Giant millipedes, oozing slugs, and a horde of clicking cockroaches swarmed through the door. There had to be millions of them. The chirping of the cockroaches drowned out almost every other sound. Bolter and Zelda stood at the top of the stairs, shouting to each other, but Gordy couldn’t make out what they were saying, despite standing right next to them. Gordy could barely hear his own voice.

Zelda plucked a glass bulb from inside her bag and tossed it up and down in her hand, testing its weight. The bulb was filled with dark red glop that looked like lava. Winding back, she flung the bulb into the swarm, and a section of insects immediately caught fire and vaporized, leaving behind a circular hole. The buzzing cacophony subsided for a moment as the remaining insects scattered from the intensity of the fireball. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was long enough for Bolter to race over and divvy out three tiny bluish pills to Gordy, his dad, and Max.

“Swallow it!” Bolter shouted as the insects reformed into an enormous cluster.

Gordy didn’t hesitate. He shoved the pill into his mouth, worked up some saliva, and swallowed. All at once, the insects’ buzzing dimmed, and he could hear Bolter’s voice speaking directly into his ear as though he were wearing headphones.

“Testing, testing. Can you hear me?” Bolter asked.

“Yeah, whoa!”

“Dude, we could use these to coordinate a water balloon attack on the girls’ softball team,” Max suggested. “We could hear each other from across the field!”

“Why are the insects not attacking us?” Gordy asked Bolter. So far, the bugs had remained in a singular mass hovering just above the doorway to the basement.

“They’re not here to attack us,” Zelda said, her voice coming through loud and clear in his ears. “They’re here to remove the wards.” She pointed, and Gordy watched as the bugs dove at the top of the doorway where Mrs. Stitser had applied the protective ward.

As soon as a group of the millipedes and cockroaches succeeded in lapping up a bit of the potion, they would fall dead to the ground, a shower of never-ending corpses fluttering down as the swarm dwindled. The slugs slurped potion until they morphed into quivering bulbs and then popped with a splatter of goo.

“Clever girl, this Esmeralda,” Bolter said. “That ward is as good as gone!”

“There are other exits,” Gordy’s dad said. “We could head for the garage.”

“Too late,” Zelda said. “The garage is compromised. Acorn weevils made light work of that ward.”

“They’re coming in for certain. We’ll need to fight.” Bolter rummaged in his bag and pulled out his inventory of bottles. “I have three Torpor Tonics, a couple of Vintreet Traps, at least half a dozen Miedo vials.” The glass bottles pinged together as he rapidly sorted them.

“What’s Miedo?” Max whispered to Gordy, while Bolter continued counting.

“It’s a fear tonic. It makes you afraid of everything,” Gordy said.

Max raised his eyebrows. “Can you make that?”

“Probably.”

“Sweet!”

“And a tube of Purista.” Bolter noted Max’s dumbfounded look. “Finnish Squeezing Powder. You’ll never want to be hugged like that.” Bolter glanced at Zelda. “That’s all I have, though. How about you? Did you bring weapons?”

“No need to worry about me,” she said cryptically. “I have brought a few bitties.”

Bolter leaned over and muttered to Gordy and Max. “Zelda works exclusively with explosives.”

Max’s mouth formed an “O,” and he seemed to watch the green-haired Elixirist with newfound admiration.

“Oh, Gordy!” A shrill voice with an English accent echoed through the hall. “You no longer have wards to keep us out, and we have the house surrounded. We’ll be taking the Elixir now, without any further fuss.”

Mr. Stitser wrapped his arms around Gordy’s chest and pulled him close as they listened to Esmeralda.

“You have held out long enough. Place the Elixir on the floor by the front door. You may then run and hide and await our departure. We do not wish to harm any of you. I do not care who brings me the Elixir, but see to it that it happens promptly.” Esmeralda spoke with a lively tone. Gordy wasn’t sure how many people were on her side, but he knew they were outmatched. “These are my terms. So what have you? Who’s going to bring me my prize?”

Zelda responded by hurling another bottle of lava down the stairs at the remaining insects.

There were shouts of surprise and anger as Esmeralda issued her next command. “Get them all!”

The window at the end of the hall next to Jessica’s room imploded. Glass shards sprayed as a burly woman clambered through the opening. She had ratty brown hair and bright flushed cheeks. In her left hand, she carried a green bottle with an extra-long nozzle. Drawing the bottle like a gunslinger, the woman shot a spray of what looked like window cleaning fluid towards the Stitsers. Mr. Stitser shoved Gordy out of the way and took the spray in the chest.

“Dad, no!” Gordy screamed. Mr. Stitser’s body went limp. He collapsed into Gordy’s arms, forcing the two of them to the ground.

The woman pointed the spray bottle again, this time at Max. Before she could pull the trigger, a glass vial shattered at her feet and a web of vines sprouted out, snatching at her like a family of striking cobras.

“Oh, no, you don’t!” the woman said, dropping her spray bottle and trying to retreat through the broken window. But Bolter’s Vintreet Trap had her in its grasp. The vines coiled around her legs and continued until it entangled her whole body. Though she struggled against the trap, she could not break free.

“Is he . . . is he . . .” Gordy stared at his dad, unable to finish the sentence, overwhelming dread filling his chest.

“It was a concentrated dose of Torpor Tonic,” Bolter said, briefly examining Gordy’s dad. “He’ll be fine in a few hours.”

Zelda pulled two large flasks from her bag, one filled with gray liquid, the other with white. Yanking the stopper out of the white potion, she poured a puddle at the top of the stairs, then tossed the rest down to the bottom.

From what Gordy could see, the potion didn’t seem to be doing anything.

“What is that?” Max asked.

Zelda puckered her lips. “Silex et Acier,” she said with a French accent. “Flint and Steel.” She uncorked the gray flask and frowned at Gordy. “You have a pretty home. I feel dreadful about this. But . . .” She shrugged and then poured the gray liquid over the white potion.

An instant wall of flame shot up, filling the stairwell. Gordy could feel the intense heat and shielded his eyes with the back of his hand. The smoke detectors in the house unleashed a piercing alarm.

“That’s no longer an optimal passage, don’t you agree?” Zelda asked, before cackling like a witch.

“She’s crazy!” Max said, cowering away from the flames.

“Oh, yes, definitely crazy and unstable,” Bolter agreed. “Good thing she’s on our side. We should carry your father into the closet.”

With help from Bolter and Max, Gordy carried his dad into his bedroom and laid him gently on the floor in the closet. He could see his father breathing, and he felt a momentary sense of ease. But then the floor beneath his feet began to shake, and a hole opened in the center of the room. Gordy’s dresser and desk were sucked into the opening, along with most of the carpet as dust and pieces of floorboard belched out from the opening.

“Might want to stay clear of that!” Bolter cautiously leaned over the hole to look down, only barely missing getting sprayed in the face with more of the concentrated green Torpor Tonic. “You wouldn’t happen to have one of your Booming Balls, would you?” he called out to Zelda.

She stood in the hallway, admiring her wall of fire, and threw something at Bolter. It looked like a grenade.

Bolter caught it, pulled the pin, and tossed it down the hole.

There were more shouts and the sound of people scattering as the grenade exploded and released a column of hot-pink flames.

“You guys are going to burn down the whole house!” Gordy shouted. His mom’s friends were out of control. Fire blazed in the hallway and rose up from the hole in the floor, casting intense heat into the room. What good would it do to defend the Eternity Elixir if Gordy’s entire home burned up in the process?

“That wasn’t our intent, I assure you,” Bolter said, frowning guiltily. “We need to get you out of here. Is there another way to the main level?”

“Other than the stairs that are on fire?” Gordy answered. “I don’t think so!”

Bolter’s brow crinkled as he tapped his pursed lips. “Even if we do extinguish the fire, the stairs won’t be stable enough to descend. We’ll have to go through the hole.”

Max dug his finger in his ear. “I think this isn’t working, because it just sounded like he said we have to go through the hole. Am I the only one who can see that it’s on fire?”

“Gordy, do you know how to construct a basic Dampening Draught?” Bolter asked.

Gordy nodded. “Yeah, and we probably have most of the ingredients in the bathroom.”

“Good. Go fetch them. Max, help Gordy. I’ll stay here and tend to your father.”

Tend to his father? Gordy wanted to ask what that meant, but there wasn’t any time. He and Max raced into the hall bathroom, shielding their heads against the heat. Gordy tossed Max a bath towel and instructed him to collect the items he would hand him. He grabbed mouthwash, toothpaste, and lotion. Cotton balls, triple-antibiotic ointment, and aspirin. Gordy filled a cup with tepid water from the tap and added three drops of hair conditioner.

“Oh, no!” Gordy searched desperately under the sink. “We don’t have any Dragon’s Blood! I thought we did. You don’t have any, do you?” he asked Max.

“Like a real dragon’s blood?” Max looked baffled.

“No! It’s just called Dragon’s Blood because of how it looks. It comes from the Cinnabari tree from the Socotra archipelago in the Arabian Sea.”

“And you actually think I might have some of this Cinnabon stuff with me?”

Gordy groaned. “Without Dragon’s Blood, I don’t think this will work.”

As they left the bathroom, they narrowly dodged the back draft of yet another Zelda explosion.

“Would you stop that already?” Gordy demanded.

Zelda cupped her hand over her ear. “Eh?” She hiccupped as two enormous hands seized her by the ankles. The gloved hands seemed to magically rise up from the carpet. They were followed by arms, shoulders, and then Yeltzin’s smiling face.

“Hello, there! No more booming from you!” Yeltzin proclaimed. Then he vanished through the floor, taking Zelda with him.

Max swallowed. “Oh, that’s not good.”

“We have a problem,” Gordy said as he returned to the bedroom. “Zelda’s gone. They got her.”

Bolter frowned. “That’s unfortunate, but she can take care of herself.”

Gordy’s eyes darted around the room. Something was wrong. “Where’s my dad?” He noticed a bulging mound of blankets and sheets on the bed.

“Please control yourself.” Bolter held up his hands to calm Gordy. “Your father, I assure you, is quite safe.”

“What do you mean? Why have you wrapped him up like that?” Gordy patted the mound on the bed and felt his dad’s large foot.

“I’ve cocooned him in a Tranquility Swathe. Are you familiar with how that works?”

“I think so, but what about the—”

“The Swathe will not only protect him from the elements but also from our enemies. Especially if we lure them away from the house.”

Max ran his hands through his hair. “Are all Elixirists raving psychos?”

Bolter curled his lower lip in thought. “Pretty much. Now, what have you brought me?”

Gordy showed him the collection of ingredients. “We’re missing Dragon’s Blood. All my mom’s supply is downstairs.”

Bolter took the cup of water from Gordy and began mixing. “No matter. Max, please guard the door. Alert us to the first sign of an intruder.”

“Yeah, that was like a half an hour ago,” Max complained, but he headed to the door anyway.

Bolter’s nubby hands worked blindingly fast. He combined the conditioner and water with the toothpaste, alternating between stirring the concoction with his finger and a metal retractable wand he produced from his pocket. With his eyes closed, he shredded the cotton balls until they transformed into wispy gossamer fibers, which he doused with mouthwash. Though the potion was nearly complete, they were still missing the Dragon’s Blood. Without it, they had nothing more than a goopy mess of toiletries.

“Gordy, hand me the Eternity Elixir,” Bolter instructed.

Gordy uncorked the bottle and carefully placed it into Bolter’s outstretched hand.

Max fell backwards. “Intruder! We have an intruder! They’re coming through the fire!”

Bolter paid no attention to Max’s alarm. He added one drop of the Elixir into his mixture and smiled. The potion gleamed with a glossy, sea-foam hue. Bolter took the cup filled with the Dampening Draught and poured it over the hole. There were only about ten to fifteen drops worth of liquid, but those instantly expanded, soaking the entire area and extinguishing the fire that had previously filled the hole. With the fire extinguished, there was no more time to waste. Gordy, Bolter, and Max leaped down to the floor below.