Season of the Sandstorms - Mary Pope Osborne [3]
“We could start walking,” said Jack.
“Walk where?” said Annie. “Which way is Baghdad?”
Jack looked out the window. Beyond the palm trees there was nothing but sand and sky. In the distance were lonely dunes. The desert was eerily silent.
“We could, uh …” Jack couldn’t think of anything else they could do. “We could look in the rhyme book,” he said. Jack pulled the book of magic rhymes out of his pack. He and Annie read down the table of contents together.
“Make a Stone Come Alive,” read Annie. “We did that on our last mission. We can’t do that again.”
“It wouldn’t help, anyway,” said Jack. He looked at other rhymes. “Bend Iron,” he read.“We’ve already done that, too.”
“Turn into Ducks,” read Annie. She looked at Jack.
“No,” he said.
“Mend What Cannot Be Mended,” read Annie.
“Nothing needs mending,” said Jack.
“How about this one?” said Annie. “Make Helpers Appear out of Nowhere.”
“Well …,” said Jack. “Maybe …”
“Come on, it’s perfect,” said Annie. “That’s where we are—nowhere. And we could sure use some helpers.”
“Okay,” said Jack. “I’ll read the line Teddy wrote. You read Kathleen’s line in her selkie language.”
“Okay,” said Annie. She turned to the page with the rhyme. She held the book out to Jack.
Jack read in a loud, clear voice:
From far beyond, send helpers here!
Then Annie read:
Hah-ee-by, hah-ee-keer!
The second that Annie finished the rhyme, wind gusted in from the desert, blowing a cloud of sand through the window. The wind shook the palm trees. Sand blew into Annie’s eyes. “Oww!” she said.
“Get back!” cried Jack.
Jack and Annie jumped away from the window. They pressed themselves against the wall and covered their faces. Gritty sand kept blowing into the tree house.
“It’s a sandstorm!” said Jack.
The hot sand piled into drifts all over the floor. Then the wind died down as quickly as it had started. The palm trees stopped shaking.
Jack and Annie looked out the window. The air was thick with grainy dust, making it hard to see. But the sand was still.
“I think it’s over,” said Annie.
“I hope so,” said Jack. “Why did our magic rhyme cause a sandstorm instead of sending us helpers?”
“I don’t know,” said Annie. “Maybe we said it wrong.”
Jack brushed the sand off their research book and looked up sandstorms in the index. He found the right page and read:
The season of the sandstorms begins in the desert in mid-February and continues all spring. Winds can blow as fast as 40 miles per hour. Sandstorms can easily cause travelers to lose their way in the desert.
“I don’t understand,” said Jack. “We don’t need to lose our way. We need to find our way.”
Just then the sound of bells came from outside.
Jack and Annie looked out the window. Through the haze, they saw four riders perched high on the humps of camels. The riders wore brightly colored robes. Behind them a dozen more camels were tied head to tail and loaded down with saddlebags. As the camels swung from side to side, bells tinkled from around their necks.
Annie grinned. “Helpers!” she said.
Annie stuck her head out the tree house window. “Hey!” she called.
“Shhhh!” said Jack, pulling her back in. “Don’t let them see us up here! It’s too hard to explain the tree house. Let’s go down.”
“Good point,” said Annie. She handed Merlin’s letter to Jack and started down the rope ladder. Jack grabbed his shoulder bag. He put the letter inside, then added their research book and rhyme book. He slung the leather bag across his chest and climbed down.
When he stepped onto the ground, Jack twisted the rope ladder behind the tree trunk so it wouldn’t be noticed. “Okay,” he said to Annie.
“Hey!” Annie called again, waving. She and Jack stepped out into the open.
The camel riders headed toward the palm trees. The man in the lead made his camel kneel. As he climbed off, Jack and Annie ran over to him. The man wore a long white robe. He had a black beard and stern, dark eyes. “Who are you?” he asked, unsmiling. “From where do you come?”
“I am Annie, and this is my brother, Jack,” said Annie. “Our home is far away