Obviously, Elliot didn't know. "How?" he asked.
"Just turn your clothes inside out. It confuses them."
"I wasn't going to turn my clothes inside out in front of a bunch of Pixie girls," Elliot said.
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"Don't worry. Princess Fidget would've gotten you here one way or another," Patches said, as if that should have made him feel better. "She always gets what she wants. What we must do now is figure out how to fix this."
"Do you think I should release Grissel?" Elliot asked.
"No!" Patches said. "Before long, he'd get the Goblins to start eating us again."
Which, Elliot agreed, would be bad. No matter what, releasing Grissel was not an option. "Any advice?" he asked.
Patches shrugged. "I don't know about them, but in school my teacher told us that hundreds of years ago, if two Pixies couldn't settle an argument, they took a 'time-out.' The winner won the argument, and it was done."
"Time-out," Elliot mumbled. "I know about those. So I guess to win, I just have to stay in time-out the longest?"
At just that moment, Mr. Willimaker appeared. His bushy gray eyebrows were pressed close together, telling Elliot he had not made any progress with Grissel. Princess Fidget poofed in immediately after. On either side of her were two larger Pixies with sour looks on their faces.
"Like, get rid of the Brownie king first," Fidget said to the Pixies with her. "Mind wipe the other boy if you can, and totally return him to the surface. If you can't, then get rid of him too."
The Pixies pulled out their wands and pointed them at Elliot, who backed up and stumbled over Tubs on the ground. He said, "Wait! Princess Fidget, I demand a time-out."
Her eyes narrowed. "A time-out?"
"Yeah. Me and Grissel together. If I win, you set me free. If he wins, I'll set him free."
"No, Your Highness," Mr. Willimaker cried, but it was too late.
Stretching her hand to study her nails, Fidget said, "Under the terms of a time-out, if you lose, Grissel goes free. And if he decides to leave you alive, which he probably won't, then you must remain here as my servant for, like, forever."
Elliot glared at Patches. She might have mentioned that. Still, it was better than being killed in here. "Okay," Elliot said. "I want a time-out."
Fidget clasped her tiny hands together. "What-ever. I'll prepare the battle zone. If you somehow survive the time-out with Grissel, which you probably won't, I'll totally have you for a servant, human."
"It looks like the rules are in Grissel's favor," Elliot said.
"Nobody ever said time-outs were fair," Fidget said, and then with a mischievous shrug added, "especially when I get to make the rules!"
When she poofed away, Elliot rushed to the bars. "Mr. Willimaker, what happens in a time-out?"
"It's a fight. When the time runs out, someone's usually dead. Isn't that what time-out means in your language?"
"No," Elliot said, slumping to the ground. "No, it isn't."
Elliot's twin brothers had spent most of their first six years of life either in time-out or doing something that deserved a time-out. Elliot had done his share of time-outs too. Something told him, however, that this time-out would be very different from sitting alone on a stool in the corner.
For one thing, no one had ever tried to kill him in time-out before, and Elliot's parents were very strict about not letting Elliot kill anyone, whether in time-out or not.
For another thing, time-outs were usually done alone, and Elliot was pretty sure every Pixie, Brownie, and Goblin in the Underworld had gathered around the Battle Zone to watch.
The Battle Zone was about as big as Elliot's schoolroom, but it was round and fenced in with thorny tree branches and had a dirt floor. Elliot had removed Reed's slippers for the fight. He'd never seen anyone win a battle to the death while wearing house slippers. He'd never seen anyone win a battle in red-checkered pajamas either, but he couldn't do anything about that.
Directly across from Elliot, Grissel paced in preparation for the fight. He hadn't changed much since Elliot had last seen him. A little rounder around the middle, maybe, due to his eating a lot of chocolate cake lately. But still the same shade of green skin, same bony face, same hatred of humans reflected in his eyes. He'd barely looked at Elliot since he was poofed here, but he was already drooling, hungry for revenge. The Goblins cheered loudly for him. The Brownies sat behind Elliot, cheering for him. The Pixies seemed to be cheering for a long battle, no matter who won. Then from somewhere nearby, Elliot heard, "You can take this one, Penster. Win it for the humans!"
Elliot turned. Even Tubs was cheering for him. Then Tubs yelled, "Besides, if you die, how will I get home?"