A/N – Hello, dearest reader! I'm glad you've decided to continue reading my fanfiction. Please leave a review if you enjoy reading this! I'd love to see what you think.

Disclaimer – I don't own Minecraft or The Bartimaeus Trilogy. I only own my interpretation of both and the plot of this fanfiction.

Enjoy!

Chapter 25

The world was dark.

A small bit of light trickled in from underneath his neck, but it wasn't enough to clearly make out the slimy pumpkin innards that were pressing up against his cheeks. Several strands of it slid down his jacket – Artie's jacket – and the smell was overwhelming. He had never felt so nauseous. He frantically tried to get the pumpkin off of his head, but someone had their hand on the top of it.

A claw suddenly poked through the pumpkin.

He jerked his head back in alarm, but was met with the same problem as before; he couldn't move. All that he could do was nervously watch Herobrine giving him a way to see. As light flooded in through the two unsymmetrical eye holes, he turned to look at May. She oddly was letting Herobrine carve the holes with a certain calmness. How was she not brimming with anger like he was.

"What was that for?" Puck demanded.

Herobrine pointed over to where the group was. "There's endermen." As if that somehow explained the strange action, he gestured for them to follow him over to the bushes he had been looking over. Puck got to his feet and reluctantly did so.

There was at least twenty endermen in the clearing, surrounding four unmoving bodies slumped on the ground. How had they sneaked up on them? Bartimaeus was at least five thousand, and Anda had to have at least a few centuries under her belt. Neither one should have been caught by surprise! It didn't make sense.

"That doesn't explain the pumpkins," he argued.

May stared at the group of endermen. "They can't see us or, I guess, hear us," she explained. "It's a trick from the game. I never thought it would carry over." She looked over at Herobrine. "We have to do something."

He shook his head. "There's too many of them. The only reason we're alright is because we were farther away – I think they're going to take them somewhere."

What was he supposed to do? It wasn't like he could go and put this body's life on the line. Even if he wanted to help the people he had previously hated, he couldn't. He had to let it happen. Invisibility wouldn't help him here. The moment he started letting punches fly, they'd figure out exactly where he was standing.

He gave a startled cry as the endermen and the four disappeared without warning. May spun around. When she saw that they were gone, she rushed into the clearing. Herobrine and Puck rushed after her. She frantically looked around. She was desperate. She knew they had been taken, but she didn't want to accept her new reality.

And then she did, and the sound of her sobs filled the woods.

If they were close, he would have comforted her.

Puck pulled a seed out of his hair. They were no longer wearing the pumpkins, but he kept finding remnants of it. His gaze traveled over to May. Herobrine had spent the past half hour by her side, offering soft words of solace that could never help.

He sighed and got to his feet. May had always struck him as someone with a hard demeanor, but it looked like she wasn't as good with loss as he thought she was. It looked he would have to do the work here.

"I've played a bit of Minecraft," he started. He didn't look over at the two of them. He didn't think he could deal with seeing such a broken look on May's face, or the worried expression on Herobrine's. "Endermen are from the End. Are they like that here too?"

Herobrine quietly spoke up from behind him. "Yes."

"So that's where we'll go," he decided. Loss was something that should never be given into. May was losing hope like he had, and he couldn't allow for that to happen. She had to stay strong – then she could fight for the future she knew she deserved. "We'll find a way to get there and rescue your friends. We'll come up with a plan. We'll fight. We'll do everything we possibly can, but we're not going to give up."

He heard May stand up. When he looked back at her, he was shocked to see that the despair had vanished from her eyes. It was replaced by a startling determination. This was the look of someone who had fought before.

What kind of past did May possibly have?

"Alright," she agreed, slinging her bow and quiver onto one shoulder.

"You don't have to help us," Herobrine quietly pointed out.

He shook his head. "I'm not some sort of monster. You need help, and I doubt the two of you can handle something so challenging on your own. You're going to need all of the people you can get." Neither one objected to his comment. There was no denying it. Twenty endermen had been too many for the three of them to handle, and there was bound to be countless others in the End.

She was silent for a moment. Then, after taking a deep breath, she said, "You never finish explaining things earlier."

He crossed his arms. He had, but she hadn't gotten the hint. It looked like he would have to give the entire explanation, which was going to be difficult with her lack of recognition when it came to his name. Still, he needed to tell her. She was never going to trust him if he didn't.

He opened his mouth.

...I can't move!

Puck wildly looked around the clearing, but the only other people there were Herobrine and May. He felt his hands out for someone using an invisibility potion. Whoever had spoken had spoken right into his ear, so why didn't he feel them when he reached his hands out.

"What are you doing?" Herobrine hesitantly asked.

He looked back at the two. "Didn't you hear that guy?"

"No," May slowly replied. "It's just the three of us."

He shook his head and went back to searching. He had to be somewhere. He hadn't been imagining it. Even if he had, why would he think of something like that? "It's not. I swear I heard him! His voice sounded almost completely identical to mine right now, but it wasn't me speaking. He was talking right into my ear!"

He still had control over his limbs, but there was a sudden stiffness to them. Every movement felt like he was overcoming a new challenge. It was difficult to even turn around. Someone had to be responsible for this, but who? And why would they do something like that?

And why was he the only one who seemed to be struggling?

Why won't my limbs move? I'm talking but it's not me talking. I'm moving, but someone else is controlling my movements. I'm trapped!

Puck covered his ears with his hands, but the voice remained as clear as it already had been. He would just have to ignore it if he wanted to do anything productive. "I'm the vice president of the club," he said, though his heart wasn't as into it as it was before. "The math club bit is just a cover, though we do a little math here and there. We're actually a group of teenage magicians and spirits who fight against corrupt magicians – that's why you could never join, May. We didn't know-" He glared at the space beside him. "Would you just be quiet already? I'm trying to have a conversation!"

May and Herobrine stared at him.

"Not you. Him," he hurriedly replied. He gestured at where he was glaring.

Y-You can hear me?

"Of course I can hear you!" he replied, exasperated. "I've heard you the entire time!" The other two were staring at him like he had lost his mind, which was starting to become more and more of a realistic possibility. Why else would he be the only one to hear the irritatingly familiar voice?

I don't understand, the voice protested, you have control over my body. Don't you have some evil motive for that?

"Your body?" he said.

My body – why is that so surprising?

He felt like his legs were about to give out from underneath him. "Pres?" he whispered. "Is that-Is that you?"

Puck!?