Pirates Past Noon Read Online Free Page B

everything was silent.
    Absolutely silent.
    Jack opened his eyes.
    The tree house was gone.
    All gone.
    Absolutely gone.
    Annie and Jack stood a moment, staring up at the empty oak tree. Listening to the silence.
    Annie sighed. “Let’s go,” she said softly.
    Jack just nodded. He felt too sad to speak. As they started walking, he put his hands into his pockets.
    He felt something.
    Jack pulled out the gold medallion. “Look!”he said. “How did—?”
    Annie smiled. “Morgan must have put it there,” she said.
    â€œBut how?”
    â€œMagic,” said Annie. “I think it means she’ll be coming back.”
    Jack smiled. He clutched the medallion as he and Annie took off through the wet, sunny woods.
    As they walked, the sun shined through the woods. And all the wet leaves sparkled.
    Everything, in fact, was shining.
    Leaves, branches, puddles, bushes, grass, vines, wild flowers—all glittered like jewels.
    Or gleamed like gold.
    Annie had been right, thought Jack.
    Forget the treasure chest.
    They had treasure at home. A ton of it. Everywhere.

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Magic Tree House #5
Night of the Ninjas

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    Excerpt copyright © 1995 by
Published by Random House Children’s Books,
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“Let’s look again, Jack,” said Annie.
    Jack and Annie were walking home from the library. The path went right by the Frog Creek woods.
    Jack sighed. “We looked this morning,” he said. “We looked the day before. And the day before that.”
    â€œThen you don’t have to come,” said Annie. “I’ll go look by myself.”
    She took off into the woods.
    â€œAnnie, wait!” Jack called. “It’s almostdark! We have to get home!”
    But Annie had disappeared among the trees.
    Jack stared at the woods. He was starting to lose hope. Maybe he would never see Morgan again.
    Weeks had passed. And there had not been one sign of Morgan le Fay. Nor had there been one sign of her magic tree house.
    â€œJack!”
Annie called from the woods. “
It’s back!
”
    Oh, she’s just pretending as usual
, Jack thought. But his heart started to race.
    â€œHurry!” called Annie.
    â€œShe better not be kidding,” said Jack.
    He took off into the woods to find Annie.
    Night was falling fast. Crickets chirpedloudly. It was hard to see through the shadows.
    â€œAnnie!” Jack shouted.
    â€œHere!” she called.
    Jack kept walking. “Here
where
?” he called back.
    â€œHere
here
!”
    Annie’s voice came from above.
    Jack looked up.
    â€œOh man,” he breathed.
    Annie waved from the window of a tree house. It was in the tallest oak in the woods. A long rope ladder hung down from it.
    The magic tree house was back
.
    â€œCome on up!” Annie shouted.
    Jack ran to the rope ladder. He started climbing.
    He climbed and climbed and climbed.

    As he climbed, he looked out over the woods. High above the treetops it was still light.
    At last, Jack pulled himself into the tree house.
    Annie sat in the shadows. Books were scattered everywhere.
    On the floor the letter M glowed in the dim light. The M stood for Morgan le Fay.
    But there was no sign of Morgan herself.
    â€œI wonder where Morgan is,” said Jack.
    â€œMaybe she went to the library to get some more books,” said Annie.
    â€œWe were just at the library. We would have seen her,” said Jack. “Besides, the library’s closed now.”
    Squeak!
    A little mouse ran out from behind a stack of books. It ran to the M shining in the floor.
    â€œYikes,” said Annie.
    The mouse sat on the middle of the M. It looked up at Jack and Annie.
    â€œOh, it’s so cute,” Annie said.
    Jack had to admit the mouse was cute. It had brown-and-white fur and big dark eyes.
    Annie slowly reached out her hand. The mouse didn’t move. Annie patted