A Perfect Time for Pandas: A Merlin Mission

O
ne summer day in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania, a mysterious tree house appeared in the woods. It was filled with books. A boy named Jack and his sister, Annie, found the tree house and soon discovered that it was magic. They could go to any time and place in history just by pointing to a picture in one of the books. While they were gone, no time at all passed back in Frog Creek.

Jack and Annie eventually found out that the tree house belonged to Morgan le Fay, a magical librarian from the legendary realm of Camelot. They have since traveled on many adventures in the magic tree house and completed many missions for both Morgan le Fay and her friend Merlin the magician. Teddy and Kathleen, two young
enchanters from Camelot, have sometimes helped Jack and Annie in both big and small ways.

Now Teddy and Kathleen are in urgent need of Jack and Annie’s help. While Merlin and Morgan were away from Camelot, Teddy accidentally put a spell on Penny, Merlin’s beloved penguin, turning her into a statue. Teddy is sure he will be banished from Camelot unless Jack and Annie can help save Penny.

Teddy and Kathleen have found an ancient spell that will undo Teddy’s accidental magic. To make the spell work, Jack and Annie must find four special objects, each from a different time and place. They have found three of these objects—and now they are waiting to find out where they must go next, and what they must find….

J
ack heard knocking on his door.
Teddy and Kathleen were knocking! They were calling to him! He had to help them save Penny!
Jack tried to cross his room … but his legs wouldn’t move. He couldn’t get to the door!

The knocking grew louder. “Jack?” his dad called.

Jack opened his eyes. Where was he?

“Jack, get up! School!” came his dad’s voice.

What a dream
, thought Jack. He quickly sat up in bed. He’d overslept!

“Jack? Are you awake?” said his dad, peeking into his room.

“Yep, thanks, Dad!” said Jack.

“Better hurry,” said Jack’s dad. He closed the door.

Jack hopped out of bed.
Where’s Annie?
he wondered. They had planned to go to the tree house before school! Today was the day to find the fourth thing to save Penny.

Jack pulled on his jeans and a T-shirt and rushed out of his room. Annie charged out of
her
room at the same moment. “We overslept!” she said.

“No kidding,” said Jack. “Hurry! We have to get to the tree house before school starts.”

“I know!” said Annie.

Annie and Jack charged down the steps. They rushed into the kitchen.

“Good morning, sleepyheads,” their mom said. “You have just enough time for breakfast. I made you egg sandwiches.”

“Thanks, Mom,” said Jack. “But would you mind if we take them with us? We have to head to school early. We have a special project.”

“You guys really seem to love school,” their dad said.

“Yep, school’s great,” said Jack.

Their mom wrapped up their sandwiches and put them in a paper bag. She handed the bag to Annie. “You two have a good day,” she said.

“Thanks, Mom!” said Annie.

Jack and Annie hurried to the front door and stepped outside into the moist spring air.

“We have exactly twenty-five minutes before we have to head to school,” Jack said.

“No problem,” said Annie. “Hold on.” She put their sandwiches in Jack’s backpack. “Okay. Let’s go!” They raced across their yard and charged up the sidewalk. They ran across the street and headed into the Frog Creek woods. They ran between trees full of new green leaves until they came to the tallest oak.

The magic tree house was high up in the branches. Annie grabbed the rope ladder and started up. Jack followed. Inside the tree house they both sat on the floor, catching their breath.

“Whew … it’s all still here,” gasped Annie.

Dusty rays of morning light shone through the tree house window onto the three things they’d already found to help Teddy and Kathleen: a rose carved out of an emerald from India, a dried white and yellow flower from the Swiss Alps, and a goose-feather quill pen from President Abraham Lincoln.

“I hope Teddy and Kathleen were able to translate the last part of the rhyme,” said Jack. “Do we have a new note?”

They both looked around the tree house. “Aha!” said Annie. She pointed to a book and a small scroll lying in the corner.

Jack picked up the book, and Annie grabbed the scroll. “Interesting,” said Jack. He showed the cover of the book to Annie.

“Cool, China!” said Annie.

“We’ve been there before,” said Jack. “Remember the emperor who burned the books and tried to have us killed?”

“That was more than two thousand years ago,” said Annie. “Maybe we’re going to a different time now.”

Annie unrolled their scroll and read aloud:

“Healthy food in China?” said Annie. “That shouldn’t be hard to find.”

“But don’t you think it sounds kind of weird?” said Jack. “How can anyone eat something that’s tough as wood?”

“Good question,” said Annie. “But we’ll have fun looking for it. I love the food we get with Mom and Dad at Chinatown Palace, don’t you?”

“Yeah … but …,” said Jack.

“Okay!” said Annie. “Now, did Teddy and Kathleen send a potion or anything else magical to help us?”

Jack looked around the tree house again.

“There!” he said. A small glass bottle glinted in a shadowy corner. Jack picked it up, and he and Annie stepped to the window and read the writing on the bottle’s label.

“Five times our size?” said Jack. “That would make us about as tall as a house.”

“Talk about weird,” said Annie.

“Yeah, but it actually sounds like fun,” said Jack.

“More fun than when we became teeny-tiny in India,” asked Annie, “after we saw the cobras?”