by RL Stine
“I’m not a bat!” you squeak again, but you know it’s hopeless.
“Come back here!” Marcie shouts. She swats at you again, brushing one of your wings. You stagger against a wall and almost fall to the ground.
You’ve got to escape from her!
You spot a staircase leading to the second floor a few feet ahead. To your left is what appears to be the kitchen.
Quick! Choose an escape route and get out of the hall!
If you fly to the kitchen, turn to PAGE 104.
If you escape up the stairs, go to PAGE 10.
“Help!” Lara shrieks. “It’s got me!” She struggles as the hand begins to pull her into the ground.
“What is it?” Marcie yells, terror in her voice.
“It’s a corpse!” Martin cries. “It’s pulling her under!”
You throw your arms around Lara, but you’re no match for the powerful creature dragging her down. A moment later, you feel something clutching your own ankle.
“No!” you scream. “No!”
You hear Marcie and Martin screaming and see that rotting hands have grabbed them, too. All four of you are being pulled deeper and deeper into the soft, rotten-smelling ground.
“Help us, Professor Krupnik!” you call. You’re up to your neck in the soil. “I got them out of the house! Now save us!”
At first there is no answer. Then you hear an evil-sounding, ghostly chuckle. “Why would I want you to meet in my graveyard any more than in my mansion?” the ghost asks.
You start to protest, but your mouth is filling up with dirt. Too bad, it looks as if you learned a lesson the hard way — never trust a ghost!
THE END
“I made it!” you cry. “I’m safe!”
Then you see Nick strolling down the hallway toward you. His long reptile tail drags behind him, sending up clouds of dust.
“It’s all over!” he calls triumphantly.
“What do you mean?” you cry.
“I mean — too bad,” Nick sneers. “You didn’t find all the items in time. You lose.”
“Hold on,” you protest. “I still have an hour.”
“Check your watch,” Nick hisses. “It’s now one minute to midnight.”
You gaze at your watch. “Oh, no!” you cry out. To your horror, you see that Nick is right. You were sent back an hour later than when you left!
Now you feel your teeth begin to lengthen and grow down over your lips. Enormous warts pop out all over your skin. Your body hunches and your arms sweep the ground. Sorry! The red stone wasn’t much help. It returned you to your own time at the WRONG time!
THE END
You listen to the monsters talk.
“It’s almost midnight,” Connor says.
“Soon our friend will join us,” Nick adds.
“It’s good to have some new blood,” Debbie agrees.
You press your ear closer and continue to listen.
“I can’t believe the Horror Club has been around for five hundred years,” Nick says. “We’ve had so many members.”
“Yeah,” Debbie agrees. “It’s too bad we lose so many of them. I don’t understand why this house turns most of our new members to stone.”
Nick starts to speak again. But you stop listening. Turn to stone? Can that be true? Forget the scavenger hunt, you say to yourself. Just find a way to leave!
But you can’t. You can’t move. Not a muscle.
You have become strangely stiff. Your feet feel as heavy as rocks.
Then you look down to see that your feet are rocks!
Too bad! It looks as if the only thing left for you to do is join a rock group!
THE END
“The game is called The Hunt,” Marcie tells you. “I am captain of the Blue Team. Nick is captain of the Red Team.”
You watch as Nick picks Debbie and a skinny boy named Connor to be on his team. Connor has short bristly hair and a very strange smell. As Connor walks by, you decide he smells as if he’s been lying in a Dumpster!
For the Blue Team, Marcie chooses a beautiful girl with long blond hair and green eyes. Her name is Lara. She smiles shyly at you. Marcie also picks the guy in the muscle shirt.
“Hi, I’m Martin,” the kid says, pounding you on the back. “Welcome to the Horror Club!” He laughs, then flexes his muscles. You step back. Martin’s arm is bigger than your whole body!
“That’s three on each team,” Marcie announces. “Our new member can join either one.” She turns to you. “It’s up to you. Which team will you join?”
Would you rather hang out with Nick, Debbie, and Connor on the Red Team? Or get to know Lara, Marcie, and Martin on the Blue Team?
To join the Red Team, turn to PAGE 88.
To join the Blue Team, turn to PAGE 33.
You need only one bone. You take a deep breath and grab hold of the skeleton hand. The yellowed fingers feel icy-cold. You grasp the pinky and twist. It comes loose with a sickening snap. You drop it in your pocket, and try not to think about it. Too much.
You glance at the list again. Now all you have to do is find the three other items — three hairs from a werewolf, a straw from a witch’s broom, and a piece from a mummy’s bandage. The faster, the better, you think.
You dart out of the kitchen and return to the dining room.
“Psst. Psst.”
You gaze around nervously.
“Over here!” Debbie whispers from a shadowy corner.
Find out what Debbie wants on PAGE 6.
You turn to the left and jog down the narrow hallway. You listen for the three monsters. But all you hear are your own sneakers slapping against the floorboards as you run.
The end of the hall is dark — pitch-black. You wish you had a flashlight. You can’t even see your own feet!
You slow down and place one hand on the wall to guide you. You wonder if you should turn back. Then you feel something — something rough and bristly.
Your fingers tighten around it. You squint in the blackness.
It’s a rope. No, you realize suddenly, it’s a rope ladder!
The ladder runs up the wall. You decide to climb it. You’ve got nothing to lose, you figure. And there might be a way out at the top!
You grab on tightly to the rope and begin to climb. The rope rubs roughly against your hands, making them burn, but you ignore the pain and keep climbing.
The ladder sways from side to side with each step. Your stomach lurches, but you continue on. You concentrate on not looking down.
Then you hit the final rung.
You carefully reach a hand up to the ceiling and feel a sliding door!
Open the door on PAGE 131.
You approach the heavy stone door of the crypt. Instead of a doorknob, it has a thick iron ring. Chiseled into the stone above the ring are these words:
WHO TURNS THE STONE WILL GROW BAT BONES
What could that possibly mean? you wonder. A sudden movement draws your attention. Near the top of the crypt you see a small hole — about your size. While you watch, a tiny black bat flies out of the hole and flutters off into the night.
Outrageous, you think. Maybe you can catch a bat inside the crypt. That would win the contest for sure.
But how will you get inside? The door is covered with cobwebs. Obviously, it hasn’t been opened in a long time. Maybe you could climb to the top of the crypt and crawl in through the hole the bat came out of.
Or maybe you should just try to pull the big stone door open. It might work.
Which will you try?
If you crawl in through the hole, turn to PAGE 32.
If you try to open the stone door, go to PAGE 9.
You’ve decided to find the cemetery on your own. You’re a little concerned about how the couple might react to a talking bat.
You begin to fly up, as high as you can go. Soon your whole neighborhood lies below you, as tiny as the town in a model train set. You scan the houses and streets. You have to peer hard — your bat vision isn�
��t very good. But then you see it — the cemetery across the street from Bat Wing Hall.
You swoop toward the cemetery, but a stiff wind blows you in the other direction. You struggle to get back on course, but you’re still not very good at flying.
You fight the gusty wind and finally reach the cemetery. You aim at a tree and land clumsily on the tip of a branch. You notice that the sky is beginning to grow light — you’ve been out all night!
You yawn, then glance around the cemetery. You spot the Krupnik Crypt behind some trees. You fly toward the crypt and notice that the door is still wide open. You swoop inside just as the sun begins to rise.
CLANG! The stone door slams shut behind you.
You’re trapped!
Go on to PAGE 55.
You stare at Nick, Debbie, and Connor’s gruesome faces. There’s no question they’re monsters. Real monsters.
“Let me out of here!” you cry.
Nick still blocks the door. You spot a window in the living room. You take a deep breath and race for it.
You’re fast. You always win the fifty-yard dash at school. But against these monsters, you’re not fast enough.
Debbie easily beats you to the window. The tarantulas scurry through her spiderweb hair as she cackles, “There’s no way out!”
“Please, let me go home,” you plead. “I won’t tell anyone your secret. Just let me go.”
“No way!” Nick cries, as he enters the living room with Connor. “There’s no escape from the Horror Club.”
“Well,” Debbie says, “that’s not exactly true. There is one way out.”
You gaze around the room, searching frantically for an exit. The three monsters circle you. You don’t see any way past them. “Where is it?” you ask. “How do I get out?”
Nick glares at Debbie.
“Your only hope,” Debbie says, ignoring Nick, “is to play the game.”
Go to PAGE 48.
You try to duck under the tidal wave of mud. But the force is too strong. You are sucked deeper and deeper into the mud.
But Nick jumps over the wave. And he makes it!
“You lost!” Nick cries in triumph.
“Wait —” you cry. “Let me —”
“Forget it!” Connor roars. “We made a deal! Now just hold still, and it will be over in a minute.”
You drop your head into your hands. In a few minutes, you’ll be a monster, too.
You try to look on the bright side — you’ll still be able to play video games. In fact, you’re ready to ask Nick for a rematch.
THE END
“Let’s check out the science store,” you tell your friends. Maybe there will be something there that will help you with your problem.
“Cool!” Lara exclaims. She leads the way to the upper level. A big banner hangs in front of a store declaring UNCLE ED’S SCIENCE EMPORIUM. This looks promising, you think. You push through the door, and the others follow you.
“Look at this great gear!” Martin says. “There’s all kinds of kits and experiments.”
“Cool!” Marcie points to an exhibit where you can examine your own fingerprints under a magnifying glass.
“What are those?” Lara asks. You follow her to an exhibit of tropical insects. The insects are inside a glass case. You gaze at them in fascination. They’re all colors of the rainbow, and some of the beetles are as big as mice!
“Yuck!” Lara says.
You don’t pay any attention. Staring at the insects has reminded you how hungry you are. Instead of flying around and eating a couple of dozen moths, you could eat just one of these beetles for a whole meal!
No, you tell yourself. No, no, no! But as you continue to gaze at the beetles, your mouth begins to water. Suddenly, the bat in you takes over.
Hurry to PAGE 41.
You’ve got to go back to the Krupnik Crypt — right now!
Luckily, your mom works on Saturday. “Are you sure you’ll be all right?” she asks, poking her head into the dark bedroom before she leaves.
“I’m fine,” you tell her. “Just tired.” The second you hear the front door slam, you pull on a turtleneck, a heavy coat, gloves, dark glasses, and a hat. That should protect you from the sun.
Only it doesn’t. You manage to get as far as the end of the driveway before your skin starts to blister.
You’ll have to wait until dark.
That evening you tell your parents you’re going to a movie with a friend. From the window in your room, you watch the sun sink below the horizon. As soon as it sets, you turn to leave for the mansion.
But the floor has suddenly become very far away. You watch in horror as black hairs sprout all over your arms. Your fingers stiffen, and black webs spread between them. Your mouth tingles as fangs burst through your gums. You hang your furry head as you realize the sad truth:
You’re a bat — again.
Flutter to PAGE 92.
Four kids sit in a circle on the living room floor. A big yellow candle flickers in the center.
They all turn and stare at you.
No one seems happy to see you.
You stand awkwardly as Nick introduces you and says, “This is our newest member.”
“What are you talking about?” cries a girl with short, curly red hair. She glares at you.
“I’ve brought a new member to the Horror Club,” Nick repeats.
“Not today!” exclaims a large boy with bulging arm muscles.
“Why not?” Debbie asks, squirming next to you.
“Didn’t anyone tell you?” asks another girl. “Tonight’s the special night. You’ve got to get that kid out of here. We’re not telling stories tonight. The plan has changed!”
Discover what’s happening tonight on PAGE 128.
“What was that noise?” Lara cries, glancing up. And then she sees you. “A bat!” she shrieks. “Gross, a bat!” She jumps off her bed and tears out of the room.
A moment later she returns with a big can of bug spray.
“Get out of here!” she shrieks. She turns the nozzle at you and presses her finger down on the spray button.
You don’t know if bug spray can hurt bats, and you don’t want to find out. You swoop out the window before the spray can reach you.
“Don’t come back!” Lara screams, slamming the window shut.
You’re so upset, you can barely flap your wings as you fly home. How are you ever going to get anyone to help you? Will you have to remain a bat for the rest of your life?
You slip into your room, wondering what to do. You flutter over to your bed. There’s a note on your pillow from your mom: Lara called. Meet her at the fountain in the mall at 3:00 tomorrow.
You immediately feel better. Lara invited you to the mall with Marcie and Martin! You’ve definitely been accepted by these new kids. Maybe they’ll be able to help you.
All you have to do is find a way to get to the mall without being fried by the sun.
Will you be able to do it? Swoop over to PAGE 133.
“What do you mean?” you demand. “All I want to do is return to the crypt!”
“There’s only one way back there,” the blue head says.
“And it’s extremely dangerous,” the red head adds. The blue head nods in agreement.
“We can tell you how to go safely — on one condition,” the blue head says. “Come with us on a tour of the library. No one has visited us since our librarian was eaten by the Swamp Beast.”
You don’t seem to have a choice. You follow the monsters into the library.
At first, it looks like an ordinary library, filled with bookshelves. But then you glance at the books. They’re all about monsters! You see the titles Frankenstein, Godzilla, and Dracula. You notice a monster cookbook, a monster travel book, and monster encyclopedias.
“The best books are in the next room,” the red head sneers. “Our favorite stories are all there.”
But you’ve stopped listening. In a corner of the room, you’ve spotted a door
labeled TO THE CRYPT. Could it be the way out?
If you make a run for the crypt, hurry to PAGE 35.
If you decide to stay and wait for the monster to help, go to PAGE 134.
You run for the dining room.
But Nick clamps a clawed, green hand on your wrist. “Afraid of a little blood? What a wimp!”
You try to struggle free, but Nick holds on tight.
“You’ve failed the test!” Connor announces. He points to the watch on his thick, hairy wrist. “It’s already one minute to midnight!”
“What?” you cry. You try to glance at your own watch, but Nick is gripping your arm too hard. “I’ve only started searching,” you protest. “I’ve still got plenty of time!”
“But we’re running on monster time!” Nick taunts with an evil grin. “And by our clock — your time has run out!”
“No!” you scream. “No!”
With all your strength you pull your arm free from Nick.
You glance at your watch.
Magically, it, too, reads one minute to midnight!
Then you glance at your wrist again. And scream.
Thick brown hair is growing on your arm! And your legs … and all over you!
And now claws are sprouting where your fingernails once were.
Too bad! From the look of it, you’re on monster time now, too.
Forever!
THE END
You read the list again. Then you start to laugh. These guys really take this Horror Club stuff seriously, you think. Still laughing, you point to the list and say, “Great joke. Very funny.”
“Why are you laughing?” Connor demands.
“This list — it’s a riot,” you reply. You wonder why no one else has even cracked a smile.
“It’s not a joke,” Nick insists. “That’s the list for our scavenger hunt.”
