"If she comes after me, I'll just capture her," Elliot said. If he had done that with the Goblins, he could surely do that with her.
"She's not some stupid Goblin, Elliot. When Princess Fidget wants you, you'll be the one coming to her."
Elliot didn't like the sound of that. "How? When?"
"I don't know. But if I were you, I wouldn't go to sleep."
"Tonight?"
"Ever." With that, Harold exhaled slowly, and his human body dissolved into the shape of a brown sparrow. He fluttered into the air, waved a wing at Elliot, and then began to fly away. He circled around and stopped midair in front of Elliot, then tweeted, "Sorry about trying to trick you."
"That's okay," Elliot said.
"Maybe I can make it up to you in some way."
"Yeah, maybe."
"Penster!"
Elliot rolled his eyes and turned. Crashing through the bushes was Tubs Lawless, his least favorite former bully.
"Okay, Penster, now you're going to have to deal with me!"
Not so long ago, if Tubs Lawless had crashed through the bushes and told Elliot, "Now you're going to have to deal with me," what that really would have meant is, "Now you're going to have to deal with a twisted neck." These days what he meant probably wasn't a whole lot better. It meant Elliot would have to deal with Tubs through an entire slee
pover that night.
"My stuff's already at your house," Tubs said. "My parents dropped it off before they went out of town. I already ate the rest of your mom's lasagna, because I'm always hungry after school. Wendy said she'd cook you something to eat if you ever decide to come home from school."
"More like she'll burn me something to eat," Elliot said grimly. Maybe he could have real food next year.
"Anyway, I told her that I'd find you and drag you back home."
"I know the way to my own house. I was just talking to someone."
"I saw that. You were talking to a bird." Tubs gave Elliot what was probably meant to be a playful jab in the arm. Elliot wondered if it would leave a bruise. "Who are you, Snow White or something?"
Elliot nodded and slung his backpack over his shoulder. "Yeah, something like that."
Tubs pretty much stopped talking at that point, which was fine by Elliot, who would have preferred to be alone. He wanted to think about everything Harold had said, and what it might mean for him.
The only thing Elliot knew about Pixies was that during the Goblin war, Fudd Fartwick had borrowed some of their magic to make Elliot's bedroom disappear. Fudd had been an advisor to the queen of the Brownies before Elliot took her place. Then Fudd had worked with the Goblins to try to get Elliot killed so that Fudd could become king.
When Elliot won the Goblin war, Fudd had confessed to his crimes and promised to change. No one had worked harder in getting Elliot's blown-up house rebuilt than Fudd Fartwick. He even made it so that the stairway didn't squeak anymore.
If Tubs weren't walking beside him now, Elliot would have called for Fudd to come talk to him and tell him everything he knew about the Pixies and their princess, Fidget Spitfly.
But Tubs had started talking again. Elliot wasn't paying much attention, but it sounded like a story about Tubs last Halloween.
"My mom says I'm too old for trick-or-treating," Tubs was saying, "but I think, who's too old for candy? Not me."
Elliot smiled. Finally he and Tubs had something in common.
Tubs continued, "Did I ever tell you about a few years ago when I saw these kids in Goblin costumes? They looked so cool, I could've sworn they were real."
Elliot shoved his hands into his pockets. "Do you think Goblins exist, then?"
Tubs snorted. "They weren't real Goblins, dork. They were eating all these pickles, and a real Goblin wouldn't eat pickles."