Beyond the Grave

Chapter 4

The Jesse twins and Harper left Crown Mesa and headed out into the empty mesa in Harper's world. The heat of the sun beat them on their faces, but they didn't care. If Ivor was out there and needed help, they had to find him.

They walked for what felt like forever, and it began to cool down. However, night was coming, so they had to quickly build a shelter. With nothing but sand and clay blocks around them, they didn't have much to build a tiny hut, but it was enough for them to wait out the night.

Nightfall arrived, and they could hear mobs roaming around outside. But at least they were safe in their hut and the monsters couldn't get them as long as they stayed inside.

The three of them were quiet as they sat down on the floor of their hut and waited out the night. Harper started a fire and she and the twins ate some food right after. But even so, they were all quiet and didn't want to talk.

After a long, awkward moment of silence, Harper decided to talk to the twins.

"You two doing okay?" she asked them.

While Male Jesse shrugged his shoulders, Female Jesse sighed and said, "I just hope that wherever Ivor is, he's alive."

"I'm sure he's okay," said Harper. However, she only said that to hide the fact that she was worried about Ivor as much as the twins were. She didn't want to say something that could damper their hopes on how Ivor was doing.

"I hope so to," said Male Jesse.

Female Jesse didn't say anything. She was worried that she would lose yet another friend to death.

She remembered when she borrowed Ellegaard's armor when she had to set off the Formida-bomb. She felt guilty for it when she saw that Ellegaard got mortally wounded from the Witherstorm, since the redstone engineer didn't have her armor. She felt even more horrible when she realized how Magnus, who loved Ellegaard, was affected by the loss the most. At least, after the Universe adventure, they found Ellegaard in the Dream Universe, and she was back with Magnus at long last.

As she remembered the guilt she faced on borrowing Ellegaard's armor, she remembered when she, Lukas, Ivor, and Petra ended up at the White Pumpkin's mansion. There was nothing she couldn't done to save Torquedawg, since he was the first to die. But she wished she could've done more to save Captain Sparklez from the sand trap, and Lizzie from the White Pumpkin after she killed those spiders that ambushed her and Dan. She hoped that they were in another universe somewhere, waiting to return home like Ellegaard.

But on top of it all, she remembered Reuben, her best friend. Reuben went into the Witherstorm with her during the final battle. If he didn't, she probably couldn't have defeated the Witherstorm, since he helped her. But at the same time, if he hadn't gone with her, Reuben could still be alive. After the universe adventure, Jesse had hopes that he could return. If Ellegaard did, and with the possibility of Lizzie and Sparlez returning to, then Reuben could've returned to. But he wasn't human like the rest of them, so... he might not.

As she thought over the losses she experienced in the past, Female Jesse felt like she was going to cry. Knowing his sister, Male Jesse could sense what was bothering her. He scooted next to his sister and gave her a hug.

"Hey, you okay?" Harper asked Female Jesse.

Female Jesse didn't say anything. She just looked down sadly.

"She's just... remembering stuff," said Male Jesse. "I think it's best we don't talk about it though."

"I understand," said Harper, even though she really didn't.