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“Dinner?”
    “No, it’s …”
    Then Daniel caught wind of it. A smell unlike any other in Noble’s Green. A smell that was so super-terrible, so nauseatingly horrific, that it could only belong to one person.
    Bud.
    The fat bully stepped out of the woods just a few yards ahead. He was out of breath and struggling with something in his ham-sized fists. Whatever it was, it was heavy even forthe big kid. He was so preoccupied with hefting the large whatever-it-was that he didn’t see Eric and Daniel standing in the road.
    “Evening, Bud,” said Eric.
    Eric’s voice so startled Bud that he dropped what he was carrying. He yelped in pain as a large rock landed on his foot.
    “Ow! Ow! Ow!” cried Bud as he hopped around on the other foot. At the same time, the smell—that distinctive Bud odor—grew instantly stronger. A hard-boiled egg soaked in milk and left in a hot car.
    Daniel covered his face with his sleeve and tried not to barf. Of all the superpowers in Noble’s Green, Bud’s super-stink had to be the worst. In more ways than one.
    “Sorry, Bud,” said Daniel. “We didn’t mean to surprise you.”
    “Aww, man!” said Bud, struggling to keep his balance and massage his foot at the same time. “Why you gotta sneak up on people?”
    “We were just walking along the street,” answered Eric. “You’re the one who came skulking out of the woods. What do you got there, anyway?”
    Bud suddenly seemed to remember his dropped parcel, and he took an obvious step forward to put his body between it and Eric and Daniel.
    “This? Nothin’.”
    “What Bud meant to say,” came a voice from behind them, “is that it’s none of your business, Boy Scout.”
    From the opposite side of the street stepped ClayCudgens, Bud’s wicked, and far more dangerous, partner. Where Bud was a giant slab of flab, Clay was lean and mean. And powerful. Clay was at least as strong as Eric and just as hard to hurt. He reminded Daniel of a feral dog. He’d bitten the hand of everyone who’d reached out to him, including Daniel.
    “Well, this looks familiar,” said Eric. “You gonna brag and threaten us until I have to finally kick your butt? Again?”
    Clay couldn’t fly, and what’s more, he was terrified of heights. That was Eric’s only advantage, but so far it had always been enough. So far. At that moment Daniel could feel the tension between the two boys strain to the breaking point. It was taut between them.
    “That wasn’t helpful,” whispered Daniel.
    “Just skipping ahead to the fun part,” Eric whispered back.
    “Look, Clay,” said Daniel. “We were just on our way home when Bud came stumbling out of those woods. We’re curious what he’s up to, is all.”
    “And I said it wasn’t none of your business. You got trouble with your ears as well as your head?”
    Daniel shook his head. “I’m trying to
avoid
trouble here, Clay. But you make it really hard.”
    “Sure.” Clay smiled. “You want to avoid trouble because you’ve got flyboy there to back you up. You’d be wetting yourself if you came around the corner alone and found me waiting for you.”
    Actually, that last part was absolutely true. Daniel hadalready had a bad run-in with Clay, one that had ended with Daniel falling off a mountain. If it hadn’t been for Eric’s timely rescue, Daniel would’ve been a puddle of goo at the foot of Mount Noble. While Clay had ultimately helped the Supers in their final battle with the Shroud, that truce had been temporary, and these days Clay seemed even more determined to make their lives miserable. Clay was right: Daniel was scared of him. And with good reason.
    “If Daniel came around the corner and found you,” said Eric, “you’d smile and ask how he was doing. Then you’d go peacefully on your way. Otherwise I’d hear about it. Then you’d hear about it.” He pointed one finger up at the sky. “You and me, we’d have a nice long talk. Up there.”
    Clay glanced worriedly skyward.