Steve was busy packing some things when he heard the door open behind him. 

     "What happened?" Steve said with a worried look on his face as he saw Ben and Zander walk in. Zander held some ice to one of his eyes. Steve and Molly ran over to see if Zander was okay. He had clean clothes now, but Steve could tell his son had bruises all over him. 

     "A scavenger said she saw a few kids picking on him." Ben said before turning to leave. 

     "Just picking on him would be an understatement." Steve said with a sigh as he examined a cut on Zander's arm. 

     "I'm fine Dad!" Zander growled as he tugged his arm out of Steve's grip. Even he didn't completely understand why he was so cranky. Steve just looked at Molly with a worried look. She looked back just as worried. 

     "Who did this?" Steve asked looking Zander in the eyes. 

     "No one!" Was Zander's response. "..Not like it would matter anyway.." He then grumbled quietly. 

     "What was that?" Steve asked not sounding angry in any way. 

     "Even if you did punish them, they would still come back, and maybe even worse than before!" Zander shouted, the memories of Quincy and his friends filling his head. 

     "I promised I would protect you Zander, and this falls under the category of getting hurt. I don't want anyone to hurt you for any reason!" Steve told his son. 

     "..That's just it..." Zander sighed as he looked down at his feet. "They weren't bothering me because of anything I did. They were after you, but were too afraid to do anything to you. Instead, they went after me.. They kept asking questions about you and your powers. And they almost threw me off a bridge to see if I could fly too." Zander began to tear up at the memory and Steve only looked off into nothing with a slightly horrified face. Zander's mom leant down and comforted her son, holding him tightly in her arms. Steve only stood there and thought. Finally he walked out the door and came back several minutes later. By then, Molly was sitting on her bed next to Zander, bandaging the cut on his arm. 

     "I'm guessing there were four of them." Steve said as he walked in through the door. 

     "Yeah, how did you find that out?" Zander asked. Steve pulled out a torn and burnt black cloth with purple designs on it. 

     "Because I found them. They tried to burn the evidence but.. I caught them and now they're on their way to another orphanage, far from May City." Steve sighed as he looked down at what used to be Zander's Ender Cape. It was torn in several places and the corners were singed, but it was still recognizeable. Zander sighed in relief, relieved he wouldn't have to feel any of Quincy's rock hard punches ever again. "I also talked to Alex a bit more." Steve continued. "She agreed to take over for a few days instead of just today. I figured a few days of exploring would be even more fun." 

     "Really?!" Zander asked, his face and voice already more cheerful. 

     "Yep." Steve chuckled. "You have everything you need? The plan is that we leave right after lunch, after I give the announcements to everyone so they know what's going on." 

     "I have everything with me Dad!" Zander replied cheerfully as he jumped down from the bed and grabbed the torn cape and put it on. He was determined to wear that cape through his whole birthday, it was his birthday present after all. Plus, it looked like he had fought many battles with it's new warn look.  

     "You got everything Molly?" Steve asked. Zander's mom answered while standing up; 

     "Almost everything. I just need to pack a couple more items." Molly then walked over to the chest by the large window and opened it up. Zander and Steve had turned and started walking to the door when they heard glass shatter and Molly scream behind them. Steve turned quickly, saw what was wrong, and pushed Zander out the door all in one quick motion. 

     "Run!!" Steve yelled to his confused son. "Hide in the crowds! Make sure they don't find you!!" 

     "What's wrong Dad?!" Zander pleaded, hoping for a response. Steve just pulled out his diamond sword and ran towards whatever, or whoever, was in there. Obediently, Zander ran. He ran and ran. He seemed to be pretty used to running by now. He ran where he knew there would be the most people, the center of the castle where the Nether portal was. When he arrived in the large circular room, he saw that all the kids were sitting at the tables eating lunch. Only a couple of them looked over at Zander, who was panting and wide eyed. Without hessitation, Zander leapt under one of the tables. 

     "Cut it out kid!" One of the older kids, about 16, grumbled as he kicked Zander under the table. "You're not a dog so don't act like one." 

     "Please. Let me be here. Just ignore me." Zander pleaded from under the table. The kid groaned, rolling his eyes, and didn't say anything else. Zander stayed under the table, on his hands and and knees, hoping his mom and dad would be okay. 

     The sound of rumbling and commotion could be heard and the entire castle shook a little. Not enough to scare the kids, but almost all of them looked up at the sceiling or walls. One of the kids slowly crept to the Nether portal and slid through without anyone noticing. The distant booms and subtle rumbling continued for a while. Zander feared it was the sound of his dad fighting someone just as powerful, but he tried his best not to think about it. Some murmuring rose in the quiet crowd of kids as they debated about what the commotion was. And then suddenly it stopped. Every single kid in there went dead silent. The silence was ten times more terrifying than the rumbling. Zander heald his breath in horror. the suspense was growing to be too much for him. Before anyone could start talking, the speakers turned on. 

     Steve had installed them earlier so if there was a fire or if someone needed help, everyone would be able to know in an instant. Only Steve, Nathan, and his friends like Ben, had the devices to talk through them. So when a deep and robotic voice was heard coming from the speakers everyone looked at eachother in horror, a few of the girls even screamed. 

     "Hello everyone." The new voice said in a chill and casual tone. "This is Entity303 with a couple announcements to make. The first is that Steve has now been retired and ,I, will be the new manager now, or whatever his position was called. Anyway, the second is what you guys like to call a scavenger hunt." By the guy's voice Zander could tell he was beginning to smile. "You see, there's this, KID, I'm sure you all know and his name's Zander. I'll be here outside his room looking for him as well. Whoever finds him and brings him to me will get enough diamonds to make a house out of them." 

     Most of the kids gasped but some of them cheered and stood up imeedietly. Several of the kids started running out of the room down the halls. Most of them just kept eating, wanting nothing to do with the hunt. Zander felt a tug on his arm and he turned to see the older kid, who had kicked him earlier, was now trying to pull Zander out from under the table. Zander kicked the boy's hand, which caused him to let go, and quickly crawled under another table before anybody could spot him. The older boy followed casually, trying not to draw attention to himself. He knew if he wanted the bounty, he would need to be the person to bring him there, not just point him out. And he wanted to be the only winner in this 'game.' Everyone talked about what was going on, especially the kids still sitting at the tables eating. Zander tried to stay under the table out of sight but he could tell the older boy was strolling in his direction. He crawled from table to table, hoping to get the older kid confused, but he could tell this wasn't the kid's first chase before. In fact, after a little bit Zander realized that the whole time the kid had just been herding him to the empty corner of the room. It looked like Zander had fallen for the older kid's trap, but he still had time to get out of it. 

     Zander decided to take a risk. He quickly crawled out from under the table and bolted down one of the tunnels. He knew where the closest exit was and ran in it's direction. It took a while of winding through the seemingly endless hallways for him to notice he was being followed. He looked over his sholder and saw the same older kid from before chasing him. Zander ran faster and faster until when he looked back again, the older boy was gone. He smiled to himself but was cut off by someone tackling him from around the corner. He hadn't even noticed that Tunnle was there. 

     "I got him!!" The boy on top of Zander yelled in excitement as he pushed his knee into Zander's back. He could hear others running towards him. A sudden jolt of energy flew into Zander and he rolled over onto his back and pushed the older boy off. He was flung right into his friends, who were in the perfect position to fall over like bowling pins. Zander took that moment to stand up and run in the other direction, down another hall. Adreneline must have been coursing through his veins because the next time he was tackled he didn't feel a thing. This time it was a different group of kids. All three of them tackled him at once and knocked him onto the floor. At a time like that, Zander would have just given up and let them pick him up, but he knew where he would be headed if he let that happen. He kicked and punched until he got one of them off. Then he rolled over and was able to escape the other two's grip. Zander then stood up again and started running in the direction of the exit. 

     When he finally got to the exit Zander looked at the door with fear all over his face. The older kid who had been following him the whole time was leaning against the door fraim, just looking at him. Zander started stepping backwards but the boy pressed a button and lava suddenly fell from a dispenser in the roof and fell into a hole in the floor that appeared the moment the lava did. The lava blocked off the three by three hall. 

     "Looks like you won't be going back that way." The older boy said with a smirk. Luckily for Zander, the exit was in a corner. So Zander quickly turned right to go the other way. But unluckily for Zander, the boy pressed another button and dispensers came out of ceiling and arrows shot down at the ground. "O, looks like you're cornered. What are you going to do next?" The older boy asked teasingly. After a moment Zander thought it the best time to pull out his enchanted iron sword. "Cute." The older boy chuckled as he pulled out his enchanted bow. However, instead of aiming it at Zander, he aimed it in the corner of the hallway. Zander looked down to see what his bow was aimed at and was shocked to see little Faye laying on the floor. 

     "Faye!!" Zander screamed in horror at the sight of his little friend. 

     "Come with me, no fighting back, and I'll let you keep your ugly pet." The older boy threatened. Slowly, Zander put away his sword and fell to his knees. The older boy walked over to the baby spider and picked it up by one of it's limp legs and dropped it into Zander's outstretched hands. It was hard for Zander to keep himself from crying at the sight of his little friend so badly hurt. The older boy attached a chain to Zander's right leg so he couldn't get away and pressed the second button again. This time, the arrows raining from the ceiling stopped and the older boy picked up the arrows on the floor as he started walking down the hall, pulling on the chain behind him. Zander obediently followed. They walked for a while, up stairs, through halls. One time a couple kids saw them and tried to grab Zander for themselves but the older boy aimed his bow at them and they ran off, not willing to sacrafice themselves for the win. 

     "How, how did you set all that stuff up?" Zander asked the older boy nervously. The older boy grunted. 

     "I don't spend all my time in this boring orphanage you know?! There is such a thing as mining after all!" The older kid growled and started walking faster. "Someday, you might understand what it's like to actually go somewhere." 

     "Not if I'm dead.." Zander replied, a tear falling down his cheek. 

     "There are things worse than death." The older boy started to say. 

     "Like what?!" Zander asked the older boy in a unbelieving voice, finally looking up at him. 

     "Someday you'll understand kid." Was all the older boy grumbled as he continued walking. All Zander could do was hold little Faye tightly in his arms and hope everything would be okay.