Deep in the Jungle of Doom Page 7

  Sink on down to PAGE 27.

  Where could Zoe have gone? The tunnel is a dead end. There’s no way out and you were right behind her!

  “Zoe?” you call. “Zoe! Where are you?”

  Where are you? you? you? you? your voice echoes back.

  That’s when you notice the tip of a shoe sticking out from behind a boulder over to your left. It’s a green shoe. The tip of it curves upward … like an elf’s shoe.

  “Who’s there?” you demand.

  Turn to PAGE 26, quick.

  “But wait, Zoe, I could wish for more time!” you say, stooping to pick up the slimy piranha. It’s so slippery it nearly drops out of your hands before you can get the hook out.

  “You are SO right!” Zoe exclaims, spinning around. “We can wish ourselves right out of this mess!” She steps back out of the pool.

  “There you go,” you murmur as you ease the fish back into the water.

  The fish opens his mouth and a few bubbles escape. As the bubbles break on the surface, his words drift up to you.

  “What is it you wish for?”

  “I want to be out of this mess,” you nearly shout. “Take us back to our school group, up in the jungle.”

  The fish opens its mouth and a huge silver bubble pops up to the surface…. The word GRANTED! echoes through the cave.

  Your head is filling with silver light. It spreads throughout your whole body.

  Flash! Fly to PAGE 8.

  “Your Majesty.” You address the king. “I can honestly say I did not go into your jewel chamber.”

  “I believe you,” the king says to you. Then he straightens up and speaks to all the cave dwellers.

  “Three cheers for the humans!”

  The cave creatures shout, “Hip-hip-hooray!” They lift you down from the pyramid and carry you around on their scaly shoulders.

  You grin at Zoe as the cave people carry you around the cavern. They place you down in front of a long table. Platters of rich and exotic food are stacked on the table.

  You realize sometime during the feast that you were supposed to rejoin your school group back in the jungle.

  But there’s something about these cave dwellers that makes you want to stick around. Maybe forever.

  It could be their cute, fuzzy faces, or their pretty, glassy eyes. Or maybe it’s the magic “enslavement” powder they sprinkled on your food.

  You and Zoe live with the cave people for so long that you don’t even mind when moss grows on your face and your eyes turn to jelly!

  You’re just one of the gang, fuzz face!

  THE END

  You decide to hear what the king has to say.

  “Maybe the king will show us a way out,” you whisper to Zoe.

  “Humans!” his voice booms through the cavern. “Come forward!”

  Two of the rock people grab you, one on each arm. Their hands are covered in stone chips. The stones dig into your skin.

  “Ow!” you exclaim.

  “Let us go,” Zoe cries.

  The rock people drag you both up to the top of the pyramid. They throw you down at the king’s feet. Maybe you should have run when you had the chance!

  Turn to PAGE 135.

  You can sense that you are near water, so you keep running. Bullets rip through the leaves all around you.

  BANG! BANG!

  A beach! You leap out of the heavy foliage of the jungle onto the banks of a swift river.

  “Oh, no!” Gwen Shripp cries. “Don’t let it get to the water!”

  The bullets whiz at you from every direction. You kick off your sneakers and dive into the water. Your feet are webbed, too! You can swim incredibly well.

  You cut through the water away from Gwen Shripp, the world-famous hunter. The river is cold but it feels wonderful on your gooey skin. Your gigantic eyes immediately adjust to the darkness of the muddy river. You realize you can breathe underwater! The cool water flows through the gills on the side of your head.

  For the first time since you bit that strange fruit, all is calm and quiet around you. But not for long …

  SNAP! From behind you, a set of teeth clamps down on your leg! You cry out in surprise! What now?

  Turn to PAGE 72.

  “Let’s head that way,” you remark to Zoe. “Since there are so many little tunnels we’ll have a better chance of finding the gold.”

  “Excellent,” she agrees.

  You enter the tunnel. Small tunnels branch off like spokes on a wheel, or a giant spiderweb.

  “Let’s split up,” Zoe offers. “We’ll meet back here in five minutes.”

  “Okay,” you agree. You both check the time on your watches. “And if either of us gets lost, we’ll just call out to each other!”

  “You got it!” Zoe scrambles into a small tunnel to the left.

  You’ve only stepped a few feet into a different tunnel when you hear a heavy thud behind you.

  When you turn around your mouth drops open in shock. You see two long pointed feelers waving through the air.

  Your eyes are nearly popping out of your head.

  Scraping the top of the tunnel is a huge boulder held up by two big black pincers. The pincers belong to a giant ant! And it’s running at you.

  Full speed!

  Quick, bolt to PAGE 132.

  “Zoe!” you yell. “There are shrunken heads on this table!”

  “Let me see!” Zoe bends down next to you.

  The table is made out of old, cracked wood. A basket on the tabletop overflows with bananas, oranges, and pears.

  The little heads hang off the tabletop by red strings. Their skin is wrinkled and yellow — almost like old, dried up apples. Each head has a surprised expression on its tiny face.

  “Too creepy!” Zoe exclaims. “Let’s not stick around.”

  “I agree,” you say. “I wanted to have an adventure, but having my head shrunk wasn’t exactly what I had in mind….” You start to stand up and walk away from the strange table when you smell something delicious. It smells fantastic!

  “What’s that smell?” you ask Zoe.

  “It’s the weird fruit in that basket,” she replies.

  You turn back to the table. The fruit smells so good, you can’t believe it. It’s the most wonderful scent you’ve ever smelled in your life. Your mouth starts to water. You can almost taste the sugary flavor of fruit upon your tongue.

  You have to have some of that fruit. You don’t care what else you do, you have to taste that fruit.

  You reach out with your hand and pick up a beautiful green pear. You sink your teeth into it.

  Quick! Turn to PAGE 65.

  You turn quickly. A tall man is standing behind you! He wears a robe of leopard skins and carries a big stick in one hand. His face is painted with stripes. And he wears a big feathery hat, just like the witch doctors you’ve seen in movies!

  The Muglani places a heavy hand on your shoulder.

  Your mind races. What should you do? The Muglani doesn’t have a very good grip on you. You could wiggle out of his grasp and run away. Or you could try to reason with him. He doesn’t look very dangerous.

  To escape from the Muglani, slip away to PAGE 67.

  To reason with him, proceed to PAGE 50.

  “GRRRRRR!” The stone creature opens its mouth to roar. You see rows and rows of white stone teeth like sharp rocks.

  You tighten your grip on the stick and prepare to fight.

  “Don’t be crazy!” Zoe shouts from the pool. “He’s much too big for you …”

  Too late for that now. The gargoyle pounces, flying through the air.

  RRRRRRRIP! Its cold, stone claws tear through the material of your shirt as it pushes you down.

  The stone beast pins you to the ground by your shoulders. It sticks out its tongue and licks your face!

  “AAAAHHHH!” You scream in pain as the rough surface of its tongue scrapes across your cheek … over and over and over again.

  Looks like he’s got you lick
ed….

  THE END

  I’d better go get Zoe now! you think to yourself. It would be terrible to leave your friend stuck in the mountain.

  You crawl into the damp earthen tunnel again. You have dirt crusted in your hair. It’s all over your clothes. It’s even in the soles of your sneakers.

  All of a sudden you bump into something. Something that wasn’t in the tunnel before. Something soft.

  You poke at it with one hand. It pushes back against you! You try to crawl backward through the hole, but it’s useless.

  So that’s who made this tunnel, you think. A GIANT EARTHWORM! And unfortunately, this worm is no ordinary giant earthworm. It’s a carnivorous night crawler. One of the many rare species that live in the jungle.

  Normal earthworms take dirt in through one end, mash it up, and squirt it out the other end.

  This worm eats people! It sucks you in, mushes you up, and squirts you out the other

  END.

  “Okay,” you announce. “I accept your challenge.”

  “Good,” Cronby says. “If you get it right, I’ll give you three pieces of gold, and you and Zoe will go free. If you lose though” — he rubs his hands together greedily — “I get to keep BOTH you and Zoe!”

  Gulp!

  “What’s the question?” you ask. In your head you’re trying to remember every GOOSEBUMPS book you ever read.

  “Hmmmmmm…. In a book called The Cuckoo Clock of Doom, there’s a boy who has a little sister who’s a real pain. Is her name Tara the Terrible or Tanya the Terror?”

  That question IS harder…. But you know the answer!

  If you think her name was “Tara the Terrible,” go to PAGE 74.

  If you think it was “Tanya the Terror,” go to PAGE 32.

  The hunter is raising her gun toward you! You don’t have a moment to lose! You jump out from beneath the table and bound into the jungle.

  You’re into the dense leaves and vines before the hunters can stop you. Their reflexes are slow. They’re probably still shocked by the way you look! Even Gwen Shripp looks stunned. Her mouth hangs open. But only for a moment.

  “Quickly! After it!” Gwen commands.

  “But what IS it?” her husband asks nervously.

  “It appears to be some new species of amphibian,” you hear the hunter reply. “Whatever it is, I’m going to get it!”

  Keep running to PAGE 101, as fast as you can!

  The king gazes into Zoe’s face and bellows, “If you want us to show you the way out — YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE TO EARN IT!” He lets go of her and she tumbles back to the ground next to you.

  “I shall set you a task. If you can accomplish it in a certain amount of time, I will let you go free. If you cannot …” The king shakes his horned head sadly.

  “Your Majesty, what will happen to us if we can’t do it?” you ask bravely.

  “I WILL KEEP YOU HERE AS MY SLAVES FOREVER!” he roars.

  All the stone people snort and giggle as if their king just told the best joke ever.

  The king claps his stony hands three times. “Bring forward the timepiece!” he commands.

  Turn forward to PAGE 120.

  “Row, row, row your boat,” you sing.

  The tigers cock their heads at you and listen. It’s working!

  “Gently down the stream,” your voice wavers. Why can’t you think of the words to any good songs?

  As you sing, the tigers tap their paws and seem to enjoy the music. Cool! You’ve made friends with them.

  “Okay, guys,” you say, “I’ll just be going now!” You grab on to some roots sticking out of the clay wall and try to lift yourself up.

  Immediately, the tiger skeletons rip at the air with their claws. You jump away from their razor-sharp nails.

  “Row, row, row your boat,” you sing until the tigers settle down again. “Gently down the stream.”

  You’ve found two real music lovers. And you’re stuck with them, forever.

  As long as you never stop singing, everything will go just merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily …

  THE END

  You shoot down the smooth and polished tunnel. The floor is covered by a slimy, watery moss.

  You are gaining speed!

  The sides of the chute are spotted with weird pink flowers growing in packs.

  They have thick, fleshy petals. They look like big tongues sticking out of the wall. Gross! You do everything you can to avoid them.

  Then you see the biggest of the tongue-flowers ahead of you. It hangs down in the tunnel, blocking your way.

  You fly at it headfirst and get stuck on it!

  It licks you! Yuck!

  You punch and kick at the disgusting flower.

  Finally, you slip past it and land in a heap on the floor of a small room.

  In the center of the room is a still pool of water. Zoe is standing at the side of the pool, staring down into it.

  “Took you long enough!” she jokes. “Check this out! I found our last piece of gold! The only question is … how do we get it out?”

  Go to PAGE 100 to find out.

  “Yeah, right,” Zoe mumbles, rolling her eyes. “We’ll fish for piranha! There’s only about a million fish in there. It won’t take any time at all!”

  You ignore her sarcasm and carefully lower the makeshift fishing hook into the pool.

  The piranha swarm around it, thrashing and fighting each other. The water boils with their whipping bodies.

  Then the piranha thrash out of the water! Jumping all over you! You feel their sharp teeth on your arms and legs.

  “Help me!” you cry to Zoe, brushing wildly at the deadly piranha. Zoe slaps at the fish. One by one, they fall to the floor, flipping and thrashing around.

  You knock the last one off and stand there catching your breath. The piranha on the ground finally stop moving.

  “I can’t believe it!” Zoe whispers in amazement.

  “I didn’t think they would attack me! But it actually worked! They’re dead!”

  “All except for one!” Zoe remarks, pointing at the pool. “The mother of them all …”

  Hook the big one on PAGE 61.

  Four servants hurry up the steps of the pyramid with a huge golden cage. Within the cage is an enormous hourglass. They place the timepiece in front of the king.

  The king points a stony finger at you and Zoe. “You must bring me three pieces of gold from inside this mountain.” His voice echoes through the cavern. “You have one Palooka to find the gold.”

  “One WHAT?” Zoe asks.

  “One Palooka!” the king answers. “It’s our unit of time measurement here in the mountain.”

  “Pardon me, sir,” you interject. “But do you know what that breaks down to in human time? Hours and minutes maybe?” You tap on your watch to show him what you’re talking about.

  “I don’t know,” the king snaps. “Here, take my pocket timepiece.” He hands you a beautiful little hourglass in a silver box. It’s so small it fits right in your hand.

  “That was a gift from my mother,” the king says, bowing his head. “If you lose it, I will boil you in lava!” He doesn’t look like he’s joking either!

  “On the count of three we will flip the timepieces together. ONE … TWO …

  Quick, turn to PAGE 3.

  The king opens the tent flaps and sticks his head in. He sneers at you.

  Your heartbeat quickens as you stare at the slimy, mossy face of the king.

  How did he find you? you wonder. What’s he going to do?

  The hourglass in your hands feels as if it’s made of ice. You try to hide it behind your back but the king sees it.

  “GIVE ME MY TIMEPIECE!” he commands.

  Shaking from head to foot, you pass him the beautiful little hourglass.

  With a flash, the king tosses a handful of powder on you and vanishes.

  Coughing, you wave your hand in the air. You are choking on the gritty dust. Choking and shivering. It�
��s getting cold.

  Very cold.

  Dead cold.

  Maybe it’s because the king scared you so much. Or maybe it’s the chilly jungle breezes in your tent.

  Or maybe it’s because you are turning to stone. You’ll be famous when they find your stony body in the morning.

  You’ll be a regular ROCK STAR!

  THE END

  You reach out and shake Unger’s hand. They’re strange old women, but they seem to be friendly. Besides, you need all the help you can get!

  “Can you help us find the Fireheart fruit?” you ask. “We read in a pamphlet that the Fireheart fruit is an antidote to the Muglani magic.”

  “Aha!” Unger shouts. “You read our pamphlet! We published that booklet to warn people about the Muglani!”

  She looks very pleased that you read their booklet.

  “You see, my sister was a victim of their magic. They shrank her head! I have it right in my bag to remind me to be on the lookout for them!”

  “So that’s why she has the head!” you murmur to Ben.

  “Now, let’s go!” Unger hollers. “We will take you to the Fireheart fruit right now! Then you will be a kid again!”

  Excellent!

  Turn to PAGE 62 to follow the Warrior Women.

  “Well, to tell you the truth,” you say hesitantly, “yes, I did.”

  As you see the king’s face turn from gold to red, you start apologizing fast.

  “You didn’t say we couldn’t go in there!” you stammer. “I didn’t even know what the room was. I ended up in there by mistake. I’m sorry.” You and Zoe start backing away from the king. You step down the first few steps of the pyramid.

  “Seize them!” the king commands in a booming voice.