Elliot and the Pixie Plot (Underworld Chronicles 2)

You don't have to call me that. Just use my name."

"Yes, Your Highness. Anyway, if I may ask, I'm a little unclear about your plan to get the hair from Kovol's head."

"I don't have a plan," Elliot said. "I think I'll just have to figure it out when we get there."

"Understood. But if you did have a plan, what would it be?"

Elliot sighed. "The thing is, I've never been to Demon Territory. I've never seen Kovol before, and I really don't know anything about him other than that he's supposed to be asleep. And to be honest, I've never tried to pull a hair out of anyone's head before, especially while they're asleep."

"Ah," Mr. Willimaker said. "To be honest, I haven't done that before either. Not the sort of thing a polite creature does, is it?"

Elliot smiled. "No." Tubs had pulled a chunk of his hair out once, in kindergarten. Actually, Tubs had put a whole glob of superglue on his own hand. When Elliot teased him about it, Tubs smacked Elliot in the head, and his hand stuck to Elliot's hair. Then when he tore his hand away, a lot of Elliot's hair had come with it. Later that day, Elliot's mom had shaved the rest of his hair really short to cover up how many bald patches there were.

They continued to walk, with Mr. Willimaker pointing out some of the sights in the Underworld. "If we went south tomorrow, we'd come to a lake where the Mermaids like to swim. You can't fish there, though. Turns out the Mermaids don't like to be fished." A couple of hours later, Mr. Willimaker pointed in another direction. "See those mountains in the distance? The Dwarves live there."

"Are there any Mermaids or Dwarves on the surface world?" Elliot asked.

"A Mermaid finds her way to the surface every now and then, but not in the numbers there used to be. You'll find Dwarves anywhere there's enough treasure to be found, though the Underworld is still rich in valuable stones. If humans knew how many diamonds were down here, they'd have found a way into our land ages ago."

"I have a question," Elliot said. "How is there light so far under the earth, and air I can breathe? This is a lot like the surface world, but with no humans."

"It's the combined magic of all Underworld creatures," Mr. Willimaker said. "Everyone gives a little, and together we have a much nicer life than most humans would expect. If they knew we had a life down here, of course."

"Does it bother you about humans?" Elliot asked. "I mean, that most humans don't believe you exist?"

"It's a good thing, actually," Mr. Willimaker said. "Hundreds of years ago when humans did believe in us, life was far more difficult. Now our only problem is the way your books and movies talk about us. You'd be surprised how wrong you are most of the time. To be fair, I suppose our books and movies get a few things wrong about humans too. For example, I don't suppose humans can leap over tall buildings in a single jump?"

Elliot smiled. "Maybe super humans. But I don't think they're real."

Mr. Willimaker shrugged. "Not long ago, you didn't think Brownies were real either." He checked his map. "What say we stop here for supper?"

"Sure." Elliot dropped his bag to the ground and untied the knot holding it together. Inside were apples, blueberries, cucumbers, and carrots. Naturally, Patches had also snuck in a large bag of pickles. Elliot pulled one out and began munching on it. "Mr. Willimaker," he asked, "what do you know about Shadow Men?"

Mr. Willimaker, who was eating something that looked like an orange artichoke, stopped chewing. He swallowed hard, then in a low voice said, "They're Kovol's army. They guard him in his sleep, which means they haven't left Demon Territory in over a thousand years. Few creatures live through an encounter with the Shadow Men, so most of what we know is from the old writings. My own great-grandfather was killed trying to fight them."

"Sorry," Elliot mumbled.

"It happened a thousand years ago, so it's an old memory now. There was a great war in which all Underworld creatures united against the Demons. They would've lost too, if not for an agreement Kovol made that put him to sleep."

"What agreement?" Elliot asked.

"A human sorcerer named Minthred got involved in the war. I don't know the terms of the agreement, I'm afraid, just that Kovol went to sleep, and the Shadow Men have watched over him ever since." Mr. Willimaker paused to finish his artichoke. Then he added, "How will we get past the Shadow Men, Your Highness?"

Elliot shrugged. "We'll go in the daytime. I figure Shadow Men are probably night creatures, since in the daytime there aren't as many shadows where they can hide."

"How do you know about Shadow Men?"

"Harold the Shapeshifter turned into one when I was still on the surface. He was scary, but I beat Grissel trying to scare me to death. I can beat the Shadow Men too, if I have to."

"Even in the form of a Shadow Man, he was still just a Shapeshifter," Mr. Willimaker warned. "And there was only one of him. Kovol's army is probably much larger."

"How much larger?"

Mr. Willimaker held out his hands. "I don't know. It's been a thousand years since anybody's seen one. I'm sure their numbers are smaller than before, but you could face an army of fifty or more."

Fifty was a lot. Elliot sighed and tried not to think about that. Because if he did, he would have to admit that he didn't know how an eleven-year-old kid and a Brownie had any chance against fifty of the scariest creatures he'd ever met.

Mr. Willimaker finished his supper at about the same time Elliot decided he might have lost his appetite for good.