Pirates Past Noon Page 3
“I think you dropped this in dinosaur times,” said Jack.
He handed the gold medallion to Morgan.
“Oh, thank you! I wondered where I’d lost it,” she said. She put the medallion into a hidden pocket in her cape.
“So can anybody work the spell?” asked Annie. “Anybody who tries it?”
“Oh dear, no! Not just anybody,” Morgan said. “You two are the only ones besides me to do it. No one else has ever even seen my tree house before.”
“Is it invisible?” asked Annie.
“Yes,” said Morgan. “I had no idea it would ever be discovered. But then you two came along. Somehow you hooked right into my magic.”
“H-how?” asked Jack.
“Well, for two reasons, I think,” explained Morgan. “First, Annie believes in magic. So she actually saw the tree house. And her belief helped you to see it, Jack.”
“Oh man,” said Jack.
“Then you picked up a book, Jack. And because you love books so much, you caused my magic spell to work.”
“Wow,” said Annie.
“You can’t imagine my dismay when you started to take off for dinosaur times. I had to make a very quick decision. And I decided to come along.”
“Oh, so you were the pteranodon!” said Annie.
Morgan smiled.
“And the cat and the knight and Polly!” said Annie.
“Yes,” said Morgan softly.
“You were all these things to help us?” asked Jack.
“Yes, but I must go home now. The people in Camelot need my help.”
“You’re leaving?” whispered Jack.
“I’m afraid I must,” said Morgan.
She picked up Jack’s backpack and handed it to him. Jack and Annie picked up their raincoats. It had stopped raining.
“You won’t forget us, will you?” asked Annie, as they put their raincoats on.
“Never,” said Morgan. She smiled at both of them. “You remind me too much of myself. You love the impossible, Annie. And you love knowledge, Jack. What better combination is there?”
Morgan le Fay touched Annie’s forehead gently. And then Jack’s. She smiled.
“Good-bye,” she said.
“Good-bye,” said Annie and Jack.
Annie left the tree house first. Jack followed. They climbed down the rope ladder for the last time.
They stood below the oak tree and looked up.
Morgan was looking out the window. Her long white hair blew in the breeze.
Suddenly the wind began to blow.
The leaves began to shake.
A loud whistling sound filled the air.
Jack covered his ears and squeezed his eyes shut.
Then everything was silent.
Absolutely silent.
Jack opened his eyes.
The tree house was gone.
All gone.
Absolutely gone.
Annie and Jack stood a moment, staring up at the empty oak tree. Listening to the silence.
Annie sighed. “Let’s go,” she said softly.
Jack just nodded. He felt too sad to speak. As they started walking, he put his hands into his pockets.
He felt something.
Jack pulled out the gold medallion. “Look!” he said. “How did—?”
Annie smiled. “Morgan must have put it there,” she said.
“But how?”
“Magic,” said Annie. “I think it means she’ll be coming back.”
Jack smiled. He clutched the medallion as he and Annie took off through the wet, sunny woods.
As they walked, the sun shined through the woods. And all the wet leaves sparkled.
Everything, in fact, was shining.
Leaves, branches, puddles, bushes, grass, vines, wild flowers—all glittered like jewels.
Or gleamed like gold.
Annie had been right, thought Jack.
Forget the treasure chest.
They had treasure at home. A ton of it. Everywhere.
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“Let’s look again, Jack,” said Annie.
Jack and Annie were walking home from the library. The path went right by the Frog Creek woods.
Jack sighed. “We looked this morning,” he said. “We looked the day before. And the day before that.”
“Then you don’t have to come,” said Annie. “I’ll go look by myself.”
She took off into the woods.
“Annie, wait!” Jack called. “It’s almost dark! We have to get home!”
But Annie had disappeared among the trees.
Jack stared at the woods. He was starting to lose hope. Maybe he would never see Morgan again.
Weeks had passed. And there had not been one sign of Morgan le Fay. Nor had there been one sign of her magic tree house.
“Jack!” Annie called from the woods. “It’s back!”
Oh, she’s just pretending as usual, Jack thought. But his heart started to race.
“Hurry!” called Annie.
“She better not be kidding,” said Jack.
He took off into the woods to find Annie.
Night was falling fast. Crickets chirped loudly. It was hard to see through the shadows.
“Annie!” Jack shouted.
“Here!” she called.
Jack kept walking. “Here where?” he called back.
“Here here!”
Annie’s voice came from above.
Jack looked up.
“Oh man,” he breathed.
Annie waved from the window of a tree house. It was in the tallest oak in the woods. A long rope ladder hung down from it.
The magic tree house was back.
“Come on up!” Annie shouted.
Jack ran to the rope ladder. He started climbing.
He climbed and climbed and climbed.
As he climbed, he looked out over the woods. High above the treetops it was still light.
At last, Jack pulled himself into the tree house.
Annie sat in the shadows. Books were scattered everywhere.
On the floor the letter M glowed in the dim light. The M stood for Morgan le Fay.
But there was no sign of Morgan herself.
“I wonder where Morgan is,” said Jack.
“Maybe she went to the library to get some more books,” said Annie.
“We were just at the library. We would have seen her,” said Jack. “Besides, the library’s closed now.”
Squeak!
A little mouse ran out from behind a stack of books. It ran to the M shining in the floor.
“Yikes,” said Annie.
The mouse sat on the middle of the M. It looked up at Jack and Annie.
“Oh, it’s so cute,” Annie said.
Jack had to admit the mouse was cute. It had brown-and-white fur and big dark eyes.
Annie slowly reached out her hand. The mouse didn’t move. Annie patted its tiny head.
“Hi, Peanut,” she said. “Can I call you Peanut?”
“Oh brother,” said Jack.
“Do you know where Morgan is?” Annie asked the mouse.
Squeak.
“You’re nuts, Annie,” said Jack. “Just because the mouse is in the tree house doesn’t mean it’s magic. It’s a plain old mouse that crawled in, that’s all.”
Jack looked around again. He saw a piece of paper on the floor.
“What’s that?” he said.
“What’s what?” asked Annie.
Jack went over and picked up the paper. There was writing on it.
“Oh man,” whispered Jack, after he read the words.
“What is it?” said Annie.
“A note,” said Jack. “It must be from Morgan.
I think she’s in big trouble!”
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#1: DINOSAURS BEFORE DARK
#2: THE KNIGHT AT DAWN
#3: MUMMIES IN THE MORNING
#4: PIRATES PAST NOON
#5: NIGHT OF THE NINJAS
#6: AFTERNOON ON THE AMAZON
#7: SUNSET OF THE SABERTOOTH
#8: MIDNIGHT ON THE MOON
#9: DOLPHINS AT DAYBREAK
#10: GHOST TOWN AT SUNDOWN
#11: LIONS AT LUNCHTIME
#12: POLAR BEARS PAST BEDTIME
#13: VACATION UNDER THE VOLCANO
#14: DAY OF THE DRAGON KING
#15: VIKING SHIPS AT SUNRISE
#16: HOUR OF THE OLYMPICS
#17: TONIGHT ON THE TITANIC
#18: BUFFALO BEFORE BREAKFAST
#19: TIGERS AT TWILIGHT
#20: DINGOES AT DINNERTIME
#21: CIVIL WAR ON SUNDAY
#22: REVOLUTIONARY WAR ON WEDNESDAY
#23: TWISTER ON TUESDAY
#24: EARTHQUAKE IN THE EARLY MORNING
#25: STAGE FRIGHT ON A SUMMER NIGHT
#26: GOOD MORNING, GORILLAS
#27: THANKSGIVING ON THURSDAY
#28: HIGH TIDE IN HAWAII
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#29: CHRISTMAS IN CAMELOT
#30: HAUNTED CASTLE ON HALLOWS EVE
#31: SUMMER OF THE SEA SERPENT
#32: WINTER OF THE ICE WIZARD
#33: CARNIVAL AT CANDLELIGHT
#34: SEASON OF THE SANDSTORMS
#35: NIGHT OF THE NEW MAGICIANS
#36: BLIZZARD OF THE BLUE MOON
#37: DRAGON OF THE RED DAWN
#38: MONDAY WITH A MAD GENIUS
#39: DARK DAY IN THE DEEP SEA
#40: EVE OF THE EMPEROR PENGUIN
#41: MOONLIGHT ON THE MAGIC FLUTE
#42: A GOOD NIGHT FOR GHOSTS
#43: LEPRECHAUN IN LATE WINTER
#44: A GHOST TALE FOR CHRISTMAS TIME
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TWISTERS AND OTHER TERRIBLE STORMS
DOLPHINS AND SHARKS
ANCIENT GREECE AND THE OLYMPICS
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
SABERTOOTHS AND THE ICE AGE
PILGRIMS
ANCIENT ROME AND POMPEII
TSUNAMIS AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS
POLAR BEARS AND THE ARCTIC
SEA MONSTERS
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RAGS AND RICHES: KIDS IN THE TIME OF CHARLES DICKENS
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