Luke and Elliot walked back to town slowly. Their internal reserves filled with every step. It wasn't as fast as a nap, but it was better than nothing.

If the Mushrooms were friendly, maybe they could point the boys to an exit from the underground world. Luke didn't want another fight when he had to get home. The later they were out, the madder their mother was going to be.

Showing her the pipe was not going to reduce her anger. She would use that as another reason to ground them further. They knew they were supposed to be back on time and they had blown it over a sewer pipe.

And as the oldest, he would be grounded harder because he was supposed to know better than to let his brother do anything stupid.

He wouldn't even be able to argue for leniency. He should have known better than to follow Elliot down the pipe. He should have got adults to get his brother out of the pipe.

“What you thinking?,” Elliot asked.

“About all the trouble I'm going to be in over this,” said Luke. “I'm going to be grounded for a ton of time because you wanted to explore. I don't like that at all.”

“It won't be that bad,” said Elliot. “Mom probably won't notice we're not back on time.”

“You should know better than that,” said Luke. “She always notices.”

“We'll think of something to tell her to explain everything,” said Elliot. “Maybe we can take one of those plants home with us.”

“Do you really think giving one of those maneaters to Mom will make a difference?,” Luke said. He paused walking long enough to look his brother in the eye. “That'll just get us grounded even harder.”

“Trust me,” said Elliot. “Mom is a sucker for weird plants. Bringing her one will get us off the hook.”

“Maybe you're right,” said Luke. “I think she will like a flower better.”

“I don't have a problem with that,” said Elliot.

“I guess keep an eye out for a flower we can take back with us,” said Luke. “There has to be something useful here with the talking turtles and walking mushrooms around.”

“We sure showed those turtles something,” said Elliot. He punched the air.

Luke nodded. He spotted a familiar sign ahead. They were on the right path. He wondered why the Lava King hadn't sent anyone after them. Maybe the turtles under his command weren't smart enough to handle their business.

It wouldn't be the first time they had run into someone who thought having more people meant being tougher in a fight.

Luke led the way down the path marked to for the town of mushroom people he had seen. He kept his eyes open for anything that looked dangerous. He had no next step if the mushrooms were unfriendly. They would have to find a spot and come up with something that would help them get back home.

What did you say to a mushroom? He doubted spaghetti jokes would go over well.

They reached the town. It stood in a cleared out space in the middle of a curtain of trees. If the Lava King wanted to invade, there was nothing in his way. Were these mushrooms super fighters?

The buildings resembled mushrooms with cylinder bodies and bulb roofs. Colors seemed to be brown in various shades. Luke noted a couple of places that were cubes of some kind.

A turtle pointed at them and then ran to hide while calling for help against the invaders. Luke held up his hands to show he was harmless. He noted that other creatures were mixed in with the mushrooms, not just that one turtle.

“They seem a little afraid of us,” said Elliot. He copied his brother and raised his hands.

“Maybe they've dealt with humans before,” said Luke.

“They might just be naturally afraid of anything that looks threatening to them,” said Elliot.

“We needed to talk to someone,” said Luke. “Maybe we came to the wrong place.”

“Will anyone talk to us?,” called Elliot. “We just want to go home.”

One of the mushrooms came forward. He examined the boys. He turned and said something to the rest. The visible townspeople relaxed after the mushroom's declaration.

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“I'm Luke,” said Luke. He pointed to himself. He pointed at his brother. “This is Elliot.”

“I'm Maximill Slaw,” said the mushroom. “I am the reeve of the town of Kronenberg. What brings you to our small village?”

“We fell down a pipe and we need a way to get home,” said Luke. “You wouldn't happen to know how to do that, would you?”

“Not I,” said Slaw. “The Mandelas might if you can find them. They are wandering in the west at the moment.”

“The Mandelas?,” asked Luke.

“They are strange people like yourselves,” explained Slaw. “They have learned how to use the green tubes to travel around the kingdom, fight the Lava King, and drive back other menaces.”

“So they might know how to get out of here?,” asked Luke.

“Stories have been told how they fell out of the sky in our hour of greatest need and drove back the Lava King with fireballs,” said Slaw.

“Sounds like our kind of people,” said Elliot.

“If anyone knows how to return to the sky, it would be them,” declared Slaw. He gestured with his hands at the village. “We don't have the ability to do that here.”

“Are the Mandelas coming back here?,” asked Luke. He didn't want to leave to chase a story if the story was going to show up at any time.

“I don't really know,” said Slaw. “They serve the Queen as protectors of the realm. They wander the kingdom and fix problems for her.”

“Do they fight the Lava King?,” asked Elliot.

“If he crosses the border,” said Slaw. “He is rambunctious at the best of times.”

“So if we want to talk to the Mandelas, we should head west and hope to meet them on the road,” said Luke. He didn't like the odds of that. They might never see the Mandelas depending on how big the kingdom was.

“I will be glad to send a message to the next village,” said Slaw. “The reeve there should be able to send a message to the next village in line until word is sent back where the Mandelas are. Then you would just have to go there.”

“That sounds like a lot of time,” said Luke.

“We don't really have a choice, Luke,” said Elliot. “We need to at least let them know that we're looking for them. Maybe they will stay in one spot long enough for us to catch up with them.”

“That's the first thing you've said that makes sense,” said Luke.

“I say a lot of things that make sense,” complained the younger boy.

“I can't remember anything,” said Luke. “So we should head due west from here?”

“Yes,” said Slaw. “I will send word ahead of you so the next village can keep you on the trail as you conduct your search. When word reaches the brothers, they will stop to wait for you.”

“We're brothers too,” said Elliot. “They have to help us now.”

“I will send the messenger out,” said Slaw. “I suggest you get started. The messenger is quite fast and will be at the next village in a matter of minutes.”

“Thanks for your help,” said Luke. “We really need to get home before our mom gets angry.”

“I understand that quite well,” said Slaw. “My mother was as hot as a volcano when angry. Good luck, second brothers.”

“Thanks,” said Luke. “Which way is west?”

Slaw pointed the way for them.

“Thanks again,” said Luke. He started through the village, checking for landmarks as he went. He figured he could stay on a straight path easily enough.

Elliot joined him quietly. He didn't penetrate his brother's shell of silence as they walked on. He watched the trees around him. The villagers might have sent them into an ambush. He expected mushrooms and turtles to jump out of the trees to eat them.

That would be a mistake on their parts.

He doubted they could stop his Peke Power from lighting them up, and he was almost back to full strength. He could throw lightning for an hour now.

Luke led the way, marking each tree as he went. It was hard to stay on a straight line when everything looked the same. He cut an arrow in a trunk to point the direction they were supposed to go.

“Stay here for a second,” said Luke. “I'm going to climb this tree and see what's ahead. Maybe the next village will be visible.”

“Do you think we can use the limbs to move faster like Tarzan?,” said Elliot. He made a sliding through the air motion with his hands.

“I don't know,” said Luke. “I just want to take a look to make sure we weren't sent on a wild goose chase. These Mandelas might not exist.”

“That would be an awful trick,” said Elliot.

“Just stay down here and point the way with the arrow,” said Luke. “If I see a village in that direction, we'll see if we can use the trees to get over there.”

“I got it,” said Elliot.

“And keep an eye out,” said Luke. “They may be waiting for us to separate so they can take you on when you're alone.”

“I would like to see that,” said Elliot. A tiny spark of lightning danced around his fingertips.

“Just keep an eye out,” said Luke.

The older brother grabbed the trunk of the marked tree. He pulled up while jumping. He bounded up to some lower branches. He used those to get to some limbs higher up, then he vanished into the leaves. He stood at the top of the tree, and looked around.

He frowned as he realized he couldn't see his brother from the top of the tree. He turned in a slow circle. He spotted Kronenberg behind them. He turned until he was sure the village was directly behind him. He thought he saw ship sails ahead of him.

Was there water down there to match with the jungle? What kind of crazy place had his brother dragged him to? How did he get out?

He wasn't sure about the sails, but it was far enough in the distance that it was a landmark he could check from other trees. He looked right and left. The Lava King's castle was on his right. Another castle was on his left. That might be Slaw's Queen's palace. Should they change course to head there?

He dropped down. Elliot needed to know what he had seen. Whatever they decided to do had to be done in a hurry if they wanted to get out of trouble.

He could feel time slipping through his fingers as they tried to deal with their problem.