Trapped in the Circus of Fear Read online

  “H-h-how did this happen to you?” you stammer.

  “It happened to all of us,” Danny says, nodding at the other sideshow exhibits. “We came here as normal kids. But Barbarous trapped us and used her magic on us. Now we’re freaks.”

  “And we’ll be here forever,” the Girl with Five Tongues moans. Her other tongues repeat the last word, like an echo. “Forever-forever-forever-forever.”

  The eerie echo makes your skin crawl.

  “I’ve got to find Richie and get out of here!” you declare. “But how do I do it?”

  “I don’t know,” Danny says. “We all tried to run away. To escape. But Barbarous always caught us.”

  “Someone’s coming,” Mr. Peepers declares. He’s been keeping watch while you talk to your friend. “Probably Mistress Barbarous!”

  “Quick! Hide!” Danny whispers.

  “No! Run!” Mr. Peepers instructs you.

  Hide or run? Hide or run? Quick, choose!

  If you’re a fast runner, dash to PAGE 62.

  If not, you’d better hide on PAGE 39.

  That night, you’re the ringmaster of the new All-Star Kid Circus! You, Richie, and all the other sideshow kids are the stars!

  Richie rides bareback on a horse. Danny Mendleson juggles five clubs of fire. Merrill does an amazing trapeze act with the boy who used to be the Kid with Rotten Flesh. Now he’s a normal kid named Elliot Glass.

  The other circus performers, the regular clowns, acrobats, and jugglers, help out in the show. They’re delighted that the reign of Mistress Barbarous and her evil relatives is over.

  “But what about the pendant?” Richie whispers to you near the end of the show. “If it falls into the wrong hands —”

  “That will never happen!” you interrupt. “Just watch.”

  As a grand finale to the circus you clap your hands three times. Three magnificent elephants parade into the ring.

  They put their front legs in the air and stand up.

  You race forward and position the pendant on the ground in front of the biggest elephant. When she lowers her huge front feet, she crushes the jade to smithereens.

  “Good night, everyone!” you address the crowd over the microphone. “I’m proud to announce that this is a very happy

  END!”

  You glance nervously around, trying to make up your mind. You’ve got three choices.

  You can keep searching for Richie.

  Or, since you’re here in the clown tent, you can disguise yourself as a clown.

  Or you can hide and hope that Richie comes to find you.

  Choose!

  To search for Richie, turn to PAGE 11.

  To disguise yourself as a clown, turn to PAGE 35.

  To hide and wait for Richie, turn to PAGE 58.

  “I won’t shut up!” the Lizard Boy yells at Mistress Barbarous. “I’m going to tell this kid the truth about you!”

  “Yeah,” the Dog Girl barks. She turns her hound face toward you. “We were all normal kids once. But now … rrrrrufff!”

  You stare hard at the Lizard Boy.

  “Hey,” you blurt out as it hits you. “Aren’t you … ?”

  “Danny Mendleson,” the boy says, nodding sadly.

  Your stomach tightens into a knot.

  Danny Mendleson! He was last year’s winner at circus camp. He won the chance to join the circus for a week. And then he disappeared!

  “I’m Merrill Thornbush,” the Girl with Five Tongues pipes up. “I won at circus camp two years ago. I’ve been here ever since.”

  “Since-since-since-since,” the other four tongues echo.

  Oh, no, you think. This must be where all the circus kids end up!

  Quick! Turn to PAGE 12.

  “You just can’t stay away, can you?” Barbarous taunts, grinning at you. You stare up at her in terror.

  Mistress Barbarous is so evil! What will she do to me now? you wonder. Your teeth chatter from cold and fear.

  She drags you into the center ring under the big top and shoves you down to the dirt. Then she quickly backs away, leaving you there.

  You struggle to your feet … and gasp.

  All around you, circus acts are going on! Deadly acts!

  The knife thrower on horseback rides around and around the center ring. Aiming his knife at you.

  Above you on trapezes are two women in pink leotards. They look ready to jump. Right on top of you!

  Three ferocious lions are wandering around loose. They roar and growl.

  “Welcome, circus kid!” Barbarous bellows over the microphone. “Welcome to your first — and last — performance under the big top!”

  The show starts on PAGE 72.

  “Yes!” you gasp to the tiny clown at your side. “I have food. I’ve got a bag of peanuts.”

  “Peanuts?” Mr. Peepers sputters. “Peanuts? Do I look like an elephant? What would I want with a bag of peanuts?”

  “Give me a break!” you whisper with the last of your breath. “Please help me!”

  “Don’t you have any chocolate bars?” the pudgy clown demands.

  Too bad you can’t answer him. You just gasped your last breath.

  Oh, well. Nice try.

  At least you’ve learned something for next time. And this is a rule that will get you through all kinds of tricky situations, both in GOOSEBUMPS and in real life:

  Chocolate can almost always save the day!

  THE END

  “What are you doing up there?” you call softly. “And how come you dropped slime on my head?”

  “My mouth was open. I drooled by accident,” Richie whispers. “Hurry! Climb the ladder. No one will find us up here.”

  You start climbing. Whoops! It’s too late for you to take this advice:

  Never hide anywhere with someone who drools. Because you know what? If Richie drools, it won’t be long till he also starts hiccuping or burping.

  Which is exactly what he does, the minute you get up there.

  “Brrrruuuup! Oh, excuse me,” Richie mutters.

  “Aha!” Mistress Barbarous calls when she hears him belch. “Caught you!”

  She pulls out an ancient pendant from around her neck and a mirror from her pocket. She uses these two items to work a terrible spell. Within seconds, she has transformed the two of you into conjoined twins. Joined at the stomach!

  That’s right. You now share a tummy with Richie Fieldston. Which means that when he burps, you burp! You two are a big hit in the sideshow. People love to bring you things to eat.

  “Please, Richie,” you beg him every day. “No beans!”

  THE END

  Congratulations! You spotted all the lions and did the math correctly! You may not be lucky — but you’re smart!

  You didn’t need that lucky baseball cap after all.

  For your reward, you get to survive being knocked over by the lion.

  You also get three hints.

  Hint #1: When you choose your objects again at the start of the book, take the thing that helps people to get a good look at themselves.

  Hint #2: Running from danger almost never gets you anywhere.

  Hint #3: When you go out in the sun, wear sunscreen. This won’t help you get through this book, but it will help you in real life!

  Now go back to PAGE 2 and begin the adventure again. And don’t even think about taking your lucky baseball cap if you want to outsmart Mistress Barbarous in

  THE END.

  Your hand falls on the can of talcum powder. You grab it. It just might work! You yank off the cap and dump the white dust into your palm.

  “Ha!” you cry as you throw the powder in the Great Bostini’s face.

  “Grrrr!” The lion tamer growls angrily. His head snaps back. The talcum powder hits his nose.

  And he starts to sneeze.

  “Ah — ah — ah …”

  Turn to PAGE 66.

  You throw yourself flat just in time.

  One instant later the lion sails toward you
….

  But because you ducked, he flies over your head and lands on Morton the Knife Thrower instead.

  “Nooooo!” Morton cries as the lion topples him.

  You stand up and dust yourself off.

  “Duck again!” the voice calls from above.

  You hit the ground. Then you roll over and peer into the dark area of ropes and platforms at the top of the tent.

  It’s Richie! you think. This time you recognized his voice.

  He’s been hiding up there this whole time!

  A second lion leaps over you. But this time, the lion doesn’t even seem to be aiming for you. He’s leaping at the Great Bostini, the lion tamer, who’s been standing near the lion cages at the side of the ring.

  With a horrible growl, the lion rips Bostini’s costume to shreds.

  The lion is going crazy! Attacking his master!

  “Help me! Please!” Bostini begs you.

  Give him a hand on PAGE 126.

  You gaze down and see another young woman in a pink leotard. Except she has a black snake sewn on her costume. Another cobra.

  Otherwise she looks exactly like Sara the Human Snake!

  Twins? Uh-oh. Doesn’t Mistress Barbarous have twin sisters?

  “Who’s that?” you call up to Sara.

  “Oh, no! That’s Susan, my sister,” Sara moans. “She gets really jealous when I work out with anyone besides her.”

  “Hey, what are you doing, Sara?” Susan yells. She sounds really angry. “Who’s your new friend?”

  “I’m just here for a week,” you say, trying to sound friendly.

  “Really?” she sneers. “Well, be careful, I’d hate for you to fall.” TWANG! She shoves the ladder.

  You glare down at her. She has a cold glint in her eye — and a huge pair of steel shears in her hands!

  “Climb faster, kid,” she shouts at you. “Or you won’t have anything to climb on!”

  Then she scales the ladder as fast as lightning. She’s right under your rung.

  “Leave my friend alone,” Sara cries.

  But it’s too late. Susan cuts the rung under your feet!

  Hold on tight until you reach PAGE 44.

  Dust flies up under your feet as you and Mr. Peepers run through the circus tents.

  What about Richie? you think. He’s in trouble, too!

  “I have to go back for my friend!” you shout to Mr. Peepers. You turn to go help Richie, but then you see the evil clown stretching his arms again. The awful white hands are coming for you!

  “Never mind!” you scream. “Let’s go!”

  Mr. Peepers ducks under a lion cage. You follow. You both crawl on your bellies to the other side. Then you hide behind a large leather trunk.

  You watch as the clown hands search everywhere for you. But they can’t find your hiding place. Finally they give up and shrink away.

  “We did it!” you exclaim. “Thank you so much!”

  “You’re welcome. Now, where’s my chocolate?” Mr. Peepers holds out his hand expectantly.

  “It’s in my backpack,” you answer, breathing hard. “I left it in the main tent.”

  “All right, follow me,” Mr. Peepers orders you.

  “B-b-but Mistress Barbarous is in there!” you stammer. “She was trying to kill me before!”

  Hurry to PAGE 46.

  As you dance, you pull the bullwhip out of your backpack. With a snap of your wrist, you crack the leather whip in the gypsy’s direction.

  Too bad! Not only does the whip not hit the violin, but it curls around in the air and lashes back at you!

  The whip wraps itself around your body!

  “Noooo!” you cry as you fall to the floor. You can’t move a muscle! The whip is wrapped around your body like a cobra!

  Mistress Barbarous roars with laughter. She draws nearer.

  Quick! What else did you bring with you?

  Nothing.

  You wouldn’t be on this page unless you had the chocolate bars, the camera, and the bullwhip.

  You know the rules. You were only allowed to bring three things. Face it! You’ve run out of props.

  You’re whipped!

  THE END

  “Wait!” Bostini calls. “The photo! I want to see it!”

  “No way!” you shout. It would be too risky to trust him. You’ve got to find Richie and get out of here.

  The last time you saw Richie, a clown had him pinned to the ground with a giant shoe. That was in the backstage tent. So that’s where you go!

  Crowds of circus people mill around in the backstage tent. They’re dressed in their costumes, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. A few of them glance at you, then look away in boredom.

  Richie is nowhere to be seen.

  Hmmm, you think. I need help to find Richie and get out of here. Maybe one of these circus people can be trusted.

  But which one?

  Try to find someone nice on PAGE 42.

  You whirl away, dancing faster and faster to escape the knife-tipped bow.

  “What an act!” Mistress Barbarous cries. “I’m a genius!”

  The good news is: You don’t get stabbed by Ramon’s deadly bow. You learn how to dance around it!

  The bad news is: You have to dance around it every single night!

  You and Ramon are the new stars of the circus. Your act is called “Ramon and the Dance-Crazy Kid.”

  While he plays, you dance wildly around the circus rings. You whirl and twirl, your feet flying up in a pattern of crazy rhythms. The audience cheers, especially when you take your bow at the end of the big show, and you’re still dancing!

  What they don’t know is that you’re always dancing! The magic of the charm never wears off. You dance day and night … week after week … year after year …

  You’re a regular dancing fool!

  THE END

  No way are you going to trust this person, you decide.

  Which is a very smart move.

  Maybe you knew, and maybe you were only guessing. Either way, you’re right. The woman with the black cobra on her costume is Susan, the twin sister of Sara the Human Snake.

  Sara’s the nice one. Susan is pure evil.

  Unfortunately, right then Geyorg the huge clown gives one final shake of his arms.

  You can’t help it. He shakes you so hard, you let go of his costume.

  You close your eyes.

  “Helllllp!” you scream as you hurtle toward the ground.

  Land on PAGE 63.

  You stand in front of the target and stretch out your arms and legs to match the white outline.

  “Remember to hold still,” Richie calls to you. He sounds nervous. But not anywhere near as nervous as you are.

  You’re petrified!

  Your heart pounds in rhythm with the horse’s hooves stomping around the ring.

  BA-BOOM. BA-BOOM. BA-BOOM.

  “Don’t move!” the knife thrower warns. “Not an inch. Not unless you want to get hurt!”

  With a horrible glint in his eye, he pulls back his arm and throws the huge, gleaming knife.

  It looks like the knife is coming straight at your heart!

  Are you going to just stand there? Or should you try to leap out of the way?

  If you leap out of the way, turn to PAGE 75.

  If you stand still, turn to PAGE 60.

  Mistress Barbarous’s eyes narrow as she lifts the cord that hangs around her neck. Dangling from it is an ancient-looking jade pendant, carved with the image of a face.

  “You’ll be sorry,” Mistress Barbarous repeats. She quickly pulls out a small mirror. She dangles the pendant in front of it and gazes at the reflection.

  Your mouth falls open as you see a beam of purple light shoot from the pendant face in the mirror to Mistress Barbarous’s eyes!

  Mistress Barbarous glances up at Ramon the Gypsy. Her eyes are pools of glowing purple light. You swallow hard.

  “No!” Ramon cries as the purple energy bolt shoots from her
eyes to his. A second later, the gypsy begins to play his violin wildly. Faster and faster. Like a train picking up speed.

  And the violin bow in his hands begins to grow.

  You can’t believe your eyes.

  The bow grows longer and longer.

  And a sharp blade shoots out of the tip!

  See what happens on PAGE 86.

  You decide to dress up as a clown. That way you can search for Richie and not be noticed!

  You start by pulling on a crazy clown wig. Green.

  Your hands shake. Hurry! you urge yourself. You’ve got to finish before anyone comes in.

  You sit at the makeup table to put on white clown-face paint. You add a huge, frowning black mouth and blue triangles around your eyes.

  Within minutes, you don’t even recognize yourself!

  All you need now is a costume. A bunch of them are hanging on a rack behind you.

  You pick a suit that’s half red and half green, split right down the middle. The costume is big and floppy, much too big for you. But so what? Clowns always wear baggy clothes, right?

  For a final touch, you pull on a pair of giant clown shoes.

  Perfect! you think, staring at yourself in the mirror. Now I can go anywhere, and no one will know it’s me!

  Boldly, you walk right out into the middle of the big tent.

  And, BAM! Right into Mistress Barbarous!

  Hope your costume works on PAGE 115.

  You decide to sneak past Mistress Barbarous at the exit. It seems like the best chance you’ll get to escape!

  “I’m getting out of here,” you whisper up to Richie.

  You slink along the shadows at the edge of the tent. You hide behind poles. You duck under the seats.

  Mistress Barbarous is talking with one of the circus performers. She’s showing him some sort of large poster that she holds in her hands.