Aron and The Mysterious Mask

Chapter 9 - It's Nothing More Than a Mask

Both the boys were walking on to the street. "What do you think about it Aron?" Asked Ben.

Aron knew at once what Ben was speaking about. "I don't know. Mr. Valentine didn't allow us to question him. How did he know that we found this mask at the Horror House?"

"Maybe he didn't know and casually told us to stay away from the Horror House."

"You might be right." Said Aron, still not satisfied. "Hey Ben, do you know where Mr. Valentine lives?"

"I don't but maybe Ms. Hooper knows something about it." Both the boys ran back in to the small café. "Ms. Hooper, we would like to know if you know where does Mr. Valentine live?"

"of course"

"Great, would you mind telling us?"

"Not at all" she gave the boys the address of the man. They were delighted and thanked Ms. Hooper for sharing the address. Both the boys soon reached the one story house situated near the river bank.

They knocked on the door but no one answered the came in response. They knocked again but still there was silence. "Looks like he's still not home yet. Hey Aron, I forgot asking you about this. Why did you stop me from telling about our mask to Mr. Valentine?" asked Ben.

"I don't know." Aron told in response "I was confused weather I can trust him or not. Then I felt it would be best if we don't tell him everything for now. Also, from when he told us about the Horror House, I feel more confused than ever weather I can trust him or not."

"But why?" asked Ben "Why can't you tell this to a police agent?"

"I don't feel something right about him. Why would an undercover agent give away his secret only as an apology of such a small mistake?"

"I think you are right, but what can we do now? Mr. Valentine is not home so we cannot ask him anything at the moment."

"I have an idea. How about we have a good look at the mask I found? There must be a reason that that man told this mask was his key."

"Good idea, lets meet at my house and then we can have a good look at the mask in the shed." Told Ben

Both the boys led their way to their house. In the afternoon, as planned both the boys met in the shed behind Ben's house. It was flooded with light. "If we need to examine something that small, we need a lot of light." Said Ben. There were four lanterns put near the table but in addition to not to miss any details there were 2 torches on the table. "Dad allowed me to borrow this until I kept my promise to keep them safe."

"Good job, Ben." Said Aron. Without wasting anytime both the boys started to examine the mask. Soon both of them decided to take some break. "Now I doubt that is there anything special about this mask."

"I give up, looks no use to me."

"I don't let me have a last look at it." Aron was working hard examining the front of the mask. He was feeling every side and edge of it until he found a tricky area. It was split into two as if there was a crack between the nose of the mask. "Hey Ben, maybe I found something of our interest. Touch this region of the mask around It's nose."

He did so. "Well, it indeed is something different as if it was remove able. Let's try removing it."

Both of them tried various ways of pulling, pushing and stretching. Suddenly, there was a huge sound of breaking something from the mask. "Oh no! Whatever was in the compartment of the nose must be damaged due to force!"