"There will be more battles," Agatha said. "And the next one will get much worse."
When the last of the Shadow Men had flown away, a cheer rose up from the Brownies. Mr. Willimaker ran toward Elliot, then stopped and bowed before he said, "You did it, Your Highness! You saved us!"
"Only for now," Elliot said.
Fidget fluttered down from above them. Her thick mass of hair looked wind-tossed and wasn't nearly as bouncy as usual.
"I hope you know that was a lot harder than it looked," Fidget said. "They were, like, so totally mean!"
"But you were...um...awesome," Elliot said. "We couldn't have done this without the Pixies."
Fidget arched her head in pride. "Totally. But now we're even, right? We don't owe each other anything more."
"It's not about being even," Elliot said. "It's about stopping Kovol."
Fidget frowned. "Oh, fruit rot! If I have to fight in a war to save the world, then I'm totally going to miss Surfer Teen on TV tonight." She punched a fist into her palm. "If Kovol wants to destroy the Underworld, then that's totally rude. But now he's ruining the awesomest TV show ever, and the Pixies will not allow that!"
Elliot stood and said to Fidget, "I'll help whoever wants to lead this war. But I need some time to think of ideas about how to fight it. Meet me back here later and we'll talk about it."
"What if anyone else wants to come?" she asked.
"If they're willing to fight against Kovol and save the Underworld, then I want them to come!"
After Fidget left, Elliot asked for a place where he could think in private. Mr. Willimaker suggested Burrow Cave, and then Patches offered to walk Elliot there.
"I think I can find it," Elliot said. Burrowsville wasn't that big, and they only had one cave large enough for all the Brownies.
"I know," Patches said. "But I thought you'd want some company."
She was right. He did.
"How's your shoulder?" Patches asked.
"It hurts a little." Actually it hurt a lot. The Shadow Man had been so angry when he grabbed Elliot that his fire had been very hot.
"Kneel down," Patches said.
As he did, Patches walked behind him and rubbed her hands together. "Are you going to heal it with magic?" Elliot asked.
"Not everything is magic," Patches said with a giggle. Then she peeked over his shoulder and began pasting it with something bright green and sticky that smelled like the inside of Reed's old shoes.
"What's that?" Elliot turned his head and quickly faced forward again. Coming too close to that stuff made his nose hurt.
"Pumpkin guts and tree moss and that stuff that sometimes collects on the edges of ponds. It makes a great burn paste." Patches shrugged. "I figured we'd need it, seeing as we were fighting fire and all."
"Thanks, Patches." Elliot gently touched the burn. The pain was already going away. "You really are smart."
"Not just ordinary smart," she said. "I'm super smart!"
Elliot chuckled. "Maybe you're smart enough to figure out how to beat Kovol."
She shook her head. "Nobody's that smart." Then she stopped, realizing what she had said. "Oh! I mean except you, right?" She pointed ahead to Burrow Cave. "Here we are! Go in and be super smart too."
"Thanks." The cave wasn't quite big enough for him, but it was the biggest private place the Brownies had. Being the super-smart king of the Brownies that he was, he tripped over a root at the entrance. Then he picked himself up and, without looking back to see if anyone was laughing, walked the rest of the way into the cave.
By the time Fudd called for him a while later, Elliot had decided for sure that Kovol needed to be defeated, and he was double sure he didn't want Earth destroyed. But the details of how someone might stop Kovol were still a little fuzzy. All in all, he hadn't gotten nearly as much thinking done as he had hoped for, and he certainly didn't feel super smart.
"Everyone's waiting for you," Fudd said, walking beside Elliot.