"It felt like he threw a bowling ball at me," Elliot said. "But other than a mark on my back, I don't think he did any damage."
"What mark?" Mr. Willimaker asked. "Let me see it."
Elliot turned and raised his shirt. "What does it look like?"
"It's a scar in the shape of a crown," Mr. Willimaker said. "Kovol tried to curse you, but whatever you were thinking about must have blocked the curse and saved your life."
"I was thinking that I didn't care what happened to me," Elliot said. "I only wanted to protect my family, and the Brownies, and the rest of the Underworld."
"That's a wizard's mark," Mr. Willimaker added. "Only the most powerful of all Underworld creatures ever get one of those."
"I'm no wizard." Then Elliot remembered that Minthred was only a goat herder. He probably never thought he deserved to be called a
wizard either.
"Truly you have the heart of a king," Fudd said. "And today you saved us all."
Patches poofed in and immediately hugged Elliot's leg. "Elliot--I mean, Your Highness! I just heard the news! We'll throw a big party in Burrowsville to celebrate. We'll have everything yummy to eat there--carrot soup, cabbage pies, cauliflower cookies, all the best foods!"
"Yum," Elliot said. Even Wendy's scariest menu had never included cabbage pies.
"We'll have that party tomorrow night," Mr. Willimaker said. "Can't you see how tired the king is?"
"I am tired," Elliot agreed. "A party tomorrow would be better. Besides, we still have to figure out what to do with Kovol."
The Elf Slimy Toe Jam, or whatever his name was, stepped forward. "We have a plan for that, King Elliot. We shall create a home for him deep in the Underworld seas, where the Mermaids will keep watch over him. Even if another Shadow Man does exist, he'd never get through all that water to rescue Kovol. We feel that Kovol will sleep there forever."
Forever sounded pretty good to Elliot. He nodded his permission at the Elf, and then thanked him for Minthred's journal. "Maybe one day someone will write a book about my story too," Elliot said.
Mr. Tojam laughed. "A book about an eleven-year-old human who becomes king of the Brownies and fights an Underworld war? Who'd ever believe it?"
Elliot joined in the laughter. "Yeah, that does sound pretty crazy. Thanks for taking Kovol to the Mermaids. And thanks again for letting me see Minthred's journal."
"You saved our world," Mr. Tojam said. "Thank you, King Elliot." He bowed, then snapped his fingers, and both he and Kovol disappeared.
"Until tomorrow night, then," Fudd said. "I'd offer to poof you home, but I know you still have Pixie magic, so you can probably get yourself there better."
"I could," Elliot said. "But for tonight I'll just walk home with my family. See you tomorrow." And that was the most ordinary thing Elliot had done all day.
Elliot remained pretty quiet for the rest of that night and through the next day. His parents got home sometime that morning, but nobody said anything to them about the Brownies or Kovol or the Underworld war. They had all promised Elliot they would keep his secret. And even though it wasn't much of a secret anymore, Elliot appreciated their promise.
It would take a long time for Sprite's Hollow to repair the many sinkholes throughout town, but at least there had been no new ones. All of the reporters got scientists to come on their news shows and explain that the sinkholes had been caused by a freak meteor storm several thousand light-years away. The scientists seemed to believe it, the reporters didn't seem to understand it, and everyone went on with their lives.
Elliot hadn't been the only one to notice that the sinkholes on Main Street were in the shape of his name. But then the mayor of Sprite's Hollow, Mayor George Fillat, convinced everyone that the sinkhole was in the shape of his name and said it was a sign that he should be reelected. His campaign slogan was immediately changed to "Protecting our town from all danger over and under the world!"
Elliot snorted when he heard that, but there wasn't much he could do about it.
That afternoon, Cami stopped by the house to check on Elliot. "You seem quiet," she said. "Everything okay?"
"Definitely," he said.
"I told Harold that I'm not the love of his life," Cami said. "I don't want to be the love of anyone's life right now, just their friend." She was quiet for a moment, then added, "Are we friends, Elliot?"
"Definitely." And in that moment, he didn't dislike her at all. Even calling her Toadface didn't seem so funny anymore.
"You want to play a game or something?" she asked. "And don't say definitely."
"Then I'll just say okay," he answered. They spent the rest of the afternoon in the backyard kicking a soccer ball around and then helping Cole and Kyle dig a hole for a new springtime mud puddle.