Creepin' Through the Snow Read online

  Also by Greyson Mann:

  The Creeper Diaries

  Mob School Survivor

  Creeper’s Got Talent

  Secrets of an Overworld Survivor

  Lost in the Jungle

  When Lava Strikes

  Wolves vs. Zombies

  Never Say Nether

  The Witch’s Warning

  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.

  Copyright © 2017 by Hollan Publishing, Inc.

  Minecraft® is a registered trademark of Notch Development AB.

  The Minecraft game is copyright © Mojang AB.

  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.

  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.

  Sky Pony Press books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Sky Pony Press, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or [email protected].

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

  Minecraft® is a registered trademark of Notch Development AB.

  The Minecraft game is copyright © Mojang AB.

  Visit our website at www.skyponypress.com.

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  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

  Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-5107-2734-2

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-5107-2735-9

  Printed in the United States of America

  Contents

  Day 1: Friday

  Day 3: Sunday (Morning)

  Day 3: Sunday (Night)

  Day 4: Monday

  Day 7: Thursday

  Day 9: Saturday

  Day 11: Monday

  Day 12: Tuesday

  Day 13: Wednesday

  Day 15: Friday

  Day 16: Saturday

  Day 17: Sunday

  Day 19: Tuesday

  Day 21: Thursday

  Day 22: Friday

  Day 24: Sunday (Morning)

  Day 24: Sunday (Night)

  Day 24: Sunday (Night)—Still . . .

  Day 25: Monday (Yeah, Christmas)

  Day 27: Wednesday

  Day 31: Sunday (Creeper’s Eve)

  DAY 1: FRIDAY

  Mom says the holidays are when miracles happen. She sure wasn’t kidding. I saw one with my own eyes tonight.

  We had just finished stuffing ourselves with mushroom stew—AGAIN. That’s what we eat for Thanksgiving, to celebrate the time when mobs and miners came together in peace. Dad leaned back in his chair, and I could tell he was about to launch into his story about the olden days, when only MOBS roamed the Overworld. Before miners came and battles broke out.

  Well, I’ve heard that story a gazillion times just this past week alone. I guess Mom was tired of it too, because she stood up and said we should do something fun as a family—SHOPPING!

  That’s how I ended up on the street by the Creeper Café, where the miracle happened.

  See, Mom gave me and my sisters a bunch of emeralds to buy gifts for Creeper’s Eve.

  That’s December 31, when we all creep around and hide presents for each other to celebrate the new year. I don’t exactly love buying gifts for my sisters. But if I shop smart, I’ll have enough emeralds left to buy something for MYSELF.

  My teenage sister must have had the same idea, because she disappeared into the Skins R Us store by the café. Cate is always trying out different wigs and skins. She’s got a whole closet full of them at home.

  Chloe, my Evil Twin, disappeared too. I really wish she’d do that more often. (We haven’t gotten along since, like, Halloween.)

  Then Mom and Dad hurried into the candy store with Cammy before she blew up with excitement. I knew my baby sister would want blaze powder candies.

  They’re so hot, they’d make her blow up anyway. But I didn’t point that out.

  Like I said, when your parents offer you emeralds, you don’t argue. You just grin and walk away before they make you put the emeralds in your piggy bank or something.

  So I headed down the street toward the fireworks store. I figured if my family saw me coming out of there, it would give them a huge hint about what I want for Creeper’s Eve. Fireworks to ring in the new year, please!

  But as I passed the toy store, guess who popped out? My good friend Sam the Slime. And he was dragging something behind him: a new Nether brick-red sled.

  “That’s dumb,” I said before I could stop myself. “It NEVER snows down here in the plains.”

  Any other mob might have gotten mad. But my words bounced right off that jolly slime. He said he wasn’t waiting for snow. He was going to make an ice slide.

  Well, THAT sounded pretty cool. I wanted a piece of that action. In fact, now I wanted a sled too. A bigger one. A faster one. A greener one. And there it was, right there in the store window!

  Staring at that sled, I could already picture me zooming around the snowy mountains of the Taiga.

  And that’s when the miracle happened.

  A snowflake drifted out of the sky and plopped onto my forehead. I’m not even kidding. It dribbled right down my cheek like a tear of joy.

  And that snow kept right on coming. It snowed so hard, we didn’t even have to go to school tonight. We had our first official Snow Night!

  Of course, we all went to school anyway to play in the snow. There’s this big hill behind Mob Middle School, and I couldn’t wait to ride on Sam’s sled. But when I got there, he said there wasn’t enough room on it for me. Say WHAT?

  I tried to prove him wrong. I stretched myself out until I was long and skinny. I rolled into a ball and tried to sit on his lap. But no matter how I twisted and turned, I couldn’t fit on that sled with Sam.

  So I did what any friend would do. I asked him to get off. I mean, what does a slime need with a sled anyway? He’d probably have more fun BOUNCING down the hill.

  Before I could say so, the sled DISAPPEARED. Someone swiped it right out from under us! And then Bones was zooming down the hill, laughing his bony skeleton butt off.

  Sam waited for a while, as if Bones and his gang of spider jockeys were actually going to bring that sled back. But I knew better. So I decided to do something I’ve always wanted to do—build a snow golem. And when Sam saw me rolling a snowball, he forgot all about his sled and bounced over to help.

  Ziggy Zombie helped too. He’s about the grossest kid I know, but I owe him big because he’s the one who found a couple of Jack o’ Lanterns to use for the snow golems’ heads.

  Those pumpkins must have been left over from Halloween. They were black and rotten around the eyes, and the back sides were half eaten, like critters had made dinner out of them. I don’t even WANT to know what was crawling around INSIDE.

  But when Ziggy put the Jack o’ Lanterns on the snow golems’ bodies, it worked! Those golems actually came to life. They stared right at me and star
ted sliding around in the snow.

  I was pretty sure I’d died and gone to creeper heaven, until—

  SMACK!

  An icy snowball hit me square between the eyes.

  “Gotcha, Itchy!”

  Yup, that was Bones again, sailing by on Sam’s sled. The nickname stung—my name is NOT Itchy, it’s Gerald. And that snowball hit me HARD. Who knew you could shoot snowballs with a bow?

  Pretty soon, all his spider jockey friends joined the fight, and Sam and I were in a battle for our lives. So I did what any smart creeper would do. I hid.

  Sam tried to hide between the snow golems too, but there wasn’t even CLOSE to enough room. So I pushed him back out. When in danger, it’s every mob for himself.

  Those snowballs kept coming, bouncing off Sam left and right. He was one big jiggling slime ball. He didn’t know which way to turn!

  Then another miracle happened. Our friends the snow golems started throwing snowballs BACK at Bones.

  He was a pretty good shot too. The good news is, the golems chased those skeletons right down the hill, and they never came back. The bad news is, they took Sam’s sled with them.

  Sam wasn’t all that happy with me after that. The slime kind of gave me the cold shoulder, actually. Until his girlfriend, Willow Witch, showed up.

  Personally, I think Sam’s kind of young to be dating an eighth-grade witch. But every once in a while, it’s kind of nice to have her around. Like tonight, when Sam was acting all mopey. She cheered him up by saying, “Do you want to make snow spiders? I’ll show you.”

  Willow plopped onto her back and swept her arms and legs up and down. When she stood up, she’d left a mark in the snow that KIND of looked like a spider. So we all tried it—even Ziggy Zombie.

  I wasn’t totally happy with my snow spider. But then I looked at Sam’s and felt a whole lot better about mine.

  And while I was lying there beside him, staring up at the snowflakes, I had an epiphany. Dad says that’s when an idea strikes, like lightning from the sky.

  I decided that the snowstorm was a SIGN—a sign that I HAD to buy that sled in the toy store. NOW.

  So I raced back to the store and bought that shiny green sled. I sneaked it home without anyone noticing. Well, my pet squid Sticky noticed. He stared at the sled from his aquarium. Then he turned his beady little eyes toward me. Was he trying to make me feel guilty?

  Sure, I’d spent every emerald Mom had given me for Creeper’s Eve gifts. “But it’s worth it,” I told Sticky. “Don’t judge.”

  And it WAS worth it, until I realized someone else had seen me bring that sled home. My Evil Twin.

  Suddenly, Chloe was all up in my face, threatening to tell Mom and Dad. So I did what I had to do. I broke open my piggy bank and bribed her with my last couple of emeralds just to keep her quiet.

  But now that she’s gone and the sled is hidden under my bed, I’m freaking out. I mean, Creeper’s Eve is only 30 days away. And I have a couple of important things to do before then.

  So it’s time for a plan. Here’s what I’m thinking:

  That’s a pretty good plan. But a creeper’s gotta have SOME fun, right? So maybe I’ll add one more thing to the list:

  •

  Become the greatest sledding creeper of ALL time

  Hey, it’s the holidays. And I’m here to tell you, miracles can happen!

  DAY 3: SUNDAY (MORNING)

  I sure had a good day’s sleep after all that fun in the snow. But I woke up last night to a total NIGHTMARE—a hissing green face with gaping eyes and a twisted smile. It took me a few seconds to realize it was just my sister Chloe.

  She was sitting on my new sled, and she had a demand. “Give me an emerald.”

  I reminded her that I already HAD given her one yesterday.

  I think she’s been watching WAY too many action flicks with Dad lately.

  So I marched over to my broken piggybank and showed her that I was fresh out of emeralds, thanks to her.

  She said that wasn’t her problem and that I needed to pay her an emerald a day, EVERY day, or she was gonna tell Mom and Dad what I did with all the emeralds they gave me.

  SERIOUSLY??? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There’s NO WAY that creep is my twin. I couldn’t have shared an egg with her for even a second. I would have blasted my way out, for sure.

  At least now that we’re older, I can tell her to get out of my room. So I did. And I slid the sled back under my bed.

  Then I sat there trying to figure out how I was going to make enough emeralds to buy presents for Creeper’s Eve AND pay off Chloe to keep her big mouth shut.

  I came up with all kinds of genius ideas for how to earn emeralds.

  But every single one had something to do with my new sled. The one hiding under my bed. The one that I probably won’t be able to use. EVER.

  So after dinner, I asked my dad for advice on how to get a job.

  Chloe was on dish duty, and I hoped she wouldn’t hear me over the running water. But she must have, because she snorted and gave me a smirk. She probably felt super powerful, like it was all because of her that I was looking for ways to kick-start my career.

  But I just ignored her and looked the other way. Which brought me face to face with Cate. YIKES.

  I guess when we went shopping the other night, she bought herself a brand-new look. I gotta say, I’m not really loving the spiky green wig. But I learned a long time ago that if I can’t say something nice about Cate’s new looks, I should just keep my creeper mouth shut.

  Dad seemed all proud that I was looking for work. He said maybe I could help him clear snow on the creeper cul-de-sac where we live.

  I wasn’t so sure about that. I mean, if it’s SNOWING outside, I’ve really got to hit the sledding hills. That’s the only way I’m ever going to become the Overworld’s greatest sledding creeper. But I told Dad I appreciated his suggestion.

  When Mom heard me talking about getting a job, she got all teary-eyed and said we were growing up way too fast.

  And she added that we really needed to spend more family time together this year, because pretty soon my sisters and I would be all grown-up and would move away to the Extreme Hills or something.

  Well, I knew I had to get out of there—FAST—before she decided we needed to spend a family night together. I had places to go and things to do and emeralds to earn. So I said that I was meeting Sam over at the sledding hill again tonight.

  But Mom wasn’t done with me yet. No, sirree. She told me it was cold outside and that I had to wear my super-itchy wool sweater. ARGH.

  That sweater is about the ugliest thing I own. Plus, it REALLY messes with my psoriasis (SORE-EYE-A-SIS). That’s just a fancy word for itchy skin. Which I have. Which is how I got the nickname “Itchy.” But that’s another story.

  By the time I got to the sledding hill, my back was on FIRE with itchiness. I stopped at every tree I could find to give it a good scratch.

  But when I saw mobs sledding down the hill and building snow forts, I remembered two things: Sam’s sled, and the snow golems we’d built. Where were they?

  I didn’t see the golems anywhere. They must have slipped and slid off into the sunrise.

  But Sam’s sled was back. And so was Sam. I could hear him bawling from about fifty feet away. Yup, that slime was crying big slimy tears. His whole body was shaking and hiccupping.

  Then I saw why. His sled was in BAD shape. Bones had brought it back, but he must have used it for target practice first. There were dents and scratches all over it from arrow tips—or bony skeleton fingers. A big crack ran straight across the middle.

  Sam looked up at me through a mess of snot and tears. I was afraid those tears would freeze on his face and end up looking like witch warts. I had to do something, FAST.

  And that was when I had my most genius idea ever. I told Sam he could borrow MY sled.

  I know, that was pretty generous of me. But it also meant I could use my sled whenever I w
ant. And no one would know it belongs to me. I mean, except for Chloe. But once that sled is in Sam’s hands, it’s Chloe’s hiss against mine. My Evil Twin is going DOWN.

  Sam, on the other hand, perked right up. (That slime always bounces back.) He led the way to my house to get the sled.

  Luckily, Chloe was gone by then. She was probably off blowing up someone’s snow fort or something.

  Dad was clearing snow from the sidewalk, and Mom was helping Cammy build her own tiny snow golem in the front yard.

  When Mom asked me and Sam if we knew where to find a pumpkin, we both shook our heads. The last thing I wanted was to go looking for another wormy old Jack o’ Lantern. GROSS.

  So I gave Cammy a mushroom to use for a head instead. I keep a pile of them near the front door to fling at the neighbor’s ocelot, Sir Coughs-a-Lot. I don’t HURT him; I just scare him away before he can get too close to me. Did I mention I don’t like cats? Don’t get me started. That’s a whole other story.

  Anyway, the mushroom head didn’t work and the golem DIDN’T come to life. (Big surprise there.) Cammy was so disappointed, her face got all red and scrunched up. Then she blew sky high, and it “snowed” gunpowder all over the yard.

  For once, I was glad for the Exploding Baby’s short fuse. See, after that, Mom was so busy trying to help Cammy pull herself together, she didn’t notice when we sneaked into the house and back out again with the sled.

  Sam and I had a BLAST on the snow hill. We stayed out all day, and I can barely keep my eyes open tonight. But now I’m well on my way to becoming the Overworld’s greatest sledding creeper. And I’m only a couple of days into my 30-day plan!