Midnight on the Moon (2 page)

Soon they left their street. Annie led the way into the Frog Creek woods. It was much darker under the shadows of the trees.

Jack looked up, searching for the tree house.

“There!” said Annie.

The magic tree house was shining in the moonlight.

Annie grabbed the rope ladder and started climbing up.

“Careful—go slowly,” said Jack.

He followed her up the ladder and into the tree house.

Moonlight streamed through the window.

It shone on the letter M that shimmered on the wooden floor.

It shone on the three M things that rested on the M: a
moonstone
from the time of the ninjas, a
mango
from the Amazon rain forest, and a
mammoth bone
from the Ice Age.

“We need just one more M thing,” said Annie, “to free Morgan from her spell.”

Squeak
.

“Peanut!” said Annie.

In the dim light, Jack saw a tiny mouse. She sat on an open book.

“You didn't expect to see us this late, did you?” said Annie.

She picked up Peanut. And Jack picked up the open book.

“So where are we going this time?” Annie asked him.

Jack held the book up to the moonlight.

“Uh-oh,” he said. “I knew we should have brought a flashlight. I can't read a thing.”

He could make out diagrams and shadowy pictures. But he couldn't read a word.

“Look at the cover,” said Annie.

The letters were bigger on the cover. Jack squinted at them.

“It's called
Hello, Moon
,” he said.

Annie gasped. “We're going to the moon?”

“Of course not,” said Jack. “It's impossible to go to the moon without tons of equipment.”

“Why?”

“There's no air. We couldn't breathe. Not only that, we'd boil to death if it was day and freeze to death if it was night.”

“Yikes,” said Annie. “So where do you think we are going?”

“Maybe a place where people train to be astronauts,” said Jack.

“That sounds neat,” said Annie.

“Yeah,” said Jack. He'd always wanted to meet astronauts and space scientists.

“So say the wish,” said Annie.

Jack opened the book again. He pointed to a picture of a dome-shaped structure.

“I wish we could go there,” he said.

The wind started to blow.

The tree house started to spin.

It spun faster and faster and faster.

Then everything was silent.

Absolutely
silent. As quiet and still as silence could be.

Jack opened his eyes.

He looked out the window. The tree house had landed inside a large white room.

“What kind of training place is this?” asked Annie.

“I don't know,” said Jack.

The room was round. It had no windows. It had white floors and a curved wall lit by bright lights.

“Hello!” Annie called.

There was no answer.

Where were all the astronauts and space scientists? Jack wondered.

“There's nobody here,” said Annie.

“How do you know?” said Jack.

“I just feel it,” said Annie.

“We'd better find out where we are,” said Jack.

He looked at the page in the moon book. He read the words below the picture of the dome.

“Oh, man—” Jack whispered.

“What's wrong?” said Annie.

Jack's heart pounded with excitement. He could hardly speak. “We've landed inside a moon base,” he said.

“So … ?” said Annie.

“So the moon base is on the moon!” said Jack.

Annie's eyes widened. “We're
on
the moon?” she asked.

Jack nodded. “The book says the moon base was built in the year 2031,” he said. “So this book was written
after
that! Which means this book is from the
future!
”

“Oh, wow,” said Annie. “Morgan must have gone forward in time to borrow it from a future library.”

“Right,” said Jack. “And now we're in the future, on the moon.”

Squeak, squeak!

Annie and Jack looked at Peanut. The mouse was running around in circles.

“Poor Peanut,” said Annie.

She tried to pick the mouse up. But Peanut hid behind the mango on the letter M.

“Maybe she's nervous about being on the moon,” said Annie.

“She's not the only one,” said Jack. He let out a deep breath, then he pushed his glasses into place.

“So what's a moon base?” asked Annie.

Jack looked at the book. He read aloud:

“A space motel!” said Annie.

“I guess,” said Jack. He read more:

“So that's why we can breathe,” Jack said.

“Let's explore,” said Annie. “We have to find the fourth thing for Morgan.”

“No, first we should study this map,” said Jack. He pulled out his notebook.

“
You
study it,” said Annie.

Jack copied the map. Then he drew in the tree house.

“Okay,” he said. He pointed at the X in his drawing. “We're
here
.”

Jack looked up. Annie was gone.

“Oh, brother,” Jack said. As usual, she had left without him. Before they could even make a plan.

Jack put the moon book and pencil into his pack. Carrying his notebook and backpack, he started out the window.

Squeak! Squeak!

Jack looked back at Peanut. The mouse was running back and forth on the M.

“Stay here and be safe,” said Jack. “We'll be back soon.”

Jack swung himself over the window sill. His feet touched the floor of the landing chamber.

“Annie!” he called.

There was no answer.

Jack looked at his diagram.

It showed only one way to go. Jack walked along the curved white wall to the stairs.

He climbed the steps to a hallway.

“Jack—hurry!” Annie was at the end of the hallway, standing in the airlock. She peered out a window in a giant door.

Jack hurried toward her. Annie stepped aside so he could look out the window, too.

“Oh, man,” said Jack. What he saw took his breath away.

He stared at a rocky gray land. The land was filled with giant craters and tall mountains. The sun was shining. But the sky was ink-black!

“Say hi to the moon,” Annie said softly.

“The fourth M thing must be out there,” said Annie.

Beside the door was a button with the word
OPEN
on it. Annie reached for the button.

“Wait!” Jack grabbed her hand. “There's no air on the moon. Remember?”

“Oh. Right. But we have to go out to find the M thing.”

“Let's see what the book says,” said Jack.

He pulled the book out of his pack. He flipped through it until he found a page that showed the surface of the moon. He read aloud:

Jack looked at Annie. “I told you our blood would boil if we went out there,” he said.

“Yuck,” she said.

Jack read from the book again:

“Where do we get spacesuits?” asked Annie. She looked around then trotted back down the hall. “Maybe there … ?”

Jack was studying his map. “Let's try the spacesuit storeroom.”

“Don't look at the map,” said Annie. “Look at the
real
room!”

Jack glanced up. Annie was peering through a doorway off the hall.

“There's a ton of space stuff in here!” she said.

Jack went to look.

Bulky white suits hung from hangers. Air tanks, helmets, gloves, and boots sat in neat rows on shelves.

“Wow, it's like the armor room in a castle,” said Jack.

“Yeah, with huge armor,” said Annie.

“Let's pick out the smallest stuff,” said Jack. “The suits can go over our clothes.”

Annie found the smallest white suit. And Jack found the next smallest. They stepped into them.

Then Annie locked Jack's air tank into place.

“Thanks,” he said. And he did the same for her.

“Thanks,” she said.

“Gloves?” said Jack. He and Annie pulled on white gloves.

“Boots?” said Annie. They each pulled on a pair of huge white boots.

“Helmets?” said Jack. He reached for a helmet.

“Wow, they're pretty light,” he said. “I thought they'd be like knights' helmets.”