BEWARE!!
DO NOT READ THIS
BOOK FROM
BEGINNING TO END!
Clean out Professor Shock’s garage? Major drag! you say. Until you sneak into his workshop — and check out the gadgets. Whoa! He’s got a huge robot in there. And a really cool pinball machine.
You’re dying to try them all. But look out. Some of the professor’s inventions do shocking things! Can you take it? Will you know what to do when an mp3 player attacks you? And what’s that thing labeled “Loreo”? Do you have the guts to find out?
Whatever you do — don’t push the red button on that remote control! You already pushed it? Oops. Sorry!
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 TO GIVE YOURSELF GOOSEBUMPS!
Contents
Beware!!
Title Page
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
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24
25
26
27
28
29
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31
32
33
34
35
36
37
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44
45
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100
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102
103
104
105
106
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108
109
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112
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115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
Teaser
About the Author
Also Available
Copyright
“School’s out!” you yell gleefully. Leaning on the handlebars of your bicycle, you gaze at your best friends, Jason and Stacey. “What should we do today?”
Jason and Stacey are twins. Both have blond hair and blue eyes. But that’s about the only way they’re alike.
“Let’s ride around the park,” Jason suggests.
“BOR-ing!” Stacey responds. “Let’s go someplace new.”
As always, you make the decision. “We’ll go that way,” you say, pointing north out of the park.
You race up the wide boulevard on your bicycles. Soon you’re in a part of town you’ve never seen before.
“I heard this was the oldest part of the city,” Jason says. “Some of the houses go back to pioneer days.”
“That one looks like it goes back to the dinosaurs,” you joke. You point at a high, crumbling brick wall. All you can see of the house behind it is a rotting roof.
A sign by the front gate says PLEASE COME IN.
You turn to your friends. “Let’s check it out,” you suggest. You turn back to the gate.
And stop. In shock. Because the sign now says DANGER!
Turn to PAGE 2.
You rub your eyes. Did you read the sign correctly?
Then you see that it’s loose. It turns slowly in the wind — back to the side that says PLEASE COME IN.
“Let’s go in!” Stacey says excitedly.
“Are you nuts?” Jason cries. “The sign says danger.”
As usual, you decide. “I want to see what’s inside,” you declare. The rusty gate is open a crack. You push it all the way open and enter.
You find yourselves in a weedy yard with grass as high as your knees. Beyond the lawn stands a huge old three-story house. Paint peels from every wall. The porch sags. Several of the windows are boarded up.
“It looks haunted,” Jason says nervously.
Stacey rolls her eyes. “There’s no such thing,” she responds. “But I’ll bet no one’s lived here in a long time.”
You step onto the sagging porch and peer in the front window. It’s so dirty you can’t see anything inside.
Then a strong, bony hand clamps around your wrist.
Go to PAGE 3.
Your heart thuds. A fierce-looking old man is holding your wrist. He’s totally bald. A bushy white beard hangs down to his chest. His dark eyes squint behind thick glasses.
“It’s about time you got here! I’ve been waiting all morning. I’m Professor Shock,” the old man says. “Are you ready to start work?”
“What do you mean?” you demand, pulling away from him.
Professor Shock frowns. “Aren’t you from Acme Cleanup?”
“No,” Stacey tells him. “We were riding around and saw your gate was open.”
“Oh.” Professor Shock seems disappointed. “The people from Acme were supposed to clean my garage,” he explains. “But they didn’t show up. Why don’t I hire you kids? It’s not hard work — and I’ll pay you fifty dollars.”
You glance at the twins. That’s a lot of money!
Jason nods eagerly. “Sure! We’ll be glad to.”
“Wonderful!” Professor Shock replies. “Right this way.”
You follow the old man to the backyard. Then you see the garage. And you wonder if you’ve made a big mistake.
Turn to PAGE 4.
The garage is as big as a barn — and packed with junk. Moldy old furniture. Rotting cardboard boxes. Piles of rags. A rusted-out car. And that’s just in the front part.
“You want us to clean this out?” Stacey asks.
“It’ll be easy!” Professor Shock says cheerily. He hands you brooms and trash bags. “I’ll check back later. Oh, one thing,” he adds. “Whatever you do, don’t go in the back room!” He points to a partially open green door at the back of the garage.
“But
—” Stacey cries.
Too late. He’s gone. You and your friends gaze at the incredible mass of junk. Is the money really worth it?
“Let’s get started,” you say with a sigh.
You find a wheelbarrow and load piles of old newspapers into it. Stacey pushes a broom in the back of the garage. Jason carries boxes to the front.
“Oh, no!” Stacey suddenly calls. “My ring slipped off my finger! And it rolled right into the back room!”
Follow the ring to PAGE 33.
“Be careful when we what?” you shout at the mirror.
Professor Shock’s face in the mirror is fuzzy. And his voice is so faint you can barely hear it. You lean in and press your ear against the mirror.
“When you enter the Queen’s chambers,” the professor croaks, “do not touch any of her things. If you do, you’ll be lost forever.”
“But what about the mirror?” you demand.
“Gaze into it,” the old man says. “It will tell you how —”
ZZZT! His image flares for an instant. Then it’s gone — for good.
But it doesn’t matter. You know what to do now! You hurry toward the twins.
Hurry to PAGE 16.
“Let’s work on the door,” you say to the twins.
You glance around. Nothing in the basement but furniture. Well, your teachers always tell you to be creative….
You and Jason pick up a wooden coffee table. Holding it between you, you take off running and slam it against the door like a battering ram. WHAM!
The door doesn’t budge. But the coffee table shatters!
You grab a lamp and beat it against the door. Stacey joins you, bashing away with a metal statue.
WHAM! WHAM! Beating on the door is a great way to let off steam. But, unfortunately, it doesn’t make the door open. You’re almost ready to give up.
Then you hear a voice outside.
“Stop that racket!” the voice cries. “I’m coming!”
At last! Someone heard you! Now you can get out and try to stop the cyborgs.
There’s a click as the lock pops. The door swings open.
Your eyes widen. Look who’s standing outside!
Take a peek on PAGE 38.
You decide to try the green door. It swings open at a touch of your hand. You step through …
To another room of mirrors. But these mirrors are all small and square. They cover the walls, the ceiling, and the floor like tiles. You glance around for the door you stepped through.
Uh-oh.
There’s no sign of it.
There’s no way out!
Go to PAGE 62.
You decide to try FAST FORWARD. Maybe it’ll speed you up, so you can escape Professor Shock’s robot!
You jab your finger down on the FAST FORWARD button.
Every single machine in the workshop clicks on at once. And they all run at supersonic speeds! Lights flicker on and off like strobes. The computer printer spews out paper, hundreds of pages a minute. The power drill spins so fast it starts to smoke. The pinball machine flashes and clangs.
And then everything stops. Just like that.
“What happened?” you demand. Your voice sounds strangely tinny. You reach up to touch your mouth.
CLANG! Hey! Your skin feels … metallic.
“Congratulations,” Professor Shock says.
You glance at him. And gasp. He’s turned silver! Light gleams off his polished head.
He’s become a robot!
And so have you!
“You fast-forwarded right through all the stages,” Professor Shock tells you. “My plan is now complete. Thank you!”
Welcome to Machine World.
Hope you like heavy metal music!
THE END
“We’d better go after our reflections,” you say. “What if they don’t come back? We can’t go through life without them. We’ve got to catch up!”
You thrust your foot at the mirror. It slides right through! A tingle runs up your leg.
And then you’re on the other side.
Stacey and Jason pop through a moment later. The three of you are right in front of Miller’s Ice Cream. The sun is shining. The air is full of familiar scents and sounds.
“We are home,” Jason says. “This is great!”
You point to the plate-glass store window. Everything is reflected there — everything but the three of you. It’s very creepy.
“We have to get our reflections back,” you say firmly. “Come on. They must be in the store.”
But when you enter the ice-cream store, there’s no one there but the cashier. A white ceiling fan circles lazily.
Stacey steps up to the cashier. “Excuse me,” she says. “Did three kids just run in here? Three kids who look a lot like us?”
Jason nudges you. “There they are,” he whispers, pointing to a big mirror on the right-hand wall.
You run over and peer into the mirror. “HEY!” you shout.
What’s all the shouting about? Find out on PAGE 67.
“Okay, let’s go get Uncle Jack,” you tell Stacey and Jason. “I guess we’ll just leave Professor Shock here for now.”
You run back into the mall and pelt down the stairs to the storage basement. The door is held closed by a thick padlock. But strangely, it’s not locked. Jason pulls off the padlock and Uncle Jack steps out.
“Red built a monster robot!” you blurt. “And Professor Shock is taking a nap in the middle of the parking lot!”
“You don’t say,” Uncle Jack remarks.
You stare at him. How can he sound so calm? Doesn’t he understand what’s happening?
Uncle Jack smiles at Jason. “So you managed to give the professor the nerve pinch and put him to sleep. Excellent! Our plan is working perfectly,” he tells them.
You feel a sudden chill.
“What plan?” you ask slowly.
Get the details on PAGE 19.
You decide to show the remote to your friends. Why not? You can return it to Professor Shock tomorrow. You stuff the rest of your cookies into your pocket for later. Then you bike over to Jason and Stacey’s house.
The twins are on their back porch, where Jason is building a model plane. You tell them about Professor Shock’s gadget.
“You mean it can turn any machine on?” Stacey asks.
“No way,” Jason sneers. “No remote works on everything.”
Jason needs some convincing. You point the remote at his half-made model plane and press one of the black buttons.
The model plane soars into the air!
“Hey!” Jason cries. “How did you do that? That plane doesn’t even have a motor!”
You find that you can control the plane’s motion by holding down the button. So you make the plane turn. Dip. Roll.
“Cool!” Jason declares. He’s convinced.
Then the plane suddenly turns in the air. By itself.
And dives straight at you and the twins!
Go on to PAGE 17.
You squeeze through a narrow opening between two tall mirrors. It leads into an entrance hall. You and the twins walk in — and stop, shocked.
The inside of the Palace is made of mirrors, too! Everywhere you look, hundreds of reflections of yourself gaze back at you.
“What a strange place!” Stacey exclaims.
“I never saw so many mirrors,” Jason says. “One of these must be the one we’re looking for.”
“No way!” Stacey disagrees. “They wouldn’t keep the Queen’s mirror in some lousy entrance hall! It must be in another part of the Palace. I bet it has its own special room.”
“We should search in here first,” Jason insists.
“It’s a waste of time,” Stacey retorts.
You sigh. Sometimes you feel like a referee.
“I’ll tell you what we’re going to do,” you say.
If you stay and search for the Queen’s mirror in the entrance hall, go to PAGE 49.
If you skip the entrance hall
and search the rest of the Palace, turn to PAGE 16.
A tiny beetle clings to a branch of an enormous tree. It has a gigantic, trumpet-shaped mouth.
“AROOOOOOO!” the beetle booms.
“A bug?” Jason says in disbelief.
You step up, peering at the little insect.
“AROOOOO!” it shouts.
Your head vibrates like a gong.
“Why aren’t you three in school?” a stern voice demands. You glance up to see a big man wearing a badge.
“A policeman!” Stacey cries. “Officer, can you help us find the Palace of Mirrors?”
“The Palace is across the lake,” the policeman replies. “But you can’t go there now. You kids are supposed to be in school!”
Behind the policeman you can glimpse a wide lake through the trees. Something glitters on the far shore. Is it the Palace?
“Come on,” the officer says. “I’ll take you to school.”
You hesitate. Is it worth trying to explain your problem to the policeman? If he believes you, he might help you. But your story is pretty weird. Maybe you’re better off running away and trying to get to the Palace of Mirrors on your own.
If you try to get help from the policeman, turn to PAGE 44.
If you run for the Palace instead, go to PAGE 121.
You decide to give the backward answer.
“Seven and eight are fifty-one,” you tell the teacher.
“Wrong!” Ms. Silver cries in triumph. “Everyone knows that seven and eight make fifteen!”
“But —” you start to protest.
“Arnie gave a correct answer, but you told him he was wrong!” Stacey yells.
“Yeah! You can’t have it both ways,” Jason adds.
“Silence!” Ms. Silver screams. “I will not tolerate back talk. Into the closet. All three of you!”
Before you can move, the teacher has your ear in an iron grip. Out of the corner of your eye, you see that she’s got Jason’s and Stacey’s ears pinched together in her other hand. You struggle, but you’re no match for Ms. Silver.
“Give my regards to the sharks,” she sneers. Then she shoves you all through the closet door and slams it.
It’s pitch-dark inside. You seem to be sitting in a giant woven basket of some sort. Straw pokes into your back.
“Did she say sharks?” Jason moans.