Sunset of the Sabertooth Read online

  Then everything was still.

  Absolutely still.

  Birds sang. The air was soft and warm.

  “I hope they find their coats,” said Annie.

  “Me too,” said Jack. He pushed his glasses into place.

  Squeak.

  “Hey, you—how did you find the sorcerer?” Annie asked Peanut.

  Squeak.

  “It’s a secret, huh?” said Annie. She turned to Jack. “Where’s the flute?”

  He held up the mammoth bone. Then he placed it on the M carved into the floor. Next to the mango from the rain forest. Next to the moonstone from the time of ninjas.

  “Moonstone, mango, mammoth bone … ” Annie said. “We need just one more M thing. Then Morgan will be free from her spell.”

  “Tomorrow,” said Jack.

  Annie patted Peanut on the head. “Bye, you,” she said.

  She started down the rope ladder.

  Jack gathered his things.

  He paused and glanced at the mouse. She stared at him with big brown eyes.

  “Thanks again for helping us,” he said.

  Then he climbed down the rope ladder and jumped onto the ground.

  Jack and Annie ran through the Frog Creek woods onto their street.

  Their neighborhood looked rosy in the sunset.

  It’s great to be back in this age, Jack thought. Warm and safe and almost home.

  “I’m glad we don’t have to go hunting for dinner,” he said.

  “Yeah, Mom and Dad already did that,” said Annie, “at the supermarket.”

  “I hope they trapped some spaghetti and meatballs,” said Jack.

  “I hope they trapped a pizza,” said Annie.

  “Hurry, I’m starving,” said Jack.

  They ran up their sidewalk and through their front door.

  “We’re home!” shouted Annie.

  “What’s for dinner?” shouted Jack.

  Here’s a special preview of

  Magic Tree House #8

  Midnight on the Moon

  Available now!

  Excerpt copyright © 1996 by

  Published by Random House Children’s Books,

  a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  “Jack!” whispered a voice.

  Jack opened his eyes. He saw a figure in the moonlight.

  “Wake up. Get dressed.” It was his sister, Annie.

  Jack turned on his lamp. He rubbed his eyes.

  Annie was standing beside his bed. She wore jeans and a sweatshirt.

  “Let’s go to the tree house,” she said.

  “What time is it?” asked Jack. He put on his glasses.

  “Don’t look at your clock,” said Annie.

  Jack looked at his clock. “Oh, man,” he said. “It’s midnight. It’s too dark.”

  “No, it isn’t. The moon makes it bright enough to see,” said Annie.

  “Wait till morning,” said Jack.

  “No—now,” said Annie. “We have to find the fourth M thing. I have a feeling that the full moon might help us.”

  “That’s nuts,” said Jack. “I want to sleep.”

  “You can sleep when we come back home,” said Annie. “No time will have passed.”

  Jack sighed. “Oh, brother,” he said.

  But he got out of bed.

  “Yay!” whispered Annie. “Meet you at the back door.” She tiptoed out of Jack’s room.

  Jack yawned. He pulled on his jeans and sneakers and a sweatshirt. He put his notebook and pencil into his backpack. Then he crept down the stairs.

  Annie opened the back door. Quietly, they stepped outside.

  “Wait—” said Jack. “We need a flashlight.”

  “No, we don’t. I told you—the moon will light our way,” said Annie. And she took off.

  Jack sighed, then followed her.

  Annie was right, thought Jack. The moon was so bright that he could see his shadow. Everything seemed washed with silver.

  Soon they left their street. Annie led the way into the Frog Creek woods. It was much darker under the shadows of the trees.

  Jack looked up, searching for the tree house.

  “There!” said Annie.

  The magic tree house was shining in the moonlight.

  Annie grabbed the rope ladder and started climbing up.

  “Careful—go slowly,” said Jack.

  He followed her up the ladder and into the tree house.

  Moonlight streamed through the window.

  It shone on the letter M that shimmered on the wooden floor.

  It shone on the three M things that rested on the M: a moonstone from the time of the ninjas, a mango from the Amazon rain forest, and a mammoth bone from the Ice Age.

  “We need just one more M thing,” said Annie, “to free Morgan from her spell.”

  Squeak.

  “Peanut!” said Annie.

  In the dim light, Jack saw a tiny mouse. She sat on an open book.

  “You didn’t expect to see us this late, did you?” said Annie.

  She picked up Peanut. And Jack picked up the open book.

  “So where are we going this time?” Annie asked him.

  Jack held the book up to the moonlight.

  “Uh-oh,” he said. “I knew we should have brought a flashlight. I can’t read a thing.”

  He could make out diagrams and shadowy pictures. But he couldn’t read a word.

  “Look at the cover,” said Annie.

  The letters were bigger on the cover. Jack squinted at them.

  “It’s called Hello, Moon,” he said.

  Annie gasped. “We’re going to the moon?”

  “Of course not,” said Jack. “It’s impossible to go to the moon without tons of equipment.”

  “Why?”

  “There’s no air. We couldn’t breathe. Not only that, we’d boil to death if it was day and freeze to death if it was night.”

  “Yikes,” said Annie. “So where do you think we are going?”

  “Maybe a place where people train to be astronauts,” said Jack.

  “That sounds neat,” said Annie.

  “Yeah,” said Jack. He’d always wanted to meet astronauts and space scientists.

  “So say the wish,” said Annie.

  Jack opened the book again. He pointed to a picture of a dome-shaped structure.

  “I wish we could go there,” he said.

  The wind started to blow.

  The tree house started to spin.

  It spun faster and faster and faster.

  Then everything was silent.

  Absolutely silent. As quiet and still as silence could be.

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  Discover the facts

  behind the fiction with the

  Magic Tree House® Books

  #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: HOU
R 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

  Merlin Missions

  #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

  Magic Tree House® Research Guides

  DINOSAURS

  KNIGHTS AND CASTLES

  MUMMIES AND PYRAMIDS

  PIRATES

  RAIN FORESTS

  SPACE

  TITANIC

  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

  PENGUINS AND ANTARCTICA

  LEONARDO DA VINCI

  GHOSTS

  LEPRECHAUNS AND IRISH FOLKLORE

  RAGS AND RICHES: KIDS IN THE TIME OF CHARLES DICKENS

  More Magic Tree House®

  GAMES AND PUZZLES FROM THE TREE HOUSE