Jack was sitting on the porch reading thenewspaper. It was a warm summer day, but the porchwas shady and cool.
Annie poked her head out of the screen door. "Hey,Mom says she'll drive us to the lake this afternoon,"she said.
Jack didn't raise his eyes from the weather page.
"Did you know today is the summer solstice?" he said.
"What's that?" asked Annie.
"It's the official first day of summer," said12Jack. "There's more daylight today than on anyother day of the year.""Cool," said Annie.
"Starting tomorrow, the days will get shorter andshorter," said Jack.
A loud screech came from overhead.
"Look," said Annie, "a seagull!"Jack looked up. A large white gull was circling inthe bright noon sky. "What's he doing here?" askedJack. "The ocean's two hours away."The gull swooped down and screeched again.
"Maybe he's a messenger from Morgan or Merlin,"said Annie. "Maybe one of them sent him to tell usthe tree house is finally back."Jack's heart began to pound. He put down thenewspaper. "You think so?" he asked.
Jack and Annie hadn't seen the magic tree housesince their Merlin Mission to a haunted castle lastHalloween. Jack had begun to worry that the treehouse might never come back.
13"Look, he's flying toward the woods," said Annie.
Jack jumped up. "Okay," he said. "Let's go.""We'll be back soon, Mom!" Annie called. Then sheand Jack dashed across their yard. They ran downtheir street and into the Frog Creek woods.
The shady woods were dappled with sunlight. Theair smelled fresh and clean. Jack and Annie hurriedpast the leafy trees, until they came to the tallest oak.
High in the oak branches, the magic tree house waswaiting for them.
"Wow," Jack and Annie said together. The treehouse looked exactly the same as when they'd lastseen it.
Annie grabbed the rope ladder and started up. Jackfollowed. When they climbed inside the tree house,no one was there.
"Look, our Royal Invitation is still here," said Annie.
She picked up the card that had taken them toCamelot on Christmas Eve.
14"And our leaf from Merlin is still here," said Jack.
He picked up the yellow autumn leaf that had sentthem on their Halloween mission.
"This is new," said Annie, She picked up a pale blueseashell. The shell was shaped like a small fan. Therewas writing on it.
"Hey, this looks like Merlin's handwriting!" saidAnnie. "We must be going on another mission forMerlin!" She read aloud the message from themagician:
[Image: A shell.]
15Annie looked up. "What rhyme?" she said. "Let mesee." Jack took the shell from her and turned it over.
On the other side was a poem. Jack read the poemaloud:
Before night falls on this long summer day, Ashining sword must find its way Into your hands andout of the gloom --Or Camelota king shall meet hisdoom. To begin your quest for this Sword of Light,Call for the help of the Water Knight Then passthrough the Cave of the Spider Queen-"Spider Queen?" Annie interrupted. She frowned.
Spiders were about the only thing she was afraid of.
"Don't think about it now," said Jack. "Let's keepgoing." He read on:
... pass through the Cave of the Spider Queen Andswim with a selkie clothed in green. Enter the Coveof the Stormy Coast, Dive 'neath the Cloak of the OldGray Ghost-16Jack stopped reading. "Old Gray Ghost?" he said.
"Don't think about it now," said Annie. "Keepgoing."Jack read more:
Answer a question with love, not fear.
With rhyme and sword, your home is nearBoth Jack and Annie were silent for a moment.
"That's a lot to do before nightfall," Jack finally said.
"Yeah," said Annie, "and I'm a little worried aboutthe spider part.""And the ghost part," said Jack.
"Hey," said Annie, "if we're going on anotherMerlin Mission, I'll bet Teddy will come with us! Hecan help us get through the scary parts.""Right," said Jack. Just hearing Teddy's name madehim feel braver.
"So," said Annie. "Onward?" Onwardwas Teddy'sfavorite word.
"Onward!" said Jack. He pointed to the17handwriting on the pale blue shell. "I wish we couldgo to the time before Camelot!"The wind started to blow.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun faster and faster.
Then everything was stillAbsolutely still. |