Elliot aimed the reflection of his light toward Kovol's feet. How could the Fairies possibly have wanted a sock? Anyone who looked like this, dressed like this, wasn't going to wear--oh, there they were. His socks.
Maybe sleeping in a cave for a thousand years gives a creature cold feet. Kovol's socks were long and thick, made of the skins of some animal Elliot didn't recognize.
Elliot stood as close as he dared to Kovol's feet and tried to ignore the stink that came from them. Maybe this was why his mother always told Elliot to sleep with his socks off, so he didn't have foot sweat at night.
Demon foot sweat was pretty awful. Like sticking your head into a garbage can full of old, rotten fruit that's been baking in the sun for a week.
Elliot stuffed the flashlight into his pants so that he could free both hands. He put his fingers on the sock closest to him and very slowly rolled it down Kovol's meaty leg, then over his shin, then--Kovol yawned, a wide yawn that reeked of moldy fish, and he turned over. His movement trapped the sock Elliot had been unrolling under Kovol's other leg.
Elliot made a "why me?" gesture with his hands. He'd made it this far with more problems than anyone deserved. Couldn't he get a break for once?
He pinched the new sock between his fingers. This one was already resting at Kovol's ankle, so he decided to pull it off from the evil Demon's toes, like pulling off a glove.
He pulled very slowly, pausing every time Kovol twitched or stopped snoring. After what seemed like hours, Elliot finally pulled the last of the sock off his foot. Even while asleep, Kovol must not have liked the feel of only one sock, because he pushed the remaining sock off with his big Demon toe.
Elliot picked it up and put both socks in his pocket. That way, if he lost one he'd have a spare. Elliot took a deep breath. Halfway there. This wouldn't be so bad.
Then Elliot crept up to the top of Kovol's body, standing beside his head. The Demon yawned, revealing a long row of spiky teeth.
He tilted the flashlight just enough to see Kovol's head. All he needed was one hair, so he'd pull it, then get out.
But Elliot hadn't expected this.
There was no hair. Whatever Kovol had looked like when the Pixies last saw him, he was very different now. He was a bald Demon.
Elliot leaned in closer to Kovol. There was no hair on the rock slab, although the way Kovol created a wind with every snore, he'd probably scattered his fallen hair all over Demon Territory.
One hair, surely Kovol had one hair left.
Elliot needed a little more of the light from the flashlight, and he worried because Kovol's snoring had turned to softer breathing. The light probably bothered him.
There! Right on the center of his head. One long, coal black hair that had been lost in the shadows. One hair. That's all Kovol had left and all Elliot needed.
He rubbed his fingers together to get rid of any sweat on them and then pinched the hair between his thumb and forefinger. Elliot held his breath and closed his eyes tight as he plucked the hair.
He had it! Kovol's socks and Kovol's hair. Elliot shoved the hair into his pocket and then raised his arm again to steady the flashlight.
Only something grabbed his arm with a grip so tight that Elliot wondered if it would pinch his hand off.
Elliot looked up and found himself staring directly into eyes as black as the deepest darkness and full of anger that could only belong to something truly terrible.
Kovol was awake.
Kovol yanked Elliot into the air, hanging him by his arm. He yelled out something in words Elliot couldn't understand. They probably weren't words at all, unless there's a word in Demon language that sounds like "Arrroooowwagh!"
If there is a word in Demon language that sounds like "Arrroooowwagh," then it probably means, "It's not polite to pull my hair out when I'm sleeping. Now I have to kill you."
Elliot screamed back at him. Not at him, really, because who'd be stupid enough to scream in a Demon's face? But Elliot did scream something that sounded like, "Waaahh," which, as all humans know, means, "I have to use the bathroom really bad."
The Demon dropped him to the ground and growled, "What have you done?" His voice sounded like the roar of a rockslide down a mountain.
"I needed a hair," Elliot tried to explain. "For the Pixies."
Kovol ran his hand over his scalp. His eyes widened and went from shock to anger to rage. "You made me go bald, human."
"I only took one hair," Elliot said.
"And before you took it, I had hair. Now I'm bald."
If this had been a less serious moment, Elliot would have pictured Kovol in a wig. But it was a very serious moment, not the time for Demons in wigs.
"I'm sorry," Elliot said. "Please let me go."
Kovol laughed. Not in a funny, ha-ha sort of way, but in an evil, prepare-to-die sort of way. "No human goes free from Kovol. And because of you, I will now destroy every human on the face of this planet!"
Well, that's all Elliot needed. To be forever branded as the kid who got Earth destroyed. Who'd want to be his friend now?
"I'll start with you," Kovol said. "It will take a hundred years to fully finish you off, and I will enjoy every moment of it. Where to start? I think with your legs."
Elliot fell to his back. As Kovol reached for him, Elliot fumbled with the flashlight, pulled it out of his pants, and shone it directly into the evil Demon's eyes.
Kovol made a new scream this time. Not of anger or revenge, but of pain. He clutched at his eyes and stumbled backward onto the stone slab.
Elliot scrambled to his feet and raced out of the cave. This time, with the help of the flashlight, he could see exactly where he was going. It was a good thing he hadn't seen the cave before. It was creepier than he had imagined, with moss and giant spider webs, and rats running along the sides of the walls. Something was hanging in a corner of the cave, but he didn't have time to figure out what. And there were bound to be snakes here too. Giant ones with ten heads that had big poisonous fangs.
Elliot heard Kovol running behind him. The Demon's feet shook the ground, and rocks tumbled to the ground beside Elliot with each of Kovol's steps. Elliot cleared the cave and paused briefly to decide which direction to run in to leave Demon Territory. Which way were the Shadow Men? Which way was the closest border?
As if he knew.
So he chose the easiest path, where there was a sort of trail between thorny bushes and dense, overgrown trees. Kovol crashed through the trees behind him and emitted a howl that Elliot instinctively knew was calling the Shadow Men to him.
Elliot kept running. His heart pounded so fiercely inside him that he could barely breathe, but as he found out, you don't really have to breathe to run, not if you're running to keep from having your legs ripped off.
The air warmed around Elliot, which normally he would have thought was because he was running so fast. But this was hardly a normal time, so he knew it was warming because the Shadow Men were getting closer. In the light from the flashlight he saw smoke rising like black vapor from their bodies. They were coming to serve Kovol. They were coming for Elliot.
It sounded like the Shadow Men were coming from the right, so Elliot darted to the left. He almost darted into an area with a brown glow hanging over it, but this time he stopped himself, barely avoiding landing in the very same patch of gripping mud where he had fallen last time.
Elliot tiptoed around the gripping mud, but he had to hurry. With the flashlight on, it was easy for both Kovol and his army to know where Elliot was. He had to get away.
Or did he?
A plan formed in Elliot's mind. It was dangerous, and his mother would have killed him if she had known what he was about to try. But not getting killed was the whole idea of his plan.
"Help!" Elliot cried. It wasn't hard to make his voice sound panicked. Even with a plan in mind, he was still in a pretty good panic.
Somewhere behind him, Kovol adjusted his path to run more directly toward Elliot. He heard Kovol's laug
h as he sent another howl into the air. Elliot could feel the Shadow Men getting closer. He hoped Kovol would reach him first.
He crouched low in some thick, prickly weeds beside the patch of gripping mud. Within seconds, Kovol crashed through, and just as Elliot had almost done, Kovol ran straight into the gripping mud.
Kovol thrashed around violently, which of course made him stuck even worse. Elliot shook his head. When Kovol had time to think about this moment later on--and Elliot intended to make sure he had a long time to think about it later on--he was going to feel pretty stupid about the thrashing.
Elliot stuck the handle of the flashlight into the dirt, too far away for Kovol to reach it, but at such an angle that it threw light all around the Demon's body.
The Shadow Men swarmed in to the sound of Kovol's angry screeches. They seemed to have forgotten all about Elliot. They kept trying to push into the light to reach their master, but each time any part of the light touched them, they vanished within it. They hissed in anger and frustration. Trapped inside the mud, Kovol gnashed his teeth and cursed his army for their failures.
Kovol turned to Elliot. In a voice that was so calm it sent a chill up Elliot's spine, he said, "One day a solar eclipse will put out that flashlight. When it does, my army will free me. Watch for me that night, human, because I will come for you and destroy everything. You will regret the day you awoke me."
If Elliot had any ability to speak right then, he might have told Kovol that he already regretted this day. But it seemed a little too late for apologies. Kovol didn't seem like the forgiving type.
So he pushed out his chest and forced himself to sound brave as he said, "I'll be ready for you, Kovol. If you're smart, when you get out of this gripping mud you'll just go back to sleep. I've defeated you once, and I can do it again."
He wasn't sure that was true, but he liked the way it sounded. And it really made Kovol angry. Kovol began slapping at the gripping mud again, trying to reach Elliot.
Elliot stood as far from Kovol as he dared, but as close to the flashlight as he could. Here was an interesting problem. As soon as he left the light, the Shadow Men would get him. In trapping Kovol, he'd trapped himself.
Elliot was in the middle of what he called half of a perfect plan. This must be why his father always said to never do a job halfway. Although Kovol was stuck and the Shadow Men couldn't reach him, Elliot was stuck too.
Above Elliot came a familiar squawk. He looked up and his eyes went as wide as manhole covers (well, almost as wide. Eyes can only stretch so far). "Harold!"
Harold the Eagle circled in the air over Elliot. The Shadow Men leapt up, trying to reach him, but Harold could always fly higher than they could leap.
"Your Highness!" Fudd called from Harold's back. "We're here to rescue you! Hold out your arms."
Elliot obeyed. Immediately Harold soared down, moving faster than the Shadow Men had time to react, darting between them like a fly that can't be swatted. He picked up Elliot with a giant talon and yanked him back into the air.
As they lifted off, a Shadow Man leaped forward and grabbed hold of Elliot's leg. Elliot felt the burn of his grip and yelled, but he could not shake him off.
"I'll save you, sir!" Fudd jumped off Harold's back and landed on the Shadow Man, holding him by the shoulders. The Shadow Man hissed and spat something into Fudd's eyes. Fudd reared back, yelping in pain. In his flailing around, Fudd kicked the Shadow Man, who released Elliot's leg. Both the Shadow Man and Fudd started to fall, but Elliot grabbed Fudd by the back of his pants, and Harold lifted them higher into the air.
The Shadow Man tumbled to the ground, landing in a burst of smoke and flame. Other Shadow Men hovered beneath them as they flew, hoping for a chance at Fudd or Elliot.
"I can't see!" Fudd cried. "He blinded me."
"You'll be okay," Elliot said, although he wasn't sure that was true.
"Let me go," Fudd said. "I'm slowing you down!"
"Just stop wiggling," Elliot said. "I can hold you."
Harold cawed that he was flying as fast as he could. And he was flying really fast. Elliot wasn't sure how he knew which way to go, because even up here Demon Territory was very, very dark.
Slowly, the Underworld light began to get brighter like an airplane moving down through clouds to reveal the city below. There are no clouds in the Underworld, Dear Reader, and certainly no airplanes, but you probably get the idea.
Soft pastel light filled the horizon in front of Elliot, a sunrise that could only happen in a mythological world. He described it to Fudd, who said, "It's the last painting of the Star Dancers each night. How I shall miss seeing it."
Every color of the rainbow found its way into the morning light, except pastel black, because there's no such thing. It was warm in a comforting sort of way, and Elliot felt his body relax just to cross into it.
He'd been in Demon Territory all night. In a place that never saw sun and never felt any sort of warmth that didn't burn.
Harold paused on the ground long enough for both Fudd and Elliot to climb onto his back, and then Elliot ordered Harold to take them directly to Glimmering Woods.
"Wouldn't you rather go to Burrowsville and rest first?" Fudd asked. "We've made you some new clothes. Better clothes."
The clothes Elliot wore were now muddy, burned, and soaked in sweat. He didn't mind that he had ruined them. It saved him the trouble of telling the Brownies there was no way he could wear them back to his home.
"Patches can bring the clothes to Glimmering Woods," Elliot said. "I want to see what can be done about your injury. And I want to get Tubs and Mr. Willimaker back."
"Don't worry about me," Fudd said. "But, Your Highness, I'm concerned about you giving the hair and sock to the Pixies and Fairies. We've had a treaty agreeing to stay out of their battle for the Glimmering Woods. Whatever you do may change that."
"That's okay," Elliot said. "I have a plan for that too." Then he asked, "When did Harold come back from the surface world?"
"When I ran from the Shadow Men, they were a little slow to follow, because it was really you they wanted. But they couldn't get you with the light, so they finally came for me. I ran and ran and bumped straight into Harold. He came back to tell you that he had tested the invisibility potion again and not to use it. So I bet Harold that he couldn't save both me and you without getting caught by the Shadow Men."
Elliot laughed and patted Harold on what he thought was an eagle's shoulder. "You took this bet. What did you win?"
Harold shrieked, then said, "I get full rights to your life whenever you're not using it anymore."
Elliot smiled. "Okay, but for the record, I can hardly wait to get back to my life. You'll have a while to wait."
Harold did whatever an eagle would do if it could shrug. Elliot lay on his back as they flew and just closed his eyes for a little rest.
It didn't take long after Elliot arrived in Glimmering Woods for the Fairies to gather. It would take the Pixies longer, Harold explained. They were doing their hair.
Elliot hadn't really met the Fairies before. They hadn't bothered to say hi while they were stealing Mr. Willimaker.
They looked young, but not childish the way Pixies did. They were very beautiful, with flawless skin and elegant pastel clothes. They were a little larger than the Pixies and could also fly, although they had no wings.
A female Fairy flew up to Elliot and introduced herself as Aphid Flutterby. It was too bad he couldn't tell his brother Reed about the Fairies, because he would instantly fall in love with her long, coal-black hair and eyes as bright as a summer sky. "So, like, we have no royalty," Aphid said. "But I can totally speak for the Fairies."
Elliot smiled. "You speak like Fidget."
Aphid's mouth dropped open. "Fidget Spitfly, the Pixie princess? Like, gag me! I so totally don't. I speak like the humans on the totally awesomest show ever, Surfer Teen. Do you know the show?"
"I so totally do," Elliot said.
This seemed to mak
e Aphid happy. "Do you have the sock?"
"Do you have Mr. Willimaker?"
Aphid nodded. "Totally. He's been chilling with us. If you ever want to enjoy captivity, Fairies are way nicer than those lame Pixies."
"I'll keep that in mind," Elliot said. "Now I want to see him."
Aphid nodded her head, and in a flash of light Mr. Willimaker appeared beside them. He fell to his knees and with tears in his eyes said, "King Elliot, I thought I'd never see you again. And no offense, but you look awful."
Elliot could hardly be offended at that. He knew how bad he looked.
"Like, you couldn't have come back at a worse time," a voice behind Elliot said. He turned and saw Fidget fluttering in the air behind him. "I was totally about to get my nails done." Then Fidget pointed at the Fairies. "What are they doing here?"
"Since you forced the human to help you, we decided to do the same," Aphid said, cocking her head in anger.
"That's so not awesome," Fidget scowled. "My daddy is going to be totally mad at me!" She turned to Elliot. "So did you get the hair or not?"
"And we want the sock," Aphid demanded.
"Where's Tubs?" Elliot asked.
Fidget groaned. "Like, give me the hair, and I'll return him to the surface. We're totally tired of him anyway. He never stops eating. I'm so grossed out."
"You have to return him with no memory of the Underworld," Elliot said.
"Duh! Do you think we want a grody human like that knowing about us? When he goes back, he won't remember any of this. Now, where's the hair?"
"Where's the sock?" Aphid said.
Elliot pulled a sock from each pocket.
"Two of them?" Aphid said, eyeing Fidget. "That's so awesome! Twice the power against Pixies."
"I can smell them from here," Fidget said. "They're, like, totally gagging me. You'd better have gotten two hairs then."
"Kovol had only one left," Elliot said. "But watch this." He pulled the hair from his pocket and tore it in half. Fidget's smile of triumph quickly faded as Elliot stuffed one hair in each sock. Then he held them out to Aphid and Fidget.