Bring Secrets to Light

Chapter 3

"AHHHH!" Blade screamed, falling out of her bed. The eyes giggled and disappeared, but not before Blade recognised who they belonged to. "ALEX!" she yelled.

Ender poked her head in the room. "She was looking at you from the window wasn't she?" she asked. Blade nodded. "That's why none of us have this room. But hey, at least you are prepared for it next time! Come on, let's go downstairs! It's Hero's turn to cook breakfast and his cooking is awesome!" Ender said all this without breathing. She then disappeared and Blade heard her footsteps running down the hall.

Blade shook her head and got changed into her normal clothes, which had been washed overnight. She walked down the stairs, smelling bacon and eggs. Her stomach grumbled. Her family almost never had eggs. Blade joined everyone at the table, where Hero had already dished up the food. Alex gave her an innocent smile, which Blade returned with a playful glare.

"So, judging from the loud scream and the sudden thud, I'm going to guess that Alex was looking through your window," Notch said to Blade.

"Really? I never would have guessed," I said sarcastically, smiling so that everyone would know that I was joking.

Alex was unable to stop a giggle from escaping her mouth.

"Guilty as charged," Herobrine said, stabbing a piece of bacon with his fork.

After breakfast, Notch sent Blade off with Steve and Hero into the forest to get some materials. Blade had Notch's pickaxe and axe in the pockets of a backpack that she wore, along with a spare iron sword at her side. Hero and Steve were similarly equipped, but they each had diamond swords. Hero's pack also had some lunch in it. 

The trio walked through the forest until they came to the edge of a large ravine. Blade carefully looked over the edge. The ravine had bridges spanning the gap between the two sides and it had torches everywhere to stop monsters from gathering.

"As you can tell, we've been here a few times," Steve said, joining Blade.

Hero snorted. "A few times? More like a few hundred times. We've got tunnels going everywhere, all originating from this ravine."

"And Hero's memorised all of them," Steve added. "He's really good underground."

Blade shuddered. She didn't like the underground very much: with the darkness, the strange sounds and the smell of musty old air. But she followed the brothers down a ladder to the very bottom of the ravine. Hero led them down a tunnel in the rock, which looked like a central allyway or something. Lots of tunnels branched off it and they walked down them, turning left and right every now and then until they came to a dead end.

"This is where we stopped last time," Hero said, taking out his pick.

Steve and Blade copied him and they started mining, digging the tunnel deeper and deeper. While they mined, they talked about random things, like what they hoped to find, what food they liked the most and (for some reason) what colour horse was best.

Finally, Blade built up the courage to ask the brothers about their past.

"So Steve, Hero, what was it like growing up?" she asked.

"I honestly don't remember much," Steve said. "My earliest memory was probably when I was five."

"What is it?" Blade asked, mining some coal.

"I was walking in the forest at night," Steve started, "and don't ask why I was in the forest at night, I have no idea. And I came face to face with a zombie. Then Hero appeared beside me. Actually, that's a good point. I don't remember you walking beside me Hero."

Hero shrugged. "I was walking a bit behind you. That's probably why you didn't notice me until then."

"What happened next Steve?" Blade urged.

"Well, Hero told me to run back to the house so I did. And then I realised that I had left him alone face to face with a zombie. So I ran back, and the zombie was gone."

"How'd you get rid of the zombie?" Blade asked Hero.

"I honestly don't remember," Hero said.

At that moment, Blade's pickaxe broke through the wall of stone and revealed a cave that was on the other side. She couldn't see much from the little hole that she made, but it seemed big.

"That looks fun," Steve said.

"Oh boy yeah," Hero agreed, exchanging his pick for a sword.

He climbed through the hole, his sword out ready to defend himself against any monsters that might be nearby. He signalled for Blade and Steve to come up. Steve placed a torch on the wall, illuminating the cave but also making the darkness seem thicker. The sounds of spiders, skeletons and zombies reached Blade's ears, making her shiver. She realised just then that she had a new fear for zombies.

"Which tunnel?" Hero asked, scanning the surroundings.

"How about that one?" Steve suggested. "It doesn't have any spooky noises coming from it."

"Sounds good to me," Blade said.

The trio ventured deeper into the cave system, Hero keeping his sword ready, Blade placing torches and Steve mining the various ores.

"So anyway, Blade, you asked what it was like growing up," Hero said. "Our parents were researchers. They worked up in the mountains, analysing rocks and the patterns of the native animals and stuff like that. They would work for 4 years, then come back and stay with us for a month or so before going back."

"Who looked after you when they were gone?" Blade asked.

"Our grandmother did. She was great," Steve said, throwing some iron ore in his pack.

"But yeah, we barely ever saw our parents. During one of their 4 year away trips -I think it was the third one after Steve and I were born- Mum came back unexpectedly, about halfway through the trip. She was pregnant with Alex. After she had Alex, she stayed for a few months then went off again."

"Alex was only a few months old and your Mum left her?!" Blade was shocked. What kind of mother did that?

"Grandma owned cows, so we fed Alex with their milk. But soon after Mum left, Grandma started forgetting things."

"I remember one day when she woke up and she didn't remember who Hero was," Steve recalled. "She chased him out of the house with a broom."

"I hated that broom," Hero said. "Grandma got dementia, so Notch started looking after all of us. One day, when Alex was about a year old, we got a letter. I have no idea what it said, but Notch took it straight to Grandma. Early the next morning, Notch took us away from Grandma's house and then we started living on our own."

"What was in the letter?" Blade asked.

"I don't know, but I have a few suspicions."

"Hero and I think that the letter was from Mum and Dad. Notch seemed very sad after he read it, so we assume that it was saying that Mum and Dad had died. And judging from the fact that Notch got us away from the house the next day, and that he wouldn't let us say goodbye to Grandma, we think that Grandma died during the night." Steve said this all in a rush without breathing. It took a few moments for Blade's brain to process what he said.

"And Notch didn't tell you guys this?"

Steve shrugged. "There was a lot going on at the time. And afterwards... well, we just kinda forgot about it. Behind you Hero."

Hero spun around and hacked off a zombie's head. "We should probably head back soon if we want to get some wood and make it back home before dark," he warned.

"Good idea." Steve brushed off the coal dust from his shirt. "Let's go."