Elliot and the Last Underworld War

"Oh, well, now I see your name," Wendy said. "That's weird."

  "Not as weird as you might think," Elliot said. "I've got to go."

  "Still working on that secret paper-mache project?"

  "Huh?"

  Wendy smiled. "You don't have to be embarrassed. Cami told us that you were working on a paper-mache doll of her and that you didn't want anyone to bother you in your room."

  Elliot rolled his eyes. "That's what she said I was doing?" Couldn't she have picked something better? Like maybe he was lifting weights all morning or rescuing pets from burning houses? Then he sighed. A part of him wished Cami would have told Wendy the truth. It would have helped to talk to his sister about the Brownies and the Underworld war and about why there was a sinkhole on Main Street in the shape of his name. He was tired of keeping so many secrets from his family.

  But it was not his secret to tell. The knowledge of the Underworld belonged to the creatures who lived there, not to him.

  "Yeah, whatever Cami said, I have to go back and do that," Elliot said. "I'll be busy for a while, maybe a really long time."

  "Okay." Wendy shrugged, then returned to watching the television.

  Elliot ran back upstairs. As soon as he was out of sight, he closed his eyes, pictured the scene on Main Street, and poofed himself there.

  Elliot might have thought about the shops and stores on Main Street, but he never could have pictured all the people running in the streets, pushing one another to get as far from the sinkholes as possible. He had tried to poof into a quiet part of the street, but when he got there it was obvious that nothing on this street was quiet today.

  The sinkholes were in the middle of the road. From here, Elliot couldn't see his name, but he knew that hundreds of feet below this very spot, Kovol was sending Elliot the message that he was angry. Well, duh. Did he think Elliot hadn't figured that out yet?

  "Excuse me," a woman said, nearly running him over.

  He moved for her, which put him in the way of a man who only looked down at Elliot long enough to tell him to go home before he also hurried away.

  Elliot wanted to get to the Quack Shack, but it was a little farther up the road. Elliot hoped Reed had seen the sinkholes and gotten away before he came into work. Elliot pushed past people who were pushing past him even harder. At first he had tried getting through politely by saying things like "Excuse me," or "Can I get by?" But now he just yelled "Move!" at anyone in his way.

  "Elliot?"

  He turned as Cami grabbed his arm. "I thought you were in the Underground," she said.

  "The Underworld," he said. "I came back to check on my family."

  "Thank goodness. Reed needs help."

  "Reed? Where is he?"

  For the first time ever, Elliot didn't care that Cami took his hand while she led him forward through the crowd. She was good at dodging people, and in no time they had made it to the front door of the Quack Shack. Through the main window they saw Reed on the floor, unconscious.

  Elliot pushed on the door, but it wouldn't open.

  "It's stuck," Cami said. "It jammed when the last sinkhole collapsed."

  "Reed!" Elliot pounded on the window to wake up his brother, but Reed didn't move.

  "We need to get some help." Cami stepped forward in the crowd. "Excuse me, please--" But everyone passed her by, in their own hurry to leave Main Street.

  While her head was turned, Elliot closed his eyes and pictured the door opening. He didn't think "un-jam" was a word, but he couldn't think of any other word to describe what he wanted the door to do. He whispered that to himself, then checked the door again. Something dark purple began oozing from the door near its handle. He leaned low and sniffed. It was sweet and fruity. On a guess, Elliot put a finger to the stuff and tasted it. Sure enough--grape jam! It was sort of gross, but the jam got into the lock and loosened the door enough for Elliot to inch it open.

  "We're in," he called to Cami. "C'mon!"

  She ran to help him with the door but then pulled her hand back. "Is that jam?"

  "Don't ask," he said.

  They rushed inside the Quack Shack and called again for help, but nobody answered. Reed was there alone, clearly because he was the only employee who thought the Quack Shack would be serving duck burgers while the entire city was collapsing.

  Elliot dropped to his knees and shook his brother's arm. "Reed!"

  Cami pressed her fingers to the side of Reed's neck to feel a pulse. "He's alive," she said. "But we've got to get him out of here."

  "Help me lift him up." Elliot stood and tugged on Reed's arms, pulling him into a sitting position, and then saw two giant footprints in the floor beneath where Reed had lain. Not on the floor, but in it, smashed into the tiles.

  "What could have done that?" Cami asked.

  "Kovol," Elliot breathed. "Kovol was here. On the surface."

  He quickly looked around them, then said to Cami, "I've got to try something that might feel weird to you. But you have to trust me, okay?"

  She shrugged. "Okay. I trust you."

  He put one hand on Reed's shoulder and took Cami's hand again. "It's better if you close your eyes," he said.

  Elliot next closed his own eyes and pictured his bedroom as clearly as he possibly could. And poofed them all home.

  It was harder than he had imagined. Instead of keeping one person's body parts together, now he had to do that for three people. And from the first second she had felt her gut being pulled away from the Quack Shack, Cami had started to do the girl-squeal thing. Even if poofing only lasts a single second, it can seem like hours if the girl next to you is squealing.

  Then she stopped and they landed in Elliot's room. Somewhere during the trip, Reed had lost his Quack Shack apron, but Elliot hadn't worked very hard to keep track of that. All the important body parts seemed to have come back together and in their correct places.

  "How did we get here?" Cami asked. "Did you do it?"

  "I'm sort of new at magic, so I didn't do it very well." Elliot patted Reed's cheek. "Wake up. Please."

  Slowly, Reed shook his head, then let out a long moan. His eyelids fluttered while he thought about waking up, and he raised a hand to his head.

  "Ow," he mumbled.

  "Are you okay?" Elliot asked.

  Reed opened one eye and then the other. "Where are we?"

  "Home."

  "How did I get here?"

  Cami began, "Elliot did some--"

  "Really heavy lifting to get you here," Elliot finished.

  "I had this horrible dream," Reed said. "I was in the Quack Shack, and this huge purple beast appeared. He asked if I was Penster. I said that I was Reed Penster and asked if he was hungry, because I figured even if he was a horrible beast, he'd probably order a lot of duck burgers. Then he roared and charged toward me. Then you appeared out of nowhere, Elliot, and dared the beast to come back and chase after you. He picked me up and threw me against the wall. The next thing I remember is waking up here."

  Beside Elliot, Cami's mouth was hanging open almost to the floor. Elliot could only stare at Reed, relieved things hadn't been worse. Kovol must have lost Harold, who was shapeshifted as Elliot, so he came looking for Elliot in Sprite's Hollow. Luckily, Harold had arrived just in time to save Reed and got Kovol to chase after him again. But the chase could not last much longer. And Elliot could not let Kovol come back to the surface.

  He quietly poofed the family's broom into his own closet, then stood and said to Cami, "Wendy will help you take care of Reed. And tell her to get the twins home and make them stay here."

  "Where are you going?" she asked.

  "You know where."

  Then he grabbed the broom from his closet, walked into the hallway, and immediately poofed himself to the darkest part of the entire Underworld.

  Harold the Shapeshifter had been given only one job that day, which was to turn into Elliot and lead Kovol on a chase anywhere away from Demon Territory. Elliot hoped Harold had led Kovol and all of his army far
away by now. Because if Harold made any mistakes, poofing into Demon Territory wasn't a good idea.

  He was kidding himself, of course. It would never be a good idea to poof into Demon Territory.

  But Elliot already had a plan in mind. If Kovol was there, he'd just put up a magical shield or something. The only problem with this plan was that he had no idea how to create a magical shield, and he was pretty sure Kovol wouldn't give him any second chances to figure it out. So it wasn't a perfect plan.

  It had been a bit of a trick for Elliot to poof himself into Demon Territory, because he had a hard time picturing exactly where he wanted to go. The only places he remembered there were dark enough to make him want to poof anywhere else. Finally he decided to go to the area right outside Kovol's cave. It was very dark there, but better there than inside the cave. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the creepiest place in the known universe, Elliot figured that spot was an easy 10. But it was way better than inside the cave, which was at least a 789.

  Once he arrived, Elliot hunched down to the ground. He wasn't sure exactly why he did that, but it seemed like a good idea. Everything was as eerily quiet as it had been four months ago when he had first entered Demon Territory.

  Not far from him was a puddle of mud with a brown glow around it. Elliot recognized it as gripping mud. He'd been stuck in it twice and had kept Kovol trapped in some until the solar eclipse earlier that day.

  Elliot looked around carefully for any sign of smoke, which would indicate that the Shadow Men were nearby. But he saw nothing and hadn't really expected to. Kovol thought he was chasing Elliot across the Underworld, so he had likely called his army of Shadow Men to help him there.

  Or most of his army anyway. There were thousands of Shadow Men. It wouldn't take long before some of them sensed that Elliot was in Demon Territory. If they told Kovol, he'd be all kinds of angry. Especially the bad kinds.

  "Mr. Willimaker!" Elliot called.

  Mr. Willimaker immediately appeared, holding his hands over his ears. "Your Highness, when you called just now, it was so loud, so different from before. How did you--"

  "I've got magic," Elliot said, "from the Pixies."

  "Ah. Well, then, you don't have to yell anymore to call us. We'll hear you fine." Mr. Willimaker pressed his thick eyebrows together. "Be careful about Pixie magic, Elliot. Like Pixies themselves, their magic will sometimes trick you."

  Trick magic was still better than no magic, Elliot figured. But he only said, "I think so far we're alone here. When other creatures start appearing, I want us to use Kovol's cave as our defense. It's the closest thing Kovol has to a home, so I don't think he'd collapse it, even to fight us. I'll wait on top of his cave, watching for any sign of trouble. When everyone is ready down there, let me know. We're going to fight as many Shadow Men as we can before Kovol comes."

  Mr. Willimaker bowed and poofed away. Then Elliot closed his eyes and poofed with the broom to the top of Kovol's cave. It was higher off the ground than he had expected, but that only gave him a better view. Not that there was much to see. It was as black as midnight in all directions.

  That didn't last for long, though. As the different creatures poofed into Demon Territory, they created enough light to help them see and to help Elliot see them. The Satyrs arrived first. They were as tall as the Elves, each of them with thick fur on the bottom half of their body, the hooves of goats, and a man's body on top. They had horns on their head and long ears that stuck out sideways. Then several Leprechauns flew in, each on the back of a Pegasus so white it almost created its own light. Elliot wasn't sure how he could use the Leprechauns (although he had plenty of ideas for how his family could use their gold), but he liked the flying horses. He wondered if the Underworld had any Dragons, because that would be cool too. Then he figured maybe it was better not to ask. Being creatures of fire, they probably had more in common with the Shadow Men than with him.

  The Elves arrived next, and near the front of them was Slimmy Tojam. He nodded at Elliot, who only wanted to yell down to him that Minthred's book had been a huge waste of time. But if a goat herder could defeat Kovol, then surely Elliot could. He was only in fifth grade, but he was positive that was more education than Minthred had ever got.

  He realized that several creatures hadn't come. Agatha wasn't there. There were several Fairies, but no Pixies. Many Brownies had come, but not the women or children, and Elliot was glad for that. He didn't want to risk anything happening to Patches.

  Then Elliot saw Fudd poof in with a group of familiar creatures. The Goblins had arrived.

  Elliot closed his eyes to poof himself down there. The Goblins looked surprised to see him use magic, but not Fudd, who obviously had not seen Elliot do anything at all.

  "Well, well. Look at how the human king has grown," a voice sneered.

  Behind all the other Goblins was Grissel. He was the strongest and boniest of all Goblins, and the meanest too. Every other Goblin was literally green with envy at the exact shade of Grissel's skin, for it was the closest in color to their favorite food, pickles. Grissel was plumper now than he used to be, due to the amount of chocolate cake he had eaten over his last several months inside Brownie jail. He was probably meaner too. "It looks like you've learned a few tricks since we last met," Grissel added.

  When they had last met, Grissel and Elliot had tied in a battle to the death. It wasn't the first time they had fought. In fact, every time Elliot and Grissel met, it always seemed that Grissel was trying to finish him off.

  "You'll fight for me?" Elliot asked Grissel.

  Grissel's eyes narrowed. "I'll fight for the Underworld. I'll even fight for the Brownies, if necessary, to defeat Kovol. But I'd never fight for a human."

  As if Elliot cared about a detail like that. "Then fight for the Underworld," he said. "I need the Goblins in front when the Shadow Men come. Slow them down by blowing things up. We can't fight all of them at once, but we can fight back if only a few get through at a time."

  With that, Elliot turned to everyone else. He told his magic to make his voice louder, and when he spoke, it was as if he was speaking through a powerful microphone. "The Shadow Men are nothing but fire and darkness that Kovol has cursed. You can't fight them like a normal army, because they're not alive or dead. They're just a curse that will move until it's stopped. They will act like fire. If they surround you, they will suck air away from you. If they touch you, it will burn." Elliot looked over at Fudd. "And if they spit on you, it'll curse you too. But if you can suck the air away from them, you'll put out their fire. I bet it's the same if you get water on them."

  "But how do we do that?" an Elf near Elliot said. "Only a few creatures have that power."

  "It was a mistake to come," a Gnome grumbled. Several creatures muttered their agreement.

  Elliot ran to a rock and stood higher up on it. He remembered his broom and held it up. "No, wait! If we try to fight this separately, then we will lose separately. The Underworld must stand together now."

  "What's the broom for?" a Goblin asked. "Sweeping the Shadow Men out of here?"

  "I can use this," Elliot said. "For when I fight the Shadow Men."

  "What do you know about our fight?" a Centaur said. "You're not from our world."

  "I'm not," Elliot agreed. "But I'm a part of it now. I always will be. I'll help save your world, and you'll help save mine. If you don't have power to control the air or water, then you still have something to offer. Light."

  The creatures pressed closer, curious about Elliot's plan. He continued, "When the Shadow Men attacked Burrowsville earlier today, they couldn't push through the light. If they tried, they disappeared. So light is your weapon. Get a stick or a wand or whatever you have, and make it as light as you can. A Shadow Man is not only fire, he's also darkness. But your light is stronger than him. Dark cannot exist in light places. And we claim Demon Territory as a place of light now."

  From his place on the rock, Elliot saw smoke in the distance, but coming closer
. "They're early," he mumbled. He had hoped they wouldn't come so soon.

  "Everyone find a place to hide," he called. "Goblins, you go to the border to slow them down. Get ready! The Shadow Men are here!"

  The battle of Demon Territory began with an explosion so big it rattled the entire ground. The wind it created rushed across the dark land, shaking the few trees and bushes that had dared to grow there.

  Fudd stood on one side of Elliot and said, "That was Grissel. Nobody can blow things up the way he can." There was a hint of admiration in his voice, and even Elliot was impressed.

  Elliot, Fudd, and Mr. Willimaker had returned to their places on top of Kovol's cave, but even from high up they couldn't see the Goblins.

  The explosion created so much smoke near the border that it was impossible to see the difference between dust from the explosions and the Shadow Men moving deeper into Demon Territory. Elliot planned to keep everyone hidden for as long as possible. He didn't want the Shadow Men to have any warning in this battle.

  But the Shadow Men must have already known something was wrong. Because as they flew close enough to be seen, their flight was swift and direct. They were coming to the cave and coming for a fight. If the heat of their black fire was any clue, this battle wouldn't be easy.

  "Steady," Elliot whispered, more to himself than to anyone else. "Not yet. Not yet."

  In the darkness, and with the speed of their flight, it was hard to tell how many were coming. Beside him, Elliot heard Mr. Willimaker trying to count them anyway. Fudd wiped sweat from his brow and looked nervous. Elliot wondered what it must feel like to sense the approach of the enemy but not be able to see them. Probably not great.

  "How many do you think there are?" Elliot asked.

  "At least fifty in the air." Then Mr. Willimaker pointed to the horizon. "And more are coming. Many more."

  When the first of the Shadow Men was close enough that Elliot saw the fire in his cloak, he stood and yelled, "Underworld creatures, FIGHT!"

  Immediately the territory came to life. The creatures focused any light they could into sticks, wands, and some even lit up their shoes for the fight. The Shadow Men swarmed in, and the battle began.

  From where Elliot stood, he could see everything. The Brownies and Dwarves were doing their best with water. Their arms were too short to fight the Shadow Men alone, but the Brownies poofed in bucket after bucket of water for the Dwarves to throw on the Shadow Men, who quickly fell like drops of gray mud to the ground.