Henry Rider: Clown Hunter

Chapter Eleven

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Chapter Eleven

"Company...halt!"

Aesop stopped walking so suddenly that I crashed into him from behind. We were a couple miles outside of town, in the shadow of a tall, monolithic hill that completely obscured the dark orange sun.

"What now?" Ethan complained.

"What now?" Aesop echoed, raising his eyebrows. He thrust a menacing finger at the distant hill. "What now is that we're here!"

Everybody exchanged a look. We could still hear the sirens coming from town. After almost being tomatonated back there, I wouldn't have blamed anyone if they'd just wanted to go home. Especially Jade. The poor girl hadn't said a word since we'd left the restaurant, and I'd had to keep my arm hooked around hers for fear that she'd wander off and do something regrettable.

It wouldn't have been the first time.

Aesop broke into a sprint across the meadow, his bright red hair a beacon in the permanent twilight. Ethan looked at me, and I gave him a smile I didn't quite feel.

"Race you there?" I asked.

"Hell no," he spat, making his way across at a more reasonable speed. I followed close behind, Jade not resisting as I led her away from the road.

We caught up to Aesop at the base of the hill, where he was busy tugging on different parts of a chainlink fence. Ethan's eyes immediately went to the big black and red Private Property sign that hung from it.

"Are we going to get in trouble for this?" he asked nervously.

I waved dismissively. "Nah! If we're caught, I'll just show them my Hunter badge and tell them I'm investigating something."

"What about the rest of us?"

"You're my cheerleaders. You three dance and sing about how awesome I am while I fight the maiams."

A moment later, Aesop laughed when he found the loose section of fence. Ethan gave me another look, but ducked through the gap without argument. Once we were all through, Aesop turned and ran the rest of the way up the hill as fast as his stubby little legs could carry him, grinning like a madman.

"Ethan Griggs," the young leprechaun declared, sweeping his arm dramatically in front of himself, "welcome to Feverdream Field!"

We reached the top, and all four of us stood side by side to look at our destination. Feverdream Field was a lot less impressive than the name made it sound. It stretched for miles in every direction, but all there was to see were hundreds — thousands — of dark purple clumps. A thin violet fog hung over the field.

"Great," said Ethan. "Now will someone finally tell me what that is?"

"Just the one and only natural habitat for the somnus mushroom," I answered, finally letting go of Jade. She wandered off to sit under a tree. "Super rare, super valuable. You can make an awesome pasta sauce out of it."

"Oh." Ethan took a closer look. "I guess that doesn't sound so bad."

"And they spray a hallucinogenic toxin when threatened."

Ethan gave me a sharp look. "What was that last part?"

"The clown said nothing!" Aesop snapped. He pulled a baseball out of his pocket and threw it to me. "Henry, tell him what he's got to do!"