Welcome to the Wicked Wax Museum

by R. L. Stine

  Go to PAGE 55.

  “Yeow! He’s a monster!” Liz yells.

  “Wh-what happened to your face?” you croak.

  Axel clacks his yellow teeth together. “Don’t you like it? My boss, Sybil Wicked, gave me a facelift.”

  Huh? “A face-lift?” you repeat, horrified.

  “His boss?” Liz whispers.

  You stare at each other. You just had a horrible idea.

  “Um — where are you taking us, Axel?” you ask.

  “To Miss Sybil, of course,” Axel says. “I sent pictures of your faces on ahead to her. She’s dying to meet you both.”

  You gulp. You don’t know who this Miss Sybil is, or what she wants with you, but you don’t feel any need to find out. You’ve got to get out of this limo!

  “The phone!” Liz whispers in your ear. “Call 911!”

  Great idea! You reach for the phone. That’s when you notice it has only three buttons. And none of them says 911.

  One button has a picture of a clock on it. The second has a laughing jester’s face. The third is completely blank.

  You’ve got to push one of them. It’s your only chance. But which one?

  If you try the button with the clock, turn to PAGE 22.

  If you try the blank button, turn to PAGE 35.

  If you try the laughing jester, turn to PAGE 72.

  “Bed,” you decide. “The doors are too risky.”

  You and Liz dive under the bed. It’s a tight fit. The springs sag, making it hard to move. And the dust is so thick you figure it hasn’t been cleaned since the last ice age!

  Next to you, Liz makes a strangled sound. She must be trying not to sneeze, you think.

  “Shhh!” you hush her.

  You hear a door opening, though you can’t tell which one. The footsteps are in the room now. You hold your breath.

  Liz’s arm is smushed up against your face. It feels kind of … wet. Gross! You reach out to shove her away.

  Your hand sinks into something slimy. Something that pulses gently. Something that’s making a gurgling sound, so quietly that only you can hear it.

  Something that isn’t Liz!

  Turn to PAGE 128.

  “Footsteps!” you say to Liz. After your brush with the evil Executioner, you’re not taking any chances. “Quick, let’s hide!”

  You search for a place to hide, but the room is empty! Except for one thing. So you do the only thing you can …

  You duck under the dead Executioner’s black cape.

  A moment later you hear a man’s voice. “I told those kids to wait in the lobby!” he says angrily. “Now they’re holding up the whole group!”

  It’s Mr. Dunning!

  “Mr. Dunning!” Liz calls out as you throw off the cape. “It’s us! We’re here!”

  But he’s not there. Where could he have gone? you wonder.

  Then, through a small doorway you hadn’t noticed before, you hear his voice again: “I told those kids to wait in the lobby!”

  “Mr. Dunning!” you shout. And the two of you burst through the little doorway into … a closet!

  What’s going on? you think. Then you see something that makes your blood run cold.

  Quick! Go to PAGE 77!

  “Tip the stretcher over!” you call out to Jake. “Lean!”

  But the noise of the sparks and short circuits makes it impossible for Jake to hear you. He’s a prisoner of the stretcher and it’s taking him to the next step — the final step.

  The Skin Scraping Center is alive with workers scrambling to steady themselves and save the equipment. “Come on, Liz,” you say breathlessly. “After Jake!”

  “Oh,” Liz cries hopelessly. “The end is near. I just know this is going to be it for us. For all of us.”

  Hurry to PAGE 124.

  Someone is watching you! You feel it. There’s something in the shadows across the room. And you have to find out what it is!

  Maybe it’s Jake! you think. Maybe this whole thing is one of his pranks. Maybe he put his sneakers on that conveyor belt so you’d think he was unconscious.

  Maybe not.

  “Jake?” you call hopefully. “Is that you?”

  There’s no reply.

  “Mr. Dunning?” you try again.

  A spotlight suddenly shines down from the ceiling. It blinds you for a moment. Then you and Liz both gasp.

  The light is shining on a person, but it sure isn’t Mr. Dunning. This giant wears a black hood and black cape. He holds a gleaming ax blade high in the air. In a moment he will bring it down on the victim kneeling before him.

  “It’s the Executioner!” you exclaim, horrified. “He was in one of the GOOSEBUMPS books we read, remember, Liz?”

  “Yeah,” Liz whispers. “The Executioner.” Her eyes are wide. She can hardly breathe.

  Then she screams. “It’s Jake! He’s going to be executed!”

  Turn to PAGE 99.

  The tall, shadowy figure of a man stands in a swirling cloud of mist. He wears a dark overcoat and a wide-brimmed hat pulled down over his eyes. As the fog clears you see that his hands are stretched out in front of him. He’s reaching for Liz’s throat.

  “Look out! He’s going to strangle you!” you exclaim.

  Liz ducks. The Strangler keeps reaching for her. This time you reach for her, too. You pull her in the opposite direction and start running.

  Are those footsteps behind you? Is the Strangler following you? You desperately want to look back. But it might slow you down.

  If you look back over your shoulder, turn to PAGE 50.

  If you keep running and don’t look back, turn to PAGE 8.

  Liz is staring at a framed, yellowed newspaper clipping that hangs on the wall. “It’s about a terrible fire at Dr. Wicked’s lab, three years ago,” she whispers. She points at a photo. “That was his daughter. He was teaching her his secret method for making lifelike wax dummies.”

  You lean forward and peer at the photo. It shows a girl with long black hair. Her face has been cut out of the picture. “‘Sybil Wicked, age 14, was lost in the blaze,’” you read.

  You feel very cold all of a sudden. “Liz,” you say. “Didn’t Axel say he works for Sybil Wicked?”

  Liz nods. Her freckled face is pale.

  “But how?” you ask. “How can he work for someone who’s … dead?”

  Go to PAGE 73.

  How a-MAZE-ing are you? Start at the THIS WAY OUT sign. As you follow your chosen path, collect the letters along the way. See the spaces provided below. Copy them to a piece of paper and fill in the letters along the way. If you have chosen the correct path, your letters will spell out an important message from the owner of the Wicked Wax Museum, Dr. Wicked himself!

  Write the letters in the order in which you find them:

  If you finish the maze successfully, go straight to PAGE 124. If you don’t get through the maze, close the book and take a cold shower. You’ve just been riding on a river of burning wax!

  “Aaaaaahhhh!” you yell. Your voice trails away behind you as you plummet down. Down. Down.

  SPLAT! You land on something soft. And squishy. And smelly.

  “Peee-yew!” Liz’s voice complains next to you.

  “Liz!” you cry. You struggle to sit up. “What happened? Where are we?”

  “In the garbage,” Liz tells you.

  You gaze around. You’re surrounded by mounds of banana peels, coffee grounds, chicken bones, and rotting vegetables. Giant, buzzing flies swarm around your heads. Yecch! You must have fallen through a trap door right into a Dumpster.

  With a jerk, the Dumpster starts to move. Liz peers over the side. “We’re on some kind of train track,” she reports. “And we’re headed for that dark tunnel up ahead.”

  Dark tunnel? “Maybe we should get off now,” you suggest. Then you think again. “Or maybe we should stay put. This Dumpster could be our ticket out of here!”

  If you decide to stay put, turn to PAGE 29.

  If you dec
ide to get out now, turn to PAGE 76.

  “What do you mean, skin Jake alive?” Liz cries.

  “Remember, one of the masked guys talked about getting Jake ready for the ‘next step’?” you ask. “Jake got through the steaming step. The sign above the end of the tunnel says ‘Skin Scraping Center.’ That must be the next step!”

  “You mean they’re going to scrape Jake’s skin … off?” Liz shudders. “But why?”

  “I haven’t figured that out yet,” you admit. “But I know we’ve got to save him. Quick, get back into your test tube!”

  “WHAT?” Liz cries. “Are you crazy?”

  “Trust me,” you say. “It’s the only way to follow Jake!”

  You push Liz back into her tube. Then you jump into your own tube and pull the door closed.

  Just as you hoped, the track starts moving again. You and Liz are headed for the Skin Scraping Center!

  You hope you won’t be too late to save Jake. That is, if you can survive yourselves….

  Hurry to PAGE 26.

  Your stomach turns over. Liz is right! The figure kneeling with his head on the chopping block has chin-length brown hair — just like Jake’s!

  “Jake!” you shriek. You dash over and grab his hand to pull him off the chopping block. But what you feel startles you. Jake’s hand is covered with wax!

  Right then the Executioner’s arms glide downward. The ax gleams in the spotlight.

  WHACK! The steel ax blade lands squarely on Jake’s neck!

  Quick, turn to PAGE 42!

  It’s Mr. Dunning! The rest of your class is standing behind him. Everyone is staring at you.

  “I thought I told you to stay inside!” he yells. “This is the last straw. I’ve had it this time.”

  “But I — but —” you sputter.

  “No buts,” Mr. Dunning orders. “I’m calling your parents right now!” And he marches back to the lobby.

  The kids from your class are still there, staring at you. “What a loser,” someone mutters. A couple of them start to snicker. You feel about two inches tall.

  Looks like you made the wrong choice in …

  THE END.

  “I have to know what’s going on,” you tell Liz. You turn in the direction of the voice and cry, “Who are you?”

  “I’m Sybil Wicked,” says the voice. “Dr. Wicked’s daughter.”

  “But the newspaper clipping!” Liz protests. “It said you were lost in a fire!”

  “Yes,” the voice agrees softly. “I was lost. But not in the way you think. Not in the way the world thinks!”

  “Wh-what do you mean?” you quaver.

  In answer, Sybil Wicked moves slowly out from the shadows.

  First you see her hands. They’re small, delicate. Next, her arms and body. She is wearing a long, purple robe. Like the ones in the closet.

  At last her head comes into the light. Long, beautiful black hair hides her face as she gazes at the ground.

  Then she looks up. And you can’t hold back a scream.

  Turn to PAGE 81.

  You’ve got a feeling there’s more to that closet than meets the eye….

  “Come on,” you urge Liz. “I think we should go back into the closet. I think it’s the way out.”

  This time you lead the way into the closet. You push aside masses of those strange, identical purple robes. And then you spot the thing you were searching for.

  At the back of the closet is a revolving door! You knew it! “Whee!” you shout as you whirl on through. But when you come out the other side, your cry dies in your throat.

  “Ugh!” Liz mutters.

  You couldn’t agree more. You’ve never seen a more horrifying place in your life!

  Swallow hard and go to PAGE 125.

  You stare at the lifeline in your palm. It barely reaches past the middle of your palm.

  That’s funny, you think. I could have sworn it used to be longer!

  Meanwhile, you’re spinning out of control. You feel like a piece of taffy — all twisted, pulled, and stretched to the limit. You feel suddenly soft and waxy.

  “I feel like a licorice Twizzler!” you cry from the funnel.

  “Well, I feel like …” Before Liz can say what she feels like, the tornado drops you down in a soft, sticky mountain of marshmallow cream. You’re on top of a cake! Next to you are long twisted things sticking into the marshmallow cream. And these things have wicks sticking out of their tops.

  Now you both know exactly what you feel like. You feel like twisted wax candles on a birthday cake!

  And that’s exactly what you are. Dr. Wicked’s most brilliant invention is this twisting tornado waxer. Victims caught in the funnel turn to wax. What a strange twist of fate. Your future in the wax museum is as candles burning on the grand opening celebration cake. It will be the beginning for the Wicked Wax Museum. But for you and Liz it will be …

  THE END.

  “It’s Jake!” Liz exclaims aloud.

  Both the worker and Dr. Wicked swing around to see who spoke. They see you and Liz.

  “After them!” Dr. Wicked orders. “After them!”

  “Run!” you shout. “Run for your life!”

  With all the workers in the laboratory coming after you, there’s only one way out of this: up.

  Your thoughts are racing as fast as your feet. You’ve got it! You could climb the scaffolding on those ropes. Then you could swing down and tackle Dr. Wicked.

  It’s risky. No, it’s more than risky. It’s life-threatening. But you have no choice other than which ropes to climb. You examine them closely. Some look too thin to support your weight. Others are thicker — but starting to fray. Which one will you choose?

  If you go for a thin rope, turn to PAGE 71.

  If you go for a thick, fraying rope, turn to PAGE 80.

  The cries come from behind the left-hand purple door — the one you didn’t go through. Axel shakes his bony head. “Better see what’s wrong,” he mutters to himself.

  Bending close to you, he clacks his teeth together. “Don’t go anywhere,” he warns. “I’d sure hate for you to miss the fun!” Then he hurries through the left-hand door.

  Fun! Hah! You don’t waste a second. The minute he’s gone you fling the rope off your wrists. Then you get to work on Liz.

  “Hurry!” she urges. “He’ll be back any second!”

  You pick frantically at the knotted ropes. You can hear Axel’s voice through the door. “Sorry, Miss Sybil,” he says. “I thought I took all the mirrors away.”

  “The horror!” the wailing voice cries again.

  At last the knots give. “Let’s get out of here,” you say.

  “I think there’s a hall that way,” Liz says, pointing at the door Axel just went through. “Should we check it out?”

  Should you try the left-hand door? Or should you go back and finish exploring the closet?

  To explore the closet, turn to PAGE 102.

  To try the left-hand door, turn to PAGE 74.

  Axel hoists you up by your shirt collar. In the other hand, he’s got Liz. You both kick and struggle, but it does no good. Axel is inhumanly strong! His bony jaws clack as he laughs his demented laugh.

  “I should take you to Miss Sybil,” he tells you. “But I don’t want to. I can always get her more victims. And you two have made me very angry. I want to punish you.”

  He hauls you over to the Deboner. “Let’s see how you like this,” he chuckles, and tosses you into the funnel. Mechanical claws swoop down instantly and seize you. In less than ten seconds, you’re hanging like clothes on a line. A tiny jigsaw whirs directly toward your eyes. You hear Liz scream.

  Turn to PAGE 134.

  You pound on the glass, fighting to escape. A sudden rush of steam whooshes in through a hose in the top of the tube.

  You can’t breathe! Sweat drips down your forehead. Your fingernails scrape across the glass as you claw at the door. The steam is getting thicker and there’s no way out!

 
“I’m suffocating!” You choke out the words. “Let me out!”

  You beat the glass with your fists, but your hands are limp and useless. The steam has softened them too much. You’re shriveling like a prune. This steaming process is shrinking you. You’re the size of a Barbie doll!

  “Help!” you cry. Even your voice is smaller now. The two men in doctor’s masks can’t hear you. They glance at your test tube and shake their heads. “Another goner!” says one man, matter-of-factly. “I guess this one couldn’t take the heat.”

  You feel a little sick. A little tired. A little little. When they open the door, you’re just a speck on the bottom of the test tube. The good news is, your steaming is finished.

  The bad news is, so are you.

  THE END

  You decide to push the laughing jester button once more. And this time, the phone on the other end rings.

  And rings.

  And rings.

  And rings.

  You’re about to slam the receiver down when someone answers.

  “Hello?” you scream into the mouthpiece. “Hello?”

  “May I be of some assistance?” a man’s voice asks.

  You know that voice. You jerk your head up and see Axel holding a phone to the earhole of his bony head. He’s laughing and laughing and laughing.

  You stare at the laughing jester on the phone button. How could you have thought it looked friendly? How come you didn’t notice before that the jester’s face is a skull?

  Looks like the joke’s on you!

  THE END

  You and Liz waste no time getting out of there. Back down on the street, you gaze up at the building. From the window at the very top, the museum worker sticks his head out and screams, “You’ll pay for this! You’ll pay! We’ve got your friend Jake, and we’ll get you, too!”