The Curse of Snake Island

by Brian James

  “Maybe he should get off of it, then,” Aaron whispered in my ear. But Rotten Tooth had better hearing than a whale.

  He turned to Aaron and showed his famously green teeth. “One more peep out of you,” he warned, “and it’s back in the fish tank!”

  Aaron quickly closed his mouth.

  “Aye, that’s what I thought,” Rotten Tooth said. “Now get to work, ye barnacles!” he snapped as he walked away.

  Vicky groaned. “Pirate School? This is more like Chore School.”

  “Aye,” everyone agreed.

  I didn’t complain, though. Cleaning the deck was the best chore Rotten Tooth could have given us in order for my plan to work.

  “Ahoy, guys, listen up!” I gathered my friends into a huddle. “I came up with a plan last night.”

  “I hope this one doesn’t stink,” Aaron said.

  I shot Aaron a look. “No, this is a good plan. Captain Stinky Beard keeps all the treasure maps in his quarters, right?”

  “Right,” Vicky said.

  “And his quarters are in the main cabin, which is over there,” I said, pointing to the cabin door behind us.

  “So?” Aaron said.

  “So, we sneak in and make a copy of the map,” I told them.

  “Aye! Good thinking,” Gary said.

  “Aaron and Vicky, you stay outside and keep watch. If Rotten Tooth comes back, distract him.”

  “Aye! I’ll take care of Ol’ Rotten Head,” Aaron said, pretending his mop was a sword.

  “Gary, you’ll wait outside Captain Stinky Beard’s room in case anyone gets past Aaron and Vicky,” I said.

  “Aye aye, Pete!”

  “Inna, you’ll come inside with me,” I said. “You have the neatest handwriting, and the map might have a lot of words to copy.”

  Then we all put our hands together in the circle and gave a pirate cheer:

  “SWASHBUCKLING, SAILING, FINDING TREASURE, TOO!

  “BECOMING PIRATES IS WHAT WE WANT TO DO!”

  After we finished our cheer, Vicky and Aaron started mopping the deck. They kept their eyes open for anyone heading toward us. Then they gave us the thumbs-up. So Gary, Inna, and I snuck into the main cabin.

  The main cabin of the Sea Rat was filled with all kinds of cool things like telescopes, model ships, ocean maps, and, of course, treasure! We wanted to stop and look through everything, but we were on a mission.

  “If anyone comes, give us a shout,” I told Gary as I pushed open the creaky door to Captain Stinky Beard’s room.

  “Aye!”

  As soon as the door shut behind us, I heard Gary shout. I rushed back out, but no one was there.

  “Just practicing,” Gary said.

  I shook my head and went back in.

  Inside, the room was a mess. I would never be allowed to keep my room that messy!

  I looked at all the piles on top of Captain Stinky Beard’s desk. There must have been a hundred maps. “It’s going to be impossible to find the map we need.”

  “No it won’t,” Inna said.

  “Sure it will,” I said.

  “No it won’t. Look, I’ve found it!” And Inna was already copying the map of Snake Island onto a blank piece of paper.

  “How did you find it so quickly?” I asked.

  “Easy,” she said. “Since that’s where we’re going right now, I just looked on the top of the pile.”

  I had to admit, Inna was one clever pirate! Maybe a little too clean, but clever!

  Just as Inna finished copying the map, we heard Gary shout. Then we heard a thundering CRASH!

  I cracked open the door. There was Gary. And Captain Stinky Beard! They were under a pile of junk! I slapped my forehead.

  We were doomed.

  “What are you kids doing in here?” the captain asked once he was back on his feet.

  One wrong answer and he’d be as mad as Rotten Tooth!

  Inna stepped up in front of him.

  “Sir, we just came here to ask you if we could have a sleepover on the beach,” she said politely. It was brilliant! It was the perfect cover. It was also the second part of my plan. And it was going to get us out of trouble.

  “You mean at Snake Island?” Captain Stinky Beard asked.

  We all nodded.

  He scratched his beard. “I don’t see the harm in it,” he said. We all clapped our hands and thanked him. “But aren’t you afraid of snakes?” he asked Inna.

  Even the thought of snakes made Inna feel sick. But she put on her bravest face. “Not at all,” she lied.

  Captain Stinky Beard smiled. “I guess Rotten Tooth’s teaching is paying off. You’ll be fine pirates before you know it.”

  If he only knew!

  Chapter 4

  Puzzling Puzzle

  After our chores were done, Rotten Tooth told us to scram. “I don’t want to be seeing your faces until the sun comes up tomorrow. And even then will be too soon,” he said.

  That was fine with us. We didn’t want to smell him anymore, either!

  “Let’s climb up to the crow’s nest,” I suggested.

  The crow’s nest is our secret spot on the ship. That’s because we’re the only ones that love to climb up there. Don’t tell anyone, but most pirates don’t really like to climb. They’re afraid of heights. They only do it because it’s part of the job. But shhhh! That’s a pirate secret!

  “Let’s look at the map,” Vicky said once we were at the top.

  “Aye, let’s! I see why they call it Snake Island,” I said, unrolling the map. The whole island was all twisty and shaped like a snake.

  Besides copying the picture of the island, Inna had copied down lots of words.

  “What’s that say?” Vicky asked. She pointed to some words written on the top of the map.

  “ ‘To break the snake’s curse, use the curse in reverse,’ ” Inna read.

  “What does that mean?” Aaron asked.

  “Maybe it means you need to walk backward when you see the giant snake,” Gary suggested.

  “Don’t be silly,” Vicky said. “It means you have to go back in time to before you got cursed.”

  “That’s sillier than walking backward,” Aaron said with a laugh.

  “Is not!” Vicky shouted.

  “Is too!”

  I waved my arms in the air for them to stop. “Guys, we don’t even know what the curse is,” I said. “We have to find that out before we know how to break it.”

  Aaron and Vicky both folded their arms and turned their backs to each other. That’s what they always did when they were trying really hard to stop arguing.

  Inna put her finger up to her mouth. That meant she was thinking. Then she pointed her finger up in the air real fast. That meant she had thought of something good.

  “Clegg could help us!” she shouted.

  Clegg was the oldest pirate on the Sea Rat. He knew everything! Plus, he didn’t mind us asking him questions.

  “Aye! I bet he knows all about Snake Island,” I said.

  “Arrr!” everyone agreed. If anyone could tell us about the curse, it was Clegg.

  So we grabbed onto the ropes hanging from the crow’s nest and swung down to the deck. We all landed on our feet. Well, everyone except Gary. He always landed on his butt. He said it was a softer landing that way.

  Clegg was easy to find. He was the only pirate with a gray beard and an eye patch. And he was always in the same place, fishing off the back of the boat.

  He turned his one good eye toward us as we ran up to him. “Ahoy there, little shipmates!” he called out with a smile.

  “Ahoy, right back!” I said.

  “Come here for a story, have ye?” Clegg asked.

  I shook my head.

  “Not today,” I told him. Then, in my most serious voice, I told Clegg that we had some very, very, very important things to ask him.

  “Aye?” he asked.

  “Aye!” we all answered.

  I looked all around to make sure no one
was spying. Then I leaned in close and whispered in Clegg’s ear. “We need to know everything you know about the curse of Snake Island.”

  Clegg took a good look at us.

  “Do ye think you’re old enough for a scary story like that?” Clegg asked.

  I stood up as straight and tall as I could. So did all of my friends. “Aye,” I said.

  Then Clegg nodded his head and began to tell us the secrets of that spooky place.

  Chapter 5

  Snake Eyes

  “YUCK! YUCK! AND TRIPLE YUCK!” Inna shouted once we were back in the crow’s nest. “There’s no way I’m going on that island!”

  Clegg had told us all about the giant snake. He said the snake put a curse on anyone trying to get at the treasure. “Any bucko who looks into the snake’s eyes will turn into a snake,” he’d said.

  Inna did not like the story one bit. “The only thing worse than seeing a snake is being a snake!”

  “Quit sniveling! Ol’ Clegg was just yanking our timbers with that spooky story,” Aaron told her.

  “How do you know?” Vicky asked.

  Aaron closed his eyes and lifted his chin up. It was what Vicky called his know-it-all face. “Because,” he said, “curses aren’t real.”

  “You don’t know that for sure,” she challenged him.

  “Sure I do,” Aaron said. “Everybody knows that. Right, Pete?”

  I shook my head.

  I wasn’t so sure. Clegg had never fibbed to us before.

  “Well, I’m no scallywag! Curse or no curse, I’m going after that treasure,” Aaron said.

  For once Vicky agreed with Aaron. “Arrr! Me too!” she said. “We came to Pirate School to be pirates, not scallywags.”

  I thought about all the things we’d learned. So far, Rotten Tooth had taught us how to clean, scrub, and mop. I wanted to learn how to swashbuckle, sail, and find buried treasure. This was our only chance.

  “Aye,” I said. “I’m going, too.”

  I wasn’t about to let one giant snake stop me. At least, I hoped there was only one. Two giant snakes would’ve stopped me.

  I double-checked the map.

  Yep!

  Only one giant snake was drawn on there.

  That was a relief.

  I was just about to ask Gary if he was still coming along when he started shouting. “Land ho! Land ho!” he called out. He was pointing straight ahead at a little island. The island was twisty and curvy. It was Snake Island, dead ahead.

  “Land ho! Let’s go, buckoes!” Aaron shouted.

  I looked at Gary. Gary shrugged. “It’s only one snake, right?” he asked.

  “Only one. I double-checked.”

  Next, I looked at Inna. But she shook her head. She didn’t want to come.

  “Please,” I begged. “You’re the best at reading maps. Without you, we’ll get lost for sure.”

  Inna shook her head. “No way! I don’t want to get turned into a snake.”

  I reminded her about our deal. “You can cover your eyes anytime we see a snake. If your eyes are covered, then the giant snake can’t put a curse on you.”

  “I guess that’s true,” Inna said. Then she finally agreed to come along. “But if I get turned into a snake, I’m biting you first!”

  Chapter 6

  Heads Up

  Rotten Tooth stood on the beach as we came ashore. He took one step and blocked our way. His voice roared like thunder. “And just where do you pollywogs think you’re going?” he asked. “I thought I told ye to stay out of me sight!”

  Gary started shaking and shivering. “Um . . . um . . .” was all he could get out.

  “The captain said we could sleep on the beach,” Vicky spoke up. She wasn’t afraid of Rotten Tooth.

  “The cap’n said?” Rotten Tooth laughed.

  “AYE!” a voice yelled.

  Rotten Tooth stopped laughing when he saw Captain Stinky Beard standing behind him. He looked more frightened than Aaron did standing over the fish tank. I had to cover my mouth to keep from giggling.

  “Sorry, Captain,” he said. “But Cap’n? Who will be keeping an eye on these shrimps?”

  Captain Stinky Beard made a face. “Surely you’ve taught them enough by now that they’ll be all right until we get back with the treasure.”

  Rotten Tooth looked at us. “Aye . . . s-surely,” he stuttered. “I’ve taught them plenty,” he lied.

  But Captain Stinky Beard was already walking away. He called back to Rotten Tooth to get a move on.

  “Aye aye!” Rotten Tooth said and hurried off after the rest of the crew, but not before giving us one last rotten look.

  We waited until the crew was out of sight. Then I pulled the map out of my pocket.

  I looked at the words on the map. The treasure you seek is not in the feet; head for the head instead. It was easy to figure out. Since the island was shaped like a snake, it meant the treasure was in the head part.

  I looked at the map again. I turned it upside down. Then I turned it backside up. It looked the same both ways.

  “Which is the head and which is the tail?” Vicky asked.

  “The head is north,” Aaron said.

  “How do you know?” Gary asked.

  “Because the head is always at the top, that’s how!”

  I’d spun the map around so many times, I didn’t know which was the top anymore. But then I noticed two lakes that looked like eyes. “That must be the head,” I said. Aaron was right. It was north.

  Soon the sun began to set behind the Sea Rat. We all watched it, waiting for it to get dark. Well, all of us except Inna, who was watching the ground for any signs of snakes.

  Vicky looked at the map again. “The crew had a head start. We need a shortcut if we’re ever going to get there first.”

  I took a long look at the map. It said to walk along the beach. That was the way the captain had gone. Vicky was right: We’d never beat them there if we went the same way.

  Aaron pointed to the map. He made a straight line from where we were to the treasure. It took us right through the jungle! “That’s the way we should go,” he said.

  It might have been dangerous, but it was the only way.

  “We’ll leave once the sun sinks into the ocean,” I said. Everyone agreed.

  “We’ll just have to look out for bugs,” I warned. “The jungle is full of creepy crawlies.”

  “BUGS!” Inna shouted. She stuck her tongue out of her mouth and her face turned greenish. “No one said anything about bugs.”

  Chapter 7

  Deep in the Jungle

  As soon as it was dark, we headed out. It was pretty spooky in the jungle. There were strange sounds all around us. Everywhere we turned, the glowing eyes of lizards and bugs followed us. To keep from being afraid, we talked about how great it was going to be when we found the treasure.

  “How much treasure do you think there’ll be, Pete?” Gary asked.

  “Lots!” I said. I wasn’t sure exactly how much, but “lots” seemed like a pretty good guess. Captain Stinky Beard wouldn’t go after any treasure that was even one penny less than lots.

  Vicky rubbed her hands together greedily. “Maybe it’ll be enough to buy our own pirate ship!” she said.

  “AYE!” Aaron shouted. “We kids could rule it and make Rotten Tooth scrub the dishes!”

  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.”

&n
bsp; “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!

  BOMP!

  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.