The Curse of Snake Island (2 page)

He lifted Aaron up in the air and put him on the deck. Aaron was dripping with gross, yucky gook.

We all held our noses. Then Rotten Tooth climbed out. He smelled even more rotten than usual.

“We're sorry,” I mumbled. “It was a test to show you that we're ready to be pirates.”

“AYE! AND YOU ALL FAILED!” Rotten Tooth shouted.

“We didn't mean to cause any trouble,” Inna whispered.

“QUIET!” Rotten Tooth roared. “One more word and I toss you all overboard! I've heard enough from you pollywogs today.”

He wiped the muck off his face. Then he told us to follow him. “Arrr! I'm putting you somewhere where the punishment will fit the crime.”

As he led us below deck, we ran into Captain Stinky Beard.

“Ahoy! Taking the little shipmates below deck for a lesson?” he asked Rotten Tooth.

“Aye! I'm going to teach them a lesson all right,” he said.

I had a terrible sinking feeling in my stomach—and it wasn't just because of the stink coming from Aaron as he walked in front of me.

“Scrub! Scrub! Scrub!” Aaron mumbled as he knelt on the kitchen floor. “This
stinks
!”

“I think it's you that stinks,” Vicky said, holding her nose with one hand and scrubbing the floor with her other hand.

Aaron made a face at her. Then he sniffed. He really did stink!

“I could've made it,” he said. “If Rotten Tooth hadn't shown up and startled me, I mean.”

Inna poked her head out from behind the stack of messy dishes that she was washing. She gave Aaron a dirty look. She still hadn't forgiven him about her bandana, or for getting us put on the filthiest job on the ship . . . kitchen duty.

“Look at the mess you got us in,” Vicky said to her brother. “We'll be washing dishes for the rest of the day!”

“Arrr, don't blame me!” Aaron shouted.

“It was Pete's silly test that got us into this mess.”

I put my head down. “I was just trying to prove to Rotten Tooth that we were ready to learn real pirate stuff,” I said. “Boy, did that backfire.”

“Aye, you can say that again!” Aaron sneered with a face full of soap bubbles. “This is going to take forever to clean up.”

Vicky held her nose again and looked at Aaron. “
You're
going to take forever to clean up!”

I looked around. Aaron was right.

The kitchen and dining area were a disaster. There were piles of dirty dishes stacked up everywhere. Some of the piles were taller than me! Plus, there was slop spilled all over the floor and against the walls. Pirates aren't known for their table manners.

“I really sunk our ship, huh?” I asked my friends. “Rotten Tooth will never teach us now. We'd be better off back on our old ships.”

“Not true, matey!” Gary said. “On my old ship, I'd be cleaning this kitchen all by myself.”

“Aye!” Vicky said. “On our last ship, Aaron caused so much trouble, the captain was ready to make fish food of us. The day before we shipped out, Aaron ripped the sail right in half!”

“Aye?” I asked.

“Aye!” Aaron answered with a little smile.

Inna looked up from the grimy food gunk in the sink and nodded her head. “And besides, Pete, you were only trying to help,” she said. “I guess Rotten Breath never heard of that test. I'm sure you'll come up with another plan. A better plan.”

“Really? You think so?” I asked.

“Aye!”
all of my friends answered.

I felt a little better already. I knew I could think of something. After all, we were the brightest pirate kids on the sea. Captain Stinky Beard said so himself the day we got here.

“There's got to be a way to show Rotten Tooth that we would make tip-top pirates,” I said.

“But how?” Vicky asked.

Suddenly, Gary raised his hand up in the air.

“I know!” he shouted. “We could hypnotize Rotten Tooth.”

I scratched my head and thought about it. “But how do you hypnotize someone?” I asked.

“Easy!” Gary said. Then he turned to Inna. “Can I borrow your necklace?”

Inna's necklace was silvery and shiny. I could even see my reflection in it.

“Nobody's borrowing anything of mine ever again!” She covered up her necklace with both of her hands.

“Fine,” Gary said. “I'll just pretend, then.” He mimicked holding the shiny necklace in front of his eyes and let it sway back and forth.

“That doesn't do anything,” Aaron said doubtfully.

“Does too,” Gary said. “On the last ship I was on, they had a book of old pirate tales. One of them was about a captain that got hypnotized.”

“Hogwash,” Aaron said.

“Arrr, if it's in a book, it's got to be true!” Vicky said.

“Aye!” Gary agreed. “And after he got hypnotized, the captain's eyes went all crossed and he stumbled around like this.” As Gary showed us, he stumbled right into a stack of dishes! Luckily I was there to catch the dishes before they fell.

“Maybe we need a different plan,” I said.

“We could lock him in a room with Aaron until the stink drives him crazy!” Vicky said. We all laughed.

Aaron picked up a mop and held it like a sword. “If there was only some way we could get ol' Rotten Face to bring us ashore when we got to Snake Island,” he said. “Then he'd see what we could do!”

Aaron began jumping around the room. He swung the mop, pretending to fight off the giant snake that was rumored to live on Snake Island.

Legend had it that the giant snake was guarding a treasure. And Captain Stinky Beard just happened to have a map that led to the snake's secret cave.

“I would do anything to be able to help find that treasure!” Aaron said.

Find the treasure?

“AVAST! THAT'S IT!” I shouted and threw my arms up in the air. I would've danced around, too, except it's not very piratey.

“What's it?” Aaron asked.

“
We
find the treasure first, that's it!” I said. “If we find it before the rest of the crew, then it would prove that we're good pirates. It won't be easy, but it could work. As long as we work as a team,” I told them. “So, is everyone onboard?”

Aaron put the mop to his side and saluted. “Aye aye!”

“Aye! That's good thinking, Pete!” Vicky said.

“Aye, but will it be dangerous?” Gary asked.

I shrugged. “We won't know until we try. Besides, pirates are supposed to be brave,” I reminded Gary.

“Well, I guess I'm in,” he said.

We all turned to Inna.

“Can I cover my eyes if we see any snakes?” Inna asked. Then she made a face like she was seasick. “Snakes are even ickier than fish guts.”

“You can cover your eyes if you want to,” I told her. And finally she agreed to come along.

I smiled real wide.

Everything was coming together.

“One question?” Vicky asked. “How are we ever going to pull this off?”

“Leave that to me,” I said. “I'll come up with something.” And as we all went back to our chores, I tried to think up a plan.

The next morning, we were all up early.

We raced up to the main deck to report for school.

“Maybe Rotten Head won't be mad anymore,” Aaron said.

But as soon as I saw Rotten Tooth's face, I knew we were still on his bad side. There was one good thing. Captain Stinky Beard was with him. Rotten Tooth never yelled at us too much when the captain was around.

“Fall in!” he roared, and we all formed a straight line.

He paced back and forth. I had to hold my breath every time he passed. He still hadn't taken a bath. In fact, I don't think he'd ever taken a bath!

“Listen up, ye sea dogs!” he growled. “I got a mighty smart lesson for you today.”

I started to smile. Maybe we were finally going to learn something.

“Are we going to swashbuckle?” Aaron asked excitedly.

“Aye!” Rotten Tooth said, and we all cheered.

“Such fine little buckoes!” Captain Stinky Beard said. “Always wanting to learn.” Then he wished us luck and went off.