Carnival at Candlelight (2 page)

A
nnie laughed.

Jack opened his eyes. He and Annie were wearing purple and pink outfits with huge ruffled collars. On their heads were funny hats. On their feet were red slippers with big bows.

“Who are we?” Annie asked.

“I don’t know,” said Jack. He didn’t feel like a wise and brave helper in his red slippers. He felt stupid.

Together Jack and Annie looked out the tree house window. They had landed in a small tree
inside a walled garden. The sky was gray. Jack couldn’t tell if it was morning or evening, but the air felt damp and heavy, as if a storm was about to break.

“I guess this is Venice,” he said.

“Let’s check our book,” said Annie. She opened their research book and read aloud:

“That sounds like fun,” said Jack.

“Yep,” said Annie. She closed the book. “Let’s go.”

“Wait,” said Jack. “We don’t even know what our mission is yet.” He took out Merlin’s letter and unfolded it. He read aloud:

Jack pushed his glasses into place. “Hmm,” he said.

“I wonder who the Grand Lady is,” said Annie. “And why do we need to save her?”

“I’m wondering lots of stuff,” said Jack. “What about the King of the Jungle? We’re in a city, not a jungle. And what about that angel? And—”

“Let’s just take one thing at a time,” said Annie. “What are we supposed to do first?”

Jack looked back at the letter and read:

When waters rise beneath the moon
,

Visit the Grand Lady of the Lagoon.

“So let’s start by finding the Grand Lady,” said Annie. She headed down the tree house ladder.

Jack put Merlin’s letter into his backpack, along with Morgan’s research book and Teddy and Kathleen’s book of magic rhymes. Then he climbed down the rope ladder and caught up with Annie.

Jack and Annie walked over a pebbly path as the sky darkened.
Good
, thought Jack.
It’s night.
He didn’t want anyone to see him in his silly outfit—especially the red slippers with the bows.

“That must be the way out,” said Annie. She led Jack to a wooden gate in the garden wall and pushed it open.

Jack and Annie stepped through the gate onto a quiet, empty walkway. Next to the walkway was a narrow lane of water.

“I guess that’s a canal,” said Jack.

“And that must be a gondola,” said Annie. She pointed to a long, curved black boat rounding the corner. In the last light of day, the gondola was gliding silently up the canal toward them.

“Yikes,” whispered Annie.

There were two people in the boat—a gondolier and a passenger. Each wore a black cloak, white gloves, and a ghostly white mask. The masks had long, pointy noses shaped like bird beaks. The passenger sat in the middle of the boat, holding a lantern. The gondolier stood in the back, pushing a long oar through the water.

“They look a lot weirder than us,” said Annie.

“No kidding,” said Jack.

“Hello!” the passenger shouted.

The person’s voice was muffled behind the white mask. “Do you need help?”

“Yes!” Annie shouted back. “Can you take us to the Grand Lady of the Lagoon?”

“Yes, of course. She is back that way!” answered the masked passenger. “Come.”

“Great!” said Annie. She grabbed Jack’s hand and pulled him over to the gondola. The gondola rocked a bit as she and Jack climbed aboard and took seats between the gondolier and the passenger.

The gondolier pushed the gondola away from the landing. His long oar made soft splashes in the water as the boat moved up the canal.

Jack cleared his throat. “Um, excuse me,” he said. “Why are you wearing bird masks?”

“For Carnival, of course,” said the passenger. “That is why you are wearing clown costumes, no?”

“Oh, yeah, sure,” said Jack.

As the gondola slid through the canal, Jack snuck their research book out of his backpack.

“Oh, boy, a carnival!” Annie whispered to Jack. “I hope it has a roller coaster.”

“I don’t think they had roller coasters two hundred sixty years ago,” whispered Jack.

Jack looked up
carnival
in the index. He
found the page. Then he and Annie silently read together:

“Look, that’s us,” whispered Annie. She pointed to a picture of a colorful costume with a white ruffled collar and red slippers with bows.

“Yeah, and that’s them,” whispered Jack. He pointed to a picture of a person dressed in a black cloak and a white mask with a bird’s beak.

Jack closed the book and put it away. The gondola people didn’t seem so weird anymore. But he still wondered why a grand lady was in terrible danger at Carnival.

As the boat glided around a bend, Jack caught his breath. He saw dozens of gondolas rocking on the choppy waters of a wide, open canal. They
were all decorated with ribbons and flowers. Candlelight from their lanterns danced on the dark, rippling water.

“Look, that must be Carnival over there,” said Annie, pointing.

In the distance, thousands of candles twinkled along the shoreline. Sounds of laughter, clapping, and shouting floated over the water.

“Hold on tightly!” said the masked person in the front of the gondola. “The tide is high tonight!” As their gondola joined the fleet of boats heading toward Carnival, the wind picked up. The waves grew taller.

Jack and Annie held on to the sides of the boat. Jack heard a faint rumble of faraway thunder. He saw a zigzag flash of lightning in the distant sky.
Is a storm coming?
he wondered nervously.
Is the storm part of the disaster that’s going to happen to the Grand Lady of the Lagoon?

“This is going to be fun, isn’t it?” said Annie cheerfully.

“Sure,” said Jack. He tried to shake off his worries as the wind and tide helped push the gondola toward the twinkling candles of Carnival.

T
he gondola glided toward a landing at the edge of the canal. As the gondolier tied up the boat, water was sloshing from the canal onto a wide walkway filled with Carnival-goers.

The gondolier reached a gloved hand toward Annie and helped her out of the boat. He then held out a hand to Jack. When Jack grabbed it, he was surprised that the gondolier’s hand felt small under the white glove, like a kid’s hand.

As soon as Jack had stepped out of the boat, the gondolier untied the rope, pushed off from
the landing, and began rowing away.

“Bye! Thanks!” called Annie.

The two strangers in the white bird masks waved.

Jack and Annie watched the gondola disappear over the choppy waters. Then they looked back at the shore. The Carnival crowd was parading up and down the wide walkway along the canal.

“Hey look,” said Annie. “There’s a bunch of people dressed like us! And like the two people in our gondola!”

Jack saw lots of black cloaks, bird masks, funny hats, and ruffled collars. He also saw people dressed as chickens, pirates, and knights. None of the costumed people seemed to mind the water spilling over the edge of the canal, soaking their boots and slippers.

As Jack and Annie stared at the crowd, a distant bell began to ring. The bell rang nine times. “I guess that means it’s nine o’clock,” said Jack.

Just then another bell began to chime. Jack counted again. This time,
ten
chimes rang out. “Ten?” said Jack, puzzled. “So what time is it? Nine o’clock or ten o’clock?”

“Don’t worry about that now,” said Annie. “I think I see the Grand Lady of the Lagoon!”

“Where?” said Jack.

Annie pointed to a tall woman at the edge of the parade. She was wearing a black mask. She wore piles of jewelry, a white wig, and a wide hoop skirt.

Jack and Annie moved toward the lady. “Excuse me,” said Annie. “Hi.”

The lady looked at Annie. “Hello,” she said in a deep man’s voice.

“Whoa,” said Jack, stepping back.

Annie laughed. “You’re a man!” she said.

“Of course,” said the man. “But for Carnival, I am a very beautiful lady, no?”

“We’re looking for someone called the Grand Lady of—” started Annie. But before she could
finish, a giant chicken grabbed the man’s hand and pulled him away into the crowd.

“Oh, brother,” said Jack, looking around. Lots of people were dressed as grand ladies! “How are we supposed to know who to visit?”

“Maybe it’s time to use one of Kathleen and Teddy’s rhymes,” said Annie.

“No, we should save our rhymes,” said Jack.

“Then let’s just skip visiting the Grand Lady of the Lagoon for now,” said Annie. “What’s the
next
thing Merlin tells us to do?”

Jack looked at Merlin’s directions and read aloud:

To find out where you need to go
,

Seek out a painter named Tiepolo.

“Good, that’s clear,” said Jack. “Let’s see if Tiepolo is in our research book.”

As the noisy crowd celebrated around them, Jack pulled out the book. He stood near a lantern and looked in the index. “He’s here!” said Jack. He turned to the right page and read:

“If the guy’s so famous, people must know where he lives,” said Annie. “Excuse me!” she called to a clown walking by. “Can you tell us where the painter Tiepolo lives?”

“Near the Church of San Felice,” the clown said.

“Thanks!” said Annie.

“But you won’t find him home now,” the clown called over his shoulder. “He’s in Milan, painting.”

“Where’s that?” shouted Jack.

“Over a day’s ride on horseback,” said the clown. Then he disappeared into the crowd.

“Hmmm …,” said Annie. “Do you think Merlin wants us to go to Milan?”

“We don’t have time,” said Jack. “I think we have to skip Tiepolo, too.”

“Yeah,” said Annie. “Hey, maybe we should just skip all this stuff and try to find the Ruler of the Seas on our own. Our letter says he’s the only one who can help us save the Grand Lady.”

“I don’t know …,” said Jack. “In his letter, Merlin tells us to be patient—”

But Annie was already calling to a pirate passing by. “Sir, do you know where we can find the Ruler of the Seas?”

“What?” shouted the pirate.

“The ruler! Do you know where he lives?” yelled Annie.

“In the palace on Saint Mark’s Square!” said the pirate.

“Where’s that?” Annie called. But the pirate had disappeared into the crowd.

“I’ll look up Saint Mark’s Square,” said Jack. He turned the pages of their book until he came to a map of Venice. “Oh, cool,” he said. Jack loved maps.

“Okay, let’s see,” Jack said. “We’re
here.”
He
pointed to the walkway along the canal on the map. “And we want to go to Saint Mark’s Square.” He pointed to another place on the map. “It’s really close.”

“Yeah, and it looks like everyone else is headed there, too,” said Annie. “Come on.”

“So, if we go this way …,” said Jack. He traced their route with his finger.

“Come on, Jack!” called Annie.

Jack looked up from the map. Annie was already walking with the crowd. Jack closed the book and hurried after her. Soon they came to a huge, open square.

“Wow,” Jack said breathlessly. Saint Mark’s Square was filled with candlelight and musicians. Acrobats balanced on tightropes. Boxers boxed in a ring. Knights fenced with swords. Clowns walked on tall stilts, raced wheelbarrows, and tried to catch live eels in their mouths. All around the square were candlelit buildings.

“Venice is beautiful,” said Annie.

“Yeah,” said Jack. He looked back at their book.
He found an illustration of Saint Mark’s Square. Jack read the descriptions of the buildings:

Jack looked up. “I can barely see the weather vane up there,” he said. “But I think it’s pointing north. So the wind must be blowing from the south.”

“What about the ruler’s palace? Where’s that?” asked Annie.

Jack read on:

“Jack, skip to the ruler’s palace!” interrupted Annie. “Please!”

“Okay, okay,” said Jack. He read about the palace:

“There’s the palace door!” said Annie.

Jack looked up from the map. Annie was heading toward a huge door with the sculpture of a man and a winged lion above it. Jack closed the book and hurried to catch up to her.

A guard was standing by the palace door. The guard wore a uniform and held a rifle. “Wait,” Jack whispered. “Is he a real guard? Or is that just a costume?”

“I’ll find out,” said Annie. She walked over to the guard. “Excuse me, sir. Is the ruler of Venice inside the palace now?”

“Begone, clown!” the guard said gruffly.

“But it’s important,” said Annie. “We need to talk to him about something.”

“I said begone!” the guard growled. “I am tired of clowns wasting my time!”

“She’s not really a clown,” said Jack, coming forward. “We’re on a mission. We—”

“Go! Both of you! Or else!” roared the guard. He held up his rifle.
He’s definitely not wearing a costume
, thought Jack.

“Okay, sorry, sorry,” said Jack. He and Annie moved away from the palace entrance.

“What a grouchy guy,” said Annie.

“He’ll never let us in,” said Jack.

“Maybe it’s time to use one of Teddy and Kathleen’s rhymes,” said Annie. “Maybe we should turn into ducks. The guard wouldn’t mind if a couple of ducks—”

“No,” said Jack. “We have to save our rhymes.”

“Well, how will we get inside?” Annie asked.

“Patience,” said Jack. “Remember—”

Before he could finish, Annie broke in, “Hey, look!”

Two clowns on stilts were dancing around the guard. One grabbed the guard’s rifle and tossed it to the other.

“Hey!” the guard yelled. “Give that back!”

“Now’s our chance!” said Annie. “Quick!” She ran to the entrance and slipped through the door.

“Oh, no—oh, man!” said Jack. While the guard chased after the two clowns on stilts, Jack rushed to the doorway of the palace and slipped inside, too.