18 - Monster Blood II by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead) Read Free Book Online Page A

warning bark. Another.
    The dog attacked at full speed.
    “Run!” Evan cried. “Conan has a guard dog!”
    “Too late to run!” Andy shrieked.

 
 
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    The dog barked again.
    Evan cried out and threw up his hands as the dog leaped for his throat.
    The dog wasn’t as big as Evan had thought—but it was strong.
    It licked his face, pressing its wet snout into his cheek.
    It licked his chin. And then his lips.
    “Yuck!” Evan cried, laughing. “Trigger—how did you get here?”
    Evan pulled the cocker spaniel off him and lowered it to the ground. Its
stubby tail wagging furiously, Trigger started jumping on Andy.
    “Your dumb dog scared me to death,” she moaned.
    “Me, too,” Evan admitted. “I didn’t hear him following us, did you?”
    Andy squatted down and gave Trigger a few quick pats. Then she glanced down
the street.
    “Let’s get inside,” she said. “Conan or his parents could be back any
minute.”
    Trigger pranced along as they made their way over the grass to the front
door. The house loomed much bigger and darker as they crept onto the stoop.
    “Down, Trigger. Stay down,” Evan whispered. “You can’t come in with us.”
    Andy tried the front door. “Locked.”
    Evan groaned. “Now what?”
    “We try the back door, of course,” Andy replied. She had already jumped down
off the stoop and was heading around the side of the house.
    “You’ve done this before—haven’t you?” Evan demanded, following her.
    “Maybe,” she replied, grinning at him in the dark.
    A loud howl somewhere nearby made them both stop.
    “What was that?” Evan cried.
    “A werewolf,” Andy told him calmly. “Or maybe a cat.”
    They both laughed. Nervous laughter.
    The back door was locked, too. But the kitchen window was open a crack. Evan
pushed it open wider, and they crept into the dark kitchen.
    Holding his breath, Evan could hear every sound. Their sneakers scraped
noisily against the linoleum. The refrigerator hummed. Water swirled in the
dishwasher.
    I can even hear the pounding of my heart, Evan thought. What am I doing? Have
I really broken into Conan’s house?
    “This way,” Andy whispered. “His room is probably upstairs.”
    Evan kept against the wall as he followed Andy to the front stairs. They
passed the small living room, bathed in orange light. The floorboards creaked
under their shoes. Evan stumbled over a pile of old newspapers stacked in the
narrow hallway.
    Up the wooden stairs. The banister squeaked under Evan’s hand. A Venetian
blind rattled against an open window, startling him.
    “Sure is dark,” Andy muttered as they reached the top of the stairs.
    Evan tried to reply, but his breath caught in his throat.
    Holding onto the wall, he followed Andy to the first bedroom. She fumbled
until she found a light switch, then clicked it on. The ceiling light revealed
that they had found Conan’s room.
    They both stood in the doorway, waiting for their eyes to adjust to the
light. Then they quickly glanced around.
    The walls of the small, square room were filled with posters of sports stars.
The biggest poster, above Conan’s bed, showed Michael Jordan jumping about ten
feet in the air as he slam-dunked a basketball. A bookshelf against one wall held very few books—but was loaded
with sports trophies that Conan had won on various teams.
    Suddenly, Andy started to laugh.
    Evan turned to her, startled. “What’s so funny?”
    She pointed to Conan’s bed. “Look—he still has a teddy bear!”
    Evan turned his eyes to the bed, where a forlorn-looking, nearly flat,
one-eyed teddy bear rested on the pillow. “Conan the Barbarian?” he cried,
laughing. “He sleeps with a teddy bear?”
    A loud creak made them cut their laughter short.
    They listened hard, their eyes wide with fear. “Just the house,” Evan
whispered.
    Andy shivered. “Enough fooling around. Let’s find the Monster Blood and get
out of here.”
    They moved into the center of the room.