Earthquake in the Early Morning - Mary Pope Osborne [10]
Excerpt copyright © 2002 by Mary Pope Osborne.
Published by Random House Children’s Books,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
1
Special Magic
Jack and Annie sat on their porch. Lightning bugs blinked in the warm summer twilight.
“Wow, a shooting star!” said Annie, pointing at the sky.
Jack looked up, just in time to see a streak of light flash through the sky. The light hovered above the Frog Creek woods. Then it disappeared into the treetops.
Jack caught his breath. He turned to Annie.
“That was no shooting star,” he said.
“Right,” she said.
They jumped up. Jack grabbed his backpack from inside the front hall.
“Dad, Mom! Can we go out?” he called. “We’ll be back soon!”
“Ten minutes, no more!” their mom said.
“Okay!” said Jack. He closed the door. “Let’s go! Hurry!”
He and Annie ran across their yard. They ran down their street. They ran into the woods. They ran until they came to the tallest oak. They looked up.
“Yep,” said Annie.
Jack just smiled. He was too happy for words.
“That’s our shooting star,” said Annie. “The magic tree house.”
She grabbed the rope ladder and started up. Jack followed.
When they climbed inside the tree house, they both gasped. A beautiful woman with long white hair stood in the shadowy corner.
“Hello, Jack and Annie,” said Morgan le Fay.
“Morgan!” Jack and Annie cried.
They threw their arms around her.
“Why are you here?” said Annie. “What do you want us to do for you?”
“You have already done many good things for me,” said Morgan, “and for King Arthur and Camelot. Now I want you to do something good for yourselves. You are going to learn magic.”
“Oh, wow,” said Annie. “Are we going to become magicians? Will you teach us charms and spells?”
Morgan laughed. “There is magic that does not need charms or spells,” she said. “You’ll find a special magic on each of your next four adventures.”
“How?” asked Jack.
“A secret rhyme will guide you on each journey,” Morgan said. “Here this is the first.” She held up a slip of paper.
Annie took the paper from Morgan and read the rhyme aloud:
To find a special magic,
You must step into the light
And without wand, spell, or charm,
Turn daytime into night.
“Turn daytime into night?” said Jack. “How can we do that?”
Morgan smiled.
“That’s what you have to find out,” she said.
Jack had lots of questions. But before he could ask any of them, a flash lit up the tree house. He closed his eyes against the light. When he opened them, Morgan le Fay was gone. On the floor where she had stood was a book.
“Morgan didn’t tell us enough,” said Jack.
“But she left this research book,” said Annie. She picked up the book. “And it’ll tell us the first place to go.” She held the book up to the gray light at the window.
The cover showed a busy river with boats and a bridge. The title was
Merry Olde England
“What’s o-l-d-e mean?” asked Annie.
“I think that’s the old way of spelling old,” said Jack. “You say it the same.”
“So we’re going to merry olde England to find magic?” said Annie. “That sounds fun. Ready?”
“I guess,” said Jack. He still wished they’d gotten more information from Morgan. But he pointed at the cover of their research book.
“I wish we could go there,” he said.
The wind started to blow.
The tree house started to spin.
The wind blew harder and harder.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
Are you a fan of the Magic Tree House® series?
Visit our
Web site
at
www.MagicTreeHouse.com
Exciting sneak previews of the next book.
Games, puzzles, and other fun activities.
Contests with super prizes.
And much more!
Guess what?
Jack and Annie have a musical CD!
For more information about
MAGIC TREE HOUSE: THE MUSICAL
(including how to order the CD!),
visit www.mthmusical.com.
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: