Diary of a Mad Mummy Page 8

  It takes some quick thinking, but finally the two of you find your way back to the hotel. Without getting caught. Your parents never know that you were gone.

  But before you go to sleep, there’s one last thing you’ve got to do. You and Derek hurry over to the Pyramid Building and sneak into the lobby. You just have to find out! Is the mummy still on display?

  “Derek!” you cry, as soon as you step inside. “Look!”

  The entire lobby is empty. There is no mummy case. No Egyptian display. Everything — every scrap of evidence that the mummy was ever there — is gone.

  As if it had never been there …

  THE END

  “He has a computer chip in his brain!” Dr. Lacey cries.

  Seriously?

  You hop off the examining table and hurry over to get a look for yourself. Yup. It’s true! There’s some kind of weird computer chip in your brain.

  For the next three days, the doctors perform six jillion tests on you. Luckily, they don’t cut you open.

  And guess what? It turns out that the ancient Egyptians were on the verge of discovering computer technologies! At least that’s what one of the scientists thinks. The computer chip in your brain is simple, but it works. It allows you to move around.

  At first, it’s fun being a scientific miracle. You like all the attention. They put your picture in all the newspapers. Reporters come to interview you. They even make a TV special about you.

  But after a while, the fun begins to wear off. You start to miss your family. Even Susie, the squirt.

  So you decide to write Dr. Lacey a note. You want to explain that you’re really a kid, not a mummy. And that you want her to help you change back.

  But all of your writing comes out looking like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics! Even you can’t read it. It looks like this:

  Which, translated, means:

  THE END

  You clutch Derek’s hand. “Don’t answer it!” you whisper.

  Derek stares at you. “But it might be room service,” he protests.

  “Room service? Now?” You glance at the clock. It’s one A.M.

  “Yeah. We ordered food three hours ago, remember?” Derek says. “But it never came. Maybe that’s it now.”

  “Or maybe it’s the mummy,” you argue.

  “Only one way to find out,” Derek tells you.

  He’s right. And as scared as you are, you know you have to find out.

  Is there a living mummy on the other side of the door?

  “Okay,” you grumble. “A quick peek.”

  “Hold on a second.” Derek grabs the diary out of your hands and shoves it under his mattress. Then he nods at you. You cross to the door and take a deep breath.

  You open the door just a crack and peer out.

  All you can see is a gauzy bandaged arm.

  Are you going to open the door all the way?

  If no, turn to PAGE 23.

  If yes, turn to PAGE 40.

  Almost at once, the torch flickers out.

  But you don’t care. You’ve made your decision. You’re going left, right, right, straight.

  In the dark, you walk boldly forward, your arms outstretched at your sides. You run your fingertips along both walls as you go.

  Pretty soon, you feel the passageway begin to turn. You’ve come to your first choice.

  You turn left.

  You walk a little farther and turn right. You keep walking.

  Suddenly, in the pitch-darkness, you feel two hands on your face.

  “Aargh!” you want to scream.

  But no sound comes out. Your voice is choked with fear.

  “Boo!” a voice says.

  BOO?

  Boo who?

  Turn to PAGE 134.

  The Great Pyramid?

  You stare at the guard, your head spinning. You studied Egypt in school. The Great Pyramid is the biggest pyramid in the world. The one that sits in the desert near the Sphinx.

  Yup. You’re definitely in Egypt.

  “But I just came out of there!” you try to explain. “Only it wasn’t the Great Pyramid. It was the Pyramid Building!”

  The guard laughs. “Ha! You mean that silly building in America?” He shakes his head and laughs again.

  “You’ve got to believe me,” you plead. “And look at this!” You shove the diary toward the guard. “This diary. It was written in English a few minutes ago. And now it’s all changed to hieroglyphs!”

  Before the guard can take the diary, a young man in a tan suit, sunglasses, and a straw hat approaches you.

  “I see you have the famous diary of Buthrama-man,” the man says. He sounds American. “May I see it?”

  “Don’t give it to him!” the young Egyptian shouts. “Give it to me!”

  If you show the diary to the American, turn to PAGE 5.

  If you give it to the Egyptian, turn to PAGE 22.

  If you turn and run from both of them, turn to PAGE 106.

  With all your strength, you wrestle the croc, trying to pry his mouth open. You throw yourself to the ground, whipping the croc off the stairs and over onto his back.

  Frantically, you plunge your hand into your pocket. You pull out a few Fruity Bites and toss them into his mouth, next to where your leg is. The croc opens his jaws wide … wider….

  Could it be? Yes! He’s letting you escape!

  You jump out of his jaws superfast. But as soon as you’re out, the croc smacks his lips together and opens wide.

  You can tell from the look on his face that he only wants one thing: more Fruity Bites!

  You toss him another handful of Fruity Bites and hurry away.

  Uh-oh. Don’t look now. With a slap-slap of his stubby legs, the croc follows you! Like a puppy, begging for more candy.

  He snaps his jaws together twice. A warning. And you know what it means. Give him Fruity Bites now — or else!

  Well, as long as you can afford to keep buying Fruity Bites, you’ll stay alive. BUT YOU’RE IN EGYPT. Where are you going to buy Fruity Bites around here?

  Guess you’re up the Nile without a paddle. To the crocodile, you look like one big Fruity Bite.

  THE END

  You still look confused, so Web explains it all to you.

  The diary you found on the floor in San Francisco? That was planted there by the FBI. When you went to the basement of the Pyramid Building, you found their fake version of the inside of a real pyramid.

  “You thought you wandered through the basement and came out in Egypt, but you didn’t,” Web tells you. “We put a special sleeping gas in the air-conditioning ducts. You fell asleep, and while you were out cold, we had you flown out to Egypt. Your parents knew about this, of course. You woke up in the real pyramid and didn’t remember a thing. And the rest has been a test. To see how you handle yourself in tough situations.”

  “Wow!” you exclaim. “Cool! So now I work for the FBI?”

  “Yup,” Web says. “You get to skip school for a whole year. And we’ll even pay you. Congratulations!” He raises his glass of lemonade in a toast.

  “Thanks!” you answer with a huge grin, picking up your own lemonade. Without thinking, you take a big swig.

  Oooops. Remember how your lemonade was blue? There was sleeping potion in it! Oh, well. You’ll wake up soon, but they’ll never let you be a secret agent now. Too bad you made a mistake when you were so close to a happy

  END

  Yikes!

  You jump, stumbling over Derek’s cot. When you catch your balance, you spin around. You see your brother grinning at you in the dim light.

  “What are you doing up?” Derek whispers. He lets go of your arm. “Where did you go?”

  “Shhhh,” you whisper, pointing at Susie. You don’t want him to wake her.

  Then you tell him all about the mummy. And the mummy’s diary.

  “Let me see it,” Derek demands, sitting on his cot. He loves this kind of thing.

  With the light from the bathroom, you
can see the diary lying on top of your sleeping bag. You had to bring your sleeping bag along, because the hotel couldn’t fit another cot in the room.

  The diary is right where you left it.

  Except …

  You didn’t leave it lying open, did you?

  You rush over and pick up the ancient book.

  Someone has just written in the diary! And the ink is still wet!

  Find out what it says on PAGE 118.

  You’ve got to read more of this. It’s amazing. The mummy writes it with his mind!

  But just then you hear your mother calling your name. “Yoo-hoo.” Again she calls you. “Bring Susie and come on!” she says.

  You’ve got to get away so you can look at the diary. You don’t want your parents to see it and take it away from you. Not after you just found it! You scan the lobby for someplace to go.

  You spot an elevator.

  Hmmm. Maybe you can duck in there and zoom to the top of the pyramid. Finish reading the diary before someone finds you.

  Or maybe you should just keep the diary hidden and wait. You don’t want to get into trouble with Mom and Dad. And besides, your hotel isn’t too far away. You could sneak back here tonight to see if the mummy really escapes. The diary says, “Tonight … I will escape my prison.” So what will it be?

  If you come back tonight, turn to PAGE 20.

  If you take the elevator now, turn to PAGE 43.

  Somehow you manage to stumble over to the row of bird-faced statues. When you get there, you realize what the nose on the drawing is for.

  There among the statues — halfway between the “eyes” and the “mouth” — is a hole in the sand. And some steps that lead down into it.

  You hadn’t noticed it until now, but the sun is setting against some sand dunes behind you. It looks just like the picture making the nose in the smiley face!

  You notice it now because at that precise angle, the sun’s rays reach all the way to the bottom of the hole in the sand. And there you see something amazing.

  GOLD. Tons of it. Coins, little statues, scepters, and crowns. All made of gold. The treasure of King Buthramaman.

  So that’s why everybody wants the diary. It’s a treasure map!

  But gold’s not all you see down there.

  You also see teeth.

  Sharp, pointy teeth.

  Two rows of them. Grinning up from the gigantic mouth of … a crocodile!

  As carefully as you can, turn to PAGE 46.

  The hand taps you again. “You’re it!” the voice calls. Then laughs.

  You recognize that laugh.

  It’s your brother, Derek!

  You made it! You made it back to the Pyramid Building.

  “Derek, what are you doing down here?” you ask.

  “Boy, are you going to get it!” he declares. “Mom and Dad are really worried. And they’re mad you left Susie all alone. They have people searching the whole building for you. They sent me down here to the basement.”

  You try to explain to Derek about the mummy, but he only laughs and shakes his head. Then he grabs you by the ear. He drags you through a door you hadn’t seen before and up some stairs.

  He’s right about your parents. They’re really steamed. As far as you’re concerned, this book might as well be titled, Diary of a Mad Mommy.

  You can forget about any more exploring. You’re grounded for a month!

  THE END

  Web glances at your glass of lemonade and smiles. “Special Egyptian recipe,” he says. “I thought you might like it. It’s sweeter this way.” He leans back and waits for you to taste your drink first. He’s being awfully polite.

  What do you do? You don’t want to offend him by not accepting the drink. And you are really thirsty. You can feel sand in the back of your throat.

  But the lemonade is blue. And you’re not so sure lemonade should be blue.

  If you take a sip, turn to PAGE 85.

  If you rudely reach across the table and take Web’s drink instead, turn to PAGE 97.

  “Oh, sorry.” The guy presses a button on the remote and the mummy releases you. You crash to the floor.

  A young woman with dark, curly hair rushes into the lobby. You figure she must be Sylvia. She races over to the mummy. “Brad! Is Manny okay?” she asks.

  “I think he’s fine,” Brad tells her.

  “What about me?” you grumble. You scramble to your feet. Your neck hurts where the mummy choked you, your toe hurts where you kicked him, and your backside hurts where you landed.

  Sylvia turns to you, eyes flashing. “What were you doing to Manny?” She puts her arm around the mummy.

  “I wasn’t doing anything to him,” you protest. “He was trying to kill me!”

  Brad and Sylvia laugh. “I guess it works,” Brad says.

  Brad and Sylvia explain that Manny the Mummy is a robot. He’s part of a publicity stunt for the exhibit. They were just testing him out to make sure he worked. “We didn’t expect anyone else to be around in the middle of the night!” Brad says.

  Manny the Mummy is totally cool! So are Brad and Sylvia. They let you play with the controls. They even ask you to be part of the promotion! You get to be the one who screams.

  THE END

  BEWARE!!

  DO NOT READ THIS

  BOOK FROM

  BEGINNING TO END!

  Welcome to the Carnival of Horrors. This is no ordinary carnival. Here you’ll find awesome rides. Exciting games of chance. And the weirdest Freak Show ever.

  Do you dare to enter?

  Are you brave enough to risk the Supersonic Space Coaster? Can you make it through the House of Horrors alive?

  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’ll escape from the spine-tingling Carnival of Horrors in time. If you make the wrong choice … BEWARE!

  So take a long, deep breath, cross your fingers, and turn to PAGE 1 to GIVE YOURSELF GOOSEBUMPS!

  “What do you want to do?”

  “I don’t know, Patty. What do you want to do?”

  “Not fair, Brad. I asked you first.”

  Patty and Brad. Your two best friends. Arguing. As usual.

  It’s the last week of August. And Patty and Brad haven’t stopped fighting since your summer vacation started.

  Patty likes being bossy. You don’t mind, though. It’s no big deal.

  It’s hard to win a fight with her anyway. You don’t know why Brad even tries. You guess it’s because he doesn’t want to look like a wimp in front of a girl.

  “There’s nothing to do. I guess I’ll just go home,” Brad says. He shoves his hands in his pockets. Then his shoulders slump and he sort of shrivels up. You guess Brad is kind of a wimp — even if he is your best friend.

  “You’re so boring, Brad,” Patty complains. Whenever Patty complains, her freckles really pop out. Now there are about a million of them spread across her face.

  “Hey! I know what we should do!” Patty suddenly bursts out.

  Go to PAGE 2.

  “Let’s bike over to Bennet’s Field and watch them set up the carnival!”

  “I don’t know,” you answer. “It’s getting dark, and Mom said I have to be in by nine.”

  “It’s only a quick bike ride,” Brad says. “Are you some kind of wimp?”

  Brad calling you a wimp? You can’t believe it!

  “Okay. Okay,” you agree. “But if it’s as bad as last year, there won’t be much to see. Don’t you remember the main attraction?” you remind them. “The ride they called Terror Track? It turned out to be a baby choo-choo train that circled around and around and around.”

  It doesn’t matter what you say. Patty’s made up her mind. You’re going to ride over to the carnival.

  A hot, humid breeze blows in your fac
e as you pedal along. Patty’s in the lead. No surprise. And Brad’s puffing behind you.

  It’s dark by the time you reach Bennet’s Field.

  You and your friends drop your bikes in the grass and race across the moonlit field, toward the huge wooden fence that surrounds the carnival.

  To take a closer look, turn to PAGE 3.

  As you reach the carnival entrance, you hear music coming from inside. Not the usual corny organ stuff they always play. But some really strange music. It sounds familiar and totally new at the same time.

  Brad stretches his neck to try to peer over the fence. But no luck. The fence is way too high.

  Patty jiggles the padlock on the gate. It’s sealed shut.

  “I guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow night when the carnival opens,” Brad says.

  “No way,” Patty says. “Let’s climb the fence. Now!”

  “Are you crazy?” Brad says. “We’ll get caught!”

  “Come on. There’s probably no one in there,” Patty replies.

  Your friends turn to you to cast the deciding vote. You glance at your watch. It’s almost 9:00 P.M. If you’re going to get home in time, you should start back now.

  What are you going to do?

  If you decide to go home, turn to PAGE 10.

  If you climb the fence to get inside, turn to PAGE 6.

  R.L. Stine’s books are read all over the world. So far, his books have sold more than 300 million copies, making him one of the most popular children’s authors in history. Besides Goosebumps, R.L. Stine has written the teen series Fear Street and the funny series Rotten School, as well as the Mostly Ghostly series, The Nightmare Room series, and the two-book thriller Dangerous Girls. R.L. Stine lives in New York with his wife, Jane, and Minnie, his King Charles spaniel. You can learn more about him at www.RLStine.com.