"I'll keep that in mind," Elliot said. "Now I want to see him."
Aphid nodded her head, and in a flash of light Mr. Willimaker appeared beside them. He fell to his knees and with tears in his eyes said, "King Elliot, I thought I'd never see you again. And no offense, but you look awful."
Elliot could hardly be offended at that. He knew how bad he looked.
"Like, you couldn't have come back at a worse time," a voice behind Elliot said. He turned and saw Fidget fluttering in the air behind him. "I was totally about to get my nails done." Then Fidget pointed at the Fairies. "What are they doing here?"
"Since you forced the human to help you, we decided to do the same," Aphid said, cocking her head in anger.
"That's so not awesome," Fidget scowled. "My daddy is going to be totally mad at me!" She turned to Elliot. "So did you get the hair or not?"
"And we want the sock," Aphid demanded.
"Where's Tubs?" Elliot asked.
Fidget groaned. "Like, give me the hair, and I'll return him to the surface. We're totally tired of him anyway. He never stops eating. I'm so grossed out."
"You have to return him with no memory of the Underworld," Elliot said.
"Duh! Do you think we want a grody human like that knowing about us? When he goes back, he won't remember any of this. Now, where's the hair?"
"Where's the sock?" Aphid said.
Elliot pulled a sock from each pocket.
"Two of them?" Aphid said, eyeing Fidget. "That's so awesome! Twice the power against Pixies."
"I can smell them from here," Fidget said. "They're, like, totally gagging me. You'd better have gotten two hairs then."
"Kovol had only one left," Elliot said. "But watch this." He pulled the hair from his pocket and tore it in half. Fidget's smile of triumph quickly faded as Elliot stuffed one hair in each sock. Then he held them out to Aphid and Fidget.
"I am so not touching that sock," Fidget said. "Even to get the hair."
"It's making me gag," Aphid said. "I totally won't take the sock as long as it has a hair inside."
"Suit yourselves," Elliot said, laying the socks on the ground. "But I did what you each told me I had to do to get Tubs and Mr. Willimaker back. The Fairies have their sock, and the Pixies have their hair. It's not my problem if you don't want them now. But you have to keep your promises."
Fidget stamped her foot. "Whatever. " She waved her wand and then with a glare at Elliot said, "Pixies don't like to be tricked. Anyway, that human, Tubs, is home now. If there's any good news, it's that he's out of my hair. My beautiful, beautiful hair."
"The Fairies don't like to be tricked either," Aphid said. "And for the record, we have way better hair. But all we really wanted was to stop the Pixies, so at least after all this, nothing has changed."
"Actually, a lot has changed," Elliot said. "What you did got me to wake up Kovol, which means the entire Underworld will have to defend against him one day. My friend Fudd Fartwick was blinded in saving me from the Shadow Men. And I used to think Pixies and Fairies were pretty cool, but I don't think so anymore. If you want the Brownies to help you when Kovol does attack the Underworld, you'd better start being a lot nicer to me."
Aphid and Fidget glared at each other. "Gag me," Aphid said at the same time as Fidget said, "Totally gross." Then their eyes widened and they looked back at each other.
"Surfer Teen?" Fidget said.
"Awesomest kid on the scene?" Aphid added.
The Pixie and Fairy squealed in some high pitch that probably caused a lot of dogs on the surface world to howl.
"So whatever about the war, that's so my dad's thing anyway," Fidget said. "We can at least hang out to watch the show, right?"
Aphid nodded, then turned to Elliot. "Like, I totally thought you'd be killed in Demon Territory, human. No creature has ever come back from there. So I guess when Kovol attacks the Underworld, the Fairies will fight with you in battle."
"The Pixies too," Fidget said softly. "You were awesome. Totally."
"And you saved my dad," Patches said. Elliot wondered how long she'd been there. She handed Elliot some clothes. "I helped our tailor with the design. I think you'll like them."