The Curse of Snake Island (5 page)

I imagined Rotten Tooth, the toughest pirate on the seas, wearing an apron and washing dishes. I had to admit, it was a pretty funny sight. I would've liked to see that.

“Aye, but we can't break the pirate code,” I said.

“What pirate code?” Vicky asked.

“The one I learned about on my old ship,” I told them.

“Well, what's it say?” Aaron asked.

“It says that a good pirate never betrays the captain,” I said. “So no matter how much treasure there is, we're giving it all to Captain Stinky Beard. That's the rule!”

Aaron made a face. “I hate rules.”

“Look on the bright side,” I told him. “If we give it to the captain, he'll let us come on every pirate adventure! Then Rotten Tooth will
have
to make sure we're ready.”

“And we can learn to swashbuckle?” Aaron asked.

“Aye.” I nodded. That seemed to cheer him up. He picked up a stick from the muddy ground and began swinging it around like a sword. He leaped around and pretended to fight dangerous foes.

Vicky and Gary joined him. The three of them took off down the path. They swatted at bugs and leaves and yelled like real pirates.

Then, all of a sudden, something swatted back!

It swatted Gary right on the forehead. He tumbled backward into a mud puddle.

I rushed toward him with the torch. I came face-to-face with a brown, slimy, dripping mess of a monster!

I almost screamed, but it was only Gary.

“Something hit me,” he said, rubbing his forehead.

“What is it? I don't want to look,” Inna said, peeking through her fingers, which were covering her eyes.

I shined the torch in front of me. I saw what had struck Gary. It was a huge rock.

“Looks like Gary got attacked by a wall!” Aaron joked.

I looked closer. There was a snake carved on the wall. It pointed to the side. I took a few steps.

“AVAST!” I shouted. “It's not just any rock. It's the entrance to the giant snake's cave . . . and to the treasure.”

I jumped up and down.

“Great job, Gary!” I patted him on the back.

“I did a great job?” Gary asked.

“Aye, you found the cave,” I told him.

“I did?” he asked. Then he looked up. “I guess I did!” he said with a big smile.

“What do we do now?” Vicky asked.

Inna looked at the map. “ ‘Follow the cave if you dare; beware the snake's deadly stare!' ” she read.

The words made us shiver.

“We either go forward like pirates, or go back like scallywags,” I said. Then I took a step forward.

Everyone followed.

“Stick together,” I whispered as we all headed into the cave. I couldn't be certain, but I thought I heard a slithering sound echoing in front of us.

“Arrr! I told you that curse was silly,” Aaron said as we made our way deeper into the cave.

So far, we hadn't seen any giant snakes. We did see little snakes. Okay, we saw lots of little snakes. But we saw exactly zero giant ones. And I had to let Inna hold onto the back of my shirt and guide her. She absolutely, positively refused to open her eyes.

“We must be getting close,” I said.

The X on the map was only two hundred paces from the start of the cave. That meant it would be double for us, since our paces were kid paces. I tried to keep count, but pirates aren't too good at counting. Most pirates can only count to ten. Still, I knew we had to be close.

I walked faster.

There was no sign of the giant snake. So there was no reason to go slowly and carefully. “Come on, mateys! Let's make sure we beat Rotten Tooth there so we can see the look on his face.”

I hurried as fast as I could with Inna tugging my shirt behind me. There was a turn ahead. I had a good feeling about it. I dashed around the corner. “There it is!”

I couldn't even believe my eyes!

I gulped.

In front of me was the biggest, tallest, most giant . . . pile of treasure I'd ever seen in my whole life!

“BLIMEY!” I shouted. I was so happy that I danced around. I didn't even care that pirates aren't supposed to dance.

Aaron ran at the mountain of gold coins and dove in just like he was diving into the ocean. Vicky tossed the coins around like she was splashing in the waves.

Inna still had her eyes covered.

“Look, Inna! We found the treasure. There's even jewelry,” I told her. Inna loved jewelry!

“Are you sure it's safe to look?” she asked.

“Sure I'm sure,” I told her.

Then Inna took her hands away from her face and opened her eyes. Her eyes got real wide and her mouth fell open. I couldn't blame her; it sure was quite a treasure.

But then it was my turn to bring my hands up to cover something. Only I was covering my ears, because Inna started screaming at the top of her lungs.

Then she pointed.

I turned around.

In front of me was the biggest, tallest, most giant . . .
snake
I'd ever seen in my whole life!

I poked my head out from behind the rock. I saw the snake slither our way. It looked mean. It looked even meaner than Rotten Tooth covered in stinky fish guts!

Just then, it turned its head toward me.

I quickly ducked down.

“That was close,” I said. “I almost looked it in the eye.”

“What are we going to do?” Gary asked.

There were snakes everywhere. Not just the big one, but little ones, too. “There must be a gazillion of them,” Vicky said.

I tried to count them.

“One. Two. Three.” Then I lost count. “Aye, a gazillion seems right,” I said.

We were trapped!

There was no escape.

“Inna, what did the riddle say again about breaking the curse?” I asked.

Inna spread her fingers apart the tiniest bit. It was just enough so that she could read the riddle. “ ‘To break the snake's curse, use the curse in reverse.' ”

As she read, I caught a glimpse of her necklace. It gave me an idea.

“Inna, can I borrow your necklace?” I asked.

Inna shook her head. “No way!”

“But I need it to defeat the snake,” I pleaded.

“Are you going to hypnotize it?” Gary asked.

“Not quite,” I said. Then I asked Inna for her necklace again. “Pretty please with sardines on top!” I begged.

“Promise nothing gross will happen to it?”

“I triple promise!” I told her.

Finally, she handed me the necklace. I held it out in front of me and slipped out from behind the rock. I kept my eyes tightly shut.

I could feel the snake slithering right up next to me. Inna's shiny necklace dangled between us. Then the giant snake leaned in closer. I held my breath.

Suddenly, the hissing stopped.

Everything went quiet.