A Good Night for Ghosts Read online

  old snow in yard

  sun sparkling on sidewalk

  Jack looked up again. Treetops swayed in the March winds. Jack started to write about them. But when he looked down at his notebook, he nearly dropped his pencil. On the page were two large, fancy letters:

  T K

  “Oh, man!” whispered Jack. He dashed back in the house and into the living room. “Annie! Look!” Jack held up his notebook. “Look at this!”

  Annie stared at the page. “Old snow … sun sparkling … Nice.…”

  “No, not that!” said Jack. “The letters!”

  Annie looked at Jack like he was a little crazy. “Uh … what letters?” she said.

  Jack looked back at the page. “They’re gone!” he said. “A big, fancy T and K!”

  “T and K?” said Annie.

  “Yes! For Teddy and Kathleen!” said Jack. “The letters just appeared on the page when I was outside! They were there! Really!”

  “I believe you,” said Annie. She jumped up from the computer. “Let’s go.”

  “Wait, I have to get my backpack from upstairs,” said Jack.

  “Forget it! Come on! The tree house must be waiting for us!” said Annie.

  “Okay, okay,” said Jack. He quickly shoved his notebook and pencil into a pocket of his coat.

  Annie grabbed her jacket. “Mom! Dad! We’re going to take a little break from our homework!” she called.

  “Okay, but make it short! We have to leave for the theater by seven!” their dad called from the kitchen.

  “We will!” said Jack.

  Jack and Annie headed outside. They ran over the melting snow in their front yard and up the sun-sparkling sidewalk. They charged across the street and into the Frog Creek woods. They hurried between the windblown trees until they came to the tallest oak.

  High in the branches was the magic tree house. Their friends from Camelot, Teddy and Kathleen, were looking out the window.

  “Hello!” called Kathleen.

  “Hi!” shouted Annie, waving.

  “Good trick with the magic letters!” Jack called.

  “We thought you’d like that!” said Teddy. “I just learned how to do it!”

  Annie grabbed the rope ladder and started up. Jack followed her. They climbed into the tree house and hugged the young enchanters.

  “So what’s up today?” asked Jack.

  “Where does Merlin want us to go now?” asked Annie.

  “Merlin wants you to go to Galway, Ireland,” said Kathleen.

  “Ireland? Cool!” said Annie.

  “Morgan sent us to Ireland once before—to the ninth century,” said Jack.

  “Yes. Well, this time you will go to Ireland in the nineteenth century,” said Teddy. “To 1862, to be exact. Your mission is to find an imaginative and creative girl named Augusta.”

  “Augusta doesn’t know yet what her talents are,” said Kathleen. “She lives in a time when it is not easy for girls to explore their creativity. Your mission will be to inspire her, so she can give her gifts to the world.”

  “What does that word mean exactly?” asked Annie. “Inspire?”

  “’tis a beautiful word,” said Kathleen, her sea-blue eyes shining. “It means to breathe life into a person’s heart, to make her feel joyful to be alive.”

  “That is beautiful,” said Annie.

  “You may need some magic to help you,” said Teddy. From the corner of the tree house, he picked up the magic trumpet that had helped them on their last journey. “Only this time …”

  Teddy handed the trumpet to Kathleen. She held the shiny brass instrument for a moment. Then she tossed it into the air. The trumpet spun like a whirlwind. There was a flash of blue light—and the trumpet was gone! In its place was a thin silver pipe with six holes.

  “What’s that?” breathed Jack.

  “An Irish whistle,” said Kathleen. She plucked the instrument from the air. “When you face great danger, one of you must play it. It will make magical music. And anything the other one sings will come true.”

  “But remember,” said Teddy, “its magic will work only once.”

  “Right,” said Annie.

  “Thanks,” said Jack. He took the Irish whistle from Kathleen and put it into his pocket. “And did Morgan send a research book to give us information?”

  “Not this time,” said Teddy. “Morgan wants you to draw upon your own experiences in life to help you on this journey.”

  “No problem,” said Annie.

  Jack wasn’t sure about that. He liked having a book of facts to help them.

  “So how do we find Augusta?” said Annie.

  “It should be easy to find her,” said Teddy. “When you land in the county of Galway, Ireland, just ask anyone for directions to the Big House.”

  “Hold on.” Jack pulled out his notebook and wrote:

  County of Galway, Ireland

  Augusta

  Big House

  “Got it,” said Jack. “But how do we get to Ireland in the first place if we don’t have a research book?”

  “Point to the notes you just made and make your wish,” said Kathleen.

  “And when you are ready to come home,” said Teddy, “use the Pennsylvania book as you usually do.”

  “Got it,” said Jack.

  “Go now, and help Augusta,” said Kathleen. “She needs you.”

  Jack pointed to the words Galway, Ireland in his notebook. “I wish we could go there!” he said.

  “Bye!” Annie said to Teddy and Kathleen.

  “Farewell!” said Kathleen.

  “Good luck!” said Teddy.

  The wind started to blow.

  The tree house started to spin.

  It spun faster and faster.

  Then everything was still.

  Absolutely still.

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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: 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

  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