Henry Rider: Clown Hunter

Chapter Six

AUTHOR'S NOTE: if you get tired of waiting for new chapters, the entire book is for sale on Amazon in print and on Kindle!

Chapter Six

The big clear cube formed around us as I twisted the smaller Cube in my hands. Ethan yelped in fright, and I quickly hooked one of my arms around his to keep him from running away

"Wh- What is this?" he squeaked.

"Shush! Concentrating."

Various pieces of scenery flashed past, appearing and vanishing in a strobe light-ish pattern. I kept my eyes fixed on the Cube. Warping was bad enough when it was just me. With Ethan here, one wrong turn could get us both killed — and the council would definitely fire me if that happened. But if I was right, we would be arriving right...about...

Now!

I snapped the last row of cubes into place, and we appeared on top of an old building. Trees were growing wildly all around the place, and the parking lot's pavement was sun-bleached and cracked. Out by the road, which looked like it hadn't seen a car since the Model T, stood a tall sign with the words Fun Lane painted on it in colors that must have once been bright and cheerful.

"See? That wasn't too bad," I said, dusting off my hands. "I meant to put us in the parking lot, but this is just as..."

I paused and looked around.

"Ethan?"

"HENRY!"

I rushed to the edge of the building, looked down, and found Ethan hanging there by his fingertips.

"Oh, chicken and waffles! Hold on!" I got to my knees, gently setting the Cube down beside me, and reached out for him. He grabbed my arm, and I heaved backwards, pulling him up onto the roof with me.

"There we go!" I said with a grin. "Safe and sound."

Ethan lay on his back, gasping like a fish I'd reeled out of the water. "What...the hell...was that?"

I picked up the Cube. "This? It's an Escher Cube. It lets you tunnel straight through dimensions even when there's no Corner to cut."

"Then what did you drop me off the building for?"

I shrugged. "Sorry, it's more of an art than a science. Come on, let's find a way in."

I headed for the back of the building, and Ethan scurried up behind me a few seconds later.

"Where are we?" he demanded.

"Somewhere in Arkansas, I guess," I said.

"And what are we doing here?"

"Exactly what you think."

There! I jogged over to where a trapdoor was waiting for us, the kind that maintenance workers use to come up here to do...maintenance-y things. I gave it a tug, but it was locked. No problem. Drawing Splatsy, I extended her to warhammer form with a flick of my wrist.

Ethan stepped up beside me. "Wait, so there's really one of those—"

I slammed Splatsy down onto the trapdoor, blasting it off its hinges and down into the dark, abandoned depths of Fun Lane.

"Yep!" I said cheerfully. I reached for the ladder that led inside, but stopped when Ethan grabbed me by the arm.

"And you brought me here why?" he demanded.

Rolling my eyes, I sat down with my legs dangling through the trapdoor and looked at him. "Fine, let's just get this out of the way. You don't want to be here. I don't want you here either. All you're going to do is get in my way and possibly die."