Read Emerald Hell for Free Online Page A

taken.”
    â€œThat’s what I say. They been having bad dreams and left on their own early this morning.”
    â€œThey ain’t anywhere in town,” Sheriff Hark told her.
    As an outsider, Hellboy found it especially difficult trying to dig through the layers of open secrets. Maybe the sheriff was just trying to be polite while talking about freaks face to face with Hellboy. He might be more worried about the swamp folk than he let on, or perhaps he wasn’t worried at all and was trying to mislead Hellboy so they wouldn’t trip over each other while investigating. No matter how fast you wanted to cut through the crap, it took some dancing around before you could do it.
    Mrs. Hoopkins told the two men to sit and poured two glasses of milk. She handed them plates with slices of a dark purple pie on them. “Here, you boys have some briarberry.”
    It took Hellboy aback. He’d never heard of briarberry pie and the sound of it made his throat tighten.
    Mrs. Hoopkins sat and said, “Them girls were havin’ dreams, Jebediah.”
    â€œYou keep saying that, to no disregard,” Hark said, his mouth full. “But you still cain’t tell me what kinda dreams they were.”
    â€œThat Sarah, she’s tryin’ to keep ahead of some kind of evil that’s been chasin’ her in her nightmares. Every night for more than two weeks she’d been wakin’ up in a froze sweat, weepin’ and callin’.”
    â€œCallin’ on who?”
    â€œOn that John Lament.”
    â€œThat boy? I always liked him when he show up.” Hark sipped some more milk and had a final forkful of pie. “But he ain’t been around in more than a year, has he?”
    â€œNot that I know,” Mrs. Hoopkins said. “But he’s a drifter, comes and goes as he pleases, and now her dreamin’s caught on with some of the other girls.”
    â€œBecky Sue and Hortense,” Hellboy said.
    â€œThat’s right. They dreamed their babies would be born . . . wrong .”
    â€œIll children,” the sheriff put in.
    â€œPumpkin-headed or pinheaded.” She turned to Hellboy. “Now and then, well . . . sometimes the poison in the ground comes up and gets in the blood, or venom in the blood gets into the ground.”
    Mutants. Probably because of all the contaminated moonshine made out here over the last century, the outbreaks of yellow and scarlet fevers. And more recently due to the toxic waste dumped into the marshes by big corporations. Barrels of hazardous waste, perhaps even radioactive material, brought down in eighteen-wheeler caravans. Who the hell knew what might have been tossed out there to avoid federal regulations and health codes.
    Mrs. Hoopkins said, “You ain’t eatin’, son. Why ain’t you eatin’ my pie?”
    â€œSorry, had a big dinner at Bliss Nail’s house.”
    â€œNobody in that house can cook the way I can.”
    â€œNo, ma’am.”
    â€œGive it here,” the sheriff said, pulling the plate to him and digging in.
    Another toddler stepped into the kitchen and went for Hellboy’s tail. Mrs. Hoopkins came flying out of her seat and shouted, “Lolly Mae, ain’t you got a boy needs some changin’ and feedin’?”
    â€œYes, ma’am.”
    â€œWell then, get him off that big fella’s posterior and get on with it. We all got to pull our weight, and tomorrow gonna be a big day on the farm.”
    â€œYes, ma’am.”
    Lolly Mae picked up her son, did a little curtsey, and raced upstairs.
    Flailing her arms, Mrs. Hoopkins said, “These girls got to get them some rest. Those who can got’s to harvest peanuts on the morrow.”
    Hellboy had seen a lot across the world, but he’d never seen anybody work a peanut farm before. He wished he had time to watch such a thing. “I understand.”
    The sheriff finished his other slice of pie,