A Ghost Tale for Christmas Time (9 page)

“T
he weather’s getting warmer,” said Jack. He and Annie were walking home from school under a cloudless May sky. A warm breeze blew the newly green trees that lined their street.

“I love it,” said Annie. “It makes me feel like something good’s going to happen.”

“Something good already happened,” said Jack. “My teacher finally gave back my story today.”

“The one about our adventures in the tree house?” asked Annie.

“Yep. She said I have a fantastic imagination,” said Jack.

“Great!” said Annie.

“And she loved your drawings for the story, too,” said Jack. “She said you’re really talented.”

“That’s nice!” said Annie. “Maybe she loved the sparkle pens I used.”

“Yeah, the only thing she didn’t love was the type I chose,” said Jack. “She said it was hard to read because it was too fancy.”

“I really like that curly type,” said Annie.

“Me too,” said Jack. “But it’s no big deal—she still gave me an A plus.”

“Wow, cool,” said Annie.

As they reached the edge of the Frog Creek woods, a gust of wind shook the tree branches. Jack’s baseball cap blew off. He grabbed his cap from the sidewalk. The wind blew harder.

“What’s happening?” said Annie.

Suddenly two figures rushed out of the woods. Their dark cloaks flapped behind them as they hurried toward Jack and Annie.

“Teddy!” said Annie.

“Kathleen!” said Jack.

The red-haired teenage boy and the beautiful girl with dark wavy hair ran to Jack and Annie and hugged them.

“You must come with us to the tree house!” said Kathleen. “Hurry!”

“Why? What’s up?” said Jack.

“We’ll explain when we get there!” said Teddy. He and Kathleen turned and started back into the woods. As Jack and Annie raced after them, sunlight slanted through the leafy treetops.

Soon they all came to the tallest oak tree. “Up, up!” cried Teddy.

One by one, Teddy, Kathleen, Jack, and Annie scrambled up the rope ladder and climbed into the magic tree house. When they were all inside, Teddy heaved a sigh. “My friends, we desperately need your help,” he said.

“What’s wrong?” asked Annie.

“We made a terrible mistake!” said Kathleen.

“No, it was me, just me,” said Teddy. “I made the mistake.”

“What did you do?” said Jack.

“I turned Penny into a stone statue,” said Teddy.

“Penny?” said Annie. “A statue?”

“Oh, no,” said Jack. He loved the little orphan penguin that he and Annie had found on one of their adventures. Penny had helped save Merlin’s life.

“It was an accident,” said Kathleen.

“It was stupidity!” said Teddy. “We were in Morgan’s library, and I was looking at spells in her books. Morgan forbids us to try any spells on our own, but I disobeyed when I found a simple one that turns things into stone. I thought I’d just give it a quick try—I turned an apple, a goblet of water, and a writing quill all to stone!”

“Teddy was pointing at a walking stick by the doorway, reciting the words of the spell,” said Kathleen. “And just as he finished, Penny wandered in, and the spell hit
her!”

“And now she’s a stone statue,” Teddy said miserably.

“That’s terrible,” said Annie.

“Well, can’t you just ask Merlin or Morgan to use their magic to bring Penny back to life?” asked Jack.

“No, no, they must never learn anything about this! If they do, I …,” said Teddy. He shook his head and looked away.

“Merlin and Morgan are both in Avalon for the
Festival of May,” said Kathleen. “If they discover what Teddy has done, we fear Merlin will banish him from the kingdom.”

“Really?” said Annie.

“Yes, Merlin will be enraged,” said Kathleen. “Penny is the very heart of our kingdom. We all love her very much.”

“Me too,” said Jack. He thought about the penguin’s fuzzy head, the funny way she peeped, the way she loved and trusted everyone.

“The good news is that we have found a rhyme that tells us how to reverse the stone spell,” said Kathleen. She took a note from her cloak.

“The bad news is that it is written in an ancient language,” said Teddy. “We have only translated eight lines so far.”

Kathleen read from the note:

“An emerald stone shaped like a rose?” said Jack. He took the note from Kathleen and looked at it. “That’s what you have to find first?”

“Yes, only
we
must spend our time trying to translate the rest of the spell before Merlin and Morgan return,” said Kathleen, “so we need you and Annie to look for the emerald rose.”

“Got it,” said Jack.

“Where do we look?” asked Annie.

“We’ve done some research,” said Teddy, “and we think you should go back almost four hundred years before your time and visit one of the Great Moguls of India.”

“Great Moguls?” said Annie.

“They are the emperors who ruled India’s Mogul Empire,” said Teddy. “One of them had the
largest collection of precious gems in all the world.”

“And his stonecutters cut many of his jewels into the shape of leaves and flowers!” said Kathleen.

“Perfect!” said Annie.

“Our research says he often gave gifts of his precious gems to visiting ambassadors,” said Teddy. “You will have to pretend to be ambassadors.”

“And I’m afraid, Annie, that you will have to pretend to be a boy again,” said Kathleen. “In Mogul India, girls were not allowed to show their faces in public.”

“No problem, I’m getting used to it,” Annie said.

“Wait, even if Annie’s a boy, they’re probably not going to believe that we’re ambassadors,” said Jack.

Teddy and Kathleen gave each other blank looks. “I do not know why not,” said Teddy,
“though I admit we do not really know very much about ambassadors.”

“They’re people who visit other countries to represent their own country,” said Jack.

“Splendid!” said Teddy. “So that’s what you’ll do—you’ll represent Frog Creek four hundred years ago.”

“Except ambassadors are usually grown-ups,” said Jack.

“Oh. Well. I suppose you must just do the best you can,” said Kathleen.

“Perhaps this will help you,” said Teddy. “If you have knowledge, you will seem older.” He reached into his cloak and pulled out a book.

“And we thought perhaps some magic might help, too,” said Kathleen, “if you find yourselves in danger.” She reached into her cloak again and pulled out a tiny blue bottle. “A potion to make you very small.”

“Wow, great!” said Annie.

“Uh … very small?” said Jack. He remembered
how their friend Augusta had been made tiny by the fairies of Ireland. He remembered he’d been afraid it might happen to them, too. All kinds of ordinary things could seem huge and scary, he thought. “How long would we stay small?” he asked.

“It depends on how many sips you take,” said Kathleen, giving the bottle to Jack. “One sip will make you small for ten minutes, two for twenty, three for thirty, and so on.”

“Thanks,” he said. He put the bottle and the rhyme into his backpack.

“Go now,” said Teddy. “Try to find the emerald rose while we try to translate the rest of the spell.”

“We’ll do our best,” said Annie.

“Thank you,” said Kathleen. “When you need strength, just think of Penny.”

“We will,” said Jack. He took a deep breath and pointed at the cover of their research book. “I wish we could go
there!”

“See you later!” said Annie.

The wind started to blow.

The tree house started to spin.

It spun faster and faster.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still.