Jack and Annie sat on their porch. Lightning bugsblinked in the warm summer twilight.
"Wow, a shooting star!" said Annie, pointing at thesky.
Jack looked up, just in time to see a streak of lightflash through the sky. The light hovered above theFrog Creek woods. Then it disappeared into thetreetops.
Jack caught his breath. He turned to Annie.
"That was no shooting star," he said. "Right," shesaid.
They jumped up. Jack grabbed his back-pack frominside the front hall.
"Dad, Mom! Can we go out?" he called. "We'll beback soon!""Ten minutes, no more!" their mom said.
"Okay!" said Jack. He closed the door. "Let's go!
Hurry!"He and Annie ran across their yard. They ran downtheir street. They ran into the woods. They ran untilthey came to the tallest oak. They looked up.
"Yep," said Annie.
Jack just smiled. He was too happy for words.
"That's our shooting star," said Annie "The magictree house."She grabbed the rope ladder and started up. Jackfollowed.
When they house, they both with long whitecorner.
"Hello, Jack and Annie," said Morgan le Fay.
"Morgan!" Jack and Annie cried.
They threw their arms around her.
"Why are you here?" said Annie. "What do youwant us to do for you?""You have already done many good things for me,"said Morgan, "and for King Arthur and Camelot. NowI want you to do something good for yourselves. Youare going to learn magic.""Oh, wow," said Annie. "Are we going to climbedinside the tree gasped. A beautiful woman hair stoodin the shadowy become magicians? Will you teach uscharms and spells?"Morgan laughed. "There is magic that does notneed charms or spells," she said. "You'll find a specialmagic on each of your next adventures.""How?" asked Jack.
"A secret rhyme will guide you on each journey,"Morgan said. "Here this is the first." She held up a slipof paper.
Annie took the paper from Morgan and read therhyme aloud:
To find a special magic,You must step into the lightAnd without wand, spell, or charm,Turn daytime into night.
"Then daytime into night?" said Jack. "How can wedo that?"Morgan smiled.
"That's what you have to find out," she said.
Jack had lots of questions. But before he could askany of them, a flash lit up the tree house. He closedhis eyes against the light. When he opened them,Morgan le Fay was gone. On the floor where she hadstood was a book.
"Morgan didn't tell us enough," said Jack.
"But she left this research book," said Annie. Shepicked up the book. "And it'll tell us the first place togo." She held the book up to the gray light at thewindow.
The cover showed a busy river with boats and abridge. The title wasMerry Olde England"What's o-l-d-e mean?" asked Annie.
'I think that's the old way of spelling old," said Jack.
"You say it the same.""So we're going to merry olde England to findmagic?" said Annie. "That sounds fun. Ready?""I guess," said Jack. He still wished they'd gottenmore information from Morgan. But he pointed at thecover of their research book.
"I wish we could go there," he said.
The wind started to blow.
The tree house started to spin.
The wind blew harder and harder.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still. |