Attack of the Drowned Read online

  This book is not authorized or sponsored by Microsoft Corp., Mojang AB, Notch Development AB or Scholastic Inc., or any other person or entity owning or controlling rights in the Minecraft name, trademark, or copyrights.

  AQUATIC ADVENTURES IN THE OVERWORLD: ATTACK OF THE DROWNED.

  Copyright © 2019 by Hollan Publishing, Inc.

  Minecraft® is a registered trademark of Notch Development AB.

  The Minecraft game is copyright © Mojang AB.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Sky Pony Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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  Sky Pony® is a registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.®, a Delaware corporation.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

  Special thanks to Erin L. Falligant.

  Cover illustration by Amanda Brack

  Cover design by Brian Peterson

  Paperback ISBN: 978-1-5107-4728-9

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-5107-4739-5

  Printed in the United States of America

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 1

  “Are you sure you don’t want to make these walls stronger?” asked Luna. “You could make them two blocks thick.” She tapped against the glass.

  Mason sighed. They’d already spent days building his new underwater home. Hours melting sand in the furnace to make the last few blocks of glass. And the last forty-five minutes sopping up the remaining water from the floor with sponges.

  “Nope,” he said. “Those walls sound plenty thick to me. Besides, I like to be able to see through them.”

  He gazed out at the underwater ruins of the sandstone village he now called home. A crumbling, moss-covered fountain stood tall, gazing at him like a friendly neighbor. Sea grass waved hello from the coral reef beyond. And a tropical fish stopped to peer through the glass before darting toward its school of friends.

  Luna chewed her lip. “Well, remember that every mob down here can see you, too,” she said. “You probably should have used the tinted-blue glass, like I have in my house.”

  “Every mob?” said Mason. Sure, he’d battled plenty of mobs when he and his brother, Asher, lived above ground. But down here, the world seemed more peaceful. “You mean like the turtles and the fish? I’m not worried.” He glanced again out the window, just in time to see a long black tentacle reach up from the ocean floor and tap on the glass.

  Mason jumped backward and dropped his sponge with a splat. Then he recognized the sleepy eyes of Luna’s pet squid.

  “Edward! Stop sneaking up on me like that!” scolded Mason.

  Luna laughed. “You’ve got to watch out for those squid,” she said. “They’re such dangerous mobs.”

  “Well, don’t forget the dolphins,” joked Mason as he bent to pick up his sponge. “I hear they’re deadly.”

  Luna nodded with mock enthusiasm. “Yes, especially if you attack one of them,” she said. “Then they’ll turn on you like zombie pigmen. Or like . . .”—a shadow passed over her face—“the drowned.”

  Mason’s stomach clenched. He’d been trying to forget about the zombie-like mobs that lived on the ocean floor. But he knew Luna couldn’t forget. She had lost her parents in a drowned attack right here in this underwater village.

  He quickly changed the subject. “Maybe I should have used the tinted glass. But you should be glad I built this house instead of Asher. He pretty much wanted us to live in that pile of dirt over there.”

  He pointed at the mound just beyond the crumbly fountain. A wooden door was nailed to the front of the mound, with the smallest of rooms dug out behind it. That’s as far as Asher had gotten in his “building” before moving on to something else.

  Luna chuckled. “What’s he doing out there now?” she asked, pressing her face to the glass.

  Mason looked, too. Redheaded Asher was standing next to a coral tree, stacking blocks of prismarine. “He’s trying to build a conduit power structure,” said Mason. “Except without a conduit.”

  “Huh?” asked Luna.

  “It’s what Uncle Bart sketched in his journal, remember?” Just saying his uncle’s name made Mason’s heart sink. He and Asher had been traveling with Uncle Bart, until their ship overturned in a storm and tossed Uncle Bart into the raging waters.

  Mason shook off the horrible memory and pulled his uncle’s leather journal from his pocket. He flipped to the right page. “See?” he said. “Check it out.”

  Uncle Bart had sketched a square base of prismarine, five blocks wide and three blocks tall. In the center, he’d drawn a conduit, crafted from nautilus shells and the heart of the sea. When the conduit was activated, Uncle Bart had told them, it would make it easier to breathe underwater, to see and mine underwater, and even to attack hostile mobs.

  “Uncle Bart was making a plan for us to live underwater all along,” said Mason. “He was searching for that heart of the sea when he . . .” His voice cracked. “Well, he never found it. But Asher hopes we can someday.”

  Luna nodded. “We will,” she said. “I’ll help you.” She swept her dark bangs off her forehead and gazed again through the glass. “Looks like Asher is just a couple of blocks short.”

  Sure enough, Asher seemed to be scanning the underwater village for more prismarine. He pulled his pickaxe out of his backpack and then glanced back at the house.

  “There’s not a lot of prismarine around here,” said Luna. “Can he use other blocks instead?”

  Mason studied the scrawled notes in Uncle Bart’s diagram. “It says here that sea lanterns work, too,” he said. “Prismarine and sea lanterns.” He gazed up at the lanterns that cast a warm glow throughout his new home.

  But outside the glass walls, shadows were forming. Night would be falling soon.

  “Asher should come inside,” said Mason. “It’s getting dark, and his potion of water breathing is going to wear off any minute now.”

  “It’s alright,” said Luna. “He’s holding his breath for a lot longer now, and he’s a stronger swimmer, too.”

  Mason nodded. When they’d first joined Luna down here, Asher could barely do more than doggy paddle. But living underwater had strengthened his muscles and his lungs. Mine, too, thought Mason.

  Still, he was glad when Asher started swimming toward the glass house.

  “I’m going to dry out these sponges in the furnace,” said Mason, hurrying toward the hall. “You know Asher will bring a bunch of water inside with him.”

  They had built a flush entrance, a double front door that would let Asher swim through one door and then close it before opening the next. A sponge mat would soak up all the extra water—or at least most of it. But Asher wasn’t very good at waiting for that to happen.

 
; Mason plopped the wet sponge in the furnace and then returned to the living room. He expected Asher to burst through the door any moment now, shaking off water like a wet wolf.

  But he didn’t.

  Instead, Mason heard a faint tapping coming from overhead. Or was it from behind? He spun in a slow circle, trying to find the source of the noise.

  Luna cocked her head. “I think Asher is mining,” she said.

  “He found a sea lantern?” Mason wondered aloud.

  “Maybe. But you can’t mine lanterns—not without the silk touch enchantment.”

  Mason swallowed hard. “Yeah, I don’t think he knows that.”

  The tapping grew louder. With each blow, the glass walls rattled.

  “He’s really close by,” said Luna, worry creeping into her voice.

  “Too close,” said Mason, his throat tight. “Way too close.”

  He’d barely gotten the words out when he heard the snap and crack of glass.

  And then water began gushing in.

  CHAPTER 2

  Mason darted out of the path of the waterfall, trying to find its source.

  “There!” Luna pointed toward a glass block—or toward where a block used to be—in the upper right-hand corner of the room. “Grab something to plug it up!”

  Mason slipped and slid across the floor, searching for something. He grabbed the first thing he could find: a block of dried kelp from a stack near the furnace. Then he stood on tiptoe to force it into the hole.

  The water gushing through the hole pushed back.

  “Help me!” cried Mason as water streamed down the front of his shirt.

  Luna stood beside him, pressing too. Finally, the kelp block gave way—just enough to fit. Then it swelled with water, sealing the leak.

  “Asher!” Mason bellowed, hoping his brother could hear him even beyond the glass walls. “You’re in big trouble!”

  He couldn’t storm outside and scold his brother, at least not without suiting up first. By the time he’d grabbed a helmet enchanted with respiration, he’d calmed down just a bit. And as he reached for a pickaxe, he made a plan.

  Asher had destroyed one of his building blocks. So he would take one of Asher’s in return.

  Mason stepped out into the watery world and swam—no, strode—toward the conduit power source. Asher was nowhere to be found. Probably hiding in a patch of kelp, thought Mason.

  He raised his axe and whacked at a prismarine block, which fell to the ground. Then he carried it toward his new house, stopping to admire the view from this side of the glass. The walls were shiny and perfectly clear—except for the ugly block of dried kelp stuck through the cracked hole.

  Mason waved at Luna through the glass, pointing toward the dried kelp. Then he pointed toward his prismarine block. Luna nodded. She stood beneath the kelp with a sponge, ready for the water that would stream in as Mason switched out the blocks.

  On the count of three, thought Mason. He held up his fingers, one at a time.

  On three, he destroyed the kelp block with a whack of his axe. Then he quickly pushed the prismarine block into place. It wasn’t clear glass, but it was strong—and much more attractive than the kelp.

  Luna mopped up the water inside with her sponge, pausing only to give him a thumbs-up through the glass.

  Then someone grabbed Mason’s arm from behind. He whirled around and came face-to-face with . . .

  . . . a very angry Asher. He pointed up at the prismarine block as if to say, That’s mine!

  Mason shrugged. Then he swam toward the front door, knowing that Asher would follow.

  When they were dried off and sitting inside, Mason explained. “I took your block because you destroyed mine—and you almost destroyed our house, too. You have to be more careful when you mine, Asher!”

  His brother threw out his arms. “I’m sorry!” he cried. “But I’m really close to finishing the conduit power source. I mean . . . except for actually having a conduit.” His shoulders slumped. “We need to find the heart of the sea.”

  Mason sighed. Asher was so much like Uncle Bart, always in search of buried treasure. “Can’t we just enjoy our new home for a while?” Mason asked. “We have practically everything we need, right here in this village.”

  Luna nodded. “Plenty of kelp to eat—and to burn as fuel.”

  “A roof over our heads,” added Mason, “that we can see right through!” Through the gallons of water overhead, he could see the shimmer of the moon.

  “And good friends,” added Luna with a smile.

  But the corners of Asher’s mouth drooped. “Sure,” he said glumly. “We have everything we need—except the heart of the sea.”

  In the silence that followed, Mason and Luna exchanged a glance. Then Luna straightened up. “So we’ll find it,” she said. “I have a buried treasure map. You do, too—your Uncle Bart’s. Between the two maps, we ought to be able to find something, right?” She stood up and dusted off her hands, as if she’d just solved all of the Overworld’s problems.

  Asher jumped to his feet. “So we’re going then?” he asked.

  Luna laughed. “Well, not right this second. We should probably wait until morning. And we need to do a few things first, like enchant our tridents. The ocean is crawling with drowned. We need to be ready.”

  Mason shivered. He and Asher had fought off their share of the undead mob in the past few weeks.

  “The drowned are everywhere,” Asher agreed. “That’s why we need to build the conduit. For protection!”

  Mason couldn’t argue with that. “We’ll build it. We’ll find that heart of the sea,” he promised. “Maybe even tomorrow.”

  “Mason, wake up!”

  It seemed as if Mason had just laid down on his red wool blanket, and now Asher was shaking him awake. Morning sunlight streamed down through the glass ceiling above.

  “What?” asked Mason, running a hand over his tousled blond hair. “What do you want?”

  “I can’t find Luna!” said Asher.

  Only then did Mason realize that Asher’s hair was wet. A droplet landed on his arm, sending a shiver through his body. “You’ve been out already today?”

  Asher nodded. “Luna’s not at home.”

  Mason sighed and wiped his arm dry. He pushed himself up on one elbow. “She’s probably enchanting the tridents, remember?”

  “But where?” asked Asher.

  Mason hesitated. He’d been in Luna’s house plenty of times. She had a furnace, a couple of chests, a crafting table, and a brewing stand. But he’d never seen an enchantment table or an anvil.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “She’s probably using an anvil somewhere else in the village. She’ll be back soon.” He stifled a yawn. “Want some breakfast?”

  Asher shook his head. “I’m not hungry. I want to find Luna so we can get going.” He stared at Mason with a look that said, “I’m not going to leave you alone until you help me.”

  Mason sighed. “Fine. Let me get dressed and we’ll go together.”

  Fifteen minutes and a fried cod breakfast later, the boys were swimming through the village. As Asher swam ahead, nimble as a fish in the water, Mason shook his head in amazement. Was his brother going to sprout fins soon?

  Mason felt the strength of his own legs as he kicked to catch up. When the boys had first met Luna, Mason had marveled at how long she could hold her breath. Now, he could do the same, thanks to his enchanted helmet and weeks of swimming through the ocean.

  Up ahead, Asher darted past a moss-covered castle. It wasn’t a real castle, but it was the tallest building in the village, with a gravel floor and a sea lantern casting welcoming light on the crumbling staircase nearby. Some of the houses surrounding it were a maze of connecting rooms. Others were nothing but roofless huts melting into the ocean floor, remnants of what used to be.

  When Asher darted through an open window, Mason called out a gurgly warning. Then he saw Asher pop out the other side. The window was carved into a single
standing wall. The other three walls had toppled to the ground long ago.

  Asher passed through another sandstone arch before he turned around. He held up his hands, as if to say, “Where is she?”

  Mason shrugged. Which of these buildings might hold an enchantment table or anvil? He had no idea.

  Then his eyes caught a flicker of light up ahead. He swam past Asher and waved for him to follow.

  The light seeped out through a crack in a stone wall. As Mason peered through the opening, he sucked in his breath.

  The crack led to a large cavern. Inside, a girl was brewing a potion, colored liquids fizzing and bubbling up out of her cauldron. Luna? he wondered for just a moment. But as his eyes adjusted, he could see now that it was a woman, not a girl. Her hair was much longer than Luna’s and flecked with gray.

  As she turned toward him, his heart pounded in his ears. They locked eyes for just a moment before Mason pulled away from the crevice.

  But Asher had caught the expression on Mason’s face, and now he wanted a look of his own.

  Mason reached for his brother’s arm, but it was no use.

  Asher pressed his face toward the crack. By the time he pulled away, his jaw was set, which meant he was determined to learn more. He turned toward the opening to the cave. Then, with a swift kick, he was gone.

  No! Mason wanted to holler. Don’t go in there! We don’t know if she’s a friend or an enemy!

  But Asher had already disappeared through the opening, and Mason had no choice but to follow.

  A short tunnel opened up into the cavern, lit by a sea lantern and the bubbling potion in the brewing stand. The woman standing over the cauldron lifted her head. Her lined face tightened with surprise. She raised a bony finger, pointing toward the entrance. Then she pushed off from the rocky ledge and began to swim toward them, her white robes flowing behind her.

  Mason grabbed Asher’s arm and pulled him backward.

  Swim! he wanted to shout. Now!

  Finally, Asher turned to leave. But would he be fast enough?

  Mason glanced over his shoulder and saw the woman swimming toward them, fast as a drowned.

  Her mouth had tightened into a grimace, and her eyes flashed with anger.