Slurp Stadium was bursting with monsters.

Every troll, goblin and ogre in Slick City had come here to be part of the grand opening celebrations. Music blasted from loudspeakers. Smells from the food vendors wafted through the air. Crowds of monsters gawked at the new stadium and watched young coders showing off their battle-bot skills in the battle-bot playground.

The playground was a big open area in the stadium, just outside the actual battle-bot arena. Battle bots were everywhere, running, jumping, flying and buzzing in the air. Every battle-bot team that hadn’t made the finals was here. But only a few lucky teams would compete in tonight’s battle.

The opening party had begun, but we had no reason to celebrate. We still had no idea what the Codex had planned with his army, and we were no closer to proving Rizzo was a cheat. We found the Troll Patrol putting their bot, Thrasher, through an obstacle course. The bot looked good, but our troll friends were in no mood to celebrate.

“Somebody needs to teach that kobold a lesson,” Ryla growled after Rizzo had left.

“I think it’s too late for that,” said Zarkof. “Rizzo has everyone fooled. All we can do is sit back and try to enjoy the show.”

“I’m not ready to sit back,” I said. “And the only thing I want to enjoy is watching Rizzo get busted.”

Daztan arched a bushy eyebrow. “You two have a plan?”

“Calling it a plan is a stretch,” Tank said. “Just keep your bot batteries charged and ready for battle.”

“We’ll be ready,” Ryla said with a wide grin.

Tank was right. We didn’t have a plan. I’d mashed together a few ideas on how to stop the Codex and reveal Rizzo as a cheat. Before that mash-up of ideas could become a plan, we needed to find Aleetha.

The wizards’ work area was easy to spot. It was the only one popping with magic. The telltale sparkle of spells floated in the air around their bot, like smoke rising from a fire.

“I still don’t think it’s fair that the Shadow Tower gets to compete,” Tank said.

“You heard Aleetha, Tank. Their battle bots are the same. They’re just powered with magic instead of computer code.”

“It’s still creepy,” she said.

“Keep that to yourself,” I said. “There are enough battles going on tonight without adding magic versus technology to the list.”

I spotted Aleetha with the wizards’ bot crew. Four lava elves in long dark robes huddled around their battle bot. I could see flashes of the bot as the mages moved around it.

“Their bot looks totally normal to me,” I said.

Tank snorted. “It’s not the bot, Fizz. It’s how they make the bot work. Do you notice they have no tools? No wrenches or hammers or even circuit boards. Never trust a bot builder that has no tools, Fizz.”

“They just do things differently.” I sighed. “They use magic instead of tools. If you ask me, technology is as dangerous as magic. Just look at what the Codex has done so far.”

Before Tank could answer, Aleetha ran up to us. She took us each by an arm and led us away from the wizards tinkering with the bot.

“We better talk over here. My friends don’t trust trolls and their tech.”

I shot Tank a “don’t say anything” look that, thankfully, she understood.

“Did you bring it?” I asked, quickly changing the topic.

She nodded. “I got your message.”

We found a spot away from the running, jumping bots. Aleetha pulled a long scroll from her bag and spread it on the ground.

“Is that the map from the library? The one from the time before the ogres arrived?” Tank asked.

“It’s a copy,” Aleetha said. “I ordered one from the library after our little adventure in the map room.”

I studied the old goblin map. All around Fang Harbor was an open field of glowshrooms and boulder bushes. Goblins had lived along the water’s edge, catching haggle fish and harvesting mushrooms. No roads, no buildings and no Slurp Stadium. But there was that one thing marked on the map. And it was exactly what I was looking for.

“Tank, give me your phone,” I said.

I scrolled through Tank’s photos. My tail tingled when I found the one I needed.

There was no denying it. The shape on the goblin map matched the shape in the ground under the stadium. I had no idea what that meant, but it got my tail wagging.

“We’re finally getting closer to figuring out what the Codex is up to,” I said.

“Don’t start your victory dance just yet, Fizz,” Aleetha said. “It’s not all good news.”

She pulled another scroll from her robes and unrolled it on the ground beside the map.

“That’s the page from the goblin history book,” Tank said. “The one you showed us at the library.”

Aleetha ran her hand along the stick-figure drawing of the goblin.

“I finally found a teacher at school who would help me translate the words from ancient goblin,” she said. Her voice went quiet as she spoke. “It is a set of instructions.”

Tank looked up from the map. “Instructions? For what?”

“I don’t know. The teacher could only recognize some of the words. Ancient goblin isn’t a popular subject in the Shadow Tower.” Aleetha glanced at me. “Sorry, Fizz.”

“No worries.” I shrugged. “Magic isn’t a popular subject at Gravelmuck Elementary.”

“Very true.” Aleetha grinned. She turned back to the page on the ground. “My teacher did recognize the shapes on the page and map. She called them flowstones.”

“Flowstones?” I said, remembering my chat with Mom at the Bouncing Bugbear Café. “I thought flowstones weren’t real.”

“They are very real and very powerful,” Aleetha said.

My brain puzzled through it all. If the shape on the map was a flowstone, and it matched the shape in Tank’s photo, that could only mean one thing. “There is a flowstone buried under Slurp Stadium,” I said.

“So what?” Tank said. She stared at the map. Her ears drooped like they always did when she was working out a difficult math problem. “What’s so special about a bunch of rocks?”

Aleetha looked over her shoulder. Around us, the battle-bot preparations carried on. Technicians fine-tuned their contraptions, and battle-bot fans checked out the new machines. No one paid any attention to three kids in a quiet corner, huddled around an old map. Convinced no one was listening, Aleetha leaned in close.

“When activated, a flowstone can be transformed,” she said.

“Transformed into what?” Tank said.

“A gateway to the world of demons,” Aleetha said.

“Demons?” Tank said. “Like Az?”

“Az will return,” I whispered. “That’s what the guardian said at the library, before we sent it back into its book.”

“It makes sense,” Tank said. “The flowstones on the goblin map, in the history book and in the photo match. They are all connected to this stadium.”

“That’s because Slurp Stadium isn’t just a stadium,” I said. The scattered pieces of the puzzle snapped into place. “It’s a gateway to the world where Az the demon is trapped.”

Tank’s ears snapped to attention on her head. “The Codex Army!” she said. “Remember how he talked about bringing his army to life? Codex is going to use the flowstone under Slurp Stadium to bring Az the demon back to Rockfall Mountain. That’s what he’s planning for tonight!”

Around us the battle-bot preparations continued. Monsters of all shapes and sizes were gearing up for a night of action. Little did they know what was really in store for them.

“A demon like Az would destroy Slick City,” Aleetha said.

I gulped. “I think that’s the idea.”