Trapped in Bat Wing Hall Read online

  BEWARE!!

  DO NOT READ THIS

  BOOK FROM

  BEGINNING TO END!

  Making friends in your new town is harder than you thought! The kids in your school are members of the Horror Club. They have their meetings after dark in Bat Wing Hall — a rundown house that’s haunted by the ghost of Professor Krupnik!

  When the Horror Club decides to play a spooky game, you really want to join in. But then you find out you’ll have to search the professor’s cursed crypt in the cemetery! Or face an ancient mummy, a witch, and a hungry werewolf — or the terrifying ghost of Professor Krupnik himself — before the night is through!

  You’re in control of this scary adventure. You decide what will happen. And you decide how terrifying the scares will be.

  Start on PAGE 1. Then follow the instructions at the bottom of each page. You make the choices.

  If you make the right ones, you’ll have a really cool adventure! IF YOU MAKE THE WRONG CHOICES … BEWARE!

  SO TAKE A DEEP BREATH. CROSS YOUR FINGERS. AND TURN TO PAGE 1 NOW TO GIVE YOURSELF GOOSEBUMPS!

  Contents

  Beware!!

  Title Page

  1

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  137

  Teaser

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  “This town stinks!”

  It’s Friday afternoon — the end of your first week at your new school. Your family just moved to this town last month. And so far no one at school has even tried to be your friend.

  Day after day, you sit in class waiting for someone to talk to you. Waiting and staring at all the strange faces around you. How can you possibly go through the year without any friends? you wonder. You’re cool. You know you are. You had tons of friends at your old school.

  You trudge home slowly. All you have to look forward to is a boring weekend of watching TV with your parents and your bratty little brother. Then something hits the back of your jacket.

  You whirl around. A pebble drops onto the ground. You glance up — and notice a brown-haired boy about your own age.

  “Hi!” he calls out. “I’m Nick!”

  “Hi,” you reply and introduce yourself.

  “We’re in the same class at school,” Nick says.

  That’s funny, you think. You don’t remember seeing him there. But you smile anyway. You’re so happy someone is finally talking to you.

  “I live there,” Nick tells you. He points to a two-story green house on the next block. You gaze back at him, shocked.

  “But you can’t live there!” you exclaim. “There’s no way!”

  Go on to PAGE 2.

  “What do you mean I can’t live there?” Nick asks, laughing. “I know my own house.”

  “I live next door,” you tell him. You point to the redbrick house next to the green one. “The green house has been empty all month. There haven’t been any lights on. No cars in the driveway.”

  “I was on vacation with my family. We got back last night,” Nick says. “What do you think of school?”

  “Okay, I guess,” you reply. You’re afraid to say anything more. You never know — maybe this kid Nick actually likes school.

  “Can you believe how much homework our teacher gave us this weekend?” Nick complains. He kicks a stone down the street as you walk. “All the kids who had Mr. McCormick last year say he’s really tough. And mean. A total monster!”

  You agree. The next thing you know you and Nick are comparing favorite rock groups and comic books. Both of you collect Spider-Man comics. Nick has all the first issues from the last five years, too!

  “Comics are cool,” Nick says. “But do you know what’s even cooler?”

  “What?” you ask.

  “Horror stories!” Nick exclaims. “In fact, I —” He stops talking and stares at you.

  Turn to PAGE 3.

  “What?” you ask. “What about horror stories?”

  “It’s probably way too scary for you,” Nick replies.

  “Nothing’s too scary for me!” you boast.

  “That’s because you’ve never been to the Horror Club,” Nick says.

  “What’s that?”

  Nick grins. “It’s a club I belong to. You’ve got to be really brave to be a member. When we meet, we tell spooky stories. Really scary!”

  “Cool!” you reply. “I love scary stories. Can I join?”

  “If you think you can handle it,” Nick says. “We meet every Friday night at Bat Wing Hall. That’s the deserted house at the dead end of our street. It was old Professor Krupnik’s house.”

  “I’ve seen the house. It looks haunted,” you tell Nick with a laugh.

  “Don’t laugh,” he warns you. “It is haunted.”

  Hurry to PAGE 100.

  You crouch over the crack. Your bat sonar tells you that it goes down a long, long way. It might even go on forever. And you’re almost afraid to imagine what you might find inside it.

  Still, you’re a bat.

  You’re trapped in the crypt.

  What
have you got to lose?

  You take a deep breath to calm yourself. You do a couple of warm-up flaps of your wings. Then, before you can change your mind, you dive head-first into the crack. But you’re no longer flying!

  Instead, you’re falling, falling straight down. What are you doing wrong?

  In a panic, you check out your wings. To your amazement, they’re gone! Those are arms flailing around. Your arms. You’re a kid again!

  You don’t have time to celebrate. You’re falling faster now. And faster. Will you ever land? And will you survive the crash? And if you do, where will you be?

  Quick! Turn to PAGE 135.

  You want Marcie’s help. You swoop around the neighborhood, looking for Marcie’s family’s name on a mailbox. At last you find it, in front of a small two-story brick house. You peer into all the windows until you find Marcie alone in the living room. She seems to be baby-sitting her little brother, who is about two years old.

  You find an open window, then fly into the house. You perch on a curtain in the living room. Below, Marcie and her brother are playing a game with cardboard letters. While you watch, Marcie moves some of the letters.

  “C-A-T,” Marcie tells her brother. “That spells cat, Darryl. Can you say cat?”

  “I’m hungry!” the little boy cries.

  “I’ll get some Jell-O,” Marcie says. “See if you can spell cat.” She disappears into the hall.

  What luck! you think. The letters are small and lightweight! You’re sure you’ll be able to move them yourself and write out a message to Marcie!

  You swoop down to the floor. The letters are in a big box. You start to sort through the letters when Darryl suddenly reaches for you.

  “DOGGIE!” he cries. He grabs one of your wings and pulls.

  Turn to PAGE 42.

  Debbie is standing by herself in the corner. You figure Nick and Connor must still be in the kitchen. You approach cautiously.

  “Do you really think this scavenger hunt is for real?” she asks, glancing toward the kitchen.

  “Yeah,” you say. “You guys promised that you’ll let me go if I find the items by midnight.”

  Debbie starts laughing — a hideous cackling laugh. “Fool!” she cries. “It’s a joke! You’re never going to make it out!”

  You don’t know whether to believe her or not.

  “What do you mean?” you ask.

  Debbie slithers closer. “I’m on your side,” she whispers. “I used to be a regular kid like you. Then I joined the Horror Club. Now look what’s happened to me!”

  You stare in amazement at Debbie’s hideous monster face. Is she for real? Was she really once a kid like you?

  “I want to help you,” she says. “If you follow me, I’ll help you escape.”

  If you think Debbie is telling the truth, follow her on PAGE 86.

  If you think it’s best to continue the hunt, turn to PAGE 16.

  “You’re on!” Connor growls. “But you go last.” Then he plugs in two more sets of controls.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” you cry.

  “These are for Nick and Debbie,” he replies.

  “No fair!” you protest. “I said I’d play against you.”

  “It’s all of us or no deal,” Connor snarls.

  What can you say? You nod and sigh. “Sure. Okay.”

  “Nick plays first,” Connor announces. “And remember — you have to beat all of us to win!”

  Nick begins to play. You’re not too worried, though. You’ve seen Debbie play. She couldn’t even handle level one. How good could Nick be?

  Nick makes his first moves. Uh-oh. Nick is excellent.

  Connor and Debbie bomb out early. But you and Nick move quickly through the lower levels. Finally, you both reach level twelve — the top level! You’ve never reached this level before.

  Beads of sweat trickle down your face. Up, down, jump! Right, left, shoot! You operate the controls like a pro.

  But then the Mud Monsters throw out a tidal wave of mud.

  Do you jump the wave or try to duck under it?

  Quick! Make a decision! To jump the wave, leap to PAGE 20.

  To duck under, slide over to PAGE 72.

  “SHAKE!” you instruct the werewolf.

  The eleventh chime rings out. Hurry, you think. Hurry!

  The werewolf holds out his paw. Quickly, you pluck three hairs from his forearm.

  The final chime never rings. Instead there is an enormous thunderclap. The force shakes the house.

  “I did it!” you cry, dancing in a circle. “I got the four items!”

  There is no answer.

  You gaze around the basement. It’s empty. No Nick. No Debbie. No Connor. No werewolf!

  “Where is everyone?” you shout. “I won!”

  The fire in the furnace has turned to cold ashes. You head for the staircase and climb upstairs.

  “Hey, Nick! Debbie? Connor?” you call out.

  “In here!” cries a familiar voice. It’s Nick!

  You race up the steps, two at a time. You follow his voice to the living room of Bat Wing Hall. You feel around in your pocket. You still have the human bone, the mummy’s bandage, and the werewolf’s hairs. In your other hand, you hold the witch’s broom.

  You have all the items on the list. The monsters have to let you go — right? You step into the living room.

  Turn to PAGE 105.

  You step up to the door and grasp the ring in both your hands. It’s covered with rust and cobwebs, and you have a feeling it hasn’t been moved in a long time.

  You pull on it, but the thing won’t budge. You clutch the ring even tighter and put all your weight into it.

  A hideous screeching noise fills the air. What is making that ghastly sound? Slowly, slowly, the heavy stone door swings open.

  Holding your breath, you tiptoe inside. You see a large casket sitting on a stone platform in the middle of the dark room. For a moment, you can’t move. You stare at the casket and think, There’s a dead person in there. A dead person!

  Yikes! Something just grabbed at your hair. You brush it away. And gasp.

  A bat flutters off into the darkness, its fangs glinting in the moonlight. Maybe catching a bat isn’t such a great idea, you decide.

  You quickly search the tomb for scary stuff to bring back to your teammates, but you find nothing except dust and cobwebs. With a final glance, you leave the tomb to rejoin your friends.

  There’s only one problem. You don’t see them anywhere. You’re all alone.

  Go on to PAGE 93.

  You swoop up the stairs as fast as you can.

  Marcie’s right behind you.

  You fly into a bedroom. From the crib you know it must be Darryl’s room. Next to the crib is a basket containing stuffed animals. There’s a stuffed dog, a zebra, a gorilla, a frog, a pussycat, and several stuffed teddy bears.

  There’s no time to think. Quickly, you flop down into the basket with the other animals. You stay completely still and try to look cute.

  A moment later Marcie tears into the room. “Where did that bat go?” she shouts angrily. She stops and gazes all around the room. You hold your breath.

  “Hmmph!” she snorts. “It must have gone into my parents’ room.” She turns and leaves.

  You don’t waste a moment. Quickly, you fly toward the window. It’s open just a crack — but a crack is all you need. You squeeze yourself through the opening and fly into the warm evening breeze.

  You’re sure you’ll have better luck at Lara’s house.

  At least — you hope you will.

  To get to Lara’s house, fly to PAGE 118.

  “I’m going to search the main floor,” you tell the monsters.

  “Lots of luck!” Nick sneers.

  You glance around the dark, creepy mansion. You know escape is going to be tough. You decide you’ll do the scavenger hunt. You’ll play along with the monsters, but still search for a way out. Either way, you promise yourself, you won’t l
et them turn you into a monster!

  You search the living room first. A curtain of cobwebs dangles from the ceiling. You have to part them to search the room. Yuck!

  The only furniture in the room is an old sofa and two overstuffed chairs. You lift the cushions to search for the creepy things on the list. Could there really be a human bone under there, you wonder? You nearly choke from the flying dust — but no bone.

  You peer under the furniture. Nothing.

  Then Connor sneaks up on you. He kicks a dust-ball in your face. “The clock is ticking!” he booms. You stare up at his one bloodshot eye and escape into the next room.

  It’s an old-fashioned dining room. A long wooden table stands in the middle of the room. As you step toward the table, something black and hairy jumps out at you!

  Hurry to PAGE 97.

  Could it be a human scream? You’ve never heard a human scream that sounds like that!

  You whirl around in the direction of the scream.

  Debbie! Debbie is the one screaming.

  “NOOOOO!” she shrieks again and hurries over to you.

  “Can’t you read?” Debbie cries. The warts on her face ooze green goo. “This is not what you want! These aren’t mummy bandages!” Debbie snatches the bandages from your pockets and tosses them on the floor. “Don’t waste time!” she cries.

  You step back and try to think. There’s no way to escape from the kitchen — Connor is guarding the doors, and Nick is by the window. You have to find the items on that list.

  You gaze around and then head for a tall, narrow closet.

  And freeze in horror.

  A thick pool of something red and sticky is seeping underneath the door. It looks like — blood!

  What do you do now?

  To open the closet door, turn to PAGE 83.

  To go back and check the dining room again, go to PAGE 78.

  You’re sure Nick, Debbie, and Connor are playing a joke on you.

  You turn and stare at Nick’s reptile-like face. A long, forked tongue darts out at you. You wonder how he does that.

  “Excellent costumes, guys,” you say. “You really got me.”

  Connor growls.

  “Okay. Enough. Joke’s over,” you announce. “Take the masks off.”

  Nobody moves.

  You reach over to Nick and grab his face. If he won’t take his mask off, you’ll do it for him.