Jake and the Giant Hand Read Free Page A

grandpa’s kitchen window.
    It made him feel a little better. The stars were coming out, and a quarter moon was rising. It was a beautiful night. He and Gus made it to the edge of the forest, then he stopped to wait.
    He couldn’t see a pathway into the woods. Mr. Cuthbert had said he would let the twins know to come and get him, but he didn’t say how he was going to do that. Jake had no idea where the cabin was, so he’d have to trust that they’d come to find him.
    It was really dark now. Jake sat on his sleeping bag and rubbed Gus’s head. The old dog smelled terrible, but suddenly Jake was kind of glad Gus was there.
    Then there were tiny noises in the bushes.
    The grass did sway in the moonlight.
    The air was alive with the smell of damp, rotting leaves.
    There was NO WAY Jake was going to think about the swamp …
    â€œâ€¦ AAAHHH!”
    A hand had grabbed Jake’s shoulder!

Chapter 5
    The Giant Hand

    I t took Jake a while to stop shrieking. It took a longer while for his heart to stop pounding out of his ribcage, too. Kate was laughing, but he didn’t think it was all that funny. He tried not to look mad.
    â€œMan! You guys are easy to sneak up on! What’s that old hound dog for, anyway! He didn’t even smell me. You look scared!” Kate said.
    Gus wagged his tail and licked Kate’s hand. Stupid dog didn’t even bark. Jake felt dumb. But he had to admit, he was happy to see Kate, even if she had scared him half to death. She turned on a flashlight then led him along a winding, dark path through the woods to the cabin. No one would ever be able to find it if they didn’t know exactly where to look.
    Jake gulped.
    As they got near, he could see it was a nice cabin, though. It looked really cozy, with warm light spilling out into the dark night.
    Suddenly, a creepy white grin leapt out at Jake. He gasped and hesitated. Leaning up against the cabin wall under the window was a huge white skull and antlers. It stared and grinned at Jake in the light from the window.
    Kate pointed at it. “That’s a moose skull and antlers Chris and I found back in the swamp last year. Dad is going to help us hang it above the door. It’s really old, since it’s bleached so white from the sun.”
    A skull?
    Jake looked closely at the dried bone: so white and strong. He knocked on it. It sounded solid.
    â€œYeah, that’ll look great above the door,” he said, trying to sound impressed. The moose skull was a little gruesome, and it came from the swamp . The huge skull stared at him with empty eye sockets. Jake pretended to like it, but he hoped it didn’t give him nightmares.
    It had been alive once. How did the moose die? Did it get stuck in the swampy water and dragged down into the muck? Jake made himself stop thinking about the moose skull.
    Poor moose!
    He had to think about something else. The cabin had patterned wood all around it, which made it look like something out of a storybook. He tried to change the subject.
    â€œThat looks nice,” Jake said, pointing at the patterned wood. Kate stopped on the step. “Oh yeah, it took Dad and me and Chris ages to cut it all. That was the hardest part. Dad said he had a cabin just like this when he was a kid. He calls it ‘gingerbread.’”
    â€œA … gingerbread house in the woods?” Jake said, a little weakly.
    Kate laughed. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. We’ve got Hansel and Gretel inside!”
    Jake made a laughing noise, but he didn’t feel like laughing.
    Kate opened the cabin door. The lights were on, and Chris was making something in a frying pan on a stove.
    It smelled fantastic.
    â€œS’mores!” Chris said happily. “Do you like chocolate and marshmallows and graham crackers, Jake?”
    Jake smiled. At least the inside of the cabin seemed normal.
    â€œYeah, of course.” He dropped his backpack in a corner, and Gus