by R. L. Stine
You can see that the troll is getting ready to whistle and make your muscles disappear. Before he has the chance to pucker up his fat lips, you pick up a wastebasket. You throw the basket over the troll. Then you plop a heavy dictionary on top of the basket to hold it down.
The whistling begins. You feel yourself weakening just a little. You lean against a bookshelf. Without warning, the wall of books begins to move! The next thing you know you’re standing on the other side of the wall!
Go to PAGE 74.
You hear the noise again. And then you spot a person hiding in the shadows of an evergreen tree.
“W-who’s there?” you stutter. You shine your flashlight toward the person’s face.
“Lauren!” you cry. “What are you doing out here so late?”
Lauren Woods squints into the glare of the flashlight. “Hey! Get that light out of my eyes!” she calls. You point the beam of light at the ground, as Lauren steps out from behind the tree.
“I saw weird lights blinking outside my cabin window. I decided to investigate,” Lauren explains. “What about you? Why are you creeping around the woods at night?”
“The Murphy brothers stole Todd’s red tin box with his pewter figure collection in it,” you tell her. You introduce Lauren to Todd, and then continue. “We’re out looking for it.”
“I’ll help,” Lauren volunteers. “Let’s just hope we find the box and not the Murphys! They’re bigger and meaner than — ooops!”
Lauren trips on something and grabs on to Todd. Todd reaches out for you. Like dominoes, you all fall down in a line. Your flashlight shines on a mound of freshly dug dirt. You glance around. There are a lot of piles of dirt.
“Hey,” you say. “Either we’ve landed in a gopher’s paradise, or someone has buried something here. Let’s start digging!”
Go to PAGE 110.
Quickly, you duck down behind an old tree stump. You listen for the footsteps again. They’re closer now. But in the darkness you can’t tell exactly where they are coming from.
Your heart pounds like a jackhammer.
Footsteps.
Closer, closer, closer.
“AAAAaaahhhhhh!” you scream. A hand is on your shoulder! You’re afraid to look!
“Hey, hey! What do you say?” Todd’s voice breaks through your scream. “It’s just me. I came out to find you. After all, it’s my box and I should help you find it.”
You can’t believe this guy! He just scared you out of your wits! And he’s still talking about that stupid box!
You catch your breath and try to slow your heartbeat down to normal. “Get a life, Todd!” you snap at him. “You shouldn’t sneak up on me like that!”
“I just want to help find the box,” Todd whines. “Look — I even brought a flashlight!”
You’re glad it’s Todd and not a werewolf. In fact, you’re glad for any company on a night like this. “Follow me,” you say.
“Which way?” Todd asks.
Go to PAGE 75.
BEWARE!!
DO NOT READ THIS
BOOK FROM
BEGINNING TO END!
Your little brother, Denny, runs off by himself in the huge Museum of Natural History building! You try to find him, but instead you discover the laboratory of the strange Dr. Peebles.
The scientist “volunteers” you to test his new time machine! Wow, you think. I’m going to be the first time-traveling kid ever! Then Denny runs right into the machine — and vanishes!
Well, your brother’s not lost in the museum anymore. Now he’s lost in time! You have to find him — again. But where? In the distant past, where fierce dinosaurs roam? Or in medieval times, battling with knights and wizards? Maybe in the future, where robots rule over humans! The one thing you know for sure is — you must find Denny in two hours or he’ll be lost forever!
You’re in control of this scary adventure. You decide what will happen. And how terrifying the scares will be!
Start on PAGE 1. Then follow the instructions at the bottom of each page. You make the choices.
SO TAKE A DEEP BREATH. CROSS YOUR FINGERS. AND TURN TO PAGE 1 NOW TO GIVE YOURSELF GOOSEBUMPS!
What a crummy vacation!
You, your little brother Denny, and your parents have come to New York City for Christmas vacation. You thought you’d get to do a lot of cool things, like visit the Statue of Liberty, ride to the top of the Empire State Building, and ice-skate at Rockefeller Center.
Instead, your parents are museum freaks.
“It’s entertaining,” your mom says as she drags you into the Museum of Natural History.
“It’s educational,” your dad declares as he shows you a collection of ancient pottery.
“It’s boring!” you say, but no one listens.
And the worst part is that you’re supposed to be in charge of your little red-haired brother Denny. Only Denny doesn’t want anyone to be in charge of him. “You’re not the boss of me!” he keeps saying.
You follow your parents through the Museum of Natural History. At first it is kind of interesting. You really like the dinosaurs.
“Wait till you see what’s in this room!” your mom cries.
Go to PAGE 2.
You rush to the next room, expecting something exciting. But your mom is standing in front of a sundial. “Isn’t this wonderful?” she exclaims. “An exhibit on time!”
Great, you think. A whole roomful of clocks! Boring!
Then Denny gives you a karate kick in the back of the leg.
“Ow!” you cry. “Stop it!”
“You’re not the boss of me!” he says smugly.
“Yes, I am!” you reply, punching him in the arm. He whines and complains to your parents. You can’t win!
“I’m thirsty,” Denny says now. You can see he’s eaten almost half a bag of Gummi Bears in less than a minute.
“Can you find a drinking fountain for Denny, dear?” your mom asks without taking her eyes off a grandfather clock.
“Come on.” You grab Denny’s hand. But Denny pulls away and runs off down a hallway. You follow him. The hallway twists and turns. There’s no sign of either Denny or a water fountain. But near the end of the hall you see a sign on a door:
WARNING!
DANGEROUS EXPERIMENT INSIDE
THIS DOOR MUST BE KEPT LOCKED AT ALL TIMES
Go on to PAGE 3.
Dangerous experiment? What does that mean? you wonder. You notice that the door is slightly open. Oh, no! Denny must have run in here, you think.
You push the door open wider and peek in. There’s no sign of Denny. A tall, skinny man with long white hair tied in a ponytail is bent over a computer. The computer is hooked up to a big, strange-looking clock. Between the computer and the clock is a large square contraption that looks like a picture frame. You can hear the computer and the clock beeping and pinging.
“It’s about time you got here!” the tall man says, straightening up. “I’m Dr. Peebles. You must be the volunteer.”
“Actually,” you start to say, “I’m looking for —”
“There’s no time to waste!” Dr. Peebles interrupts. “I’m ready to start the experiment. Come on over.”
“Well, I —”
“Here!” he says. He places a chain around your neck. On the end of the chain is something that looks like a stopwatch. A very, very odd stopwatch, with a complicated-looking dial and four big knobs.
“Are you ready?” Dr. Peebles asks.
Turn to PAGE 4.
“Ready for what?” you ask.
“Why, to travel in time, of course,” he replies. “You’ll be the first human in history to use my traveling chronometer.”
“Chronometer?” you echo. “What’s that?”
He points to the stopwatch around your neck.
“I don’t have time —” you start to say, but he interrupts again.
“Of course you have time!” Dr. Peebles goes on. “It doesn’t matter how long you remain in the past or future
. When you return to the present, it will be the same moment that you left. It will be as if you weren’t gone at all.”
“How does this work?” you ask, pointing to the stopwatch.
“It’s easy,” says Dr. Peebles. “Press the button on the left side to travel to the past. Press the button on the right for the future. To return to the present, press the top button and the bottom button at the same time.”
Cool! you think. What if this guy’s invention really works? Traveling in time would be awesome!
“There’s no time to waste!” Dr. Peebles says. “I’m ready to begin the experiment now.”
Hurry to PAGE 5.
You think for a moment. Dr. Peebles obviously believes you’re someone else. But a trip through time sounds like a lot of fun. More fun than staring at crummy old bowls all day. And since you’ll return at the exact same time you left, you’ll still be able to find Denny and return to your parents before they know anything is wrong.
On the other hand, Denny can get into a lot of trouble very fast. And your parents will blame you if anything happens.
Make a decision now. Do you want to travel in time? Or should you look for your brother first?
If you choose to volunteer for Dr. Peebles’s experiment, turn to PAGE 71.
If you think you’d better stay and look for Denny, turn to PAGE 62.
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.
Goosebumps book series created by Parachute Press, Inc.
Copyright © 1996 by Scholastic Inc.
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, GOOSEBUMPS, GOOSEBUMPS HORRORLAND, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
First edition, April 1996
e-ISBN 978-0-545-84106-1
