Free Elliot and the Pixie Plot by Jennifer A. Nielsen Page A

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.
    “Didn’t you like the food Patches packed for you?” Mr. Willimaker asked. “I tried to tell her.”
    “No, the food was good,” Elliot said. “I’m just not hungry.”
    “You have Shadow Men on your mind?”
    “A little.” Elliot pressed his lips together. “All we have to do is sneak past them, get a hair from Kovol, and sneak out.”
    Mr. Willimaker smiled. “I wish it were going to be as easy as you make it sound. But if we do survive, it’ll make a grand story for the Brownies.” He stood and brushed off his clothes. “It’s getting dark. Are you cold?”
    Elliot wasn’t. If anything, the clothes the Brownies had made for him locked heat in. “Did you want to make a fire?”
    Mr. Willimaker shook his head. “It’s usually warm in the Underworld, but a little light would be nice.”
    “I have the flashlight from Agatha,” Elliot said. “Though with my luck, the next eclipse will happen five minutes after I turn it on, so let’s wait until we really need it.”
    Mr. Willimaker snapped his fingers together. When he did, a spark of light remained on his thumb. He pressed his thumb to a stick, and it lit. Then Mr. Willimaker gathered a few other sticks together in a pile, and the light passed to them as well.
    “Is that a magic fire?” Elliot asked.
    “It’s only light.” Mr. Willimaker passed his hand through the center of the light. “There’s no heat, and it won’t burn anything. The light won’t last long, but it’ll do until we fall asleep.”
    “Can you make another fire?” Elliot wanted one to play with.
    “Not for a few minutes. I need to recharge.”
    Elliot ran his hand through the center of the light as well. It was no warmer than the air, and yet it flickered on the sticks as a fire would. “Cool,” he whispered. “I wish I had magic.”
    “All Underworld creatures have their own kinds of magic,” Mr. Willimaker said. “Brownies aren’t that powerful compared to Pixies or Fairies, or even Goblins. Elves