Elliot and the Pixie Plot by Jennifer A. Nielsen

chance to finish what she was going to say, because Harold the Shapeshifter poofed in right in front of Elliot. He was still in Elliot’s form, and the only reason she could tell them apart was that Harold had a small patch of white hair on the back of his head.
    It took Elliot a moment to realize that it was not a mirror that had suddenly poofed in, but it was actually Harold, who looked exactly like him.
    Elliot tried to say hello, but Harold spoke first. “I’m very sorry to tell you this,” he said to Elliot, “but you’ll have to stay in the Underworld forever. I won’t let you go home ever again.”



 
    Except for the Pixie prison, Elliot quite liked the Underworld and thought if he ever did get home, he might want to return for a nice visit one day. But he didn’t want to stay in the Underworld forever. For one thing, his family was on the surface, and he missed them. For another, Underworld creatures thought chocolate was about the worst thing since liver and onions. Elliot couldn’t see himself living anywhere without chocolate.
    And he didn’t at all like Harold the Shapeshifter telling him he couldn’t go home again.
    Elliot dropped his bundle just as Harold was drawing in a large breath of air to change into something, probably a scary something. He grabbed Harold’s ear and held on tight.
    “Stop that!” Harold said. “I’ve got to change into something that can kill you.”
    “I’m sick of everyone in the Underworld trying to kill me lately,” Elliot said. “So it’s bad timing on your part. I’m not letting go.”
    Harold grabbed Elliot’s shoulders and started kicking his shins. In turn, Elliot kicked him back, all the time keeping hold of Harold’s ear.
    “That really hurts,” Harold said.
    “It’s my ear I’m pinching anyway,” Elliot said. “You’re just borrowing it.”
    “It’s your ear, but it’s on my body, and it hurts. Want to see what it’s like?” With that, Harold grabbed Elliot’s ear.
    “Ow!” Elliot yelped. “You’re pinching harder than I am.” So he pinched Harold’s ear harder. In return, Harold began stomping on his feet.
    “You can’t stomp on a king’s foot,” Patches said. She rolled up her sleeves and flung some magic toward Harold, who suddenly sank to the ground like all the bones had gone out of his body. Elliot, who had been holding tightly to Harold’s ear, also dropped to the ground, but he knew he still had bones, because they cracked against a rock as he landed.
    “What did you do to him?” Elliot asked.
    “I just zapped his energy for a couple of seconds,” Patches said. “An Elf taught me that trick a while ago.”
    “Cool.” Elliot leaned in to Harold and asked, “So why do you want to kill me?”
    “I’m in love,” Harold said. “We Shapeshifters sometimes do crazy things when we’re in love.”
    “That’s stupid,” Elliot said. “Who are you in love with? My sister, Wendy? Because I’ve got news for you. You’re up there pretending to be me, so if you go and fall in love with your sister, that’s just creepy.”
    “It’s not your sister,” Harold said, “though I must say it’s been nice to eat real human food after all this time. I’ve eaten so much of her food, it’s really surprised her. She says I’ve never been as nice to her as I have this week.”
    Elliot groaned and Harold continued, “But, no, the girl I love is that beautiful human Cami Wortson.”
    For a moment, Elliot’s brain went numb. He thought his heart had just stopped beating and that he’d faint and fall back into the gripping mud and sink to the center of the earth. And that would be fine, because not him or anyone who looked like him was ever supposed to even like Cami, much less claim to love her!
    “No,” he finally said. “No, you can’t love her, because she’s out to destroy my life. Which means as long as you look like me, she’s out to destroy your life too. And if she finds out that you like her, she’ll use