Elliot smiled. "Cami with Warts--I mean, Cami Wortson, the love of your life."
"I'd do anything for the love of my life," Harold said. "You know I would. But I can't risk making any more mistakes."
"Are you kidding?" Elliot said. "Do you know how many mistakes I've made since becoming king? Maybe you made a mistake by bringing Kovol back to Demon Territory, but it was really my mistake for having us go in there unprepared. Everyone makes mistakes. But my dad says that's always okay, if you're willing to fix them."
Harold sighed. "How do I fix this?"
"Let's go back to my house," Elliot said. "We'll poof straight to my room."
"Okay," Harold said glumly. "I just hope you know what you're doing letting me make mistakes around your family."
"Uh--" Elliot began. But it was already too late. Harold had poofed away.
When Elliot and Harold poofed into Elliot's bedroom, they found Cami on the floor reading a book. She jumped to her feet, startled. "Oh, you scared me!" Once her heartbeat started up again, she said, "I'll never get used to you doing that."
"I'll never get used to doing it either," Elliot said, although he had already begun to think that magic might be the perfect solution to his problem of getting to school on time. He added, "How's Reed?"
"He still thinks it was all a dream," Cami said. "After he rested for a while he felt better, but he's definitely not going back to the Quack Shack today."
Elliot hoped the Quack Shack would still exist after today. Not only because it would mean Kovol had failed in destroying the world, but also because he really liked duck burgers.
"Are there any new sinkholes?" Elliot asked.
Cami shrugged. "The reporter who was covering the story fell into one and broke his leg. They can't do any more news on th
e sinkholes until they find another reporter who'll agree to go out there." Then she noticed Harold, who had done nothing but stare lovingly at her since he poofed in. "Who's this? Another king?"
Harold fell to his knees in front of her. "Do you know how wonderful it is to look at you through my own eyes? How do I describe the joy of looking at you looking at me as I look back at you?"
Cami made a face and turned to Elliot. "What's he talking about?"
"Get up, Harold." With his foot, Elliot nudged the Shapeshifter in the back.
Harold started to stand up, but Cami put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him down again. "Wait a minute." She fingered the patch of white hair on Harold's head. "I've seen this before."
Harold froze, looking as guilty as if he had just been caught robbing a bank. Elliot shook his head, mad at himself for forgetting that Cami was actually a pretty smart girl.
Her eyes narrowed as she first stared at Elliot. "About four months ago, I saw this exact patch of white hair on your head for a few days. And for those days, you were acting so strangely. Sort of like--" Now she turned to Harold. "Sort of like you were acting just now!"
Elliot tried to look innocent. "Hmm, that's weird."
But Harold cried out, "I can't lie to the love of my life!" Now he stood, but he clasped his hands as he faced Cami. "Elliot was trapped in the Underworld, and he begged me to come up to the surface and pretend to be him."
Elliot's nose wrinkled. That wasn't the way he remembered it, although he was certain that was exactly the way Harold did.
"But how could you do all that?" Cami asked. "You don't look anything like Elliot."
Harold blew out a deep breath, and as he did, the bones and coloring of his face shifted to match Elliot's. Other than the white patch, his hair lightened to dark blond, and even his clothes changed to a simple T-shirt and jeans, exactly the same as Elliot's.
Cami let out a scream. Not a big scream or a long scream, but a very girly scream that made Elliot's toes curl.
"Change back!" he said to Harold. "Hurry!"
"Yes," Cami agreed. "This is so creepy!"
With another deep breath, Harold returned to his usual form. He said nothing more, but his eyes pled with Cami to accept him for who he was, in whatever form he might happen to be.
"You can change shapes?" she asked.