Henry Rider: Clown Hunter

Chapter Seven

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Chapter Seven

"Henry!" Ethan screamed. "Get me down!"

The maiam perched itself on one of the metal rafters, clutching him with only the claws of foot so that he dangled helplessly forty feet above the floor. Confident that I couldn't reach it up there, it raised him up to eye level and licked its lips.

"Hold on, Ethan!" I yelled. I needed a way to get up there, but how?

The playground! It was old and looked like it would collapse if a mouse coughed on it, but it was tall enough that it almost reached the ceiling. I ran for it, my shoes exploding with blue light again. I could feel the magic sapping my laughter, but I jumped anyway.

The magic blasted out of my feet, and I rocketed upwards. Twisting in midair, my feet hit the dusty plastic tube ten feet below the ceiling. Before I could charge up again, though, the tube lurched — and the entire thing began to collapse.

"Corn flakes!" I yelled, and thrust off from the tube as hard as I could. I shot upwards, fingers stretching out to grab the rafter above, with nothing below but a forty-foot drop. Once up there, I could monkey bar my way across until—

I missed.

Gravity began to pull me down mere inches below the rafter. Thinking fast, I whipped Splatsy out, extended her to full size, and swung her up over my head. With only a fraction of a second to spare, she hooked over the top of the rafter, halting my fall. The maiam froze in surprise a few rafters away, dangerously close to french kissing Ethan.

"That's right, mothercrumpet!" I yelled. "This party's not over yet!"

It hissed angrily and set Ethan down on the rafter beside it. He couldn't balance like it did, though, and immediately rolled over the side.

"Henry, help!" he screamed, holding on with one hand.

"Yeah, getting there," I said, hoisting myself up to grab the rafter with my left hand, freeing my right to fight with. "Just don't let go for a couple minutes, okay?"

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?"

The maiam hissed at me in challenge, and I began to realize what I'd gotten myself into. I'd fought hundreds of maiams, but never while hanging from the ceiling. The maiam clambered around effortlessly with its freakishly long limbs. I was in its territory, its element.

This was going to be interesting.

It came for me, and I threw myself out of the way. The maiam's claws slashed through the air where I had just been, and then sprang nimbly out of my reach when I swung back with Splatsy. I growled in frustration, and chased after it as fast as I could, one hand over the other like I was on the monkey bars at school.

"Henry, I'm slipping!" Ethan yelled.

"If you fall, try to land on your butt," I called to him, not taking my eyes off the maiam.

The maiam hissed as I drew closer, swinging Splatsy and missing again. The stupid thing dodged me so easily it was embarrassing. It had the advantage up here, and it knew that. The only thing hurrying it was Ethan. Since it couldn't drain laughter from a corpse, it needed him alive just as much as I did, which meant it had to finish me off before he fell.

It lunged for me, teeth snapping, and I barely managed to get out of the way. It didn't let up, though, coming for me again and again. I looked nervously at Ethan. I wouldn't be able to reach him from here if he fell. The maiam made its way toward me with murder in its eyes. I couldn't fight it like this. If I wanted to win, I needed to regain the advantage.