by RL Stine
“Run!” Ben screams. “The dragon is after you!”
Quickly, you slip the pulpy Fireheart fruit into your pocket.
Ben bounds down the tunnel, heading for the exit.
You turn to run away from the dragon, but your feet slip on the rock and you hit the ground. Your breath is knocked out of you, but even worse, your club rolls away from you!
The dragon lets out an angry roar and pounces on you. The weight of the dragon pins you to the ground.
HISS! You’re face to face with a deadly dragon!
Turn to PAGE 133 before it’s too late!
You figure you might as well try talking to the Muglani. If you run away, he might put another spell on you.
“Excuse me, sir,” you say, stepping away so that you can look him in the eye. “Are you one of the medicine men who turned me into a monster?”
“Yes, I am,” he replies in a thick accent. Still, you’re kind of amazed that this ancient tribe speaks English.
“And you’ve done very well. Both of you have done very well,” the mysterious medicine man adds, and smiles at you.
“What do you mean?” Ben asks.
“You found the Fireheart tree! You passed the test!” the Muglani declares. Out of the jungle all around you, other Muglani step forward. Some of them are men, some of them are women, some are even kids. All of them wear leopard-skin robes and carry scepters.
“We arranged the whole thing!” the Muglani explains. “We used magic to create the Junior Explorer Adventure Club, and we made sure that you both found your way into the clearing with the magic fruit at the same time!”
“You mean it was all a test?” you ask.
“Yes,” the medicine man chuckles. “And you won!”
“But what exactly did we win?” Ben asks nervously.
Turn to PAGE 99 to find out.
You stare into the crazy bulging eyes of the stone creature. It looks a little like a Chinese parade dragon, you think. It’s baring its teeth at you in a hideous grin. You’ve got to make your move.
Since the beast is made of stone, it probably can’t swim. There’s only one catch … Neither can you!
Desperately, you cast your eyes around. On the ground next to you, there’s a big stick.
You’ll definitely need something if you’re going to fight off that gargoyle. Then again, maybe the stick would help you float if you jumped into the water. You pick it up.
The gargoyle swishes its tail angrily and licks its chops with its huge, gravel-coated tongue.
What’s it going to be? Risk drowning or take your chances with the beast?
Better make your move before it pounces!
To fight the stone beast with the stick, turn to PAGE 112.
To jump into the water with the stick, turn to PAGE 78.
You know there’s no going back. Not with that gargoyle creature outside. This cave is your only hope. But still, it’s so dark and spooky in there.
“You go first, Zoe,” you say as you pull yourself out onto the rocks. You gesture toward the creepy cave with one hand. “If you’re so brave, then you just go right ahead!”
“Okay, scaredy-cat, follow me,” she says as she steps into the mouth of the cave. You stay right behind her.
You are both dripping wet and shivering. But a warm breeze is blowing through the cave. It dries you as you go.
Your eyes adjust to the darkness. Jagged rocks line the walls of the cave.
You move slowly through the dark. Zoe tells you when there’s a boulder or a ditch. You walk for what seems like an eternity. Then you see something totally unexpected … light!
“Look!” you shout to Zoe. “That must be the way out!”
Scramble to PAGE 88.
“It’s very nice of you to offer us help,” you say, backing away from the Warrior Women. “But we’ve really got to be going.”
After all, the Warrior Woman has a shrunken head in her bag. Plus, they have spears and bows and arrows. You can’t trust them. They’re just too dangerous!
“It was nice to meet you,” Ben joins in. “See you later!”
The Warrior Woman’s face turns red as you edge toward the trees. She snaps her fingers and all the Warrior Women lift their spears. And point them right at you!
You and Ben gasp in fear! A cold sweat breaks out down your spine.
“Okay,” the Warrior Woman says. “I admit it. We’re the ones who put that magic fruit there and turned you into a monster. We’re the Muglani. And we want your heads!”
Quick, turn to PAGE 39.
“Let’s try to swing over the tar pit!” you suggest to Ben. The Warrior Women are right behind you. There’s no time to lose!
You reach for the vine, but a warm, tropical breeze picks up. It blows the vine right out of your reach.
“Hurry!” Ben cries. “The Warrior Women are coming!”
You reach farther, farther, trying to grasp the vine.
Hard, weathered hands clamp down on your arms.
It’s too late! The Warrior Women have captured you!
Struggle to PAGE 41.
“Let’s try to go around the lava,” you say to Zoe.
The lava pool bubbles and hisses at you. It sends a spooky orange glow up over your face. You and Zoe step carefully to the side of the lava pool.
But your sneaker slips!
You flail your arms wildly! Zoe reaches out and pulls you toward her. Just in time!
You look down at the gooey, melted rubber heel of your sneaker. “Gosh, thanks, Zoe,” you say. “You saved my life.”
“I guess you owe me big time,” she says with a smile. “But we better keep going before those cotton-headed freaks figure out how to follow us.”
The two of you make your way past the bubbling lava and through a narrow tunnel that opens into …
A big torchlit cavern! YOU’VE GONE IN A CIRCLE! The cave creatures cheer and laugh as they surround you again. They grab you by the arm and lead you back before King Cottonhead on his pyramid throne.
Turn to PAGE 135.
Tiny fish jaws snap shut just inches from your nose. Then the piranha-like fish splashes back into the water.
You take a moment to breathe deeply and check the timepiece in your pocket.
“Look!” you say, holding up the hourglass. “Our Palooka is almost up! We’ve got to get to that gold. And fast!”
“I know!” Zoe responds. “While I was waiting for you, I tried to fish the gold out with a stick. But they ate the stick!” She holds up a short wet nub of a branch.
You cast your eyes around the cave. The walls appear to be wet. But when you examine them more closely, you see little yellow specks scattered all over the walls. They are covered with slimy little yellow slugs!
“I have an idea!” you exclaim. You pull your small army knife out of your back pocket. You unlace your shoe and tie the knife to the lace, with the blade out. Then you carefully peel one of the slugs from the wall and place it on your homemade fish hook.
“We’ll go fishing!” you announce. But with bait like that, you might catch more than you bargained for.
Turn to PAGE 119 to see what you catch.
You were about to run into the clearing toward the tree. But Ben held you back just in time!
As you watch from behind the bush, Mrs. Wheedle enters the clearing with the rest of the Junior Explorers right behind her.
“Hmmm,” Mrs. Wheedle mumbles. “I don’t see the kerritatlocus anywhere! Where could that plant be?”
“Hey, Mrs. Wheedle,” Bill Green calls. “What’s the name of this cool tree with all the fruit?”
“I can’t remember the scientific name, but here in the Amazon they call it the Fireheart tree.”
You’re so excited to hear that the tree actually IS the Fireheart tree that you shout out.
“Yes!” you yell.
“What was that sound?” Mrs. Wheedle demands.
“It sounded like it came from over there,” says Bill’s littl
e brother Fred. He points toward your hiding place.
“What do we do now?” Ben whispers. “Should we tell them who you are? Or maybe you should just scare them away. After all, they won’t recognize you!”
To step out and explain what happened to you, go to PAGE 18.
To jump out and scare them away, go to PAGE 129.
You and Zoe race down the big tunnel.
“Where are we going to find gold?” you wonder aloud to Zoe.
“I don’t know,” Zoe replies. “It’s not like your average scavenger hunt. Gold is pretty hard to come by!”
The tunnel is wide and well-lit by lanterns that hang from the walls about every five feet. Smaller tunnels branch off to the sides of the main tunnel.
“Quick, let’s take this one.” Zoe chooses. She’s pointing to a tunnel that curves downward. “There might be some gold deeper down toward the center of the earth.”
Above you, you see a tunnel that goes straight up. There’s a ladder cut into the stone.
Want to take the tunnel that goes down? Turn to PAGE 14.
Want to take the ladder above you instead? Climb to PAGE 98.
“Hii-Yaa!” you shout, bounding up onto the skull of the nearest tiger. Your sneaker barely touches his decrepit skull, when the entire skeleton collapses to the ground.
CRASH!
You land in a tangled heap of tiger bones. Ouch! It feels like you twisted your leg. And you can’t move your arm.
The other tiger pounces on you, but since you now know how flimsy they are, you kick its skeleton to pieces with one blow of your good leg.
You won’t have to worry about those tigers anymore. But getting out of the pit is another story.
Your arm is turning numb and your leg feels like somebody is holding a blowtorch to it. You aren’t going anywhere!
You yell for help. But by the time somebody finds you, it’ll be hard to tell your bones from the tigers’.
Make no bones about it, this is
THE END.
“Please help me dig my leg out, Ben!” you shout. “If we try to drown them it could just make them madder.”
“Okay,” Ben answers. He picks up the stick on the ground, kneels down carefully, and prods the anthill.
As Ben digs, the ants scurry to and fro. They’re bright red with tiny pincers. You stare and stare at them.
You’re feeling very hungry all of a sudden.
Before you can stop yourself, your tongue shoots out! Your tongue is huge, long, and sticky! It zaps up a whole mouthful of the red ants.
CRUNCH! They taste delicious.
Ben stares up at you in amazement.
“Wow!” he exclaims. “That’s some tongue!”
SPLAT! Your tongue darts out again. The ants stick to it by the hundreds. Soon you’ve eaten all of them!
You pull your foot out of the ruined anthill.
“I guess I was hungry!” you tell Ben, wiping the last few ant crumbs off your mouth.
“That was gross!” Ben exclaims. “But we’d better get going. We only have a half hour before Mrs. Wheedle and the rest of the group take off for the new campsite! We’ve got to find that Fireheart tree before then!”
Turn to PAGE 24.
There is one huge fish left in the pool with the hunk of gold. The giant piranha is tearing through the pool with your makeshift fishing line streaming from his mouth.
“Check out the size of that guy!” you exclaim.
“He’s enormous,” Zoe agrees.
You grab at your shoelace and yank the huge fish out of the water. Holding it away from your body, you set it down on the cave floor. The knife juts though its cheek.
Zoe is wading through the empty pool, reaching for the gold, when you hear a tiny gasping voice.
“Set me free,” it says. The piranha is talking to you!
“If you throw me back into the pond, I’ll give you a wish,” the fish burbles through its gaping mouth.
“This fish is talking!” you exclaim to Zoe. You almost don’t believe it yourself.
“Come on. We don’t have time for that!” Zoe shouts, grabbing the gold. “We’ve got to make it back to the king. We have the gold he asked for! Just leave the fish and let’s go!”
To toss the fish back in the pond and make a wish, turn to PAGE 105.
To race for the throne chamber instead, turn to PAGE 130.
The Warrior Women lead you through the jungle to find the Fireheart fruit. Even though they seem ancient, the Warrior Women walk fast! They slip through the jungle gracefully, hardly disturbing a single leaf.
As you hike behind the Warrior Women, you begin to feel very hungry. Even though you just ate that pear, you feel as if you haven’t eaten in days. Maybe monsters get hungry faster than normal people.
Your stomach erupts with a loud growl. The jungle leaves begin to blur before your eyes. You’re feeling faint! You’ve got to have some food soon!
Is that an orange tree you see off to the side of the path? It sure is! Wow! An orange would really hit the spot!
The oranges smell great! But you remember that the last time you ate a piece of fruit it turned you into a monster with bugging black eyes and gooey gray flesh.
These fruits can’t be magic! you assure yourself. They’re growing on a tree in the middle of the jungle! They must be safe! Your stomach growls at you. Grab an orange!
Or maybe you could ask the Warrior Women for something to eat.
To grab an orange, turn to PAGE 69.
To ask the Warrior Women for something to eat, turn to PAGE 5.
From every corner of the room, from each crevice, dark forms step out of the shadows. They move in, circling around you. Some of them are shorter than you, some taller.
And as they step into the torchlight, you realize with a chill that pierces you to the bone, there’s something very un-human about them!
The first thing you notice is their bizarre heads. They look like hideous puff balls! They’re perfectly round and covered in a slimy white fuzz, like moss. Their eyes are big gelatinous blobs, glossy and white!
You’re almost too grossed out by their heads to notice, but their bodies are covered with heavy, gray rocklike scales instead of skin! As if someone dipped them in glue and rolled them in a gravel pit.
What are they? Some forgotten race of cave people? With big, blobby eyes to help them see in the dark? Maybe that’s what happens to you if you spend too much time underground! you think.
They are moving in on you and Zoe. Your knees are starting to feel shaky as they draw nearer.
Are they friends or enemies? Rush to PAGE 91!
“Oh, Mrs. Wheedle,” Zoe calls out. The group comes to a halt. “What was the name of that extremely rare flower you were describing this morning? The one that all the famous scientists are searching for?”
“Which one? You mean the Amaryllis kerritatlocus?”
“Is that the one with the weird twisting orange petals and the blue stems?” Zoe asks innocently.
“Yes, indeed,” Mrs. Wheedle answers. She starts to wring her fingers excitedly. “What about the kerritatlocus?”
“I saw it!” Zoe nearly shouts. “I really did!”
“Where? WHERE?” Mrs. Wheedle does a happy little jump.
“I think it was over there,” Zoe says, pointing back down the path. “Or maybe it was that way …” she says, pointing to the left of the group.
“We should split up and search for it!” you suggest.
All the kids start talking at once. Now’s your chance to sneak away!
Quick! Sneak over to PAGE 42.
You chew on the pear that you took from the basket on the table. It’s delicious — cool and sweet. The pear juice dribbles down your chin.
“I can’t believe you did that!” Zoe’s a little crazed. “You don’t know where the fruit came from. It could be poisoned or something! Maybe all these people ate the fruit!” She gestures to the shrunken heads.
“I couldn’t help my
self,” you explain, taking another greedy mouthful. “It smells so good. I couldn’t resist. I don’t think it’s poisoned,” you assure her. “It tastes too good to be poisoned.”
But only moments after you’ve swallowed the second pulpy mouthful of pear, you start to feel dizzy.
The ground begins to twist under your feet. The trees loom over you, casting twirling shadows down on you. The leaves or the trees are doing pirouettes.
Zoe’s face is spinning, spinning, spinning …
“What’s happening to you?” You hear her desperate cry.
Spin to PAGE 94.
The dragon is behind the Fireheart tree, cowering. You race to the exit of the tunnel.
As you run, you feel the webbed hood around your head fold up and collapse back against your scaly neck and back. You never even knew you had it until you needed it.
“Ben!” you call. “Are you okay?”
“You made it!” he yells. “I can’t believe it! I thought you were a goner for sure!”
“Nope, I scared the dragon! I outscared it! And look, I have the Fireheart fruit!”
The fruit is still pulsing in your hand. You stare at it, glad that it didn’t get squished during the battle. Its bloodred skin is shiny and slippery.
“Here goes nothing,” you say, sinking your teeth into the warm fruit.
Find out what happens next on PAGE 96.
“Run for it, Ben!” you shout. You duck out from under the medicine man’s hand.
“Uomlacka sacka!” the medicine man commands in a foreign language. A wind whips up immediately.
“Koo boot a lunga!” he shouts. Eight other medicine men dressed in silver robes appear from thin air! They all look exactly like the first one. With stripes on their faces and big feathery hats. They must be some sort of magical clones! Snarling in anger, the medicine men chase you.
