Go to PAGE 97.
“Gyzacck!”
“Gyzacck!”
“Gyzacck!”
Hey! What’s going on here? It isn’t the troll saying this weird word. It’s Lauren and Todd and you!
You’ve run away from the troll, but before you left him he played a very mean trick. He stole all your vocabulary words and replaced them with just one word. Gyzacck!
You open your mouth to speak to Lauren. “Gyzacck!”
She opens her mouth to answer. “Gyzacck!”
And Todd cries, “Gyzacck!”
What does Gyzacck mean? Well, it can only mean one thing. For you and your friends this is
GYZACCK!
“Lauren! What is it?” you call as you race to catch up to her.
“The staircase is gone! Disappeared! We have no way to get back up above ground!” she shrieks.
“Hahahahaha!” The troll’s laughter fills the cavernous room. “I’ve got you where I want you now, slaves! Trapped in the underworld of WoodsWorld!”
You turn your head right. Then left. You don’t see the troll anywhere, but you know his power is there.
“Hurry, Lauren,” you cry. “We have no choice. We have to go back through the tunnel to the cave. Maybe the power of the rose crystals is stronger than the troll’s powers. Follow me!”
Go to PAGE 58.
“Okay, you little gnat,” you snarl at the troll. “Your number is up!”
Using your new-found super strength, you pull a tree up by its roots. You swing it with the ease of a flyswatter. But just as the tree is about to swat the troll, he magically disappears.
“Ahahahahahahahahahahaha!” roars the pint-sized pest. He is now standing behind you. His laughter is even more annoying than the howl of the werewolves. And his whistle is more powerful than any muscles.
“Tweeeeeeeeeeeee!” the troll’s piercing whistle vibrates inside your ear. You return to your original skinny body. Your mega-muscles disappear. You quickly drop the tree. You are now powerless to resist the troll’s orders.
“I am the Master of the Box, and I command you to go back to your cabin!” the troll says. Then he whistles again.
You head back to Evergreen Cabin. Todd and Lauren watch in disbelief. You’re in a trance!
“Don’t leave us!” Todd cries after you.
Go to PAGE 72.
“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!” you and Todd scream together when you spot the drooling werewolves.
You start to run. You turn around to make sure Todd is keeping up with you. He’s gone!
And the werewolf that was right on your heels is gone, too.
You race toward the dark end of the tunnel. The air gets thinner. It is hard to breathe. Soon you’re light-headed from the lack of oxygen.
You feel as if you’re floating. Is it true? Are you really floating?
Go to PAGE 65.
You grab Lauren’s hand and start to run for the tunnel. Then you stop. You whirl around, confused. “Hey, where did the tunnel go?” you cry. “Which way do we go?”
“Is it this way?” the troll taunts. He magically appears to the left of you. “Or this way?” he says, popping up to the right of you. “Or this way? Or this way? Or this way?”
There’s no way to tell which is the right way now. The cellar walls have turned into mirrors. They reflect off of each other. No matter what direction you turn, hundreds of reflections of the troll stare back at you.
“There are too many of them!” Lauren cries. “We can’t escape!”
You spot a bucket of golf balls in the corner of the community center cellar. You grab a handful and start throwing the balls at each image. CRASH! One mirror image shatters. CRASH! Another troll reflection is smashed.
You continue throwing golf balls until there are only two reflections left — one in front of you and one behind you. You have only one ball left to throw. You must hit the real troll this time to escape.
If you throw the ball at the troll in front of you, go to PAGE 101.
If you throw the ball at the troll behind you, go to PAGE 96.
Before you can bring your foot down on the ants, Lauren pulls you back. “I think they’re talking to us,” she says. “In sign language! My best friend is deaf. She taught me how to sign.”
“Talking ants?” Todd exclaims. “Now I’ve heard everything!”
“And I haven’t heard anything — at least not from these ants,” you say. You don’t believe Lauren. Your legs are burning from their bites and stings. You start to bring your foot down on the ants again.
Lauren watches the ants carefully. “They say they’re sorry they attacked us.” She interprets their motions for you and Todd. “They say they were just scared.”
“What else are they saying?” Todd asks.
“They say thank you for the magic O’s,” Lauren continues. “It was the magic O’s that made them smart enough to communicate with us. They warn us to hold onto the magic O’s. And use them only for emergencies.”
Lauren watches some more, and a look of amazement comes over her face.
“What is it, Lauren?” you ask, one foot still in the air.
Turn to PAGE 123.
You feel yourself being drawn toward the community center. This is the building where guests at WoodsWorld meet to play cards, use the library, socialize, and eat at the snack bar or cafeteria.
You hear laughter and voices inside the community center building. Then you hear Mrs. Morris talking to your mom. “I just know this vacation is going to open Todd up to so many new experiences. He’ll really grow from it!”
She can say that again! you think to yourself.
But you’re not allowed to think to yourself. The troll is doing your thinking for you now. He is in your mind, controlling every move you make.
You tiptoe past the doorway to the big activity room where your parents, the Morrises, and Mr. and Mrs. Woods are all playing cards. Seeing them suddenly makes you want to run and tell them all about your troll troubles. Do you dare?
Turn to PAGE 125.
Oooops! You missed!
“Sorry, Todd,” you call down into the bottomless pit. You lean over and watch Todd get smaller and smaller and smaller.
You hear Todd’s voice calling your name as he falls down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down, down,
down, down,
down, down….
But you don’t feel too bad. After all, it’s a bottomless pit, so you know Todd will never ever reach
THE END.
“Todd’s right,” you say for the first time. “This tree trunk is a big red fire ant colony!” You flip the switch on your flashlight. The light reveals thousands of angry ants marching on their enemies — you, Todd, and Lauren!
“These things will eat us alive!” Todd shouts. “I did a science report about them once.”
“Shouldn’t we get out of here?” Lauren asks. She slaps at a column of ants crawling up her bare legs. Their bites and stings make Lauren’s legs puff up immediately. She can’t get the red ants off her body. The ants keep stinging as they march toward her neck and face.
“Should we go back and face the werewolf?” Todd asks you.
“Or should we stay here and get eaten alive by these fire ants?” Lauren asks.
It’s all up to you. You decide.
If you turn back and risk meeting the werewolf, go to PAGE 18.
If you battle the army of ants, turn to PAGE 35.
You ate the O’s from your right pocket. What does that mean? you wonder.
“These SUPER-STRENGTH O’s aren’t working at all!” Todd whines. “I feel even weaker than I did before I ate them.”
“And you look really funny, Todd,” Lauren says strangely.
“Aw, come on, Lauren,” you start to defend your nerdy friend. “He can’t help what he looks like.”
Wow, didn’t YOU get nice suddenly! You had better sit down a minute and rest before you go on to PAGE 127.
> “Todd! Lauren! Sharky! Anybody! Help!” you cry. Calling for help is the only way you’re going to escape the trolls.
“We’re right here!” a voice answers you.
It’s Todd’s voice, but it’s coming out of the mouth of the troll standing right on your knee.
“Yes, we’re all here!” That’s Lauren’s voice coming out of the mouth of a different troll.
“Hey, dude, what’s happening?” another troll says in Sharky’s voice.
What is happening? you wonder.
“We were all turned into trolls,” Todd explains. “And you’re going to turn into a troll, too, and be our leader!”
“Me?” you shriek. “I’m going to turn into a creepy-looking, disgusting, tiny troll?”
“Your wish is my command, Master,” says one of the trolls. He whistles shrilly and turns you into what you’ve just described. You’re a troll!
What will the kids at school think when they see you?
“Oh, well,” you say, “at least now that I’m so short I’ll stand at the beginning of the lunch line instead of at
THE END.”
Yes! You are floating!
Out of the cave. Into the darkness of the night.
You look down and see the lake far below. “Hello down there!” you call to anyone who might be awake in the cabins of WoodsWorld. No one hears you. No one sees you drifting, drifting awaaaaaaaaay.
As you drift high above WoodsWorld your body starts to shrink. Suddenly you feel very light.
“Paper thin, that’s what I am now,” you say. “It must have been from not having enough oxygen and breathing that bad cave air.”
You continue to shrink as you float toward the entrance to WoodsWorld. You see the main building. You see the cars parked around it. You see the string of brightly colored paper lanterns lit up to welcome newcomers to WoodsWorld.
You seem to be floating closer and closer to the lanterns. You’ve only seen them from the ground. This is the first time you’re looking at them from above. It’s the closest you’ve ever been to the paper lanterns.
“Oh, my!” you gasp when you notice the strangest thing you’ve seen all night.
Hurry to PAGE 90.
You notice that the ugly troll’s commands have no effect on you. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the reason you’ve escaped his control. Your hands are still covering your ears! You can’t hear the whistle that seems to have put Todd and Lauren into some kind of a trance. Without the vibrations of his whistle in your ears, your power to resist the troll is still strong.
Aha! you think. So he doesn’t have all the power after all!
Whoops. You shouldn’t have even thought that. The troll read your mind. And to prove you wrong, he says a troll word that sounds like Gyzacck!
You have no idea what that means, but you do know one thing — it’s time to grab Lauren and Todd and get out of here.
“Run!” you shout into their faces. Their trancelike stares are broken at the sound of your voice. “Run!” you yell again.
Race to PAGE 54.
You’re floating in a new tunnel now. You’re sure of that. The feeling here is completely different. The tight grip of the waves in the Tunnel of Waves has loosened. You are floating on the surface of a calm, smooth body of water. The closeness of the tunnel’s walls has given way to open air. Your eyes see nothing but blackness as you bob slowly up and down in the water. The sulfur smell is gone, replaced now by odorless air.
“I can breathe again!” you shout into the darkness.
“I can breathe again!” your own voice echoes back. “I can breathe again! I can breathe again!”
“Hello!” you cry, testing the echo again.
“Hello! Hello! Hello! Hello!” your voice returns from the pitch-black nothingness all around you.
You are alone. The only sound is the sound of your own voice. And the sound of your own breathing…. But wait! What’s that other sound right next to your ear?
Strain your ears to hear better on PAGE 23.
“The werewolves!” Todd shouts. “Start howling!”
You grab Todd’s shoulders and give him a good shake. “Snap out of it, Todd!” you order him.
“It’s either howl or run,” he insists. “And we don’t know which way the werewolves are heading.”
“There is one more choice, Todd,” you reply. You point to a stream of light at the end of yet another tunnel. It looks as if it might be the way out. “There,” you say.
“Oh, yeah, sure,” Todd says nervously. “I already saw that tunnel. I also saw that giant hole in the floor between us and the way out. Just listen to this.” Todd drops a loose stone into the hole. The two of you wait to hear it hit bottom.
It never does.
“A bottomless pit,” Todd announces.
HOW-OW-OW-OW-OWL! This time the howling isn’t coming from Todd. He’s too busy talking about the pit.
“It’s the werewolves,” Todd whispers. “Start howling!”
“No, jump!” you shout.
If you howl to save yourself, turn to PAGE 33.
If you jump across the bottomless pit, leap to PAGE 111.
You decide to take the stairs to who-knows-where. You take a few steps down.
The good news about your new muscles is that they make you feel very powerful. The bad news is, they make you feel very stuck in this narrow staircase!
Your huge shoulders wedge between the two stone walls of the stairway. You head down, down, down, into a cellar you never knew existed. You hear voices coming from somewhere even further down.
“That troll is in complete control. We have no choice but to destroy everything in his power,” Todd tells Lauren. “Friend or no friend, we have to save WoodsWorld.”
What? you think. My own friends want to destroy me?
You’ve got to get out of here and prove that you are not working for the troll anymore. But how?
If you go back upstairs and break through the wall, go to PAGE 128.
If you hurry to the bottom of the stairs to face Lauren and Todd, race to PAGE 107.
“… three!” you shout. You spring forward.
“We did it!” Todd says. He moves out of the way and watches you.
“What is this ‘we’ business?” you ask. You struggle alone to tie the sweatshirt around the werewolf’s eyes.
It is a well-known fact that if an animal’s eyes are covered, it will not resist capture. You have no idea where that information came from. It just popped into your brain. But you know that you know everything now.
Todd suddenly decides to help. He reaches for one end of the sweatshirt. By mistake he grabs the hair on the back of the werewolf’s neck.
The werewolf roars in pain. It fights and struggles to escape. It turns in Lauren’s direction. Her eyes are still covered with her hands, so she doesn’t know what’s about to happen. Even you and your smart mind can’t stop the werewolf. It’s going right for Lauren’s face!
Turn to PAGE 129.
The full moon, the black sky, and the thought of werewolves in the woods help you decide what to do. You are definitely going back to the cabin. You can always hunt for the box in the morning.
As you walk along the path back to Evergreen Cabin, Lauren catches up with you. “I’m sure glad you’re back this summer. This werewolf thing is really bad for business!”
“You don’t really believe there are werewolves in these woods, do you, Lauren?” you ask.
“I didn’t until I started hearing the howling,” she says quietly. “Have you heard it yet?”
“Give me a break!” You laugh as you reach your cabin. “It’s probably just the wind blowing through the trees.”
“Yeah, probably,” Lauren agrees. She nervously twists a strand of her long black hair around her finger. “Well, see you tomorrow.”
The lights are all out in your cabin. You enter quietly. You tiptoe past your parents’ and the Morrises’ rooms. They’re all sleeping. But you hear a n
oise coming from the room you are sharing with Todd. What is it?
Go to PAGE 99.
“Don’t leave us,” the troll imitates Todd’s cries. “Hahahahahahahahaha! Your friend is useless to you now,” he taunts Todd. “Useless! Hahahahahahahahaha!”
With his magic, the troll makes himself smaller. Then bigger. Then even smaller. He jumps from rock to rock changing his size with each jump. One minute he is the size of a gorilla. The next minute he’s the size of a rat.
“Come back!” Todd shouts to you. “Please, come back!”
Are you strong enough to resist the troll’s trance?
If you can do five push-ups, go to PAGE 26.
If you can’t do five push-ups, go to PAGE 120.
You drop the library door and run. You leave the community center and head for the woods. Like a muscle-bound gorilla tearing through the jungle, you use your super-strength to push back the thin wall of bushes and trees that block your path.
You think you hear footsteps behind you. You slow down and turn around to look. But you see nothing and no one.
“How dare you run away!” the troll’s voice sounds in your mind. “You must obey me at all times!”
While the troll gives you mental messages, the woods start moving all around you. At first it seems as if the trees are moving. But then you see them.
Trolls! The trolls are coming out of hiding.
Hundreds of the ugly little creatures are crawling through the woods. They are devouring leaves and sticks and dirt like maggots on rotten meat. They stuff their blubbery-lipped mouths full of anything they pick up. You feel sick as you watch the trolls chew with their mouths open and their thick tongues hanging out.