How I Got My Shrunken Head by R. L. Stine Read Free Book Online Page A

unlocked it.
    It had helped me get rid of the gross red ants. Would it help lead me to Aunt Benna?
    “Yes!” I cried out loud. “Yes!”
    I knew that it would. I knew I could find her now.
    I was no longer afraid of the jungle and its creatures. No longer afraid of anything that might await me in this hot, tangled jungle.
    I had Jungle Magic.
    I had it — and I knew how to use it.
    And now I had to find Aunt Benna.
    A red morning sun rose over the treetops. The air was already hot and damp. Birds chirped and twittered on the tree limbs above me.
    Holding the flashlight in one hand and the shrunken head in the other, I started to run toward the sun.
    I’m going east,
I told myself.
The sun comes up in the east.
    Was it the right direction to find my aunt?
    Yes. I was sure it was right.
The Jungle Magic will lead me,
I decided.
I just need to follow it, and it will take me to Aunt Benna, wherever she is hiding on this island.
    I ran over fat, leafy vines and low shrubs. I ducked under smooth white tree branches. Broad leaves of huge green ferns slapped at me as I ran through them.
    The sun beamed down on my face as I made my way through a wide, sandy clearing. Sweat dripped down my forehead.
    “Hey!” I cried out as my feet slipped on the soft sand.
    My feet slid. I lost my balance. My hands shot out. The flashlight and the shrunken head flew onto the sand.
    “Hey!”
    I started to sink.
    Sand rolled up over my ankles. Up my legs.
    I kicked. I waved my arms wildly.
    I pulled up my knees. Tried to step out of the deep sand.
    But I was sinking, sinking faster now.
    Sand up to my waist.
    The more I struggled, the faster I sank.
    Deeper, deeper. Down into the pit of sand.

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    I couldn’t move my legs. I had sunk too deep in the hot, wet sand.
    The sand crept up over my waist.
    There’s no bottom,
I thought.
I’m going to keep sinking. I’m going to sink down, down until it covers my head. Until I disappear forever.
    My friends Eric and Joel once told me that there is no such thing as quicksand. I wished they were here right now. I could show them how wrong they were!
    I opened my mouth to shout for help. But I was too panicked to make a sound. Only a tiny squeak came out.
    What good is shouting?
I asked myself.
    There’s no one around for miles. No one who will hear me.
    The sand felt thick and heavy as I slid down, down deeper into it. I stretched both hands up over my head, my hands grasping, as if trying to grab on to something.
    I tried moving my legs. Tried to pump them, like treading water or pedaling a bike.
    But the sand was too heavy. I was in too deep.
    My chest heaved with terror now. I gasped in breath after breath.
    I opened my mouth once again to call for help.
    And had an idea.
    “Kah-lee-ah!” I screamed, my voice high and frightened.
    “Kah-lee-ah! Kah-lee-ah!”
    Nothing happened.

18
    “Kah-lee-ah! Kah-lee-ah!”
    I screeched the word at the top of my lungs. But I continued to sink deeper, deeper into the wet, marshy pit of sand.
    “Kah-lee-ah!”
    No. Nothing.
    I waved my arms over my head. And stared up at the pale blue sky. At the trees at the edge of the clearing.
    Nothing but trees as far as I could see.
    No one around. No one to help me.
    “Oh!” I suddenly realized why the magic word wasn’t working. I didn’t have the shrunken head. The head had flown from my hand when I fell into the sandpit.
    Where was it? Where?
    Did it sink into the sand?
    My eyes frantically searched the yellow-brown surface. The wet sand bubbled all around me, making a
pock-pock-pock
sound. Like a thick soup.
    I sank deeper.
    And saw the shrunken head.
    It lay on the surface. Its black eyes stared up at the sky. Its hair was tangled beneath it, spread over the sand.
    With an excited cry, I stretched out both hands and tried to grab it.
    No. Too far away. Just out of my reach. Inches out of my reach.
    “Unnnnh.”
I uttered a low grunt as I struggled to grab it. Stretched out my hands. Stretched. Stretched.
    I