Elliot and the Goblin War (Underworld Chronicles 1)

But Fudd wasn’t interested in Patches’s manners at the moment. “I don’t know why you have bothered with these simple plans to get King Elliot,” he said. “Why not go and scare him to death?”

Grissel sighed as if he were annoyed. “In the first place, scaring someone to death is not as easy as it looks. In the second place, you were the one who said Patches’s plans would work. And in the third place, scaring someone to death is not as easy as it looks.”

“You already said that one,” Fudd said.

Grissel paused and counted on his fingers. “Oh. All right, then, there’s only two reasons. So that’s what we’ll do. The Goblins will scare the human king to death. It’s what I wanted in the first place, before Patches talked me out of it.”

Fudd clapped his hands together. “This will work. I know it. By tomorrow this will all be over!”

Inside the cave, Patches got ready to run. As soon as Grissel and Fudd left, she had to find a way to warn King Elliot of how much danger he was in.

Fudd and Grissel began to walk away, and then Grissel called to a Goblin who passed by. “Hey, you! Why isn’t this carrot cave being guarded? Who’s supposed to be here?”

“I dunno,” a Goblin with a deep voice answered.

“Then you will stand here and guard these carrots until you can find the Goblin who belongs here!”

“Yes, sir, Grissel. I won’t let you down.”

Patches sunk onto her pile of carrots. What good was it to be free of the rock hole if she was now trapped inside this cave? Trapped, and the only one who knew the terrible danger that awaited King Elliot.

Even though he was now king of the Brownies, Elliot still had to go to school the next day. He was just about to start a spelling test when he suddenly screamed out loud.

“Mr. Penster?” Ms. Blundell, his teacher, stood up from her desk. “Is there a problem?”

As a matter of fact, there was. Elliot had screamed out loud because Mr. Willimaker appeared on his desk. Elliot had nearly written his name and the date on Mr. Willimaker’s foot.

“They can’t see or hear me,” Mr. Willimaker quickly said. “Brownies can be invisible when we need to be. But only for a short time, because it uses a lot of magic. Besides, invisibility makes my head tingle, so it would be helpful if we could talk in private.”

“Elliot?” Ms. Blundell prompted.

“There’s no problem.” Elliot had to tilt his head around Mr. Willimaker to see his teacher’s face.

“Are you okay?” Ms. Blundell asked.

“But there is a problem, Your Highness,” Mr. Willimaker said.

“Hush,” Elliot whispered, but not quietly enough.

Ms. Blundell folded her arms and walked down the aisle, where she stopped at Elliot’s desk. “What did you say to me?”

“Er, I meant hush-choo!” Elliot faked a sneeze as he said it. A few kids in class laughed. Ms. Blundell wasn’t amused. Harold, the class hamster, wasn’t amused either. But, then, nobody expected Harold to be amused. After all, hamsters are known for running on wheels, not for their sense of humor.

Ms. Blundell gave Elliot a warning glance and then walked back to the head of the class. “The first word on your test is ‘secret,’” she said. “As in, ‘Someone in our class has a really big secret.’”

Elliot looked around. Did anyone suspect he had a secret? “Move,” he mumbled as quietly as he could to Mr. Willimaker. “I can’t see the teacher.”

“Too bad,” an annoying, toad-faced girl sitting in front of Elliot said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Elliot rolled his eyes and then stared at Mr. Willimaker. If he wanted something, he’d better say it, because Elliot wasn’t going to speak another word.

Mr. Willimaker did have something to say. “Your Highness, you have some official business to attend to.”

Elliot shook his head.

“I know that you’re in class, but this is very important. We’ve had a stray wander into Burrowsville. She won’t leave, and she’s upsetting the Brownies.”

“I’m taking a test,” he whispered.