The Curse of Snake Island Read Online Free Page B

she pointed.
    I turned around.
    In front of me was the biggest, tallest, most giant . . . snake I’d ever seen in my whole life!

Chapter 9
    Aye! Eye-to-Eye!
    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.
    â€œThat was close,” I said. “I almost looked it in the eye.”
    â€œWhat 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.
    â€œOne. Two. Three.” Then I lost count. “Aye, a gazillion seems right,” I said.
    We were trapped!

    There was no escape.
    â€œInna, 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.
    â€œInna, can I borrow your necklace?” I asked.
    Inna shook her head. “No way!”
    â€œBut I need it to defeat the snake,” I pleaded.
    â€œAre you going to hypnotize it?” Gary asked.
    â€œNot quite,” I said. Then I asked Inna for her necklace again. “Pretty please with sardines on top!” I begged.
    â€œPromise nothing gross will happen to it?”
    â€œI 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.

    Then . . . POOF!
    I took a peek.
    The snake was gone! There was an old lady standing there instead.
    â€œWOW!” Aaron said, peeking out from behind the rock.
    They all came out from hiding. None of us could believe our eyes!
    Then the smaller snakes started to wiggle. Inna screamed and then there were even more POOFs. Each of the little snakes poofed into smoke. And when the smoke cleared, the pirate crew of the Sea Rat was standing in front of us.
    â€œDid my necklace do all of that ?” Inna asked.
    â€œAye,” I said, a little surprised myself. I had broken the curse!
    Then we saw that there were other pirates, too. Rival pirates.
    â€œWho are they?” Vicky asked.
    â€œThey must have come looking for the treasure before us and were turned into snakes,” I said.
    The pirates looked at the crew of the Sea Rat. We outnumbered them. I counted. There were exactly a lot of us and exactly only a little of them.
    â€œLet’s get out of here!” they shouted. They must have counted the same numbers as me.
    Captain Stinky Beard rubbed his eyes. “Arrr, how’d you break the curse?” he asked me.
    â€œJust like the clue said. I reversed it,” I said. “I saw my reflection in Inna’s necklace and figured out the riddle. I just had to make the snake look into its own eyes,” I explained.
    â€œClever lad!” Captain Stinky Beard said. “I thank ye! It’s not fitting for a cap’n to be a snake.” He was so glad that he didn’t even ask how we knew where to look for them.
    The old lady was the next one to thank me.
    â€œAye,” I said. “But who are you?”
    She told us she’d been cursed a long time ago. “I was a pirate like you. I tried stealing this treasure from my captain, but he caught me.”

    I nudged Aaron in the side. “I told you that was against the rules,” I whispered.
    â€œAye,” the lady said. “And as punishment, my captain put a powerful curse on me. He turned me into a snake to