The Curse of Snake Island by Brian James Page B

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.
    â€œLook at the mess you got us in,” Vicky said to her brother. “We’ll be washing dishes for the rest of the day!”
    â€œArrr, don’t blame me!” Aaron shouted.
    â€œIt 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.”
    â€œAye, 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.

    â€œI 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.”
    â€œNot true, matey!” Gary said. “On my old ship, I’d be cleaning this kitchen all by myself.”
    â€œAye!” 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!”
    â€œAye?” I asked.
    â€œAye!” 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.”
    â€œReally? You think so?” I asked.
    â€œAye!” 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.
    â€œThere’s got to be a way to show Rotten Tooth that we would make tip-top pirates,” I said.
    â€œBut how?” Vicky asked.
    Suddenly, Gary raised his hand up in the air.
    â€œI know!” he shouted. “We could hypnotize Rotten Tooth.”
    I scratched my head and thought about it. “But how do you hypnotize someone?” I asked.
    â€œEasy!” 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.

    â€œNobody’s borrowing anything of mine ever again!” She covered up her necklace with both of her hands.
    â€œFine,” 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.
    â€œThat doesn’t do anything,” Aaron said doubtfully.

    â€œDoes 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.”
    â€œHogwash,” Aaron said.
    â€œArrr, if it’s in a book, it’s got to be true!” Vicky said.
    â€œAye!” 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.
    â€œMaybe we need a different plan,” I said.
    â€œWe 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