The Creepy Creations of Professor Shock Read online

  Which will it be? Step through the mirror on PAGE 28, or wait for the Loreo on PAGE 125.

  “Oh, no! It’s happening again!” Stacey cries.

  She’s right. Once again, your reflections are shrieking in soundless terror. Yours throws up its hands. Stacey’s starts to tremble. Jason’s puts its hands over its eyes.

  Then, just as before, they turn and run away!

  “Wait!” you scream. Lunging forward, you dive headfirst into the big mirror. Jason and Stacey are right behind you.

  Your body tingles. Then you tumble out onto the wooden floor of an empty ice-cream parlor. A moving shadow makes you look up.

  A white ceiling fan circles lazily overhead.

  You’re in Miller’s!

  “Not again!” Stacey exclaims.

  “It’s déjà vu,” Jason moans.

  This time, the mirror is on the left-hand wall. You peek at your reflection. And as soon as you lock eyes, it happens again. The screaming. The running away.

  Finally, you get it.

  Your reflection is running away from … you!

  You don’t know why. All you know is, you’ve got to keep after your reflection until you catch it.

  Even if it takes the rest of your life….

  THE END

  You stare at Uncle Jack. Maybe being tied up has made him a little funny in the head! “Red is a cyborg?” you repeat.

  Yeah, right!

  But Uncle Jack nods solemnly. “He’s half human, half machine. Professor Shock invented the technology to make cyborgs years ago. I helped. I built Red’s circuits. And now he’s the leader of a band of rebel cyborgs!”

  Uncle Jack is starting to scare you. He sounds completely serious. Could he be telling the truth?

  Stacey and Jason appear to be convinced. And they know Uncle Jack better than you do.

  “Wh-what do the cyborgs want?” Stacey stammers.

  “Power,” Uncle Jack replies. “Cyborgs are bigger, stronger, and faster than natural humans. They think that makes them better. Red told me about their plan.”

  He stares at each of you in turn. Leaning forward, he whispers, “They want to make us their slaves!”

  Turn to PAGE 81.

  You realize you’d better jump off the bike now, while you still can. “Aaahh!” you scream as you throw yourself off the speeding machine.

  THUD! You hit the ground rolling. You’ll probably have a few bruises, but you decide bruises aren’t so terrible.

  Standing up, you gaze around. Excellent! By sheer chance, you ended up only a block from Professor Shock’s house. Soon he’ll put an end to this mechanical nightmare!

  You run past spouting garden hoses and whining weed-whackers, straight to Professor Shock’s garage. The professor is probably in his workshop. Cleaning up the mess you made!

  “Professor Shock?” you call. “Are you here?”

  No answer. You walk slowly through the cluttered garage toward the green workshop door. It’s closed.

  From behind the door comes a whirring sound.

  Slowly, carefully, you push the door open. It’s hard to see inside, because the lights keep blinking on and off.

  “Come in,” a voice calls. “I’ve been expecting you.”

  Who’s been expecting you? Turn to PAGE 98 to find out.

  You press your left thumb down on one of the remote buttons.

  The lights in the elevator blink on. You hear a faint whirring sound.

  Slowly, slowly, the elevator begins to drop.

  “But we want to go up,” Stacey complains.

  “Who cares!” Jason cries. “I just want out of here!”

  The elevator bumps to a stop. Something makes you tuck the remote into your pocket just before the doors slide open.

  You’re back in the garage.

  Someone dressed all in black is standing in front of the elevator. Someone huge. This guy makes Shaquille O’Neal look like a midget!

  A hat pulled down low hides his face. But you know it must be the person who chased you before. Deep Voice.

  He reaches toward you. His black-gloved hand looks big enough to palm a beach ball.

  “Give it to me!” he growls.

  Go to PAGE 112.

  You decide to go for the shop’s back door. Maybe you can outfox Red. “Split up,” you whisper to the twins.

  You duck to the left. Jason lunges to the right. And Stacey dives straight at Red’s knees!

  “Hey!” the huge man yells. He looks surprised. And furious! “Who-o-oa!” he cries and topples over backward.

  CRASH! The floor shakes when his body hits it.

  “Nice move, Stacey!” you cheer.

  The three of you race through the back door, tear down the hall, and clatter downstairs to the mall’s first level.

  You hurry past the old Kiddie Karnival. Your mom used to leave you there to ride the bumper cars while she went shopping. Now the little cars are covered with dust. The poles that connect each car to the power grid have been removed.

  Too bad! you think. You used to love those bumper cars.

  Stacey suddenly cries out. You stop and turn around.

  She’s limping and clutching her ankle. “I twisted it,” she explains. “I can’t walk!”

  “I want that remote!” Red’s voice roars from the stairwell.

  Uh-oh. He’s coming!

  Then you have a great idea.

  Help Stacey hobble to PAGE 122.

  The only furniture in the professor’s living room is a big armchair. It’s surrounded by dozens of televisions. All are on, their volume cranked up. It’s so noisy you can’t think!

  The professor seats himself in the chair and then turns to you with a smile. “I like to watch all the TV sets at once!” he shouts. “But I hate to get up and change the channels. Since you broke my remote, you can change them for me!”

  “But —” you start to object.

  “Get to it!” he orders. “Or do you want me to call your parents and tell them what you did?”

  Quickly, you shake your head.

  “Good.” The professor leans back in his chair. “Change that one to channel 33,” he tells you, pointing at one of the TVs. “Then turn the volume up on that one. Then change that one over there to channel 72. Then fix the picture on that one….”

  You dash around the room, trying to follow his orders.

  “Faster!” Professor Shock commands.

  There isn’t even time to catch your breath! It’s awful. You love to channel surf. But not like this!

  Professor Shock might keep watching forever. But for you, the show’s over. It’s

  THE END.

  You gulp. Ms. Silver is pointing straight at you. You’re on the spot now!

  “I don’t get it,” Jason whispers. “Arnie was right. Seven times seven is forty-nine! Why did she punish him?”

  “Don’t forget, we’re in a backward world. Maybe she wanted a backward answer,” Stacey replies.

  “Silence!” Ms. Silver shrieks. “Now tell me: What is seven plus eight?”

  You’re starting to sweat. If you don’t give Ms. Silver the answer she wants, you’ll end up in the closet, just like Arnie.

  And you know that would be really bad news!

  “I’m waiting,” Ms. Silver snarls.

  If you think the best answer is the real answer, fifteen, turn to PAGE 88.

  If you think the answer the teacher wants is fifty-one, try PAGE 14.

  GUGUGUGUGUGUG! The floor suddenly starts to shake. A giant, silver ball shoots from a tube on your right. It slams into the back wall, bounces off, and hurtles down the sloping floor. Right toward you!

  “Look out!” Stacey yells.

  “Yipe!” you squeak, and dive to the side.

  Just in time. The enormous silver ball rumbles past you and smashes into one of the targets.

  DING-DING-DING! Bells ring. The target flashes.

  That’s when it all falls into place. You know where you are. And you realize
it’s not Professor Shock who changed size.

  It’s you!

  Maybe it was the remote. Maybe it was the blue light in the elevator. But something has made you shrink to the size of a marble. And something has dumped you where you are now —

  Inside Professor Shock’s pinball machine!

  You gaze around frantically for the silver ball. To your relief, it appears to be losing speed.

  Then the entire floor heaves up to the left. You lose your balance and tumble to the floor. The silver ball zooms at you.

  No fair! Professor Shock is tilting!

  And you’re

  FINISHED!

  “We’ve got to find a way to go through the window,” you say.

  “We could pile some of the furniture up and use it like a ladder,” Jason points out.

  He’s really pretty smart.

  Uncle Jack helps you and the twins shove a table underneath the window. You stack an armchair on top of it. Then you balance a stool on top of that. The pile looks very shaky. But it reaches almost to the bottom of the window.

  “I’m too big to fit through the window,” Uncle Jack tells you. “You kids will have to go through and then come back and unlock the door for me.”

  You climb up onto the table. Then the chair. Then the stool. The whole pile wobbles. You feel like a circus acrobat.

  Very carefully, you slide the small window up. Luckily for you, it isn’t painted shut. Grasping the windowsill, you pull yourself through. Into a row of garbage cans at the back of the employee parking lot.

  It stinks. Yuck.

  But you made it!

  Then a cold hand grips your shoulder. “Where do you think you’re going?” a voice demands.

  See who’s got you on PAGE 104.

  You stare, frozen in terror, at Red. You’re going to run him over with your bumper car! This is terrible!

  Red may be evil, but you don’t want to flatten him!

  At the last second, Red jumps aside. Reaching down, he snatches the remote control off your dashboard.

  “Got it!” he grunts.

  Oh, no. If only you’d flattened him!

  Red’s huge fingers dance over the remote control, punching button after button. Your heart sinks right down to your toes. Obviously, he knows exactly how to use the gadget.

  A moment later, your bumper car swerves around and zooms out of the ring. You spin the steering wheel. No use. You can’t control the car.

  Jason and Stacey’s cars race along on either side of yours. The three of you are heading straight for a bank of elevators.

  You start to panic. Really panic.

  Is Red going to make you crash?

  Turn to PAGE 96 for the answer.

  You stand on your porch steps, staring. You’ve walked into a mechanical madhouse!

  A lawnmower roars around your lawn, cutting fancy patterns in the grass. No one is pushing it.

  Cars weave up and down the street. You peer through the windows. There doesn’t appear to be anyone driving them!

  WHZZ! WHZZ! An electric can opener wriggles through the open front door and down the porch steps. Its cord trails behind it. It isn’t even plugged in, but somehow it’s running!

  There are no people in sight. They must all be inside. Hiding from the machines.

  You close your eyes and give yourself a pinch on the arm. Can this really be happening? Or are you having a nightmare?

  When you open your eyes again, the first thing you see is your bike. Zooming right toward you. The pedals churn — around and around. But there’s no one riding it.

  Yikes!

  No time to move out of the way. Your reflexes take over. Without thinking, you grab the handlebars and jump on.

  Ride your bike to PAGE 48.

  As the last bits of mirror seal themselves around you, three kids appear in the tent. Right where you were a moment ago. The three new kids gaze into the mirror.

  One looks just like Stacey. Another is identical to Jason.

  And the third looks exactly like you!

  The one that looks like you raises its arm. Your own arm rises at the same moment. You can’t seem to stop it.

  The kid that looks like Stacey jumps up and down. Beside you, the real Stacey jumps too. The kid that looks like Jason claps his hands. You hear Jason clapping at the same time.

  Oh, no …

  “Thanks!” the kid that looks like you shouts. You feel your own mouth form the word Thanks.

  “We hated being in the mirror,” the one that looks like Stacey says. “Now it’s your turn for a while!”

  “Like … for the rest of your lives!” the Jason-clone adds with a nasty laugh.

  You’ve traded places with your own reflections! Jason was right, you think. It is bad luck to break a mirror.

  Oh, well. That’s the breaks.

  THE END

  “Stacey!” you cry. “Jason! Is it really you?”

  “Of course it’s us!” Jason replies.

  “But you’re so — so clean!” you exclaim. “You both have new haircuts. And new clothes!” Jason and Stacey stare at each other. Then they glance down at their new clothes. “Cool!” Stacey cries. “How did this happen?” Jason asks.

  “You got polished,” the Queen mutters. “What did you expect?”

  You’re ready to leave this place. “You promised to let us use your mirror,” you remind the Queen. She glares at you, then opens a secret panel in the wall. A round, gold-framed mirror appears. You and the twins rush up to it and gaze in.

  “Look!” Stacey cries. “There are words in it!”

  You peer at the swirling letters in the glass. You’re sure the words are instructions for returning to your own world. There’s only one problem. They’re in a strange writing.

  If you can read this secret writing, you know what to do. Turn to PAGE 107.

  If you can’t read it, go to PAGE 93 for a hint.

  You grab the remote from your bed where you dropped it. You don’t have time to fiddle with the thing. This is an emergency!

  As hard as you can, you hurl the remote against your bedroom door. CRASH! The black case shatters. Springs pop. Sparks fly.

  And the deafening music stops.

  Whew! You rip off the headphones and throw the mp3 player across the room. It hits the floor next to the remote.

  ZAP! A giant yellow spark leaps out of the broken remote control. And into your player.

  Uh-oh. Why is the device quivering? you wonder. And why does it look … bigger?

  In seconds, the awful truth is clear.

  Somehow, when that spark hit the mp3 player, it made it start growing. You don’t know how. Or why. But the thing is expanding in front of your eyes. And expanding! Soon the player is bigger than you are! And it’s still growing.

  It’s also blocking the bedroom door. You’re trapped.

  You cower on your bed, watching in horror as the player looms over you. It bulges against the walls and ceiling.

  You always wanted to fill your room with music. Unfortunately, this isn’t what you had in mind.

  In fact, this is

  THE END!

  Your heart is beating double time. You’re convinced. If Uncle Jack says a bunch of cyborgs want to make you their slave, you believe him!

  Jason is pale. But his scientific mind is at work. “Where does the Universal Remote fit in?” he asks.

  “Professor Shock was afraid the cyborgs might turn against us. So he built the Universal Remote to control them,” Uncle Jack explains. “Now that they have it, we have no control. But it’s worse than that.”

  Worse? You shudder. What could be worse than a bunch of eight-foot, super-strongman-machines running wild?

  “You see, the remote can control all machines,” Uncle Jack goes on. “The cyborgs can use it to turn appliances against us. Imagine being attacked by your own TV!”

  “Oh, no!” you exclaim. You remember Jason’s model plane dive-bombing you. “We have to get the remote back!”
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  “Right,” Uncle Jack agrees. “But first we must break out of this basement.”

  You gaze around. You could try to reach the window. Which looks awfully small and high up. Or you could try to break down the door. Which looks awfully thick.

  Try to wriggle through the window on PAGE 75.

  Try to break down the door on PAGE 6.

  “Stacey!” you cry. “Jason!”

  No answer. A moment later you hear footsteps. You whirl.

  A nightmare creature stands right behind you. Blue blotches cover its leathery features. Its hair looks more like filthy gray feathers than hair. It wears a long, shapeless black dress draped with strings of carved stone beads.

  The creature opens its mouth, revealing long, pointed yellow teeth. “Who dares trespass in my room?” it demands.

  You’re shaking in terror. But you must help the twins. “We — we thought this was the Queen’s room,” you reply.

  “I AM THE QUEEN!” the creature thunders.

  “You’re the Queen?” you repeat, shocked.

  “This is my chamber,” she tells you. “Your friends tried to steal one of my carvings. I punished them!”

  “Where — where are they?” you stammer.

  The Queen smiles. It’s an ugly, ugly smile. She points to the ceiling. You stare up at the hundreds of hanging stone figures. And then you gasp, as you understand what she means.

  She’s turned the twins into carvings!

  “What do you want?” the Queen demands.

  Think over your answer. If you decide to tell the truth, turn to PAGE 101.

  If you think a lie would be safer, turn to PAGE 52.

  You decide to take the remote back to the professor. He must have missed it by now. You don’t want him to think you stole it!