Kovol might not have fallen for the turnip juice trick, but he fell for this one perfectly. Forgetting about his plans for Elliot, Kovol turned toward his army. He blew out all the air from his lungs, then began sucking it back in, tugging at the Shadow Men with his breath, just as he had pulled magic from Elliot's body. One by one the Shadow Men were dragged into his mouth, swallowed up whole. Large rings of smoke blew out of his ears, and with each eaten Shadow Man, Kovol's body grew larger and darker. He filled himself with their flames and their powers to curse. If he was bad before, then he was horrible now.
"What have you done?" Mr. Willimaker whispered to Elliot.
"We could never have beaten his entire army," Elliot said. "Kovol just made a big mistake."
"But he has all of their power now," Mr. Willimaker said. "His entire army is within one body."
"And in only one body. Don't worry, my friend, the best is yet to come." Elliot knew how to finish this now. He had a plan.
Elliot ran out of the clearing and back into the woods. "Reed? Wendy? Where is everyone?"
"We can't find the bottle," Wendy said. She was with Kyle and Cole near a grove of tall trees, each of them searching as fast as they could.
"It's not over here!" Reed said with only his head poking out of a thick bush. Tubs was a little farther away, but he was still searching too, so Elliot knew neither of them had it.
"Where's Cami?" Elliot asked.
Reed pointed to his right, and Elliot went running in that direction.
"Cami?" he called.
"Over here!" she answered. "I think it's close. I can see the broken branches where it must have landed, but it rolled away somewhere."
Elliot walked toward Cami's voice until he found her, and together they followed a trail as wide as the bottle down a steep hill.
He spotted the bottle first. "There it is!" He started toward it, then something hit him in the back and he yelled in pain and fell forward.
"Elliot!" Cami screamed, running beside him.
"I'm all right," he said, holding his back. "One of Kovol's shots must've hit me."
"Are you really all right?"
"Yeah," he muttered. "It's just--that sort of hurt. A lot."
"Let me look at it."
"No way," Elliot said. "Girl germs."
"Oh, good grief. There's no such thing." Cami lifted up his shirt enough to look at his back. "Wow, I see some sort of mark there about as long as my thumb. Are you sure you're okay?"
The hit had knocked the breath out of him and stung a little at the time. He had no idea what kind of mark was on his back, but as far as he could tell, he was fine.
"Call one of your Brownies to come look at it," Cami said.
"Maybe later," he said. "Just get that bottle."
"I think I know your plan," Cami said. "I'll take care of it if you can get Kovol there."
From the top of the hill, Kovol yelled, "Show yourself, Elliot, so that I can destroy you!"
Elliot couldn't think of a better reason not to show himself. But he didn't want Kovol aiming that magical energy at any of his friends or family.
Elliot slowly stood, but a voice behind him called, "Okay, but which of us is Elliot?"
Elliot turned and behind him saw...himself. In Elliot's form, Harold stood in front of Cami, blocking her body with his.
Kovol sent more balls of energy down the hill, but he wasn't sure which Elliot to fight, so he wasn't aiming well. It was easier for Elliot to dodge his attacks this time, which was good because his back still stung and he was moving slowly.