The Knight in Screaming Armor Read online

  BEWARE!!

  DO NOT READ THIS BOOK FROM

  BEGINNING TO END!

  Prepare yourself to meet the Knight in Screaming Armor!

  Your cousins are coming to visit you from England. They’re bringing something with them. A little surprise …

  It’s an old suit of armor from your uncle’s collection. It has a really cool battle-ax and a shield. And it has something else too — orders to destroy you!

  You see, there’s an ancient curse that was placed upon your family and the knight is here to deliver it! And that’s not all — a ghastly-looking gardener with three heads, Mud Slinging monsters made of goo, and some very nasty sheep are all headed your way!

  This scary adventure is all about you. 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 choices, you will defeat the Knight in Screaming Armor and escape its horrible curse. If you make the wrong choice … BEWARE!

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

  Contents

  Beware!!

  Title Page

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

  8

  9

  10

  11

  12

  13

  14

  15

  16

  17

  18

  19

  20

  21

  22

  23

  24

  25

  26

  27

  28

  29

  30

  31

  32

  33

  34

  35

  36

  37

  38

  39

  40

  41

  42

  43

  44

  45

  46

  47

  48

  49

  50

  51

  52

  53

  54

  55

  56

  57

  58

  59

  60

  61

  62

  63

  64

  65

  66

  67

  68

  69

  70

  71

  72

  73

  74

  75

  76

  77

  78

  79

  80

  81

  82

  83

  84

  85

  86

  87

  88

  89

  90

  91

  92

  93

  94

  95

  96

  97

  98

  99

  100

  101

  102

  103

  104

  105

  106

  107

  108

  109

  110

  111

  112

  113

  114

  115

  116

  117

  118

  119

  120

  121

  122

  123

  124

  125

  126

  127

  128

  129

  130

  131

  132

  133

  134

  135

  136

  Teaser

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  “Pip-pip! Ta-ta! Jolly good! Tallyho and all that rot!” your dad exclaims.

  “Da-a-a-d!” you plead. “Pleeeeeeease!”

  “So sorry,” he apologizes in his best British accent. “We just want your cousins to feel quite at home now, don’t we? It’s not every day we have visitors from England. It’s been over a year since we’ve seen them. Jolly good! Ta-ta! Pip-pip!” your dad says again.

  “Yes,” your mom adds. “Your Uncle Will is giving lectures at several important American museums. So Kip and Abbey will be staying with us for a whole week. Isn’t that terrific?”

  You only half agree. Kip Saxton is your age. Sometimes he complains too much. But mostly, he’s a pretty cool kid. His fifteen-year-old sister is another story. “Abbey acts like she’s queen of the world,” you say. “She can be a royal pain!”

  “Oh, you’ll have fun,” your dad assures you. “Uncle Will says Kip and Abbey are bringing a big surprise with them!”

  “A surprise?” you ask. “What surprise?”

  Go to PAGE 2.

  Before your dad can say another word about the surprise, the doorbell rings.

  “They’re here!” your mom calls from the front hall. She opens the door as the airport shuttle van pulls away. Your cousins are standing in the doorway. “You haven’t changed a bit!” your mom declares as she hugs Abbey and Kip.

  “I hope that’s not true,” you mutter. Your tall blond cousin is already staring past you and into the mirror behind you. “Hi,” you manage to say to her.

  Abbey primps her long golden curls before she answers. “Oh, hi,” she says as she pats her hair about a hundred times.

  “Still the same old Abbey,” you have to admit.

  “Forget her,” someone says, laughing. It’s Kip. “Can you give me a hand? We’ve got more stuff to bring in.” Your sandy-haired cousin moves back out onto the front step and points to two huge wooden crates. The crates are taller than your dad.

  “What the —?” you start to say.

  “Artifacts!” your dad chimes in. “Uncle Will is coming here next week to lecture at the Medieval Museum downtown. I told him we’d store some exhibits here until he arrives. But I never expected anything this big! These crates will have to go in the garage.”

  “What’s in the crates anyway?” you ask Kip.

  Go to PAGE 3.

  “Two suits of armor,” Kip says. “That’s what’s in the crates. They’re really old. From the fifteenth century. We call one of them the Evil Knight. It’s been with the Saxton family forever. The other suit was Sir Edmund Saxton’s. He’s our great-great-great-great … well, you get the picture.”

  The crates are on wheels. You, Kip, Abbey, and your dad pull them down the driveway to the garage behind your house. You notice a label on one of the crates.

  “Hey, look at this,” you cry. You read the label aloud:

  “Beware this Dark and Evil Knight

  Cursed still from long ago.

  Until a Good Knight fights for right

  This Knight brings misery and woe.

  That’s kind of spooky,” you add.

  “No! Don’t read that out loud,” Kip cautions too late. “It’s an evil curse on the whole Saxton family!”

  “A curse?” You laugh. “You don’t believe in curses, do you?”

  “Sure I do. And so should you if you know what’s good for you,” Kip whispers. “I guess you’ve never heard the tale.”

  Listen to the tale on PAGE 4.

  “The tale? What tale?” you ask.

  “The legend of the Curse of the Knight in Screaming Armor!” Kip answers. “Years ago an evil sorceress got angry at the King’s best
knight, Sir Edmund Saxton. You know, our ancestor? He killed her favorite dragon, or something. Anyway, she put a curse on him — the Curse of the Knight in Screaming Armor!

  “She made a special suit of armor and sent it to him as a gift. The armor was haunted. It held the spirit of an evil knight. That night, horrible screams and cries were heard from Saxton castle. In the morning, Sir Edmund and all of his family had been killed!”

  Kip’s eyes grow wide as he goes on. “All of his family was dead except one son. He had been out hunting. Anyway, he kept the armor. He was too scared to throw it away!”

  The four of you arrive at the garage and your dad reaches down to open the door.

  “This is that armor. Family legend has it that one day it will wake up again. Thirsty for Saxton blood. Then it will destroy all that is good! Unless a brave and noble Saxton can defeat it. It has to be a member of the Saxton family.”

  “Ha!” you laugh. “I’m related to you, so I’m a Saxton. What’s an Evil Knight’s suit of armor going to do to me?”

  Get your answer on PAGE 96.

  The hands on the silvery-green clock move too easily when you turn them backward. By mistake you turn them right past one o’clock, past midnight, past eleven, ten, nine, eight…. In fact, they’re turning backward on their own. As the clock hands start to speed around the dial, Kip and Abbey start laughing.

  “What’s so funny?” you ask.

  “Your face is changing!” Abbey giggles and points to Kip. “You’re starting to look chubby. Like a chubby little baby!”

  “And Abbey’s getting shorter!” Kip laughs. “Look at her clothes. They’re huge on her!” Now Kip is rolling on the floor laughing. When he tries to stand up, he can’t. All he can do is crawl!

  With each turn of the clock’s hands you, Kip, and Abbey grow younger. “I want my mama!” Abbey sobs. “I want my teddy bear!”

  “I want my bottle!” Kip sniffs.

  Now they’re both crying like two hungry babies. Your mind is racing. You can’t take your eyes off of them and the fantastic transformation taking place before you. But when you happen to glance down, what you see horrifies you — two pudgy little hands holding on to a spinning clock dial! You must do something before it’s too late! Or too early! Before the clock takes you back to a time before you were born!

  Quick! Before your hands are too tiny to turn the page! Turn to PAGE 44.

  The old woman has aged and shriveled up. You act as fast as your withered hand will move.

  Using all the strength left in your wretched old bones, you move the black hands of the hot-pink clock backward. There is a rushing of wind. It feels like rain against your parched old skin. Slowly you, Abbey, and Kip get younger again. You stare at Abbey’s dried-apple face. It puffs and tightens until it is once again fresh and young. Kip and you are both back to your usual selves.

  When it’s all over, you turn your attention to what’s left of the Keeper of All Times. She’s nothing but a piece of parchment on the floor. You pick it up and read:

  “Time goes by and comes again,

  Time stops and goes and stops and then …

  It’s another clue!” you shout.

  “Okay, smarty-pants, then what does it mean?” You can tell Abbey is really curious.

  “Well,” you think aloud, “the clock on the right turned time backward. I bet the clock on the left turns time forward. But what I can’t figure out is what this orange clock does …”

  Turn to PAGE 68.

  You slam yourself against the door at the back of the roomful of clocks. It won’t budge.

  “Push harder!” Abbey yells over the deafening sounds of all the clocks. The three of you lean your shoulders into the door and push. One more hard shove and it springs open!

  “Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy!!!” you all cheer together as you fall through the doorway and onto a long spiral slide. You hang on to each other. You’re speeding down some massive slide to some deeper, darker place. It’s as if you’re on a roller coaster into the unknown….

  “Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

  eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

  eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

  eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

  eeeeeeeeeeeeeee….”

  Slide on down to PAGE 69.

  All this head-switching business is giving you a royal headache. And you still have the head of a queen! This can’t be the way it all ends. You as a queen, Abbey as you, and Kip as a drooling gargoyle.

  You think of the missing armor. The suit of Sir Edmund, the Good Knight. You think of the pieces of parchment you found — the clues along the way. Surely, you’re destined to find the armor. What did the parchment say? Before the break of day brings light, one Good shall fight one Evil Knight. If not, the Evil Knight will destroy all that is good. That can’t be good for you.

  RRRIIIINNGGG! Somewhere, you hear a clock strike. It sounds like it’s far away. And what’s that tickling your belly?

  The clock! It’s not far away, it’s under your sweatshirt! You pull it out and look at it. Both the green and the pink clocks say 6:00 A.M. The sun will be up soon!

  As if on cue, all the heads in the room start screaming! And this room has a lot of heads! Even Abbey and Kip, or what’s left of them, scream. Before the break of day brings light … you think. You’re running out of time! Already you can hear the chilling laughter of the Knight in Screaming Armor closing in!!

  If time is on your side, turn to PAGE 25.

  If time is against you, turn to PAGE 14.

  “All right, all right, enough already. This is getting a little too weird for me,” you say. “It’s time to call the police.”

  “Chicken,” Abbey mocks you. You just ignore her.

  “But only a Saxton can break the curse,” Kip reminds you. “The police won’t be able to do anything.”

  “Well, I, for one, am willing to let them try.”

  You shove the GOOD KNIGHT crate door closed and start buckling the leather straps. Then the loudest scream of the night fills the air. Followed by a crunching noise. You whirl around to look, and your heart almost leaps out of your chest.

  The Evil Knight has crashed one of his armored arms through the other wooden crate. A thick-fingered, steely, armored glove gleams in the dim light. And it’s gripping Abbey’s slender neck.

  Hurry! Run to PAGE 83.

  You squeal in horror and shiver as the snake’s clammy body wriggles down your arm and drops to the floor. Then you notice a familiar-looking piece of parchment speared on one of its poisonous fangs!

  You almost can’t believe it. You know you have to get that parchment. Carefully, you reach down. Somehow, you manage to pluck it off without getting bitten. The snake slithers away.

  “Hey, look what I found!” you shout and glance around for Kip and Abbey. But you’re all alone. Well, not quite alone.

  A chorus of hideous snarls, moans, and cackles answers you. You try to ignore it and read what’s on the parchment. But it’s much too dark.

  You need more light.

  The lighting is better on PAGE 36.

  You can’t trust your own head to keep Kip from being buried by a regiment of rolling soldier heads. Instead, you gaze around the room for someone more intelligent. In the farthest corner of the room you spy one lonely head resting on the highest shelf.

  Aha, you think. It’s on the highest shelf. It probably has the highest IQ.

  You dash to the corner. Using the other shelves as steps, you climb until you are even with the highest headstand. Its face is turned away from you. But before you can touch the head to turn it, it starts to turn on its own! It slowly spins and meets you eye to eye.

  IT’S THE HEAD OF THE EVIL KNIGHT!!!!!!!!

  “AAAAaaahhhh!” you scream in terror as your heads are instantly switched.

  It is a bone-chilling scream.

  It is the scream of the Knight in Screaming Armor!

&nb
sp; And that’s YOU!

  THE END

  Abbey sputters as she wipes globs of thick brown mud from her mouth and eyes. Now she sees what you and Kip already see. The walls are alive!

  Short, square-bodied mud beasts step out from the dirt-colored walls. They start flinging handfuls of thick oozing mud.

  THWAAAAPPP! A glob catches you in the ear.

  TCHWAAANNK! A fistful of the well-packed mud covers Kip’s sandy hair and slides down over his eyes.

  “What’s happening?!” Kip cries.

  THWAAAAAPPP! comes the answer in the form of a special delivery mud-o-gram.

  The oozy mud in your ear starts to harden and crack. You rip at it with your fingers. SKOOOOOIIIINSH! You’re caught in the stomach by another mud glob. It hardens on contact. It makes it difficult to breathe. You’ve got to get out of here!

  The Mud Slingers gang up on Abbey. They swing their gorilla arms and pack more solid mudballs to throw at her. “Aaahhhh!” Abbey sobs as one hard mudball nails her in the knee. “Why me? Why me?” she screams, clutching her bashed knee.

  Go to PAGE 22.

  You pull the covers up over your head and try to go back to sleep. After all, Abbey said the story about the knight wasn’t true.

  You can’t sleep. There’s another shriek. And another. The screaming grows louder and more chilling. And it’s getting closer! That last one seemed to come from just outside your door!

  Wait. What’s that? Something is moving at the foot of your bed. You strain your eyes to see in the darkness. You immediately wish you hadn’t. A shadowy figure seems to hover at your feet, ready to attack. “It’s the knight!” you shout as you spring up in bed.

  Quick! Turn to PAGE 67.

  The clock under your sweatshirt is ringing wildly! Louder and louder. The heads on the shelves stare out at you. Rows and rows of heads with gaping mouths. Screaming at you. Your heart knocks against your ribs.

  Your pulse begins to race.

  “Help!” you shout. But no one hears you over the shrieking heads. You shut your eyes, but they’re not really yours. Your head still looks like a queen.

  Is your time up?

  That’s it, you think. Time. It strikes you, you’ve got to use the clock!