Henry Rider: Clown Hunter

Chapter Fourteen

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Chapter Fourteen

The masked man froze.

"This isn't real!" I said again.

"What are you talking about?" Jade asked from Ethan's bedside. "Of course it's real!"

I looked at her and shook my head. "Jade left five minutes ago. You're not real either."

"Stop this nonsense!" snapped Grandpa Teddy. "If this isn't real, then what's happening?"

The answer came to me in an instant. "I'm still in Feverdream Field. The fumes. All of this is just a hallucination."

"Nonsense!" he said again.

I ignored him.

"This isn't real," I stepped up so close that the masked man's rubber nose almost poked me in the eye. "So go away."

He didn't move.

"I said go away!"

He raised his hands and lunged for my throat. I reacted the way McGus had trained me to, spinning around with my hand held out — and Splatsy appeared in it right before my eyes. I struck the masked man in the face, and he immediately vanished in a cloud of dark purple fog.

The maiams all pounced at the same time. Calmly, I raised Splatsy over my head.

"This is all in my head," I declared as time seemed to slow down. "And nobody gets to screw with my head except me!"

I swung Splatsy as hard as I could, slamming her into the hospital floor. A massive cloud of purple fog rippled out from around me, swallowing the room, the maiams, Ethan's bed, everything. The world dissolved into nothing but fog, which rolled and churned like storm clouds. Closing my eyes, I brought Splatsy back over my shoulder like a baseball bat.

The toxin had done its job, showing me everything I was most afraid of. And it had hurt. I doubted I would ever forget the things I'd seen and heard today. But at the same time, I was happier than you could ever imagine. Because if none of this was real...

I swung Splatsy, and the gust of wind she created blew the purple fog away.

...then that meant I had a second chance!

The hallucination vanished, and I was back in the real world. I looked up, smiling at the permanently setting sun like it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. Splatsy was still in my hand, and the wounds I'd gotten during the fight were gone. Shrinking her down and hanging her from my belt, I took a puff from my inhaler and started looking around. It didn't take long for me to spot Ethan.

I sprinted over to him and laughed with relief when I saw he was breathing. His eyes were closed, and he tossed and turned, probably having the same kind of nightmare I had just escaped from, but that was fine. He would survive that. All that mattered was that he was alive!

"Oh, thank the whoopie cushion in the sky!" I said, wrapping his unconscious body in a hug. All his laughter was right where it should have been. The maiams were gone too, erased from existence now that my mind was clear.

"Didn't mean to kill you," Ethan mumbled deliriously.

"Don't worry," I said. "I'm going to get you out of here. You'll be right as radishes."

With a grunt, I hoisted him off the ground. Turning in a slow circle, I immediately spotted the hill I'd come from — and Aesop and Jade too! They were standing on top, shouting my name and waving their hands. Grinning, I started their way.