The moon was high in the sky when the Goblins poofed themselves into Elliot’s room. There were two beds on opposite sides of the room. One bed was empty, but several packets of pickle relish were on top of the blankets. The Goblins fought over them until Grissel won. This was because he knew the other Goblins’ ticklish spots, and for a Goblin, getting tickled just isn’t funny. He stuffed the packets into his mouth and swallowed them whole.

Then Grissel pointed to the other bed. Something in the shape of a human was underneath the blankets. Dangling on the bedpost was his crown. King Elliot was within their reach.

The Goblins smiled at each other, proud to be a part of the war against the human king. Grissel smiled the widest, unaware of the packet of pickle relish stuck between his pointy front teeth. This was almost too easy for a Goblin of his talents. In just a few minutes, he could return and tell Fudd Fartwick their Brownie king was no more.

Grissel knew exactly what Fudd’s next move would be. He’d hurry back to Burrowsville and tell the Brownies the sad news about Elliot. Maybe he’d pretend to cry over Elliot’s death for a minute or two, and then he’d wipe away his fake tears and declare himself king. It would be perfect.

Except Fudd wouldn’t be able to do any of that, because the hole Grissel had tunneled out for Fudd was even deeper than the one Patches was in. With Fudd out of the way and no Brownie king to lead them, it would be a simple thing to defeat the Brownies once and for all. He smacked his thin lips just thinking about his delicious victory.

Grissel handed some rope to the other Goblins, who climbed up on Elliot’s bed. They rolled him around in his blanket, surprised that the human could sleep so deeply. They tied the rope in a double knot, then a triple knot, then finally, in the never-before-untied four-way knot. There was no going back now.

They lifted his body into the air and tossed it toward Grissel, who already had a large trunk at the foot of Elliot’s bed open and empty. Elliot could wait in the trunk until they had a chance to get rid of him properly. Most of him landed inside the trunk, except for his legs, which fell limp onto the floor.

Grissel walked over and kicked at Elliot’s legs. They rustled softly, something Grissel didn’t think human legs normally did. Then his lip curled in anger. He bared his sharp teeth and bit through the knots around the blanket. He pulled the blanket wide and growled. These weren’t legs! They were pants stuffed with bags of rice.

“What is the meaning of this?” Grissel yelled. “We’ve been tricked!”

The Goblins jumped onto the floor beside the trunk and pulled the rope away from the rest of the blanket. They couldn’t have been tricked. Not by a human child!

“Aha!” a voice yelled behind them. They turned just in time to be splashed in the face with a bucket of icy water.

The Goblins yelped and screamed and fell backward into the trunk. All except for Grissel, who had escaped the worst of the water by hiding behind the other Goblins. He poofed back to Flog with only three water welts on his arm.

Elliot darted forward and slammed the lid to his trunk closed, locked it, and then sat on it. This was very difficult to do, because the Goblins were beating against the inside of it very angrily. More than once, they nearly tipped Elliot and his trunk sideways onto the floor.

“Quiet down in there, Elliot,” his father called from the bedroom down the hall. “You should be sleeping, not playing.”

“Sorry,” Elliot called back, although none of the playing he’d ever done before involved real Goblins trying to stuff him in a trunk.

The trunk rumbled again. “Are you sure they’re stuck in there?” Elliot asked Mr. Willimaker, who had just tiptoed out from his hiding place in the closet.

“You’re a king in the Underworld,” Mr. Willimaker said. “Command them to stay in there and they must, until you release them.”

Elliot’s eyes widened. “I just say ‘stay in the trunk’ and they have to do it?”

Mr. Willimaker shrugged. “You could wave your arm around so it looks fancy, but only if you want to. It doesn’t really matter, because as long as you say the words, they have to obey.”

“Can I command them to do anything I want?”

“Not with Brownie magic. Possibly you can command them to sing your favorite song in three-part harmony. But unless you want your ears to shatter, I’d recommend against it. All you can do is command them to remain as your prisoners and not poof away. Since you rule in the Underworld, they’re bound by your command to stay.”

“It’s still pretty cool.” Elliot waved his arms the way he’d seen a wizard in a movie do it once, then said, “Hey, you Goblins in the trunk. Stay in there.”

The pounding got louder, but the trunk stopped banging around as much. “I don’t think they liked my command,” Elliot said.

“They’ll give up after a while and go to sleep,” Mr. Willimaker said. “They’ll be fine until we figure out what to do with them.”

“Was that magic?” Elliot asked. “Can I do magic now?”

“I don’t know.” Mr. Willimaker stretched out his arms then flicked his fingers apart. In his palm was a small puff of smoke that swirled in the air and disappeared. “Can you do that?”

Elliot stretched his arms and flicked his fingers apart. Mr. Willimaker looked at his palms and said, “Oh, my!”

“What do you see?” Elliot asked.

“Dirty hands. You should’ve used some of the water you threw on the Goblins for yourself.”

Elliot looked at his hands and then shoved them in his pockets.

“You don’t have magic,” Mr. Willimaker said. “But as long as you are king, your command for a prisoner to remain where he is must be obeyed.”

Elliot thought of his younger twin brothers. “I wish I could make Kyle and Cole obey my commands.”

Mr. Willimaker coughed. “That’d take a miracle, not magic.”

“Very impressive,” Fudd Fartwick said, coming forward from the shadows. “I must say the Goblins were no match for you, Your Highness.” He raised his voice loudly enough so the Goblins inside the trunk could hear him. “It appears the Goblins didn’t realize that Mr. Willimaker would tell you about the water. They should’ve planned something more foolproof.” He turned to Mr. Willimaker. “Go poof somewhere and get King Elliot a glass of water. I’m sure he’s thirsty.”

Elliot wasn’t. Half his room was soaked in water. But Mr. Willimaker was gone before he had a chance to say so. However, he quickly understood that Fudd was only trying to get Mr. Willimaker out of the room.

“Be careful of taking any advice from Mr. Willimaker,” Fudd warned. “In Burrowsville he’s nothing more than a joke. Not a joke as in, ‘Why did the giant cross the road? His foot was already on the other side.’ But still a joke.”

“Queen Bipsy trusted him enough to give him my name as king.”

“Only because nobody else was around at the time. Trust me instead. I’ll keep you safe.”

Elliot nodded. “Thank you, Fudd. I’m sure I’ll need your help too. But Mr. Willimaker has given me good advice so far. I don’t care what the rest of Burrowsville thinks of him. He’s my friend.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.” Mr. Willimaker stood behind Elliot with a glass of water in his hands. He lowered his eyes and said, “I am a joke in Burrowsville, that’s true. I made a big mistake about a field mouse invasion a few years ago, but I’ve learned a lot since then. If you want me to leave—”

“The Goblins would’ve gotten me tonight if it hadn’t been for you,” Elliot said. “No, Mr. Willimaker, I don’t want you to leave.”

Mr. Willimaker’s ears perked up. “Whether they laugh at me in Burrowsville or not, I’ll still serve you the best I can.”

“Your best isn’t good enough for Elliot,” Fudd said. He threw up his hands and kicked at the trunk, which bounced again on the floor. Then he looked at Elliot. “So you threw water on a few Goblins. Do you think that makes you prepared to be a king? Do you think you could fight off somebody like Kovol?”

The air in the room seemed to change when Fudd said that name, as if a cold wind of warning was blowing through. Then Elliot looked at the wafting curtains over Reed’s bed and shrugged. “Oh, the window’s open.” He shut it and asked, “Who’s Kovol?”

Mr. Willimaker’s eyes darted from side to side, and his voice shook when he spoke. “I’m sure Kovol is nothing to worry about, nothing at all. As long as he stays asleep, which I’m sure he will for another thousand years, then we’re fine.”

Kovol wouldn’t sleep for another night if the Brownies visited him as often as they visited Elliot’s house, Elliot thought with a yawn.

“Never mind about Kovol,” Fudd said. “You have enough trouble with the Goblins. Mr. Willimaker helped you tonight and you got lucky. I don’t think you’ll be so lucky next time.”

“Next time?” Elliot said.

“Oh, yes.” Fudd’s thin eyes widened until Elliot could almost see what color they were. Almost. “There will be a next time. And the next time will be far worse.”

Mr. Willimaker rubbed his hands together nervously. “In the meantime, Your Highness, perhaps I could have the Brownies help out downstairs. There’s a squeak on your staircase we could fix. Or how about a delicious breakfast of fried eggs?”

“No, thanks,” Elliot mumbled, moving from the trunk to his bed. “I’m not hungry anymore.” His trunk full of Goblins rattled again, reminding Elliot that, yes, they would be back. And, no, it wouldn’t be so easy the next time.