Jack poured milk over his cereal. His stomach feltfluttery. It was Monday-the first day of a new schoolyear.
Jack always felt nervous on the first day. Whatwould his new teacher be like? Would his desk beclose to a window? Would friends from last year be inhis class again this year?
"Annie, hurry!" Jack's mom called upstairs. "It'sfifteen minutes till eight. School starts in half anhour."Jack's dad walked into the kitchen. "Are you16sure you and Annie don't want me to drive you?"he asked.
"No thanks, we don't mind walking," said Jack.
Their school was only three blocks away.
"Annie,hurry!" their mom called again. "You're going to be late!"The back door banged open. Annie rushed into thekitchen. She was out of breath.
"Oh, I thought you were upstairs," their mom saidwith surprise. "You were outside?""Yes!" said Annie, panting. "Just taking a quickwalk." She looked at Jack. Her eyes sparkled. "Hurry,Jack. We really should go now!""Okay, I'm coming!" said Jack. He leapt up from thetable. He could tell Annie wasn't talking about school.
The tree house must be back! Finally!
Jack grabbed his backpack. Annie held the dooropen for him.
"No breakfast?" their mom asked.
"Too nervous to eat now, Mom," said Jack.
17"Me too," said Annie. "Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!""Have fun," their mom said.
"Learn a lot," said their dad.
"Don't worry, we will!" said Annie.
Jack and Annie slipped out the door and walkedquickly across their yard.
"It's back!" said Annie.
"I figured it was!" said Jack.
"Morgan must want us to look for another secret ofhappiness to help Merlin," said Annie.
"Yep!" said Jack. "Let's run!"Jack and Annie dashed up the sidewalk. Theycrossed the street and headed into the Frog Creekwoods. They ran between the trees, through shadowsand light, until they came to the tallest oak.
High in the tree was the magic tree house. The ropeladder was swaying in the chilly morning wind.
"How did you know it was here?" asked Jack,catching his breath.
18"I woke up thinking about Teddy and Kathleen,"said Annie, "and I had this strange feeling.""Really?" said Jack. "Teddy! Kathleen!" he shoutedup at the tree house.
Two young teenagers looked out the tree housewindow: a curly-haired boy with freckles and a biggrin and a smiling girl with sea-blue eyes and darkwavy hair.
"Jack! Annie!" the girl said. "Come up! Come up!"said the boy.
Jack and Annie hurried up the rope ladder. Whenthey climbed inside the tree house, they threw theirarms around their friends.
"Are we going to look for another secret ofhappiness?" said Annie. "To help Merlin?""Yes, and this time you will travel back to Florence,Italy, five hundred years ago," said Teddy.
"Florence, Italy?" said Jack. "What's there?""An amazing person who will help you," saidKathleen.
19"Who?" asked Annie. "Is this person magical?"Teddy grinned. "Some people might say so," he said.
He reached into his cloak and pulled out a book. Thecover showed a drawing of a man wearing a purplecloak and floppy blue cap. He had a long nose, bright,kind eyes with heavy eyebrows, and a flowing beard.
The title said:
Leonardo da Vinci"Leonardo da Vinci!" said Jack. "Are you kidding?"20"I've heard of him," said Annie.
"Who hasn't?" said Jack. "He was an incrediblegenius!""This biography of Leonardo will help you on yourmission," said Teddy.
"And so will this rhyme from Morgan," saidKathleen. She pulled a small piece of parchment paperfrom her cloak and gave it to Annie.
Annie read the words on the paper aloud.
Jack, and Annie of Frog Creek;Though the question is quite simple,Simple answers might be wrong.
If you want to know the right one,Help the genius all day long,Morning, noon, and afternoon,Till the night bird sings its song.
"So to find the secret of happiness, we need tospend the whole day helping Leonardo da Vinci," saidJack.
"Yes," said Kathleen. Teddy nodded.
"I wish you could come, too," said Annie.
21"And helpus," said Jack.
"Never fear," said Kathleen. "You will have the helpof the great genius. and the Wand of Dianthus.""Oh!" Annie said to Jack. "Did you bring ourwand?""Of course," said Jack. "I always carry it with me forsafekeeping." He reached into his backpack and pulledout a gleaming silver wand.
"The Wand of Dianthus," Teddy said in a hushedvoice.
The wand looked like the horn of a unicorn. Itburned in Jack's hand-with cold or warmth, hecouldn't tell which. He carefully put the wand backinto his pack.
"Remember the three rules of the wand?" saidKathleen.
"Sure," said Annie. "You can only use it for thegood of others. You can only use it after you've triedyour hardest. And you can only use it with acommand of five words.""Excellent," said Kathleen.
22"Thanks," said Annie. "Ready?" she asked Jack.
Jack nodded. "Bye, Teddy. Bye, Kathleen." "Goodbye,"said Teddy.
"And good luck," said Kathleen.
Jack pointed at the cover of the book. "I wish wecould go to Leonardo da Vinci!"In the distance, the school bell started to ring,letting kids know that school would start in tenminutes. But in the Frog Creek woods, the windstarted to blow.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
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