The Knight in Screaming Armor

by RL Stine

  Force yourself to PAGE 57.

  Your cousins could be in trouble. Kip and Abbey could be turning to stone this very minute!

  “Don’t move!” you yell down. “I mean, DO move if you can. I’m coming down to save you!”

  You take one last glance at the shining object. Rock by rock, you backtrack the way you came. It’s even harder to move downward, but there’s no time to lose! Mostly, you try not to think about what these rocks and boulders used to be!

  You set your foot against what used to be someone’s shoulder. It jiggles under your weight. And then it flips up! You tumble headfirst down the rocky slope.

  “Ouch! Ooch! Eech! Ouch!” you yelp with each bump. Finally you land with a crash at your cousins’ feet.

  Turn to PAGE 101 to find out what’s happened to them!

  The only light bright enough to read by is the firelight of the dragons’ breath. You inch yourself closer to that cage and hold out the jagged-edged piece of parchment.

  But just as you are ready to start reading, one of the dragons exhales a long ribbon of flame. The fire touches the parchment. It bursts into flame in your hands.

  You throw the paper to the ground. Just before the scrap turns to ashes you get one good look at it. You think it said:

  When Evil fights and Good defends

  The curse of Screaming Armor ends.

  “That sounds familiar,” you say to yourself.

  You remember what Kip told you about the curse: “The Evil Knight will destroy all that is good, unless a brave and noble Saxton can defeat it. It has to be a Saxton.” Looking around the room you know one thing for sure. The only good thing around here is YOU.

  You also happen to be a Saxton.

  Can you handle this much evil on your own?

  If you want to try it alone, turn to PAGE 40.

  If you need help from your cousins, turn to PAGE 84.

  “AAAaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” you scream when your fingers touch metal.

  “Wake up!” you hear Kip’s voice saying.

  “You’re screaming!” Abbey shakes your arm. “Wake up!”

  Your eyes flutter open. Your hand rests on the cold metal head of a shovel hanging on your garage wall.

  “You’ve been sleepwalking!” Kip says. “We heard you screaming so we ran to your bedroom. You got out of bed, put on a robe, and walked out here to the garage.”

  “We followed you just to make sure you were all right,” Abbey continues. “You walked up to the crates we brought and just stood in front of them for the longest time. It was weird.”

  “We tried to talk to you, but you didn’t hear us. Then you reached your hand out, touched the shovel, and started screaming again!” Kip is laughing now because of the look on your face. You’re surprised, embarrassed, and relieved all at once. Was it really all a crazy dream?

  Turn to PAGE 120.

  “We have to free the Good Knight,” you yell over the screams and the heavy clanking. “Maybe it can help us fight the curse.”

  “But … but …” Kip sputters fearfully.

  “Just open the thing,” Abbey snaps, “and get it over with!”

  Your fingers fly over the buckled leather straps that hold the crate closed.

  “I’ve got this strap at the bottom,” Kip says moving in next to you. Abbey just watches you work. You and Kip work together to pry open one side of the crate. The clanking is louder than ever as the crate door slams to the floor. You pick up your flashlight and shine it inside. Abbey is the first to gasp.

  Turn to PAGE 50.

  The silver key fits perfectly into the lock, but it won’t turn. “I don’t get it,” you say. “This key looks like it should go with this lock.”

  No luck. You put the key back in your pocket. You step back from the door to search for another way in. As soon as you move away, the door slowly swings open!

  “Come in,” the voice of a very old man invites from somewhere inside the cottage. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

  “Waiting for us?” Abbey stammers. She peers into the darkened doorway. “But I don’t see you,” Abbey says.

  “Come closer,” the old man says in a friendly voice. “It’s been so long since I had some good company.”

  The three of you step into the cottage. The door SLAMS behind you!

  If the SLAM makes you scream, turn to PAGE 87.

  If the SLAM makes you jump, turn to PAGE 105.

  You decide you have to face the Knight in Screaming Armor one-on-one. If Kip and Abbey join you in this evil exhibit hall, you may all come to a terrible end. And these are, after all, your nightmares.

  Just as you decide not to call them, you hear Kip’s voice from the doorway. “Don’t come in!” you shout back. “You were right. This place is a torture chamber!”

  Before you can stop them, Kip and Abbey pass through the doorway and into the hall of horrors. “Stop!” you warn them. But it’s too late. They’re in.

  Turn to PAGE 21.

  Kip and Abbey don’t notice that you are running out of the dining hall. They don’t care. They reach back to pull their hoods up over their vanishing heads. Now Kip and Abbey are chanting, too.

  “No bell tolls for us. No bell tolls for us. No bell tolls for us.”

  You race down a different set of stone stairs. A doorway at the bottom leads out into a courtyard.

  Across the yard is a crumbling bell tower. As you run for it, the chanting monks hurry close behind you. They’re not going to let you escape. They want you to join them, too.

  You race up the broken stone steps to the top of the tower. A rotting rope hangs from a black cast-iron bell. There’s a kettle full of some bubbling black liquid on the floor.

  You reach for the bell rope, and the ghosts stop in their tracks. They hold their thick sleeves up against their hoods — to where their ears would be if they had ears. As terrified as you are of them, they seem frightened of the bell!

  If you pull the rope to ring the bell, turn to PAGE 110.

  If you decide to throw the liquid at them instead, turn to PAGE 73.

  Kip decides the right door is the door on the right. The handle turns easily under his hand. He pushes the door open with his shoulder and falls through. You grab Abbey and throw yourself through the opening just in time. The walls grind together behind you. They make a horrible screech like fingernails across a chalkboard. You cover your ears in pain but then all is silent.

  Or maybe not quite silent. As your ears become accustomed to the quiet you hear something. It’s a ticking.

  Tick, tock, tick, tock … you hear.

  “Clocks!” Abbey shouts gleefully. “Hundreds of them! And they’re all different!” The ticking gives way to bongs and cuckoos and chimes of all sorts. The walls around you, the ceiling, even the doors of this new room are covered with clocks. Clocks of all shapes and sizes.

  A flashing sign on the wall greets you with the words:

  TAKE YOUR TIME LEAVING

  “What a relief,” you say. “At least clocks can’t hurt us.”

  “Right!” Kip agrees. “But with all of them ticking and bonging, gonging, and going cuckoo at once it could drive us crazy in no time!”

  “Well, that’s the one thing there isn’t any of here.” You laugh. “No time. Time is all we’ve got in this place!”

  Go to PAGE 81.

  “Awwk! Awwk!” Abbey the Nighthawk squawks through clenched teeth. She carries you off into the night. You only hope she doesn’t drop the two of you. She’s flying really fast!

  Far below you see the bell tower and the crumbled ruins of the monastery. Ahead you see a giant bird’s nest resting on a rocky mountaintop. Abbey the Nighthawk hovers over the nest. She opens her mouth and Kip drops. Then she releases her claw and drops you.

  You hit the nest hard. Really hard. And before you know it, a thin white shell starts forming up around you. “We’re turning into eggs!” you shout to Kip as the shell closes over your head.

  But he can’
t hear you. His shell is already closed over him. He’s trapped and so are you. Now all you can do is wait for the time when you will hatch. That could be soon. Or more than likely, it could be never. For you two eggs, it’s over easy.

  THE END

  “Waaah! Waaah!” Abbey and Kip are sitting on the floor in a puddle of tears. And you’re not feeling too happy yourself!

  Your own hands have shrunken down to two pudgy little baby fists. The square clock now weighs a ton. You struggle not to let go. If you lose the clock, it’s all over! Or maybe it never began. But the clock’s as big as you are, now that you’re not as big as you were before!

  You rest the clock on the floor and crawl right across the silvery-green face. Your breath is coming in gulps now. It’s getting harder to see. Your hands are too weak to do the job they must do, but you’re a lot smarter than the average baby.

  Using your knees, you crawl forward, pushing the hands of the clock slowly along as you go. As you do, minute by minute, Abbey and Kip gradually return to their normal ages.

  As for you, you deserve all the credit. Abbey and Kip should really give you a great big hand! Which is what they do.

  Two great big hands scoop down and lift you up.

  “Look at the little baby,” Abbey coos. “Isn’t he cute?”

  Oh, no! What’s happening? You should all be back to normal, right? But Abbey’s rocking you in her enormous arms!

  This isn’t fair, you think! “WAAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!”

  THE END

  “Swim!” you call out to Kip. “Swim for your life!”

  “I can’t swim!” Kip calls back. His arms are flailing. Then he disappears under a wave.

  You swim as fast as you can to where Kip just was. You reach down with your hand and grab his shirt!

  “I’ve got you!” two voices call out at the same time. One voice is yours. The other is the deep and dark voice of the Knight in Screaming Armor!

  You hold Kip up by his shirt collar. He’s gasping for breath. Evil laughter comes from the shore of this lake. On the shore you see the tall figure of the Evil Knight. A black nighthawk is sitting on his armored shoulder.

  The bird flies off the Evil Knight’s shoulder. When she flies over you, the bird turns back into Abbey! She splashes down. “Help!” she cries. “I can’t swim either!”

  The Evil Knight’s laughter echoes across the lake. “I’LL SAVE YOU!” he bellows. “I’LL SAVE YOU ALL … FOR ME!”

  Before your eyes the Evil Knight multiplies. Now hundreds of Evil Knights surround the lakeshore. It’s just a matter of time now. You’re all washed up!

  THE END

  Aha! You have seen this clock before! What was it about this clock that was so strange? Oh, yes! Now you remember everything. You’ve read all about this weird cuckoo clock in a GOOSEBUMPS book — The Cuckoo Clock of Doom.

  This looks like the very same clock that got that kid Michael Webster in so much trouble. His dad brought it home from an antique store. He told Michael not to touch it. But Michael didn’t listen. Curiosity got the best of him — and then so did the evil clock!

  A terrible spell had been put on the clock. A strange spell. A dangerous spell that made Michael go backward in time. It turned him into a little kid!

  “Hmmmmmm,” you wonder, “could this really be the very same clock?” You can’t help wondering if that nasty little bird is still in there.

  Turn to PAGE 71.

  You wake up all right. But the minute you open your eyes you know something is very wrong. It’s dark all around you. You have no idea where you are. Even if you could see, your head feels too heavy to turn and glance around.

  “Kip? Abbey?” you call out.

  Your own voice echoes back to you. You try to lift your hand and can’t budge it. You try to move your leg. You can’t. Your heart starts to race.

  “Kip! Abbey!” you yell this time. But there’s nothing. Only the feeling that you are trapped. Weighted down.

  Your skin feels coated with something heavy and hard. Like iron … or like …

  “A suit of armor!” you scream.

  You hear the blood rushing in your ears. Or is it laughter?

  Now you remember everything! You were feeling so sleepy. But just before you fell asleep, the Evil Knight’s voice filled your head. “Be all the evil you can be. Join my army.”

  While you slept, the Evil Knight made you one of his Evil guards! You will have to serve his evil wishes for the rest of your little, evil life!

  THE END

  THUMP! You land on something soft. It’s a body! A human body!

  “Oomph! Please, get off me this instant!” A regal-looking boy dressed in tights and puffy shorts pushes you, Kip, and Abbey off of him. You all stand up and dust yourselves off.

  “Who are you?” you ask the boy. He looks your age.

  “I am a page,” answers the boy. “Page forty-eight in a class of one hundred and forty-four.”

  “A page?” Abbey asks. “What’s a page?”

  “We are knights in training,” the boy answers proudly.

  “And we’re trying to get away from a knight!” you remind Abbey.

  “Can you show us the way out of here?” Kip asks.

  Page forty-eight points to a gate that opens by itself. “That’s the way out,” he says. “It’s the Valley of Rocks.”

  “Hurry!” you order Abbey and Kip. “The gate is closing!” You make it through just as the gate crashes down behind you. You look back. Page forty-eight is gone. All you see before you is a night sky and a strange, mysterious valley full of rocks.

  Take the risky, rocky exit to PAGE 72.

  “Okay, okay. The fun’s over,” you declare. You move over to the crate marked EVIL KNIGHT and start to loosen the straps holding it shut. It’s still shaking a little, but the screaming has died down to a faint moan.

  “You really had me going there for a minute,” you continue. “Those screams sound pretty scary. And all that moaning and shaking? Wow, you guys are good!”

  Kip and Abbey look as if they don’t know what you’re talking about. But you know better.

  “Who did you get to help you with this little prank, anyway? My dad?” you ask. Your dad is just the sort of goofball to go in for something like this, too.

  You fumble with the leather straps, but you finally get them undone. By now you’re chuckling to yourself. It really was a good prank. Complete with these oversized crates. Still, you can’t believe you fell for it.

  Speaking of falling, that’s what the front door to the crate does next. It’s also what your lower jaw does — it falls open. You try to scream but all that comes out is a little whimper.

  There — in front of you — about a foot from your face — you stare into the laser light eyes of the Knight in Screaming Armor!

  Turn to PAGE 16, if you DARE!

  You peer into the open crate. There’s a flash of light. And then …

  “There’s nothing in this crate!” you exclaim. “I thought you said there was armor in here.”

  “There was,” Abbey huffs, acting cool again. “But now it’s gone, okay?”

  “That’s impossible!” Kip argues. “This crate weighed a ton when we moved it in here!”

  Abbey glances back at the empty crate. “Someone must have taken the armor, that’s all. For crying out loud!” Oops, wrong thing to say: “Eeeeeeeeaaaa-hahahahaha!” The bone-chilling scream of the Evil Knight turns to hideous, wicked laughter.

  “It’s the curse. The Evil Knight killed Sir Edmund Saxton, and now he’s taken his armor!”

  “What’s next?” you say in disbelief, “… or who?” Then you see something. There. Resting on the floor of the crate. A jagged piece of parchment paper. Do you pick it up? This curse thing is seeming less and less silly by the second.

  If you pick the paper up and see what it says, turn to PAGE 70.

  If you decide this whole business is too weird for your taste, and it’s time to close the crate bac
k up again and call the police, turn to PAGE 9.

  So you think you’re good at mazes, huh? Try to get yourself out of this one! Pick up a pencil and try to draw the escape route out of the maze below. Can you do it on your first try?

  If you make it through, HOORAY FOR YOU! Face your next challenge on PAGE 75.

  If you don’t make it through, read your fate on PAGE 65.

  The flashing eyes across the courtyard could only be one thing. The eyes of the Knight in Screaming Armor.

  “We can’t escape from him,” Abbey sighs. “It’s no use trying anymore. He brought us here. This is his world.”

  “He must want something from us, otherwise he would have destroyed us by now,” you point out.

  “He’s only toying with us,” Abbey says bitterly. “Like a cat plays with its food.”

  “It’s as if he’s using our fear of him to make us face all other possible fears,” Kip whispers mysteriously.

  Abbey gives Kip a double take. “Face other fears? That’s ridiculous!” she says. “I’m afraid of flying, but you don’t see him making me fly.”

  A strong gust of wind blows through the bell tower and rings the bell. BONG! BONG! BONG! You clap your hands over your ears. Kip dives for the pile of monks’ robes. Abbey jumps back and slams against the crumbling wall. The wall gives way behind her. “Help me! I’m fffff … flying!”

  Abbey soars higher and higher. Until she’s out of sight.

  “Abbey!” Kip cries. “Come back!”

  If she doesn’t come back, soar to PAGE 92.