pass and get to move on to the second round. The next theme is Emma. I’m sure you all know what she looks like.”

“What do I do?” Kite whispered. “How close am I supposed to look like her?”

“My bet is not very close,” Henry replied in equal quiet. “If I was Isla, I would find it suspicious if anyone looked too much like her.”

Before long, all the zombies had turned into pink-haired, iron chestplate wearing Emmas. Isla walked along the row of students again. After observing them carefully, she placed another green block. “You all pass again. The theme for the third round is pink unicorn fairy princess.”

Kite shuffled on the spot. “I can’t do this one!” she said in a panicked whisper.

“You have to,” Mala pushed.

“I think Isla has been testing for you all along,” Henry added. “If you pass this round, you’re safe.”

Kite still looked panicked. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Do everything pink and lacy and sparkly,” Mala instructed.

Kite closed her eyes for a brief moment before nodding.

Mala and Henry helped instruct Kite as she designed her new appearance. Soon, Kite was sporting long magenta hair, sparkly fairy wings, and a frilly pastel dress.

“It’s beautiful!” Mala said proudly.

Kite just shuffled awkwardly.

Isla walked up and down the row again. “Everyone passes,” she finally declared. “You can go back to your rooms now.” She nodded to one of the griefers standing at the corner of the room. The griefer pulled a lever, and the redstone glowing under all the glass boxes fizzled out.

Another group of griefers stepped forward to break the glass and let everyone out of the boxes. Mala tugged on Henry’s arm. It was time for them to take their leave. Still invisible, the two of them hurried out the open doorway and retraced their steps. They were back in their room before long, and Mala found milk in their food chest to cancel out the effects of the invisibility potion.

Henry appeared in front of her. His expression was both relieved and worried. “Kite made it,” he said.

“I think we’re in the clear for now,” Mala said, taking a seat on her bed. “But as to not alert the griefers again, I don’t think we should go sneaking around looking for Emma.”

“How did Isla get here so quickly?” Henry mused. “Shouldn’t she have been in class?”

“If she’s the leader of the griefers,” Mala started, “she must have a way of getting back and forth quickly. There has to be a minecart system underground somewhere.”

They didn’t have to wait long before Kite stepped into the room. She had changed her appearance back to the villager robe. “What now?” Kite asked.

“We try our best to blend in with the griefers,” Henry said. “Sneaking around is too dangerous. We have to wait and see if we can get any opportunities to make a move and find Emma.”

The three of them nodded at that.

✦ ✦ ✦

The next day, the griefers arrived to assign them jobs. “You,” one of the griefers said, pointing at Kite, “you’re on guard duty.” Then she turned to Mala and Henry. “The two of you will be sent down to the stronghold.”

Mala and Henry exchanged a glance as the griefers led them out of their room. They went down the waterfalls spilling off the sides of the floating base and continued descending through a glass-encased hole under the lake below. When the water stopped, they found themselves standing in a stone room. Minecart rails covered the floor, branching out and disappearing into different torch-lit tunnels.

The griefers motioned for Mala and Henry to climb into the carts on the far side of the room. Once they were all seated, a lever was pulled, and the carts were zooming into the tunnels. The underground air had a musty and earthy smell to it, and Mala wrinkled her nose as it hit her in the face. They were moving so fast that she was starting to feel dizzy, and then all of a sudden, the carts were slowing down.

The griefers climbed out of the carts. It was only then that Mala realized they were in a hallway made out of stone bricks. Torches flickered on the walls, and cobwebs hung in the corners. “The stronghold hasn’t been completely searched yet,” the griefers explained. “Loot all the chests you can find and break any mob spawners.” After giving them a map, the griefers started off down the hallway.

Once they had vanished from sight, Henry turned to Mala. He lowered his voice. “Do you think they’re testing us?”

Mala glanced around. Their shadows flickered on the walls behind them. “I don’t know. Let’s start exploring for now.” She looked down at the map. “I found the portal room. If we can break the portal, then no one will be put in danger going to the End.”

“Let’s break the portal,” Henry said in determination. “We’ll get Emma back, and then she and Elijah can find the portal in the overworld. Then we can all go home.”

With that in mind, the two of them set off down the hallway. They passed through many rooms as they slowly made their way closer to the portal. They passed through dusty libraries with towering shelves and through a maze of hallways.

The stronghold was well lit, and they only encountered one zombie and one creeper during their whole exploration, which they quickly took care of with their swords. They were only a room away from the portal, when suddenly, purple particles glittered across Mala’s vision.

Mala squeezed her eyes shut as she crouched down. Henry must have seen the particles too because he had pressed his hands over his eyes and scooted up against the wall. Mala trembled as she crouched there. She could sense the presence of the enderman in the room with them. Mala squeezed her eyes even tighter. And for a while, there was only the racing of her heart in her chest. It thundered away in her ears. As the silence dragged on, Mala ever so slowly cracked open her eye.

She nearly toppled over in shock. The legs of the enderman were right in front of her. Keeping her gaze glued to the stone floor, Mala slowly backed away from the enderman. When the enderman showed no signs of leaving the room, Mala knew she and Henry had to figure out how to leave. Mala carefully made her way over to where Henry was still cowering against the wall.

“Henry,” Mala whispered. “Do you still have a pickaxe? I remember there’s a library on the other side of the wall. Let’s tunnel through and see if we can find another way to the portal room.”

Together, Mala and Henry struck at the wall. Making sure not to look at the enderman, Mala replaced the blocks. Now in the library, Mala slumped against the wall. Her heart was still beating far too quickly.

“Maybe we should try again tomorrow,” Henry said faintly.

Mala nodded. She was inclined to agree.

Just then, the sound of pounding footsteps echoed on the other side of the wall. A moment later, the enderman was screaming.

Mala wasn’t even sure if she was breathing as she mined a hole in the wall to see what was happening. The enderman was teleporting around the room in a frenzy.

Henry grabbed Mala’s arm and pulled her along. “Let’s get out of here!”

That night, they returned to their room to find Kite waiting for them.

“How was guarding?” Mala asked, still shaken from their enderman encounter.

Kite sighed. “I have bad news. Elijah showed up. Now the griefers have captured him too.”

Mala let out a groan. “Now the only leader at the base is Jose.”

“The griefers are overjoyed,” Kite told them. “With both Emma and Elijah in their hands, they’re confident they’ll be able to beat the ender dragon.”

Henry’s face was pale. “It’s still too dangerous.”

Just then, there were footsteps outside their room. Mala jumped up as a griefer appeared in the doorway. “Our leader is calling a meeting.” They followed the griefers to the top floor of the floating base. Along the way, the griefers went from door to door, calling everyone else out.

The top floor was the roof. A fence surrounded the edges, and snow floated down from the sky above.

Isla was standing on a platform in front of the group. “The time has come!” she called. “It’s time for us to go to the End to go home!”

The griefers cheered. Then suddenly, there was motion from the crowd as someone built upward with dirt blocks. Standing over the crowd, the boy turned to look at Isla. Mala grabbed Henry’s arm. It was Wilder.

“Isla,” Wilder called, “you can’t bring everyone to the End! Even if you manage to beat the dragon, it won’t take us home. Jose already located where the next portal will open. Don’t go to the End. It’s too dangerous!”

Isla just shook her head. “I’m tired of waiting. All of us are tired of waiting. Emma and Elijah found and brought us to the portals before, but when the time came, they couldn’t figure out how to activate them! What makes you think it will be different this time?”

Wilder crossed his arms. “I already broke your portal in the stronghold. You can’t go to the End anymore.”

“I knew you were the one who broke it,” Isla said simply. “That’s why I didn’t capture you.”

Wilder blinked. “You aren’t angry?”

“I knew someone had snuck into my base,” Isla replied calmly. “The portal room on the map was just a test. Whoever entered the room would be captured. But I let you go.”

Wilder seemed to freeze. “It was a test? So . . . so that means there’s more than one end portal in the stronghold?”

“The stronghold is huge. There’s four portal rooms.” Isla then turned to address the crowd of griefers. “This morning, we got enough ender pearls thanks to Emma’s redstone contraptions. We’re going to the End tonight!”

Wilder’s expression was crestfallen as the griefers cheered.

Isla looked over at Wilder. “You can come with us or stay trapped in Minecraft. It’s up to you.”

Wilder just shook his head. He jumped down from his pile of dirt, and the crowd of griefers parted for him as he turned and walked away.

✦ ✦ ✦

Early the next morning, Mala paced back and forth in her room. The griefers had distributed iron armor, swords, and bows to everyone as well as potions and arrows.

“We can still leave now,” Henry said softly. “We can go back to Jose and the others.”

Mala was at a loss. “But Isla seems set on bringing Emma and Elijah to the End with her. We came here to help Emma. I don’t want anything to happen to her or Elijah. Or even Isla and the griefers.”

Henry took a breath. “If you want to go to the End, I’ll go with you.”

Mala smiled weakly. Then she turned to Kite. “What about you?”

Kite looked at Mala and Henry in turn. “I think the best thing for me to do is take the minecarts back to the base and tell Jose what’s going on. Isla wants to go no matter what. Maybe Jose can bring back up and offer the griefers a chance for survival.”

“You should go now, then,” Henry said.

Kite nodded before hurrying out of the room.

“Good luck!” Mala called after her.

Now that it was only the two of them, Mala absently walked over to the window. It was still snowing outside. Snow . . . Mala turned to Henry. “Henry, do you think you can see if there’s pumpkins anywhere at the base? We had pumpkin pie the other day, there has to be pumpkins here somewhere.”

Henry blinked. “Pumpkins?”

“I don’t want to waste my arrows shooting the crystals,” Mala explained. “If we have snow golems with us in the End, we’ll have unlimited snowballs to throw instead. I’ll go outside and shovel snow to craft snow blocks.”

Henry’s eyes widened in understanding. “I’ll go look for pumpkins!”

✦ ✦ ✦

By the time night fell, Mala’s anxiety had risen drastically. She and Henry had changed their appearances back to normal. With their full set of iron armor, no one would recognize them anyway. And if they did come across Emma and Elijah, she wanted them to be able to identify them.

Mala and Henry were now following the rest of the griefers to the minecarts. After zooming through the tunnel to the stronghold, Isla led the way through the stone hallways, dressed in enchanted diamond armor. Mala and Henry stood with the crowd as Isla placed the eyes of ender in the portal blocks. The lava under the empty portal frame illuminated the space, and once the last eye was placed, dark magic began to swirl as the portal sparked to life. It was like tendrils of the void itself were gleaming in the air.

Isla was grinning as she turned to face the rest of the griefers. “We’re going home!”

The griefers cheered, and then they were all running into the portal. Mala and Henry ran with them, and together, they jumped into the glowing darkness.

Chapter Twelve: To The End

When Mala opened her eyes, she was greeted by darkness. The sky was a dark nothingness that stretched infinitely. There were no stars, no light. Suddenly, a deafening roar seemed to shake the very air itself, and Mala clapped her hands over her ears as the sound rattled her eardrums.

From nearby, glass shattered as someone splashed a potion of night vision over them. The world came into view. The tall, obsidian pillars rose up from the cold endstone, each sporting a glowing ender crystal on top.

Mala stifled a cry. Hundreds of purple eyes glowed through the dark as endermen milled about.

“Stay away from the edge,” Isla instructed. There was a boy and girl standing next to her. Emma and Elijah!

Isla, Emma, and Elijah hurried over to one of the pillars. Emma started placing blocks. In seconds, she had built a TNT cannon, and she pressed the button. The TNT zoomed into the air, landing perfectly on top of the obsidian pillar. There was a loud bang as it exploded. Everyone instinctively looked away, but when they turned back, the ender crystal was still floating there on the pillar, unscathed.

“What?” one of the griefers next to Mala said in shock. “The TNT doesn’t work on the ender crystals?”

Emma quickly started redesigning the build to shoot arrows instead, but suddenly, people were screaming and pointing as the ender dragon dove toward them. The griefers scattered in every direction as they fled from the dragon.

Henry pulled Mala along, and the two of them skidded behind one of the dark obsidian pillars. They were both breathing heavily as they tried to catch their breath. Mala quickly took out the snow blocks and pumpkins from her inventory, and soon, snow golems were gliding around. Mala took out her shovel and began collecting snowballs. At the same time, Henry had pulled blocks from his inventory and worked on a redstone contraption.

“Slime blocks?” Mala asked as she turned to look at it.

Henry nodded as he focused on his build. “I found these in a chest while I was looking for pumpkins. Hop on. Pair it with a potion of leaping, and you can jump high enough to break the crystal.”

Snowball in hand, Mala quickly jumped onto the slime blocks. They squelched under her feet, but she did her best to ignore the sound as the pistons thrust the blocks upward. Mala threw a potion of leaping over herself, and then she was bouncing into the air. She did her best to aim as she tossed the snowball at the crystal above. When the first one missed, Mala let herself land back on the slime blocks before leaping again. It took her a few jumps, but finally, the snowball struck the crystal, and it shattered in a tremendous explosion.

Mala let out a cry as the force of the blast had her flying backward. Henry was there in seconds with a bucket of water to soften the fall. Henry helped Mala to her feet and out of the water.

Mala glanced around. It seemed like the two of them were the first to successfully break a crystal. The griefers had crowded around the other obsidian pillars, doing their best to either build up or use ladders to climb up to the crystal. Some of them seemed to be having better luck than others. Whenever the ender dragon would swoop down, all the griefers would scream and scatter while the dragon’s body destroyed all the blocks they had placed.

One group of griefers was standing in a small, self-made lake, cowering as endermen screeched at them from all sides, enraged by the water preventing them from attacking.

An explosion sounded as another one of the crystals was destroyed, followed by the sound of cheers from one of the other groups.

Mala and Henry hurried to another one of the pillars. This crystal had an iron cage around it.

“I’ll give you a boost,” Henry said as he started making another slime block contraption. “See if you can jump high enough to pour water off the top of the pillar.”

Mala nodded and jumped onto the slime. It took her a few tries, but she finally managed to splash the water from her buck near the top of the pillar. Back on the ground, Mala swam up the water. Henry followed close behind. They used blocks to build the rest of the way up the tall pillar, and when they finally arrived at the top, Mala inhaled sharply.

The ender crystal glowed and pulsed behind the cage. Mala’s heart beat quickly. She didn’t want to know what a direct blast from the crystal would feel like. Henry splashed a potion of feather falling over the two of them. He was refusing to look down.

Mala used her pickaxe to carefully break the cage. She was afraid that if she moved too much, she would accidentally break the crystal. Once enough of the cage had been removed, she exchanged a scared look with Henry. “Let’s go back down.”

Henry nodded. But just as they started taking the waterfall back down, the booming of wing beats sounded. Purple eyes blazed through the dark, and then Mala and Henry were both crying out as the dragon swept them into the air.

The wind was knocked out of Mala as she gasped in shock. With the potion of feather falling, she and Henry slowly tumbled through the air. Mala could feel where the ender dragon’s hard body had rammed into her chest. It was like getting struck by a moving truck.

When they reached the ground, Mala quickly splashed a potion of healing over the two of them. They were scared, but Mala quickly took out her bow and aimed at the now exposed crystal. She let the arrow arc through the air, and the crystal exploded.

There was screaming in the air as the ender dragon barreled toward the griefers. It let out a roar, and the ground shook.

“I think we’ve angered the dragon,” Henry said faintly. “It seems to realize what we’re trying to do.”

Mala looked on in horror as the dragon flew through the line of griefers. The griefers were tossed into the air, flashing red as they landed on the hard stones.

Henry whirled to Mala. “How much water do you have left? We need to flood the End!”

“I only have about eight buckets,” Mala whispered as the dragon’s roar set her legs shaking.

Henry took out his pickaxe and began to break the endstone in front of them. “Eight buckets is enough. We can make an infinity pool.”

Mala’s eyes widened in understanding. “Once the End is flooded, we’ll be safe from the endermen, and we won’t take any fall damage if the dragon tosses us into the air!”

Once Henry made the small pool, the two of them took buckets and began running around as they dumped water all around them. As they ran back and forth, Mala’s heart began to sink. The End was too big, and with only her and Henry, she wasn’t sure if they would be able to cover enough of the End before the dragon did more damage.

Arrows arched overhead, and Mala’s head snapped up. The griefers were starting to shoot at the dragon. The dragon roared as it took damage. Each wing beat was a boom as it shot upward. Beams of light instantly shot out from the remaining ender crystals, floating over to the dragon and healing it.

“Don’t attack it yet!” Mala shouted desperately. “We need to break more of the crystals first!”

But in their panic, the griefers continued to shoot at the dragon.

Mala turned to where Henry was standing behind her. “They’re going to use up all their arrows!” Then Mala blinked. Henry was not standing behind her. The purple eyes that glowed down at her made her blood turn to ice. Mala let out a scream as the enderman screeched.

Suddenly, someone dumped a bucket of water on the enderman, and it teleported away.

Mala clutched her chest as her heart thundered away. Her mouth fell open in surprise. The person now standing in front of her was Jose. Mala looked around. The students from the school were standing a short distance away. They were all dressed in iron armor, and Mala quickly spotted Kite, Lola, and Wilder among them.

“Kite told me everything,” Jose said as Henry hurried over. “I brought the rest of the students with me. What do you need us to do?”

“Quick,” Henry said as he waved Jose over to the pool of water. “We need to flood the End!”

Jose nodded and hurried over to the pool. The rest of the students followed him.

Mala let out a breath of relief as she joined them at the pool. Henry came over to her. “Are you alright?” he asked.

Mala nodded. “Jose got there in time.”

With the help of Jose and the students, soon, the End was completely covered in water. The endermen were shrieking and teleporting around, only to teleport into more water. It wasn’t long before all the endermen were gone, and the water was filled with glittering ender pearls.

Jose found Emma and Elijah, and now with Isla as well, they each brought a group with them to different obsidian pillars. Mala and Henry went over to another pillar as well. Emma and Henry built redstone contraptions to get up to their crystal, while Jose and Isla used blocks and ladders. Elijah was throwing snowballs at the enderdragon and running through the water, keeping it distracted.

Before long, all the crystals had been broken. Mala and Henry stood on top one of the obsidian pillars, bows in hand. Arrows flew through the air as both the students and griefers shot at the dragon. Mala’s heart raced, and adrenaline flooded her veins as she fired arrow after arrow.

The dragon was roaring as it flashed red over and over. And then purple particles were exploding into the air. The dragon’s body glowed and shimmered as it slowly disintegrated. Then glowing experience orbs were raining down, and a cheer erupted from the students and griefers as they high fived each other and waved their swords in the air.

Mala and Henry jumped down from the obsidian pillar, landing in the water before making their way over to where Jose was standing with Emma and Elijah. Everyone was looking at the portal that had been activated in the middle of the End. Emma stepped forward and used a piston to collect the dragon egg sitting on top of it.

Isla was grinning as she stood on the edge of the portal. “It’s time to go home!” And so, everyone began to file into the portal. When it was Mala and Henry’s turn, they jumped into the portal together. As the world melted around them, there was nothing Mala wished for more than for the portal to take them home.

Warm sunlight hit Mala’s face as the world came into focus around her. The sky was a bright blue, and the grass around them a vibrant green.

“Why?” a voice cried in despair.

Mala and Henry turned to find Isla in tears.

“Why?” Isla asked as she flung her sword to the ground. “Why are we still in Minecraft? We clearly slayed the ender dragon! We beat the game!”

Emma walked over to Isla. “Elijah and I never lied to you about the way to get out of Minecraft, Isla. You just chose not to believe us. The portal will appear in the overworld, and when it does, we all have to work together to activate it.”

Isla just sank to her knees.

Jose produced the enchanted compass. “The portal will appear in a couple of weeks. Until then, we should all go back to our base.”

“We still don’t trust you,” one of the griefers called. “Emma and Elijah have been in charge for so long, and yet we’re still stuck here.”

Elijah stepped forward. “How about this? Emma and I pass on our positions of leaders to someone else.”

Emma nodded in agreement. “I say we give them to Mala and Henry.”

Chapter Thirteen: The Return Home

Mala and Henry blinked at her. “Us?”

Emma smiled. “If it wasn’t for the two of you, things could have gone horribly in the End. I think everyone will feel reassured placing the responsibility in your hands.”

Jose stepped forward as well. “I’m willing to part with being vice principal as well.”

Elijah looked over at him. “Do you have anyone in mind to take your place?”

Jose found Kite standing in the crowd. “I think Kite would be a good fit for the job.”

Kite looked around awkwardly when she realized everyone was looking at her. “Actually, I’d rather not have any important responsibilities. I know someone who will do better than me.”

Kite found Wilder and brought him to the front of the crowd.

“I’m willing to do my best,” Wilder said determinedly.

Jose smiled. “It’s settled, then. Mala is our new combat master, Henry is our new redstone master, and Wilder is our vice principal.”

Emma turned back to Isla. “Will you come back with us now?”

Isla nodded silently.

Before long, everyone was walking back to the base. In the mornings, the griefers would join them in the cafeteria and attend classes with them. Mala and Henry would do their best to work as the base leaders, and before long, the hundredth day had arrived.

Mala and Henry led everyone out of the base and over the grassy fields. Mala had the enchanted compass in hand, and the arrow pointed straight ahead. They didn’t have to go very far to find the portal; it was in the same place where Mala and Henry had arrived in the overworld.

The portal frame in front of them looked very much like an End portal, except the frame was made out of bedrock. The portal was giant, with an item frame placed on each block. Even though the frame itself glowed, there was no light in the middle.

“How do we activate the portal?” Mala asked Emma.

“At first we thought we had to put the right items in the item frames,” Emma told her. “The only problem was, we aren’t completely sure what the right items are. Whenever the portal appeared before, Elijah and I would spend the entire day trying as many combinations as we could think of. But once the day was over, the portal would vanish.”

Elijah stepped forward. “We only recently found out that it’s not about the items that go in the frames. It’s about who is putting them there.” He motioned for Mala and Henry to step over to the item frame in the corner. “This is the first block in the portal. Emma and I were the first to arrive in the overworld. So when we put any item in the item frame together . . .” Elijah and Emma placed a block in the frame, and instantly, the frame began to glow. Elijah smiled knowingly. “Emma and I have the order of arrivals written down. All you need to do is place a block in the frame together.”

Elijah handed a book of names to Henry, and Henry began to call them out. Each pair stood in front of their designated block of the portal. In turn, the pairs put a block in the frame, and slowly, the item frames began to glow. Finally, Henry reached his and Mala’s name on the list. The two of them walked over to the portal block.

Mala and Henry slowly placed the book of names on the item frame together. The moment it was in the frame, the portal activated, and light connected all the blocks. The light shot upward into the sky like a beacon. There were gasps and cheers from the crowd. Mala jumped up and down before she threw her arms around Henry in a hug. “We did it!”

Emma was grinning. “Good game, team.”

“Emma,” a voice said. It was Isla. She was standing with the griefers, and all of them bowed their heads solemnly. “We were wrong. We’re sorry.”

Lola took a step forward. Hurt flashed in her eyes as she looked at Isla. “Isla, we arrived in the overworld on the same day. We were friends from school. I can’t believe you would become a griefer. Because of you, all of us have been trapped in Minecraft for much longer than we needed to be. You could have died going to the End! Then you never would have been able to go home.”

Isla hung her head. “I’m sorry. I was wrong. If you don’t want to be my friend anymore, I understand.”

Lola sighed. “We’ll talk about this again when we get home.”

Wilder looked over at Emma, Elijah, Mala, and Henry. “Is this goodbye forever? Will we ever see each other again?”

“How about this,” Elijah said. “I’ll create a Minecraft realm that all of us can play on. Emma and I can tell you our usernames. Feel free to reach out to us.”

Once everything had been arranged and farewells were exchanged, all that was left was to walk into the light.

Emma and Elijah smiled at everyone. “See you on the other side.” And together, they stepped forward and vanished into the light.

Mala took Henry’s arm, and the two of them shared a smile. “On three?” Henry asked.

Mala nodded. “One, two, three!”

The two of them hurried into the light.

The world glowed and melted around them. In moments, the light grew so bright that Mala had to squeeze her eyes shut. She felt dizzy as she moved through time and space itself.

When the light faded, Mala slowly opened her eyes. She blinked. She was sitting on the floor of the principal’s office.

Mala quickly looked around to find Henry sitting next to her. His expression was equally surprised as he looked around.

Mala let out a laugh. Henry was smiling too, and the two of them hugged each other.

When they finally calmed down, Mala glanced down to find the creeper bookmark laying on the floor as well. Timidly, she stuck out a leg and tapped it with her shoe.

“I think we should get rid of this,” Henry said as he looked at it suspiciously.

Mala nodded. The two of them took turns trying to rip the bookmark and cut it with scissors, but they couldn’t destroy it. Finally picking the bookmark up with the hem of her skirt, Mala rose to her feet. “Guess we have to hide it instead.”

Henry stood as well, and he opened the door to the office. The two of them hurried down the hallways, only to run right into the principal.

She blinked at them. “Mala Desai? Aren’t you supposed to be in my office? I just finished taking care of some business and was just about to come back to check on you.”

“Mala didn’t mean to cause trouble,” Henry said quickly. “She only punched Toby because he was making fun of me.”

Mala bowed her head. “I won’t punch people again.”

The principal sighed. “I’ll let you off with a warning this time.” Then she smiled faintly. “If you hurry, you still have about ten minutes of recess left.”

Mala and Henry thanked her before continuing on their way to the yard. They stopped under the monkey bars and got to work digging a hole in the sand.

Mala placed the bookmark in the sand, and then Henry covered it. Mala let out a breath of relief. As the two of them made their way back through the yard, they suddenly stopped as a group of boys ran in front of them.

“It’s Henry Oh My God,” one of them jeered.

Henry just walked right past them. Mala followed beside him, paying the boys no mind.

“Hey,” one of them called in disappointment. “You’re no fun anymore.”

Mala and Henry found an empty bench in the yard and sat down. “Want to come over to my house after school?” Henry asked with a smile. “We can try to join Elijah’s realm.”

Mala nodded eagerly. Then she sighed. “If you knew the bookmark would take you into Minecraft, would you have picked it up?”

Henry’s expression was thoughtful. “If I knew from the start what the bookmark would do, I think I would still do it.”

“Even after how dangerous it was?”

Henry nodded. “Yes, we faced a lot of dangers, but we also made a lot of new friends along the way. Without the bookmark, I wouldn’t have made my most important friend. Would you have done it?”

Mala beamed. “Of course. I met my most important friend in Minecraft too.”

“So,” Henry said, “later, we can start our own world. We could do survival and start from scratch, or we could play creative and make a lot of cool builds. I think my redstone has improved a lot.”

Mala giggled. “You’re the new redstone master. Of course it’s improved. We should make a secret base with lots of redstone doors and secret weapons!”

Henry grinned. “That sounds fun! I can’t wait to play Minecraft with you and the rest of our new friends.”

✦ End ✦