Under the Magician's Spell

  BEWARE!!

  DO NOT READ THIS

  BOOK FROM

  BEGINNING TO END!

  Bummer! You have to take your bratty little sister, Joanie, with you to the mall. Before you and your friend Sid can stop her, Joanie runs into a magic shop. Of course, she touches everything in the store. But when Joanie leaves the shop carrying a big book of magic spells, you know you’re headed for trouble. Big trouble!

  The book of spells belongs to an evil magician. And he’s going to use every terrifying magic trick — sawing you in half, throwing knives at you, even setting hundreds of rabbits loose — to get his book back! Time is running out. The magician has put a powerful spell on Joanie — her body is slowly evaporating. And you’re next!

  Can you destroy the magician before he waves his wand and makes you disappear into thin air?

  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!

  Contents

  Beware!!

  Title Page

  1

  2

  3

  4

  5

  6

  7

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  9

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  11

  12

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  135

  Teaser

  About the Author

  Also Available

  Copyright

  You flatten yourself against the wall. You listen hard for a noise — any noise. Will you be able to make your escape?

  The only sound you hear is your own raspy breathing. You slowly peer around the corner. All clear. “It’s now or never,” you murmur.

  You take a deep breath and sprint toward freedom.

  Bang! The door slams behind you as you fling yourself onto the lawn.

  “Made it!” you cheer. But you know there’s no time to celebrate. You glance around. So far so good. You race around the side of the house.

  And come to a dead stop.

  Turn to PAGE 2.

  There they are. Standing right by your bicycle.

  Your mother and your little sister, Joanie.

  “Hi, sweetie,” your mother greets you. “Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

  Your stomach sinks to your toes. You were so close. So close to escape. Now you know what’s coming.

  “I’m meeting Sid at the mall,” you mumble to your mom.

  “That sounds like fun, dear. I’m sure Joanie would like to go, too.”

  “Maaaa!” you wail. “Joanie is such a pain! She gets into everything. I have to watch her every second!”

  “Joanie will behave, won’t you, cutie?” Your mother turns to Joanie and kisses her cheek.

  Joanie nods sweetly. She gives you a big fake smile.

  Good-bye fun, you think.

  Your bratty nine-year-old sister always gets you into trouble. She has to touch everything she sees. “Break it or take it” seems to be Joanie’s motto. But she’s so disgustingly cute, no one ever seems to get mad at her. Grown-ups love her brown curls and bright blue eyes.

  “Look, Joanie wants to hold your hand,” your mother gushes. “Isn’t that cute?”

  Before you puke, turn to PAGE 3.

  You shake off Joanie’s hand. Once your mother is out of sight, you know Joanie will drop her cutie-pie routine.

  “Listen up, Joanie,” you tell her. “I’m in charge. So hurry up and grab your bike. I’m already late.”

  “I have to get my diary first,” Joanie says.

  That stupid diary. Joanie never goes anywhere without it.

  “You two have fun,” your mother tells you. Then she follows Joanie into the house.

  “Joanie,” you holler. “I’m leaving. NOW!” You jump on your bike and pedal as fast as you can. Hopefully none of your friends will spot you riding to the mall with your little sister. You glance back and see that Joanie is pedaling hard to keep up with you.

  When you reach the mall, you and Joanie lock your bikes in the rack. “Don’t wander off,” you instruct Joanie.

  “Who, me?” she asks super-sweetly.

  Hurry to PAGE 18.

  How can a guy without a head choke you? But the fingers at your throat tighten their grip!

  “Help me,” you manage to choke out.

  Joanie finds a sword on the wall and chops off the Magician’s arm. You and the arm fall to the ground. Then Joanie pries the Magician’s fingers off your neck.

  “Thanks,” you tell Joanie. “That was close.”

  You stand up and walk over to the head. “Yuck,” you say, picking it up. You bring it over to the cabinet and place it on the empty shelf.

  It’s over.

  “What’s going on?” Sid asks. He is sitting on the guillotine. The trance must have been broken when you defeated the Magician.

  “It’s a long story,” you say.

  Then you notice something. The walls of the shop seem to be dissolving around you. You, Joanie, and Sid hurry out the door. You turn back and see that the Magic Shop has already disappeared. You glance down at the Magic Book in your hand — it’s fading away to nothin
g!

  Well, after a day like today, maybe you’re not so surprised after all.

  THE END

  “Where’s my sister?” you demand, racing into the room.

  The giant smiles his creepy smile at you. “You’re just in time for the show,” he says.

  That’s when you notice the kid next to Sid isn’t a real kid. It’s a ventriloquist’s dummy. A really ugly dummy.

  “Where’s Joanie?” you ask again. Of course, knowing Joanie, she could have wandered off by herself.

  The dummy’s red eyes blink open. “I’m Freaky Freddie,” the dummy says. “Children don’t like me. They think I’m too scary to look at.”

  “Sid, come on,” you say. “We have to find Joanie.”

  But Sid just stares blankly ahead. It’s as if he were made out of wood.

  Uh-oh.

  “I need cuter dummies for my act,” the giant explains. “Then people will like me.”

  No, you think. It can’t be! You notice a large cabinet. You rush toward it and yank it open.

  “Joanie!” you shriek. She gazes at you silently. She’s a dummy! And crumpled beside her is another dummy. You pick it up and gasp in horror!

  The dummy has your face!

  You now know how this will

  END.

  “Joanie,” you spit out through clenched teeth. “We’ve only just arrived, and already you’ve —”

  You’re interrupted by a poke in the back. You whirl around. There’s Sid with a goofy smile on his face.

  “Ooooops,” Sid says sheepishly. He holds up his hands. They’re handcuffed together.

  “Sid,” you scold him. “You’re as bad as Joanie!”

  A booming voice makes you jump. “I see that you are enjoying my magic tricks.”

  Great, you think. The store owner. Now we’ll have to pay for the tricks we’ve touched. But where is the guy? You glance around the shop. You don’t see anyone. You smell something though. Something musty and rotten.

  “Welcome to the Magic Shop,” the voice says. A tall, thin man with a skinny mustache steps out of the shadows. He’s dressed all in black. His black cape swirls around him as if there were a strong wind blowing.

  Except, you remind yourself, we’re indoors.

  “I am the Magician,” the tall man declares.

  Turn to PAGE 125.

  Joanie has already disappeared. Too bad you can’t just let her stay lost. You glance around the mall.

  “There she is,” you say, pointing across the courtyard.

  Joanie stands frozen in front of a shop window as if she were in a trance. For a moment you could swear her feet are floating inches off the floor.

  Can’t be, you tell yourself. You blink and look again. No, her feet are still on the ground.

  “ ‘The Magic Shop,’ ” you read the store’s sign aloud.

  “She’s going in,” Sid warns.

  “Come on,” you cry. “We’ve got to get her out of there. That store won’t know what hit it.”

  You and Sid follow Joanie into the Magic Shop. It takes a few seconds for your eyes to adjust to the dim light.

  Sid gives a little gasp beside you. “Wow,” you murmur. The shop is filled from floor to ceiling with magic tricks.

  Of course, Joanie is touching every single one.

  You shake your head as you watch her fiddling with a miniature guillotine. But then she sticks her finger into place under the tiny blade.

  “Joanie, don’t!” you shout.

  Before you can stop her, she pulls the string. The blade drops right through her finger!

  Rush over to PAGE 114!

  “Hey!” you exclaim. “Where did he go?”

  Sid points toward a black curtain at the rear of the shop. You walk up to the curtain and give it a yank. There’s nothing behind it but a solid brick wall!

  Weird.

  “It’s time to leave,” you tell Sid. He agrees. You quickly find Joanie kneeling in front of a huge bookcase.

  “Come on, Joanie, we’re going,” you tell her.

  “But I’m —”

  “Now!” you command, yanking her to her feet.

  “We need to remove Sid’s handcuffs,” you say once you’re outside. “We have some tools back at our clubhouse.”

  “Maybe this will help,” Joanie says. She holds up an old book. The words Magic Book of Spells are written across the gold cover.

  “Joanie!” you screech. “What are you doing with that?’

  “I tried to tell you,” Joanie whines. “But you dragged me out of the store. Besides, I think there’s a spell in here for getting out of handcuffs.”

  “Well, somebody needs to do something,” Sid grumbles. “I think these cuffs are getting tighter.” What should you do?

  If you decide to try a spell from the book, turn to PAGE 32.

  If you decide to go back to the clubhouse and use regular tools, turn to PAGE 47.

  “Let’s get out of here!” you tell Joanie and Sid. You grab their arms and pull them away from Larry’s front door.

  The three of you hide behind a tall row of hedges.

  “So what are we going to do now?” Sid demands.

  “I don’t know. I’m thinking,” you reply.

  “You’re the one who got us into this mess,” Sid declares.

  “Me?” you cry.

  “Yeah, you. If you hadn’t brought your little sister to the mall with us, then …”

  You and Sid argue and argue.

  Suddenly you realize that Joanie has been quiet for a long time. Too long.

  You turn to stare at your sister.

  Oh, no! Time has run out!

  While you and Sid were arguing, Joanie has been disappearing and disappearing and disappearing. And now you can’t see her at all.

  THE END

  The red ball! It’s not there!

  “You lose,” Mr. Knowledge announces.

  “Not so fast,” Joanie demands. “The game is not over yet. You have to show us what’s under the other cups.”

  “Do not!” Mr. Knowledge sneers.

  “Do too!” Joanie insists. “Or else you’ll be known as a cheater!”

  You grab the middle cup and lift it up. No red ball. Sid picks up the left cup. Nothing. You’ve been tricked!

  “Cheater!” Sid yells. You and Joanie join in, chanting, “Cheater! Cheater!” You point accusing fingers at Mr. Knowledge.

  “Grrrrr! Mmmurrkkk!” Awful sounds burst from Mr. Knowledge’s mouth. His hair turns gray and stringy. He grows at least two feet. His face swells up into a puffy mask with yellow slime running out of his eyes and nose.

  He reaches out with one enormous monster hand and grabs Joanie.

  “Appetizer!” he grunts. Before Joanie can scream, he pops her into his mouth.

  “Main course!” the monster booms, grabbing Sid. He eats Sid in one bite.

  “Dessert,” the monster says, reaching for you.

  You guessed it. This is

  THE END.

  The horrible laughter fills your ears. The rotting smell fills your nose. And then there he is in front of you.

  The Magician.

  “There’s no escape,” he sneers. He grabs the hourglass around your neck and pulls hard. The cord snaps.

  “Just a few more grains of sand left,” he says, holding up the hourglass for you to see. “Then I’ll have three new heads for my collection.”

  The Magician waves his hand. The wooden cabinet appears. He snaps his fingers. The doors fly open. The terrible shrunken heads stare out at you.

  “The chubby one will go first,” the Magician says. You hear a clanking of metal wheels. You gasp! A real guillotine rolls into the center of the room!

  Go to PAGE 80.

  There’s no way you’re climbing into that Dumpster! You’re going into the factory. You, Joanie, and Sid creep up to the door. You jiggle the handle. It’s locked.

  “Now what?” you ask.

  “The fire escape,” Sid says. You gla
nce up at the fire escape. Most of the guardrails have broken away and several of the metal steps are missing. The nails that anchor the steps to the brick wall are rusty. There is a metal ladder attached to the bottom step. It’s about three feet over your head.

  “I’ll go first,” you say. “Give me a boost.”

  You place a hand on Joanie’s shoulder to steady yourself. Sid locks his fingers together. You place your foot in his hands. He boosts you up. You grab the bottom rail and pull yourself the rest of the way.

  You step onto the fire escape. It wobbles, swinging from side to side.

  You find the release mechanism for the ladder, and it drops down. It makes a terrible groaning sound, but it still works. Sid and Joanie carefully climb up behind you. When you reach the second floor, you find a broken window.

  You peer inside but it’s too dark to see anything but shadowy shapes. You climb in through the window.

  Two shiny yellow eyes greet you.

  Turn to PAGE 118.

  You feel light-headed. You are about to faint. There’s something you should do. But you can’t think. Oh, what is it?

  More tentacles swirl around your body. You’re being slowly drawn forward into the mass of worms.

  Just as you are about to be devoured by the mass of tiny worm mouths, you remember what it was you were supposed to do.

  You forgot to scream. You forgot to give the warning to Sid and Joanie. That means they’ll take this path, thinking it is the Safe Path.

  It had been such a good plan. If only it had worked….

  THE END

  You don’t think you’ll be able to steal back the Magic Book. Larry must have hidden it somewhere by now. Your only choice is to buy it from him. But you have a problem.

  “How are we going to raise fifty dollars?” Sid asks.

  That’s a tough one.

  You look over at Joanie, thinking hard. If you don’t get the book back, Joanie will disappear in an hour.

  You shiver with fear. But you can’t let the fear clog your brain. You’ve gotten out of tougher situations before.

  “I know,” Joanie pipes up. “You can sell some of your CDs. You’ve got a million of them. And all the music you listen to stinks.”

  You stare at Joanie as if she were crazy.

  “I’ve got a better idea,” you tell her. “Why don’t you sell your collection of Barbie doll designer clothes? Why does she need five coats? Are you afraid she’ll get cold?”