Free The Second Evil by R.L. Stine

find it before anyone else gets hurt.”
    â€œWell, I have to stay with Sean till my parents get back,” Corky replied. “But, yeah, sure. I’ll be over in half an hour or so.”
    â€œOkay,” Kimmy said. “We can talk then. We can talk all night if you want. I’ll even help you study for that science test you have to make up.”
    â€œThanks, Kimmy,” Corky said with genuine gratitude. She hung up, feeling a little cheered.
    â€œThe game’s over. You lost,” Sean announced as she returned to his room.
    â€œIt’s okay. I would’ve lost anyway,” she told him, thinking about Kimmy. “Want to play another game till Mom and Dad get home?”
    He shook his head. “No, I’m going to play against the machine. It’s more fun.”
    â€œOh, thanks a bunch!” Corky cried sarcastically. Then she heard the front door slam downstairs. Her parents were back.
    A few minutes later she was in the car, her science text and binder on the seat beside her. She backed the car down the driveway and headed toward Kimmy’s house.
    It was a cold, clear night. An enormous orange moon hung low in the charcoal sky.
    It doesn’t look real, Corky thought. It looks like a moon in a science-fiction movie. Everything seemed sharper and brighter than it should have been. As she made her way down Fear Street, Corky felt as if she could see every blade of grass, every leaf, in sharper-than-life focus.
    She followed the curve of the road, and the Fear Street cemetery came into view on her left. Her headlights swept over it, bringing a row of jagged tombstones into focus.
    â€œOh!” Corky cried out when she saw someone moving among the graves.
    She slowed the car, her eyes on the moving figure. The orange balloon of a moon floated low over the scene. Corky stared hard, startled by the clarity. There were no shadows.
    Who is it? she wondered. Who is there?
    And then she recognized her.
    Sarah Beth Plummer.
    Without realizing it, Corky had stopped the car in the center of Fear Street. Puzzled, she rolled down her window to see even more clearly.
    Sarah Beth was huddled low, moving slowly betweenthe pale gravestones. She was wearing a long black cape that swirled behind her shoulders even though there was no wind.
    What is she doing? Corky asked herself. Sarah Beth had told Chip and Corky that she had finished her work in the cemetery.
    So why was she there among the old graves tonight?
    Her eyes on the dark caped figure, Corky lifted her foot from the brake, and the car began to glide slowly forward. As it moved, Corky realized that Sarah Beth wasn’t alone.
    Another dark figure stood very close beside her, one hand resting on a tall gravestone.
    With a gasp of surprise, Corky stopped the car again. In the surprisingly bright light from the low-hanging moon, it was easy to recognize the other figure.
    Jon Daly.
    Jon Daly and Sarah Beth Plummer. Together. In the Fear Street cemetery.
    â€œWhat’s going on here?” Corky asked in a whisper, her eyes locked on the two figures, so sharp and clear despite the darkness of the night.
    Sarah Beth gestured with her hands. Jon stood as still as the gravestone he leaned against. Then Sarah Beth pointed to the ground.
    What were they saying? What were they doing?
    Staring hard, Corky recognized the stone Jon was leaning against. It was Sarah Fear’s grave marker.
    As Corky continued to watch, Sarah Beth suddenly pulled off her black cape and draped it over a marble monument. Then she began to twirl, raising her arms above her head, performing a slow, graceful dance.
    As Sarah Beth danced, Jon still leaned against thegravestone, not speaking, his strange, nearly colorless eyes staring at Sarah Beth.
    What is going on? Corky wondered.
    With a shudder of fear, she removed her foot from the brake, slammed it down hard on the gas pedal, and roared away.

    Here Is the Evil!

Chapter 12
Surprise in the Science