Samantha thought she had packed everything they would need for a trip to Peru. Unfortunately, she forgot to include a defense against steel-rimmed, armor-piercing johnnycakes. She stared at two deep marks on the hydrant. Smoke rose from the dome, where the deadly pancakes had gouged the metal.

She turned toward the art museum. Four clowns in overalls marched toward her, waving spatulas. Samantha thought she recognized two of them from Mali, but she couldn’t be sure—and she wasn’t going to stick around to find out.

She made eye contact with Nipper. Together, they sprinted across the conservatory’s front lawn. Dennis scampered at their heels.

Suddenly, the dog turned and sped back to the hydrant. He scooped up both halves of the granola bar. Then he caught up with Samantha and Nipper. All three of them made a sharp right turn at the corner of the building and slipped behind a tall bush.

“Should we head to the fabric store?” Nipper asked. “Maybe they’ll pass out the way those ninjas did.”

“I don’t think that will work,” said Samantha. “Did you see their outfits? They clearly have a textile immunity.”

Samantha suddenly felt a twinge of fear, and it wasn’t because of clowns. She’d just said another thing Buffy would say! At this rate, Samantha was going to wind up in a sky castle, shopping for flags to accentuate bricks.

“Wait,” said Nipper. “I’ve got this one.”

He took out his bag of clown seasoning. He walked around the bush and dropped the bag on the grass.

“Get ready,” he said. “When I say ‘Go for it,’ run.”

He pointed to the back of the conservatory. Then he stepped farther out and waved in the direction of the clowns.

“Hey, Bozos!” Nipper shouted. “Come and get us!”

He slapped at the bag with his foot, leaning as far back as possible. The bag popped, sending a brown cloud into the air.

“Run, Sam!” he shouted, and headed toward the back of the building.

Dennis took off after him. Nipper forgot to say “Go for it,” but Samantha knew what he meant. She followed him around the corner, too.

They sped along the back of the brick-and-glass building. They made another sharp turn, hugged the side of the conservatory, and listened.

Everything was quiet for a moment. Then they heard an explosion of woe.

“Ah! Eek!” wailed a clown. “It’s pepper.”

“You mixed it up!” a second clown shouted. “It’s pepper. Eek! Ah!”

“Help!” a different clown screamed. “This is NOT SILLY!”

“Aaaaah!” another clown shrieked, drowning out all the others. “The CUMIN-ity!”

Samantha and Nipper stayed put, listening to howls and coughs. After a while, the sounds faded to moans and wheezes.

“Four clowns down,” said Nipper.

He stepped away from the wall and looked back along the building.

“Coast is clear,” he said. “Let’s go.”

They reached the fire hydrant and journeyed down beneath the conservatory.