Elliot and the Last Underworld War (2 page)

“Like what? Mr. Beary-Boo’s long-lost teddy bear brother?” Elliot said. “You could have a dumb rock as guard for all it matters, because in case you didn’t notice, Mr. Beary-Boo isn’t real!”

Cami laughed. “You’d probably say Leprechauns aren’t real either.”

Elliot only shrugged. If Goblins and Elves and Pixies were real, then Leprechauns probably were too.

“Let’s go!” Cami said. “Try to find his flag. I’ll be back in a minute with our”—she stopped to giggle—“our guard!”

Elliot rolled his eyes and then began running. He used to think these woods behind his house were sort of scary, so he’d always tried to avoid them. But then he had come face-to-face with Kovol, and nothing could ever be as scary as that.

He explored different areas where he was sure Tubs might have hidden the flag and listened carefully for any sounds that would tell him where Tubs was searching for his and Cami’s flag. But all he heard was the wind brushing through the springtime leaves and the occasional chirp of a bird.

Then Elliot squinted in the distance. It was hard to know because of the shadows ahead, but he was pretty sure he saw Tubs’s flag—an old green pillowcase—hanging from a tree.

Just hanging from a tree? Not hidden or disguised or anything?

Elliot smiled as he got closer. Tubs had put it near a clump of leaves. He probably hoped Elliot would think the pillowcase was just a really, really, really big leaf.

On the tree branch beside the pillowcase was Mr. Beary-Boo. Up close the teddy bear looked really old, and one of his button eyes was missing. No wonder he hadn’t seen Elliot coming.

Laughing at his own joke, Elliot plucked the pillowcase off the tree. Now he had to get it back to his home base without being caught.

He turned to go and immediately ran right into Tubs’s wide chest. Elliot bounced off it and landed on the ground.

“Mr. Beary-Boo thought you’d try something like this,” Tubs said in a voice that reminded Elliot of the days when Tubs used to bully him. “Give me that pillowcase, or else.”

Elliot swallowed hard. When Tubs talked like that, it always meant trouble. And trouble was the last thing Elliot wanted today.

Tubs was the closest thing to a brick wall Elliot had ever run into (other than the brick wall he had run into a week ago when he forgot to watch where he was going). Now Elliot sat on the ground with the pillowcase flag in his hand.

“I said give me the flag, or else,” Tubs snarled.

Elliot gripped the flag tighter. He wouldn’t back down, no matter what Tubs threatened. “Or else what?” he asked.

Tubs frowned. “Or else I’ll lose. Duh!”

Elliot rolled his eyes and got ready to run again. Tubs reached for the flag, but Elliot crawled between his widespread legs. Tubs kept bending lower to catch Elliot but ended up with his head behind his knees, then rolled into a somersault that left him flat on the ground.

Elliot leapt to his feet and ran toward his and Cami’s base. “I’ve got it!” he yelled. “I’ve got it!”

Tubs crashed through the woods behind him, calling Elliot’s name. At first he had laughed as he yelled for Elliot to slow down. Then his voice became angrier as he said, “Seriously. Give me the flag. I hate losing!”

“Me too!” Elliot answered. He wasn’t far from their base now. He was easily going to win, and Cami hadn’t done one thing to help. So he had beaten Tubs on his own!

Elliot ran into the clearing where their flag was still hidden. Then he stopped.

Cami had told him at least 120 million times over the winter that she had taken up paper-mache as a hobby. (Okay, maybe not quite that many times. But it was at least twice.) She had explained that this craft was as simple as dipping strips of paper in watered-down glue and putting them on a frame in whatever shapes she wanted. Then she had invited him over to her house to try it. “When it dries, you can paint it however you want!” she had said.

But Elliot had never wanted to try it. And he couldn’t think of a single reason why he might ever want to in the future. Even if his life depended on it, he wouldn’t have anything to do with Cami’s paper-mache. So she told him that was fine, she would do her project without him.

And right now, beneath their hidden flag was their “guard.” It was Cami’s paper-mache project and was almost guaranteed to ruin his life once and for all.

It was a life-size version of him.

The worst part was that she had done a pretty good job. He had to get right up to its paper-mached face to know it wasn’t really him.

“What do you think?” Cami bounced on her heels excitedly.

“Um.” That was all he could think of to say. If he had ever known any other words, he couldn’t think of even one.

“It’s cool, right? I worked on it all winter and just finished it a week ago. I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to show it to you.”

How could she possibly think
this
was the perfect time? And why did she have to carry that thing out in public? Everyone who saw it would know it was supposed to be him.

Behind Elliot, Tubs crashed into the clearing. He stopped right beside Elliot when he saw the paper-mache doll.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Tubs said.

Elliot closed his eyes. This was it. The beginning of the end (or the end of the beginning). The point when he wouldn’t mind so much if the entire universe folded in half and squished him flat. Now Tubs would tease him and Cami about liking each other. Or sing rhymes using their names. Or make kissing noises when they walked by.

“I really don’t believe it,” Tubs added, walking closer.

“Do you like it?” Cami asked.

“It’s so cool!” Tubs said. “I mean, whatever makes Elliot such a dork all the time, you really understood that when you made this. Great job!”

Elliot frowned. That might’ve been a compliment to Cami, but it wasn’t to him.

Cami gestured at the doll. “What do you think?”

“It doesn’t look anything like me,” he said. “My hair is dark blond, not light brown, and my eyes aren’t purple.”

She giggled. “Yeah, but they’re cooler that way.”

“And I don’t have a goofy, crooked smile,” he continued.

“Sure you do,” Cami said. “But this is my first try with life-size humans. Mostly I’ve been doing creature crafts.”

Elliot’s ears perked up. “What sort of creatures?” As king of the Brownies, he had to guard very carefully against anyone learning of the existence of mythological creatures. The Brownies were very sensitive about that.

“Oh, you’d love it! I just finished a model of a Goblin. He’s tiny, and I painted him light pink. He’s so cute!”

Elliot rolled his eyes. Goblins were not tiny or any shade of pink, and they definitely were not cute! If their leader, Grissel, ever saw the model, he’d blow it up. And probably Cami’s house along with it.

Seeing that Elliot was not impressed, Cami frowned and said, “I thought if you saw how cool this model was, you’d want to make some paper-mache creatures with me sometime.”

“Um, no,” Elliot said. Which was a very ordinary thing to say considering the very extraordinary thing that happened next.

Exactly when Elliot’s watch turned to 11:14, the sunlight dimmed. It had been high in the sky when they started this game not too long ago.

Elliot forgot the flag in his hand and dropped it on the ground. It was as if night had suddenly decided to come all at once, even though it was still the middle of the day. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“Oh, I forgot!” Cami rummaged through a bag slung over her shoulder. “There’s a total eclipse of the sun today! I made a pinhole viewer so that we could watch it. Now, where—ah!” She pulled the pinhole viewer from her bag and showed it to Tubs and Elliot. “This is the only safe way to watch a solar eclipse.”

As far as Elliot was concerned, there was nothing safe about a solar eclipse. Or at least, not
this
solar eclipse. Because as soon as the moon fully crossed in front of the sun, Kovol would be free.

Kovol had promised to destroy Earth once he escaped the gripping mud. Part of Elliot hoped that Kovol might have changed his mind while he was stuck in the mud. Maybe instead of getting revenge on Elliot, Kovol would celebrate his release by ordering some pizza. But the rest of Elliot understood that probably wouldn’t happen. At least he couldn’t think of any pizza places that delivered to the Underworld.

The eclipse created a strange light in the air. It wasn’t true darkness, but more like everything had fallen into shadow. And with Elliot’s mind on Kovol, the unusual light became even eerier.

A moment later the sun and moon had passed each other, and everything became normal again. It would’ve been an exciting moment if Elliot hadn’t understood exactly what was now happening in the Underworld.

“Where are you going?” Cami asked him. “If you leave, we’re gonna lose the game!”

“Mr. Beary-Boo will be so happy when I tell him we won!” Tubs said.

Elliot didn’t care about the game or what Mr. Beary-Boo thought about anything. He was already sprinting home as fast as his long legs would carry him.

Kovol was free. And about to seek his revenge.

The door to Elliot’s home banged open as he ran through it. His sixteen-year-old brother, Reed, and fifteen-year-old sister, Wendy, were sitting with their eyes glued to the television. (They weren’t actually
glued
, of course, because think of how painful that would be! They were just watching it very carefully.)