Marsh Island by Sonya Bates Page A

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    â€œJake?”
    With a mighty roar, Jake jumped out from behind the tree.
    Tommy screamed.
    Jake fell to the ground, laughing.
    â€œYou—you—,” Tommy choked out.
    â€œYou should have seen your face!” said Jake.
    â€œYeah? Well, it’s not funny,” shouted Tommy, his face like a thundercloud. Tommy’s curly brown hair sprang up wildly around his head. And in his new green T-shirt and shorts, he looked like an angry little elf.
    Jake wiped the tears off his face with his shirt. “That’s what you think,” he said, getting to his feet.

    It was probably the funniest thing he’d ever seen. Except for the time Tommy got his head stuck between the bars of the lion cage at the zoo. Tommy had freaked.
    Jake wiped his dirty hands on his shorts and pushed his hair off his face. He had brown hair like Tommy’s, but it was dead straight. It always seemed to get in his eyes.
    They were deep in the woods. The trail wound through the forest and curved out of sight. Behind them was the tent, nestled in the trees like a bright blue flower in a vegetable patch. If he looked closely, Jake could see Dad’s red-checkered shirt through the tent’s open flap.
    â€œI’m going back,” said Tommy.
    Jake shrugged. “Do what you like. But you know what Dad will say if you wake him up, and I’m not coming with you. I’m not spending all week sitting around a campfire eating burned marshmallows.”
    â€œI like marshmallows,” said Tommy, stubbornly.
    Jake shook his head and started down the trail. He knew Tommy would follow. He’d never be brave enough to go back to the campsite alone.
    The trail wasn’t very wide. Jake had to push branches out of the way as he walked.
It’s probably an animal trail
, he thought.
Maybe a deer track.
Before long he lost sight of the tent.
Maybe I should have brought the compass Grandpa gave me
, he thought. But he didn’t want to go back. Dad hadn’t taken them any farther than the beach, and he was dying to explore. Besides, going back would be giving in. And there’s no way he’d give in to Tommy.
    â€œWait! Wait for me!” cried Tommy, rushing to catch up.
    Jake smirked. “Wuss,” he muttered under his breath.
    Jake led the way down the trail. He kept the tent at his back and moved toward the sun. It was cool under the trees, and the smell of the forest tickled his nose.It was a strange smell, kind of like the dirt in the garden after his mom had dug in the compost. A couple of little gray warblers swooped from branch to branch overhead.
    Jake wasn’t into birds. There were plenty of them at home. Dad built birdfeeders and filled them with seeds and honey to attract all sorts of birds. The garden was full of them. No, Jake was hoping to see something new, something wild. A rabbit maybe, or even a fox. But Tommy was puffing like a buffalo. Not much chance of sneaking up on something with him around.
    Jake scowled over his shoulder at Tommy to shush him. Here he was, spoiling his fun again. It was just like last year, when Dad took them go-carting. Tommy had putted around the course so slowly. After only one circuit, all the other go-carts were lined up behind him. No one could get past because Tommy was such a hopeless driver.
    It wasn’t Jake’s fault Tommy had crashed. It’s not like Jake hadn’t warned him. He’d yelled at Tommy to get out of the way. But when Jake had tried to sneak past, Tommy panicked and drove straight into the wall. How stupid was that? Then he’d made such a fuss that Dad dragged Jake off the course and they all went home. A pain, that’s what Tommy was.
    Jake stopped for a moment and looked around. The trail was starting to climb.
If it goes right up to the top of the mountain
, he thought,
we could see all the way out to sea.
He listened. He could hear water running off to his left. Was it a creek or a waterfall? He