Free Night of the Ninjas by Mary Pope Osborne Page A

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 its tiny head.
    â€œHi, Peanut,” she said. “Can I call you Peanut?”
    â€œOh brother,” said Jack.
    â€œDo you know where Morgan is?” Annie asked the mouse.
    Squeak.
    â€œYou’re nuts, Annie,” said Jack. “Just because the mouse is in the tree house doesn’t mean it’s magic. It’s a plain old mouse that crawled in, that’s all.”
    Jack looked around again. He saw a piece of paper on the floor.
    â€œWhat’s that?” he said.
    â€œWhat’s what?” asked Annie.
    Jack went over and picked up the paper. There was writing on it.
    â€œOh man,” whispered Jack, after he read the words.
    â€œWhat is it?” said Annie.
    â€œA note,” said Jack. “It must be from Morgan. I think she’s in big trouble!”

Jack showed Annie the piece of paper. It said:

    â€œOh no,” said Annie. “We have to help her. But what’s a
thin
?”
    â€œMaybe she was trying to write
things
,” said Jack. “See how the
n
sort of runs off the page?”
    â€œMaybe the spell was starting to make her disappear or something,” said Annie.
    â€œRight,” said Jack. “I wonder if she left any other clues.” He glanced around the tree house.
    â€œLook!” Annie pointed at a book in the corner. “That’s the only open book,” she said.
    Jack looked around again. Annie was right. He felt a shiver go down his