Afternoon on the Amazon Read online

  Jack looked at Annie. “We’re on the Amazon River,” he said. “It’s more than four thousand miles long!”

  “Wow,” Annie whispered. She looked at the river. She trailed her hand through the water.

  “I have to make some notes—” Jack said. He pulled his notebook out of his pack. He wrote:

  “Jack, look at those pretty fish with the teeth,” said Annie.

  “What?” Jack glanced up from his writing.

  Annie was pointing at some blue fish swimming near the boat. The fish had red bellies and razor-sharp teeth.

  “Watch it!” cried Jack. “Those aren’t pretty fish. They’re piranhas! They’ll eat anything! Even people!”

  “Yikes,” whispered Annie.

  “We better get back on shore,” said Jack, putting the books in his backpack.

  “How?” said Annie. “We can’t go in the water now. And we don’t have any paddles.”

  Jack tried to stay calm. “We need a plan,” he said.

  Jack stared at the river. The canoe would soon float under some vines.

  “I’ll grab a vine,” said Jack. “And pull us to shore.”

  “Good idea,” said Annie.

  As they glided under the branches, Jack stood up.

  The canoe rocked. He nearly fell out.

  “Balance the canoe,” said Jack.

  Annie leaned to one side. Jack reached—he missed!

  The canoe floated under more branches.

  Jack reached for another thick vine.

  He grabbed it!

  It was cold and scaly. It wiggled and jerked!

  “Ahhh!” Jack screamed and fell back into the canoe.

  The vine was alive!

  It was a long green snake!

  The snake fell from the tree. It splashed into the water and swam away.

  “Oh, man,” said Jack.

  He and Annie stared in horror at each other.

  “What now?” said Annie, making a face.

  “Well … ” Jack looked at the river. There were no vines up ahead. But there was a big branch floating on the water.

  “Grab that branch near you,” said Jack. “Maybe we can use it for a paddle.”

  The canoe floated closer to the branch. Annie reached for it.

  Suddenly the branch rose into the air!

  It was a crocodile!

  “Help!” screamed Annie, and she fell back into the canoe.

  The crocodile opened and closed its huge, long jaws. Then it moved past the canoe and swam up the river.

  “Oh, man,” whispered Jack.

  A screeching sound split the air.

  Jack and Annie jumped.

  “Help!” said Jack.

  He expected to see another terrible creature.

  But all he saw was a small brown monkey, hanging by its tail from a tree.

  Squeak! Squeak! Peanut poked her head out from Annie’s pocket. She seemed to be yelling at the monkey.

  “Don’t worry, Peanut,” said Annie. “He’s just a little monkey. He won’t hurt us.”

  But suddenly the monkey grabbed a big red fruit hanging from the tree. He hurled it at the canoe.

  “Watch it!” shouted Jack.

  The fruit fell into the water with a splash.

  The monkey screeched even louder.

  He grabbed another fruit.

  “Don’t throw things at us!” shouted Annie.

  But the monkey hurled the red fruit right at them.

  Jack and Annie ducked again. And the fruit splashed into the water.

  “Stop that!” Annie shouted.

  But the monkey only waved his arms and screeched again.

  “Oh, brother,” said Jack. “I don’t believe this.”

  The monkey grabbed a third fruit and hurled it at Jack and Annie. It landed inside the canoe with a thump.

  Annie grabbed the fruit. She stood up and threw it back at the monkey.

  She missed. The canoe rocked. Annie almost fell out.

  The monkey screeched even louder.

  “Go away!” Annie shouted. “You’re the meanest thing in the world!”

  The monkey stopped screeching.

  He looked at Annie. Then he swung away. Into the forest.

  “I think I hurt his feelings,” said Annie.

  “Who cares?” said Jack. “He shouldn’t throw things.”

  “Uh-oh,” said Annie. “It’s raining now.”

  “What?” Jack looked up. A raindrop hit him in the eye.

  “Oh, no. I don’t believe this,” Jack said.

  “What’d you expect?” said Annie. “It is the rain forest.”

  A gust of wind blew the canoe.

  Thunder rolled in the sky.

  “A river’s a bad place to be in a storm,” said Jack. “We have to get back to shore. Right now.”

  “But how?” said Annie. “We can’t wade or swim. The piranhas, the snake, and the crocodile will get us.”

  Screeching split the air again.

  “Oh, no,” said Jack. The bratty monkey was back.

  This time, the monkey was pointing a long stick at the canoe.

  Jack crouched down. Was the monkey going to hurl the stick at them? Like a spear?

  Annie jumped up and faced the monkey.

  “Watch it! He’s nuts,” said Jack.

  But the monkey just stared at Annie. And Annie just stared back at him.

  After a long moment, the monkey seemed to smile.

  Annie smiled back.

  “What’s going on?” said Jack.

  “He wants to help us,” Annie said.

  “Help us how?” said Jack.

  The monkey held out the long stick.

  Annie grabbed the other end.

  The monkey pulled on the stick. The canoe started floating toward him.

  The monkey pulled the canoe all the way to the bank of the river.

  Jack and Annie jumped out of the canoe.

  The rain was starting to fall harder.

  The monkey took off. He swung from tree to tree, heading up the riverbank.

  He screeched and beckoned to Jack and Annie.

  “He wants us to follow him!” said Annie.

  “No! We have to find the special thing. Then go home!” said Jack.

  “He wants to help us!” said Annie. She took off after the monkey.

  The two of them vanished into the rain forest.

  “Annie!”

  Thunder shook the sky.

  “Oh, brother,” said Jack.

  He dashed after Annie and the monkey. Into the dark forest.

  The forest seemed surprisingly dry.

  Jack looked up. It was still raining. But the treetops acted like a huge umbrella.

  “Annie?” called Jack.

  “Jack! Jack!” cried Annie.

  “Where are you?”

  “Here!”

  Jack hurried in the direction of Annie’s voice.

  Soon he found the monkey. He was screeching and swinging from a tree.

  Annie was kneeling on the forest floor. She was playing with an animal that looked like a giant kitten.

  “What’s that?” Jack said.

  “I don’t know, but I love it!” said Annie.

  Annie batted the animal’s paws. It had gold fur and black spots.

  “I’d better find out what it is,” said Jack. He pulled out the rain forest book and flipped through it.

  “Oh, it’s so cute,” said Annie.

  Jack found a picture of an animal with gold fur and black spots. He read:

  The jaguar is the biggest predator in the western hemisphere.

  “Forget cute,” Jack said. “That must be a baby jaguar. It’s going to grow up and be the biggest predator in—”

  “What’s a predator?” asked Annie.

  GRRR! There was a terrible growl.

  Jack whirled around.

  The mother jaguar was coming out from behind a tree. She was creeping over the dead leaves—right toward Annie.
/>
  “Freeze!” whispered Jack.

  Annie froze. But the jaguar kept moving slowly toward her.

  “Help,” said Jack weakly.

  Suddenly the monkey swooped down from his tree. He grabbed the jaguar’s tail!

  The cat roared and spun around.

  Annie jumped up.

  The monkey pulled the jaguar’s tail again. Then he let go and took off.

  The jaguar sprang after him.

  “Run, Annie!” cried Jack.

  Jack and Annie took off through the rain forest. They ran for their lives!

  “Wait—” said Jack, panting. “I think we got away.”

  Jack and Annie stopped running and caught their breath.

  “Where are we?” said Jack.

  “Where’s the monkey?” said Annie, looking back at the forest. “Do you think the jaguar caught him?”

  “No, monkeys are fast,” said Jack.

  Of course, jaguars are fast, too, Jack thought. But he didn’t want to tell Annie that.

  “I hope he’s okay,” said Annie.

  Squeak. Peanut peeked out of Annie’s pocket.

  “Peanut! I almost forgot you!” said Annie. “Are you okay?”

  The mouse just stared at Annie with her big eyes.

  “She looks scared,” said Jack. “Poor Peanut.”

  “Poor monkey,” said Annie. She looked around at the forest.

  “We’d better check the book,” Jack said.

  He pulled out the book. He turned the pages, searching for help.

  He stopped at a picture of a scary creature.

  “Oh, man. What’s this?” he said.

  Jack read the writing below the picture. It said:

  Vampire bats live in the Amazon rain forest. At night, they quietly bite their victims and suck their blood.

  “Vampire bats?” said Jack. He felt faint.

  “Vampire bats?” said Annie.

  Jack nodded. “After dark.”

  Annie and Jack looked around. The rain forest seemed to be getting even darker.

  “Yikes,” said Annie. She looked at Jack. “Maybe we should go home.”

  Jack nodded. For once he agreed with her.

  “But what about our mission?” said Annie. “What about Morgan?”

  “We’ll come back,” said Jack. “We’ll have to be prepared.”

  “So we’ll come back tomorrow?” Annie asked.

  “Right. Now which way is the tree house?” said Jack.

  “This way,” said Annie, pointing.

  “That way,” said Jack, pointing in the opposite direction.

  They looked at each other. “We’re lost,” they said together.

  Squeak.

  “Don’t worry, Peanut.” Annie started to pat the mouse again. But then she stopped.

  Squeak. Squeak. Squeak.

  “Jack, I think Peanut wants to help us,” said Annie.

  “How?”

  “The way she helped us in the time of ninjas—”

  Annie placed the mouse on the leafy forest floor. “Take us to the tree house, Peanut.”

  The mouse took off.

  “Where’d she go?” said Annie. “I don’t see her!”

  “There!” said Jack. He pointed to leaves rustling on the ground.

  A streak of white passed over the leaves.

  “Yes, there!” said Annie.

  Jack and Annie followed the moving leaves. The streak of white appeared. And disappeared.

  Suddenly Jack stopped.

  The forest floor was still. There was no sign of Peanut.

  “Where is she?” asked Jack.

  He kept staring at the ground.

  “Jack!”

  Jack glanced around. Annie was standing on the other side of a nearby tree. She was pointing up.

  Jack looked up.

  The tree house.

  “Oh, whew,” Jack said softly.

  “She saved us again,” said Annie. “She’s running up the ladder. All by herself. Look.”

  Annie pointed at the rope ladder.

  Peanut was climbing up one of the ropes.

  “Let’s go,” Jack said.

  Annie started up the ladder. Then Jack.

  They followed Peanut all the way up to the canopy of the rain forest.

  Jack and Annie climbed into the tree house.

  Peanut was sitting on a stack of books.

  Annie patted Peanut’s little head. “Thanks,” she said softly.

  “I have to write some notes about the rain forest,” said Jack. “You find the Pennsylvania book.”

  Annie began searching for the Pennsylvania book—the book that always took them home.

  Jack pulled out his notebook.

  He had wanted to take lots of notes here. But all he’d written so far was:

  “It’s not here!” said Annie.

  “What?” Jack looked up. He glanced around the tree house.

  Annie was right. The Pennsylvania book was nowhere in sight.

  “Was it here before we left home?” said Jack.

  “I don’t remember,” said Annie.

  “Oh, man,” said Jack. “Now we can’t get back to Frog Creek.”

  “That means we’ll be here when the vampire bats come out,” said Annie.

  Something came flying through the tree house window.

  “Ahhh!” Jack and Annie hid their heads.

  Thud.

  Something hit the floor. A red fruit.

  Jack looked up. The monkey was sitting in the window. His head was cocked to one side. He seemed to be grinning at them.

  “You’re safe!” said Annie.

  “Thanks for saving us,” said Jack.

  The monkey just grinned.

  “I have just one question,” said Annie. She pointed at the fruit. “Why do you keep throwing those at us?”

  The monkey grabbed the fruit.

  “No! Don’t throw it!” said Jack. He ducked.

  But the monkey didn’t throw the fruit.

  He held it out to Annie. He moved his lips as if he were trying to say something.

  Annie stared into the monkey’s eyes. He moved his lips again.

  “Wow,” Annie said softly. “I understand now.”

  “Understand what?” said Jack.

  Annie took the fruit from the monkey. “This is it,” she said. “The thing we need.”

  “What thing?” said Jack.

  “One of the special things we’re supposed to find for Morgan,” Annie said. “To free her from the spell.”

  “Are you sure?” said Jack.

  Before Annie could answer, Jack saw the Pennsylvania book. “Look! Our book!” he said, pointing.

  “We found the thing. And now we can see the book,” said Annie. “That’s the way it works, remember?”

  Jack nodded. Now he remembered. The ninja master said they wouldn’t be able to find the Pennsylvania book until they had found what they were looking for.

  The monkey screeched with laughter.

  Jack and Annie looked at him. He was clapping his hands together.

  Annie laughed with him. “How did you know to give this to us?” she said. “Who told you to do that?”

  The monkey just waved at Jack and Annie. Then he turned and swung away out of the tree house.

  “Wait!” said Jack, looking out the window.

  Too late.

  The monkey was gone. He had vanished below the treetops.

  “Good-bye!” called Annie.

  A happy screech came from the mysterious world below.

  Jack sighed. He picked up his notebook again. He looked at his writing:

  He had to write something before they left. He quickly added—

  Jack put away his notebook. Annie picked up the Pennsylvania book.

  “Now it’s really time to leave,” she said.

  She turned to the picture of the Frog Creek woods. “I wish we could go there,” she said, pointing at the picture.

  The wind st
arted to blow.

  The leaves began to tremble.

  The tree house began to spin.

  It spun faster and faster.

  Then everything was still.

  Absolutely still.

  Squeak.

  Jack opened his eyes. Peanut was on the tree house windowsill.

  “We’re home,” said Annie.

  Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

  Annie held the fruit up to the afternoon light.

  “What exactly is this?” she asked.

  “Maybe it’s in the book,” Jack answered.

  He pulled out the rain forest book. He flipped through the pages. He came to a picture of the red fruit.

  “Here it is!” he said. He read out loud:

  “The mango has a sweet taste like that of a peach.”

  “Mango? Hmmm,” said Annie. She brought the fruit close to her lips.

  “Hey!” said Jack, grabbing the mango from her. “We have to put it with the moonstone.”

  Jack placed the mango on the M carved into the floor. Next to the clear moonstone.

  “Moonstone … mango,” whispered Annie. It sounded like a spell.

  “We’re halfway there,” said Jack. “Two more to go.”

  “Then we can free you, Morgan!” Annie called, as if Morgan were nearby.

  “How do you know she can hear you?” said Jack.

  “I just feel it,” Annie said.

  “Oh, brother,” said Jack. He needed more proof than that.

  Squeak. Peanut was looking at Jack and Annie.

  “We have to leave you now,” Jack said to the mouse.

  Squeak.

  “Can’t we take her with us?” said Annie.

  “No,” said Jack. “Mom won’t let us keep a mouse in the house. She doesn’t like mice, remember?”

  “How could anyone not like a mouse?” said Annie.

  Jack smiled. “How could anyone not like a spider?” he said.

  “That’s different.” Annie patted Peanut’s head. “Bye,” she said. “Wait for us here. We’ll be back tomorrow.”

  Jack patted the mouse, too. “Bye, Peanut. Thanks for your help,” he said.

  Squeak.

  Jack put the rain forest book on top of the book about ninjas.

  Then he pulled on his backpack. And he and Annie left the tree house.

  They climbed down the rope ladder. They stepped onto the ground.