Radio communication fails all over the GSMA(1). A classified ad says to sell your unwanted TVs, computers, etc. or suffer dire consequences. The two phenomena seem to be related.
Jeb sets up a meeting with the guy who wants very badly to buy machinery. But since he won't meet until nightfall, the Junior Deputies swing by the Enchanted Forest trailer park, which Jeb has always been suspicious of.
There, they meet Ilrondelia the Magnificent, Queen of the Elves. Behind a wizardly Veil which hides the Elves (and painfully shocks Andrew, and the freshmen, whenever they cross it), she lives in a trailer, watching daytime television and enjoying chocolate-covered snack cakes. She reveals to Andrew many useful things about being a wizard, and asks, in return, for a blue Toyota. She also invites Rowena to the Midsummer's Day feast, provided Rowena offers the loaf of turkey, the dressing of ranch, and other needful items. Darla, a young Elf girl, makes signs just outside Ilrondelia's field of vision to keep Andrew, Rowena or Jeb from getting themselves in trouble.
And there are elephants wandering around. Milton makes friends with the wrong one, who starts to stuff him into a tire, but the other elephant rescues him. Milton decides to call the nice one Shep.
Deputy Tim shows up, worried. We've dropped right off the GPS for a couple of hours. That Elf Veil is some hot stuff.
A robot tank trundles up, demanding metal. Milton pops the hood and breaks some of the glass gears, grinding it to a halt. Then Jeb takes out his multitool and puts it back together, commanding it to obey him. It's not an Army tank with a cannon, but a robot tank with a claw-arm and a .. well, it's like a cannon. More of a railgun.
The tank returns along its obvious tracks to a part of the woods where many, many machines have been piled up into a huge tower topped with mechanical spider-arms, which is busily assembling enormous wheels and engines. Seems Blokhin, the mad dwarf, has aspirations to use the Hellmouth as a power source for his steam turbines. He plans to put the city of Sparta on treads and drive it around, to what ultimate end none can say. Because Blokhin loses control of his salamanders (2) to Andrew, gets set on fire, flees using a jetpack, and eventually blows up.
The flames from Blokhin's explosion rain down on the forest, setting several fires. Andrew commands the water of Dollar Lake to turn into mist, and roll over the fires, quenching them. This works, but it leaves Andrew badly dehydrated. Clearly there's more to learn if he wants to do more than one wizard stunt a month, followed by intensive care.
Jeb recovers his hammer, made of compressed fire. Jeb figures the hammer can boil water pretty much endlessly, creating a free source of steam power. And a supervillain is born!
Meanwhile, they tell Milton he can see his faerie nature by dipping a finger in Grail water. He does. The finger comes out coal-black with a pearlescent nail. Bob eagerly concludes that Milton is a Svartalf, known for their rages, lightning speed, and powers of enchantment.
1 Greater Sparta Metropolitan Area
2 Fire elementals
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