Trapped in Bat Wing Hall Page 6

  “Give me a break,” you say. “You expect me to believe that? Where would I find those things?”

  “In this house,” Debbie replies matter-of-factly.

  “Yeah, right,” you scoff. “I’m supposed to believe that there really are werewolves and witches and mummies?”

  “It’s true,” Connor says.

  “Do you want me to prove it?” Nick asks with an evil grin. A very evil grin.

  What is Nick up to? Turn to PAGE 47.

  You dash toward the mummy case. You quickly jump in and slam the lid shut. You stand stiffly in the darkness, scarcely daring to breathe. Waiting.

  You can hear the king’s guards coming closer. Did they see you hide?

  No! Their footsteps thunder past you, and you exhale with relief.

  You wait several minutes, wondering if it is okay to climb out. You decide to wait a little bit more, when the lid suddenly springs open.

  You poke your head out in terror.

  But no one’s there — and the blue sky and flowers are gone! You’re in a dimly lit hallway.

  You step out and almost knock into a mummy. A sleeping mummy!

  “Oh, no!” you cry out. “I’m back in Bat Wing Hall.”

  You glance at your watch. Only half an hour left before you turn into a monster! You have to complete the scavenger hunt! You’ve got to get moving!

  You need to grab a piece of the sleeping mummy’s bandage. There’s no time to waste!

  Turn to PAGE 39.

  “I’ll help you,” you tell Professor Krupnik.

  “Good,” the ghost growls. “Now, get these kids out of Bat Wing Hall. And make sure they never come back.”

  It’s weird that a ghost would need your help. But you do as Professor Krupnik asks. When you get to the mansion, you peer in through a window and see Marcie, Martin, and Lara sitting on the floor and talking.

  How can you make them leave?

  You know that it will be hard to scare them away. After all, they’re members of the Horror Club. But maybe it would be different if they knew that the house really is haunted.

  Or — maybe it would be better to come up with a better place for the Horror Club to meet.

  Which will it be?

  To convince them the house is haunted, turn to PAGE 15.

  Or to get them to move to a new place, go to PAGE 130.

  You watch, horrified, as the red sun sinks into the distance. At the same moment, you feel hairs sprouting all over your body. Your shoulders start to ache as your arms turn into bat wings. A moment later, you’re hovering over the heads of your friends.

  Lara lets out a scream. Marcie’s jaw has dropped open so wide you can see her fillings. Martin looks impressed.

  “Did you see what happened?” Marcie exclaims. “The story was true!”

  “I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t seen it!” Martin says.

  “Did you say you need our help?” Lara asks you. She seems frightened, but also concerned.

  “I need you to help me close the Krupnik Crypt,” you squeak. But they can’t understand your bat language.

  How can you get them to help you now? You start to fly across the street, toward the cemetery. Your friends only watch you, puzzled.

  “Maybe it’s hungry,” Lara suggests. “Should we catch some insects for it?”

  Frustrated, you fly back to your waiting friends. Again, you fly toward the cemetery, again you return.

  “I know what it’s doing!” Martin says suddenly.

  Can Martin help you? Turn to PAGE 46.

  Your heart thuds as you approach the closet door. The pool of blood grows larger on the floor. Slowly, you pull the door open.

  And gasp.

  There’s no dead body in the closet. No dead anything. Only a broken jar. A jar of raspberry jam, dripping onto the floor.

  You sigh with relief and explore the closet further. The shelves are crammed with rusty cans of vegetables and moldy sacks of flour. You quickly search all the shelves, but find nothing.

  Then you spot it. A plastic shoe box on the bottom shelf.

  You reach down and open it. You can’t believe your eyes!

  Nestled in the center of the box, on a dark piece of cloth, is the skeleton of a human hand!

  “Oh, gross,” you moan. You try not to wonder whose hand it was and how it got in this box.

  “You found our skeleton in the closet!” Debbie sings out.

  You nod. You’re glad you found something on the list, but you don’t want to touch the hand. You start to carry the box away from the closet. But Nick stops you.

  “The list says one bone from a human hand, not the whole hand,” he reminds you. His reptile tongue darts in and out of his mouth.

  You stare down at the hand. One bone!

  Rattle over to PAGE 67.

  “I choose the glowing red stone,” you tell the wizard.

  Silently, the wizard hands it to you.

  The red stone is strangely warm in your hand, and it seems to be vibrating. You can feel its slow throbbing.

  As you stare at the stone, it glows brighter and brighter. The heat from the stone seeps through your hand, spreading warmth to your arm. Then to your whole body.

  You begin to sweat. Your temperature rises.

  The priests begin chanting.

  You grow hotter. Hotter. Hotter!

  The chanting voices fade in and out.

  I’m burning up! you think frantically.

  A yellow light suddenly flashes before your eyes. The light is so incredibly bright you have to shut your eyes.

  When you open them, you are in a dark hallway. And your body feels okay. Not too hot. Not too cold.

  You gaze around in amazement.

  You are back in Bat Wing Hall! You’re safe!

  Go to PAGE 64.

  Nick’s just trying to scare you, you think. He’s testing you, to see if you’re brave enough for the Horror Club.

  You shrug and rush forward. You dash across the porch and squeeze through a narrow space in the boards covering the front door. You land on your knees with a thud.

  As soon as you hit the floor, a piercing alarm sounds through the house. What’s going on? you wonder.

  You gaze around quickly. Nick and Debbie are nowhere to be found. The dark house seems empty. You hold your ears, trying to block out the horrible noise. And then, through a dusty window, you see lights. Red, whirling lights.

  The police!

  You have set off a burglar alarm. Now you’re in big trouble! How will you ever explain this to the police — or to your mom and dad?

  Too bad! It looks as if your adventure is over even before it began!

  THE END

  “I’m going to trust you,” you tell Debbie. “Please help me get out of here!”

  “A wise choice!” Debbie sneers. She glances over her shoulder, then beckons you to follow her. “Be quiet,” she warns. “There’s no telling what Nick and Connor will do if they find out!”

  You creep down a long dark hall behind Debbie. The tarantulas squirm wildly through her hair. You are glad Debbie, with her gross purple face, is really a friend.

  Then you reach the end of the hall.

  And there stand Nick and Connor. Saliva drips from their mouths as they smack their lips.

  Then seven-foot-tall Connor lumbers toward you. His enormous arms reach for you.

  You glance back at Debbie for help.

  She’s your friend — right?

  Hurry to PAGE 38.

  You follow the left-hand path along the river. The whole time you wonder, Where am I? How will I ever get home?

  You feel eyes on you — creatures’ eyes. Staring at you. You whirl around, searching, but you see no one.

  Then you hear a sound you can’t ignore. Footsteps. Heavy, heavy footsteps. The footsteps of something very big. And very, very close. THUMP … THUMP … THUMP …

  You freeze. The footsteps stop. You glance behind you, but all you can see is the swirling m
ist.

  Maybe it was nothing. You start up again, but so do the steps! THUMP … THUMP … THUMP! They’re getting closer. You don’t dare look back.

  You try to run, but your feet sink into the marshy ground. The thing is almost right behind you!

  And then, just ahead, you spot a cave. You can hide in there. You race to the cave. A sign beside it says MONSTER LIBRARY. You have no idea what a Monster Library is, but you don’t care. Anything would be better than this swamp with a thing following you. You duck inside.

  Oh, no! The thing behind you runs in, too.

  Race to PAGE 119.

  “I choose the Red Team,” you announce.

  “Fine,” Marcie says. “The Red Team will stay in the house for the games. The Blue Team will go outside. See you later!”

  Marcie, Lara, and Martin leave the house.

  You turn to your new teammates with a smile. You’re looking forward to the games.

  “I’m glad you’re on our team,” Nick says. “We’re having a scavenger hunt. Everything has to be found inside the house.”

  “Cool,” you reply. “I love scavenger hunts. Where’s the list?”

  “Here it is,” Debbie says, handing you a piece of white paper.

  You read the list of items out loud:

  “HORROR CLUB SCAVENGER HUNT

  — one human bone

  — three hairs from a werewolf

  — a straw from a witch’s broom

  — a piece from a mummy’s bandage.”

  Go to PAGE 79.

  There’s no way you’re hanging around with some Egyptian king!

  “Thanks for the invitation,” you say politely, “but I’d like to leave.”

  The king shows you to the door, and you step outside into a beautiful garden filled with flowers. Red, purple, orange — flowers of every kind, in every hue. The sky shines a brilliant blue, and you fill your lungs with the sweet-smelling air. You want to jump for joy.

  You spot something familiar in the distance, something leaning against a tree. A mummy case! It looks like the same mummy case you found in Bat Wing Hall.

  “Get him! There he is!” someone shouts from behind you.

  You reel around — it’s the king. Uh-oh, you mumble to yourself. Looks as if the king changed his mind.

  His men come charging toward you. You gaze frantically around the garden. At the far edge is a thicket of tall reeds. You could hide there.

  Quick! Do something!

  To hide in the mummy case, go to PAGE 80.

  To run for the reeds, race to PAGE 99.

  Nick begins his story. “There once were three kids. They looked like kids you’d meet every day at school or on the playground. But these kids were different. They were under an evil spell — a spell that turned them into monsters. And there was only one way to release them from it.”

  “What’s that?” Connor asks, leaning forward.

  “They had to find another kid who would pass a horrible, deadly test. No kid had ever completed the test and lived to tell about it,” Nick continues in a low voice. “The test was a scavenger hunt, and the kid would have to find four creepy — impossible — things. Only then would the monsters change back to kids.”

  “What happened?” Debbie asks breathlessly.

  You stand up and head for the front door. You’re going home. You have a funny feeling you know exactly how this story is going to

  END.

  Great choice!

  Now you’re stuck at home with nothing to do. Sure, you can clean out your closet. Or play stupid board games with your little brother. But that doesn’t change things.

  You still have no friends. You’re still bored.

  But wait — you have one last chance!

  You hurry to the big yellow phone book. You look up Nick’s phone number. You grab the phone and dial. It rings. And rings.

  And then you hear Nick’s voice. “Hello?”

  Finish your conversation on PAGE 17.

  You don’t want to spend the rest of your life as a bat. You’ve got to get to the crypt. You decide to fly. Luckily, the window is slightly open. You duck through it and glide out into the cool evening air.

  You realize you need to practice using your wings. First you try flapping, then you soar up and down. It’s kind of fun, dipping and swooping over the backyard.

  You also like your cool sonar system. Through your super bat’s ears, you’re able to hear thousands of times better than you could as a human. Insects sound as loud as cars did when you were a kid.

  Something makes a flapping sound to your right. Without even looking, your sonar tells you it’s a gnat. A thundering buzz, like the sound of a chain saw, comes from a june bug. You cannot only tell what the insects are, you can tell where they are.

  Your sonar informs you that a large moth is fluttering in the trees just ahead. The thought of the moth makes your mouth water. You realize you’re very, very hungry.

  A moth? You’re going to eat a moth?

  To find out what a moth tastes like, turn to PAGE 137.

  “Lara!” you call. “Martin! Marcie!”

  The only answer is the wind rustling through the trees. Your eyes search the cemetery, but your gaze falls only on crumbling headstones. You glance across the street at the mansion, but it’s completely dark. Has everyone gone home?

  Another bat flies by and you decide not to wait around. You race out of the cemetery and head for home.

  Later that night, you don’t feel very well. Your shoulders ache and your fingers feel stiff.

  Maybe you’re getting sick. You hope not. You don’t want to miss soccer practice. You climb into bed and drift into a troubled sleep. When you awaken a few hours later, it’s still dark, and you feel even worse.

  Maybe a drink of water would make you feel better. As you get up, you notice that your hands seem to be very stiff. You glance down and see something dark between all your fingers.

  It must be the shadows in the room, you think. Your feet don’t seem to be working very well, but somehow you make your way to the bathroom. You reach up to flip on the light. But the light switch isn’t where it’s supposed to be.

  Instead, it’s three feet above you! And the bathroom mirror is even higher.

  What’s going on? Hurry! Turn to PAGE 124.

  You hurry down the hall after the mummy. There’s not much time. You still need three more items for the scavenger hunt. There doesn’t seem to be any other way to get out of Bat Wing Hall.

  As you continue, the putrid smell grows stronger.

  Then, at the end of the hall, you see a beautiful, gold mummy case. And leaning against the wall beside it is the mummy!

  The mummy’s head rests on the case. Strange snorting noises come from under its bandages. With a start, you realize that the noises are snores. The mummy is asleep!

  You know that a piece of a mummy’s bandage is on the list. But what’s the best way to get one?

  You spot some torn pieces of bandage inside the mummy case. Should you take a piece from there?

  Or should you try to pull a strip off of the sleeping mummy?

  Either way, you’d better hurry. It’s less than an hour until midnight!

  To take a piece of bandage from the case, turn to PAGE 117.

  To tear a strip off the mummy, sneak over to PAGE 39.

  “Okay,” you tell the witch. “I’ll try to help you.”

  “You won’t regret it,” she promises. “Hurry around to the back of the box.”

  You do as she says. On the back of the clear box are two hand prints. “Place your hands on the prints,” the witch instructs. Once again, you follow her request.

  “Now repeat after me: Arikarem. Amikaroo.”

  You chant the magic words.

  “Now clap your hands,” she says. You clap.

  Nothing happens. You clap again. Still nothing.

  “What’s going on?” you demand impatiently.

  “I must have given you the wrong s
pell,” she admits. “I’m a little rusty with my magic after all these years. Now, what were those words?”

  “Hurry!” you cry. It’s ten minutes until midnight! You try to pull your hands away from the box. But they are stuck — as if they were glued! “Hurry,” you urge her again.

  “I’ve got it!” she announces. “Say the words: Spmubesoog. Spmubesoog.”

  You notice the witch has her fingers crossed — not a good sign! You repeat the magic words.

  Go to PAGE 18.

  A huge, dark shadow looms at the end of the street. It’s the mansion.

  You stop walking and gaze up at it. Nick shines his flashlight at the old house on the hill.

  Bat Wing Hall is a two-story, old-fashioned house. All the windows that aren’t boarded up are broken. Loose shingles flap from the roof. Paint peels from the weathered sides of the house. It looks as if no one has lived here for hundreds of years.

  You climb up to the sagging porch with Nick and Debbie. Tall, overgrown trees and bushes cast eerie shadows across the deserted lawn.

  “Isn’t this place awesome?” Debbie whispers to you.

  “Really cool,” you agree.

  “This house has been empty for two years,” Nick tells you. “Ever since crazy old Professor Krupnik died.”

  “No one will buy it because it’s haunted,” Debbie explains. You notice she’s chewing nervously at the ends of her long hair. Yuck!

  “The front door was boarded up until we figured out how to pry it open,” Debbie says. She points to the large wooden door. “Let’s go.”

  You take a step forward.

  “Stop!” Nick shouts. “Get down! Now!”

  If you do as Nick says, hurry to PAGE 19.

  If you ignore him and head for the door, go to PAGE 85.