The Haunted Mask II by R. L. Stine

can do.”
    “You’re right!” Carly Beth’s face brightened. “Yes, you’re right, Steve. He
helped me last Halloween. If we go back to the party store, I know he’ll help
you!”
    She started to pull me to the front door. But I held back. “There’s just one
little problem,” I told her.
    She turned back to me. “Problem?”
    “Yeah,” I replied. “I forgot to tell you. The party store is closed. It went
out of business.”
     
    We walked there anyway. Well, I didn’t exactly walk. I limped and hobbled,
feeling weaker and more feeble every second. Carly Beth practically had to carry
me.
    The streets stood empty, glimmering dimly under the rows of streetlamps.
Lights were going out in all the houses. It was pretty late. All of the
trick-or-treaters had gone home.
    Two dogs followed us down the street. Big German shepherds. Maybe they
thought we’d share our Halloween candy with them. Of course, I didn’t have any Halloween candy.
    “Go away,” I snarled at them. “I don’t like dogs anymore. Dogs are useless!”
    To my surprise, they seemed to understand. They turned and went loping across
a dark front lawn, disappearing around the side of the house.
    A few minutes later, we passed the row of small shops and stepped up in front
of the party store. Dark. Empty.
    “Out of business,” I murmured.
    Carly Beth pounded on the front door. I peered into the blue shadows beyond
the dusty front window. Nothing moved. No one in there.
    “Open up! We need help!” Carly Beth shouted. She banged on the wooden door
with both fists.
    Silence inside. No one stirred.
    A cold wind swept down the street. I shivered. I tried to bury my ugly head
in my shoulders. “Let’s go,” I mumbled. Defeated.
    Doomed.
    Carly Beth refused to give up. She pounded the door with both fists.
    I turned away from the window—and gazed at the alley beside the store.
“Whoa. Wait,” I called to her. “Come over here.”
    I dragged myself to the alley. Carly Beth followed. She rubbed her knuckles.
I guess they were sore from pounding so hard on the door.
    I could see from the sidewalk that the trapdoor was shut. But I led Carly
Beth into the alley. We stopped beside the trapdoor.
    “It leads into the basement of the party store,” I explained. “All the masks
and other stuff are down there.”
    “If we can get down there,” Carly Beth whispered, “maybe we can find a way to
help you.”
    “Maybe,” I whispered back.
    Carly Beth bent down and grabbed the wire handle to the trapdoor. She tugged
it up hard.
    The door didn’t budge.
    “I think it’s locked,” she groaned.
    “Try again,” I urged. “It sticks. It’s very hard to open.”
    She bent down, grasped the handle in both hands, and pulled again.
    This time the door swung up, revealing the concrete stairs that led down to
the basement.
    “Come on. Hurry, Steve.” Carly Beth tugged my arm.
    My last chance, I thought. My last chance.
    Trembling, I followed her down into the heavy darkness.

 
 
27
     
     
    We huddled close together as we made our way across the basement floor. Pale
light from a streetlamp floated in through the open trapdoor.
    Across the room, I heard the steady drip drip drip I’d heard before.
The large cartons stood just where Chuck and I had left them. Three or four of
them were still open.
    “Well. Here we are,” Carly Beth murmured. Her words sounded hollow, echoing
softly against the stone basement walls. Her eyes darted around the room, then
stopped on me. “Now what?”
    I shrugged. “Search through the cartons, maybe?”
    I stepped over to the nearest one and peered inside. “This one has all the
masks,” I told her. I picked up a monster mask covered in bristly fur.
    “Yuck,” Carly Beth groaned. “Put it down. We don’t need another mask.”
    I dropped the mask back into the carton. It made a soft plop as it
landed on the other masks.
    “I don’t know what we need,” I said. “But maybe we can find