Henry Rider: Clown Hunter

Chapter Eight

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Chapter Eight

Yawning, I stumbled into the kitchen and sat down in the kind of frizzy haired, half asleep daze that only a Monday morning can give you.

"Morning, sweetie!" Mom said, freakishly chipper for this time of day.

"Mmmgfrm," I replied.

"Henry," Dad said around his toast, "open your mouth when you talk."

Barely able to keep my eyes open, I reached for the Chocolate Frosted Cocobutts (with marshmallow turds). Pouring myself a bowl, desperately trying to keep from faceplanting into it, I added a few spoonfuls of sugar and started to eat.

Dad cleared his throat.

"What?" I mumbled.

He discreetly jerked his head toward Ethan, sitting across from me in his Batman PJs. He was trying to act natural, but I could see the way his eyes shifted back and forth, like he was afraid my parents would eat him if he looked away for too long.

"Oh, right." I said. "You, um, sleep all right, Ethan?"

He gave me a haunted look. "Your brother has weird taste."

I smirked. "Just wait till you meet him."

We had moved Ethan into my older brother Conrad's room. Con was off at college right now, so my parents used his bedroom as the guest room. And Ethan wasn't wrong, Con's choice of decoration was...unique, to say the least. Black walls, black curtains, black rubber bats hanging from the ceiling. His shelves and dresser were lined with at least a dozen skulls. Don't worry, though. I know for a fact that only three of them were real.

"The council pulled some strings," Dad spoke up. "Ethan starts school today."

I froze with my spoon halfway to my mouth. "What?"

Mom chuckled. "You didn't think he was going to sit around the house all the time, did you?"

Actually, that was exactly what I'd thought. This wasn't his hometown, which meant he wasn't enrolled in my school. And since I couldn't go anywhere without him...can you say eternal weekend?

"He'll be sharing all your classes," Dad said. "That way you'll never be too far from him."

"Like a dream come true," I muttered.

Our grandfather clock chimed the half hour, and I grabbed my bowl to drink my Cocobutts in one magnificent chocolatey slurp. Then I sprinted to my room, threw on some clothes, and slid back down the banister before Ethan had even made it to the top. Giving my red rubber N.O.S.E. a honk, I glanced at the mirror to watch my pure white skin turn pink and my blue hair darken to brown.

The scar on my forehead turned from blue to pinkish white, and I brushed my bangs so that they covered it. Mostly.

A couple minutes later, Ethan and I were walking down the sidewalk together. Burning Creek was a small town, so the school was only a couple blocks away. Mom and Dad said the town was "comfortably sized," whatever the butt trumpets that meant. Personally, I didn't see how any place without its own shopping mall and/or water park could be comfortable.

"So, uh," I said after a few minutes of awkward silence, "how long do you think it'll take for you to start laughing again?"

"Dunno," he said softly.

"All right, cool, that's fine." I thought hard. "Do you have any hobbies?"

He shook his head.

"Play any sports?"