By the time the dogsled arrived at the tree house,the snowstorm had become a blizzard.
"Can you wait just a minute?" Jack asked the sealhunter. "So we can check something?"The hunter nodded. His dogs whined as Jack andAnnie climbed through the tree house window.
Jack grabbed the scroll that held the riddle. Heunrolled it. The riddle was gone. In its place was oneshimmering word:
MASK"We did it!" said Annie. "The tree house will take ushome now.""Great!" said Jack. "Let's say good-bye to the sealhunter and give him back his clothes."They quickly pulled off their sealskin clothing andtheir boots.
"Thanks for letting us borrow these!" Jack calledthrough the window.
The seal hunter walked to the tree house and tookthe clothes from Jack and Annie. They stoodshivering in their pajamas and bare feet.
"Th-th-thanks for everything!" said Annie, her teethchattering.
The seal hunter gave them a wave. Then he walkedthrough the swirling snow to his sled.
"Mush!" he shouted.
The dogs took off through the stormy night.
"Let's get out of here!" said Jack. He hugged himself.
"Before we freeze to death!"Annie grabbed the Pennsylvania book that alwaystook them home. She pointed to a picture of the FrogCreek woods.
"I wish we could go there!" she said.
They waited for the tree house to start spinning.
Nothing happened. Jack shivered.
"I wish we could go there!" Annie said again.
Again nothing happened.
Wh wh What's going on?" said Jack. he lookedaround the tree house. The four scrolls with thesolved riddle answers were in the corner.
Then he saw it--a fifth scroll.
"Where did th-th-that come from?" he said. Jackgrabbed it and unrolled it. On it were the words:
look at the letters: the first not the restdiscover the place that you love the best"Oh, no!" said Annie. "Another riddle!""Okay, okay. Let's stay c-c-calm," Jack said,shivering. "Look at the letters: the first, not the rest.
Okay, the first letters in this riddle are L-A-T-L-T--"Look at the letters:
"That doesn't make any sense," Annie broke in.
Icy winds battered the tree house. Snow blewinside.
"We have to hurry!" said Annie.
Jack was freezing. He looked around wildly.
"Letters, letters, letters. What letters?" he said.
His gaze rested on the scrolls in the corner.
"M-m-maybe we should look at the letters of theanswers," he said.
"Right," said Annie.
They began unrolling the scrolls.
The scroll from their adventure under the oceansaid:
OYSTERThe scroll from their trip to the Wild WestECHOThe scroll from their journey to Africa said:
HONEYTheir scroll from the Arctic said:
MASK"Oyster, echo, honey, mask," said Jack. "Their firstletters are O-E-H-M.""That doesn't make any sense, either," said Annie.
"Yeah, but maybe we have to unscramblethose letters," said Jack. "O-E-H-M.. .They couldspell hemo.""Or meho," said Annie.
"Or home!" said Jack.
"HOME!" cried Annie. "That's the place we love thebest!"Jack unrolled the fifth scroll again. The riddle wasgone. In its place was one shimmering word:
HOME"Yay!" cried Annie. She grabbed the Pennsylvaniabook. "I wish we could go home! HOME! HOME!
HOME!"The tree house started to spin.
It spun faster and faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still. |