Wanted
Page 12
Kids laughed and chatted excitedly. One boy near the end of the line made ghost sounds. “Owoooooo.” That made more kids laugh.
Polly watched their faces. She could see that they were excited and tense.
“Okay. One at a time,” she said. “If you get frightened, just turn around and go back downstairs.”
She turned from the stairway to go stand in front of the closet. But Marcus and Brad hurried up behind her. “Polly? What’s up with this?” Marcus asked.
“Did you hear about Lu-Ann?” Brad asked. “She ended up at Devin’s pumpkin farm last night.”
Polly shook her head. “I didn’t know that. But, wow. Thanks to Lu-Ann, my party is the hit of the year. Everyone is talking about it.”
“But … what are they saying?” Marcus asked. “Your party was a total disaster.”
“Are you kidding? My party was not a disaster, Marcus. It was the scariest Halloween party in the history of Dayton, Ohio.”
Marcus and Brad both sighed.
“When can we start? We want to see the ghost!” a boy shouted from the stairway.
“Ghost! Ghost! Ghost!” kids started to chant. Their voices echoed up the attic stairs.
“What are you doing?” Brad demanded. “Why are all these kids lined up?”
Polly tossed back her hair. “They want to see the ghost in the closet. Lu-Ann wrecked him last night. But he put himself back together. He’s totally terrifying. Everyone wants to get a good look at him.”
“You — you mean you’re charging admission?” Brad stammered.
“Five dollars,” Polly said. “Five dollars per person to see a real ghost.”
“But, Polly —” Marcus tried to protest.
Polly pushed him toward the stairs. “Go get in line, guys. You can’t stand here. You’re in the way. It’s time to get started.”
Shaking their heads, Brad and Marcus started to the stairs.
But Polly called to them. “Hey, check this out. Look what I found.” She held up a dark blue mask.
The two boys squinted at it. “That looks a little bit like the mask Lu-Ann wore last night. Where’d you find it?”
Polly pointed to the open trunk on the floor. “I found it in that trunk. Isn’t it sick looking? It looks a lot like Lu-Ann’s mask. I’m going to put it on now.”
“You’re what?” Marcus cried.
“I’m going to wear it to surprise the kids in line. You know. Make the whole experience creepier.”
“You shouldn’t —” Marcus started. But Polly waved the two boys away. “Do you have five dollars? Go get in line.”
“We’ve already seen the ghost. For free,” Marcus said. He followed Brad to the crowded stairway. He turned back as they started down the stairs.
The last thing he saw was Polly pulling on the ugly blue mask.
R.L. STINE’s books are read all over the world. So far, his books have sold more than 300 million copies, making him one of the most popular children’s authors in history. Besides Goosebumps, R.L. Stine has written the teen series Fear Street and the funny series Rotten School, as well as the Mostly Ghostly series, The Nightmare Room series, and the two-book thriller Dangerous Girls. R.L. Stine lives in New York with his wife, Jane, and Minnie, his King Charles spaniel. You can learn more about him at www.RLStine.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Stine, R. L.
Goosebumps wanted: the haunted mask / by R.L. Stine. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: When she discovers an evil mask at the bottom of a trunk and puts it on, LuAnn’s Halloween turns into a real nightmare because only an act of unbelievable kindness can remove it.
1. Masks — Juvenile fiction. 2. Halloween — Juvenile fiction. 3. Horror tales. [1. Horror stories. 2. Masks — Fiction. 3. Halloween — Fiction.] I. Title. II. Title: Haunted mask.
PZ7.S86037Gor 2012
813.54 — dc23
2012000151
Goosebumps book series created by Parachute Press, Inc.
Copyright © 2012 by Scholastic Inc.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, GOOSEBUMPS, GOOSEBUMPS HORRORLAND, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
First printing, July 2012
Cover art by Brandon Dorman
Cover design by Steve Scott
e-ISBN 978-0-545-41518-7
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.