"Very well," the Elf said. "You may proceed through Demon Territory. I advise you to be careful and stay on the path."
"Of course," Harold said.
They walked past the sign, then Elliot turned back and asked the Elf, "By the way, can you tell me where Kovol is? We'll have an easier time avoiding him if we know where he is."
"When the air around you is so black that you cannot see your hand in front of your face, then you have found Kovol," she said.
"So stay away from the pitch black. Good advice." Elliot thanked her and then ran to catch up to Harold. "Thanks for coming with me. I feel a lot better not being here alone."
"You are alone, because I'm leaving," Harold said. "But I must admit, I feel a little bad about helping you get killed. That doesn't seem right somehow. If you do die in here, I'll never be able to look at my face in the mirror again, which, of course, will be your face. Listen, I hate to do this, because I really love Cami, but I'm going to help you."
"You're coming with me to find Kovol?" Elliot asked.
"No way. I feel bad, but I'm not stupid." Harold withdrew a small bottle from his pocket. "This is some of that invisibility potion from my--I mean you and Cami's science fair project. I snuck it away because I wanted to test it when nobody else was around. You can rub this on you. It'll make you invisible while you pass through Demon Territory. You could move right past a Shadow Man, and he wouldn't even know it."
Elliot took the bottle. "How long does it last?"
"I don't know, but I tried some on myself and I stayed invisible until I shapeshifted again."
"Are you sure it works? Maybe you just shapeshifted yourself invisible."
Harold laughed. "I think I'd know if I were making myself invisible. Just use the potion, and if you hurry, you might get all the way to Kovol and out of Demon Territory before it wears off."
Elliot started to thank Harold, but he disappeared before Elliot got the words out. Elliot stared at the bottle, then put it in his back pocket. He decided to wait as long as possible before using it. It was still a little light here, so he doubted he'd run into any Shadow Men yet.
"Elliot?" Patches was in the middle of saying his name even as she poofed in front of him. She wrung her hands together, and her eyes darted around. She didn't seem to like where she was, but then, who would? (Other than evil Demon armies, of course.) "I'm glad I found you. It's very hard to poof in here, since it's so dark."
"Patches, I want you to go home," Elliot said. "It's dangerous here."
"If it's dangerous for me, then it's dangerous for you too."
"If your dad finds out I let you come with me to find Kovol, he'll be more dangerous to me than Kovol could ever be."
Patches frowned. "Yeah, that's probably true. But I tried to tell you something before you came here. I read a story a while back about why humans can't enter Demon Territory. The story said what keeps Kovol asleep is an agreement that no human will ever disturb the peace of his territory." Her eyes widened. "Elliot, I think you're disturbing the peace of his territory!"
Elliot paused a moment, then whispered. "Is the story fiction or nonfiction?"
Patches wound up her face. "Which is which?"
Elliot shrugged. "Can't remember. I thought you'd know. Was the story about Kovol sleeping a real one or made up?"
"I don't know. But what if it's real, Elliot? What if you've already woken him up?"
Once, Elliot had woken up Reed for breakfast without knowing he had already been up all night on a double shift at the Quack Shack. Reed had said a few words that would've made their mother's ears melt, then threw his Quack Shack cap at Elliot. Elliot had been more careful about waking up sleeping people since then.
Waking up evil Demons was probably worse.
Elliot put his hand on Agatha's flashlight and forced a smile onto his face. "I don't think the story is real. But even if it is, I'm not disturbing his peace. Just getting what I need and leaving."
Patches wrapped her arms around Elliot's waist. "You're the best king the Brownies have ever had," she whispered. "Hurry and get the hair and the sock, then get out."
"I will," Elliot said. "Now go home and be safe." Patches poofed away as Elliot took his next step deeper into Demon Territory.
He was certain it was already getting darker.
Near the Philippine Islands is an underwater canyon known as the Mariana Trench, which goes down almost seven miles beneath the surface of the ocean. It's deeper there than Mount Everest is tall. Light can't break through all the water to reach the bottom, so if you want to ask how dark it is, the answer, in scientific terms, is "super dark."
Elliot has never been to the bottom of the Mariana Trench (which is probably good, since the pressure of being in water that deep would crush him like a bulldozer running over a soda can). But Elliot didn't need to go to the Mariana Trench to understand true darkness.