Blizzard of the Blue Moon (3 page)

Jack quickly packed up their books. He buckled his bag and followed her. When they stepped onto the ground, Jack and Annie looked around. The skaters were gone. The two people on the hill were gone, too.

“Where’d everybody go?” said Jack.

“I don’t know. But we’ll find someone else. Come on,” said Annie.

Jack and Annie started across the wide field. The snow was falling fast and furiously. The wind blew harder.

“Look, a frozen pond,” said Annie, pointing. “That must be where the skaters were coming from.”

Wet snow stuck to Jack’s glasses. He wiped them off so he could see. No one was skating on the pond now. Whirlwinds of powdery snow swirled over the ice.

“Keep going,” said Jack.

They kept trudging through the snow.

“Hey, look! Remember that?” said Annie.

“What?” said Jack. He wiped the snow off his glasses again. He saw a merry-go-round. “Oh, yeah.” On their trip to New York with their aunt Mallory, they’d taken a ride on it. But now the riderless painted horses looked sad and lonely.

“I feel like we’re the last living creatures in Central Park,” said Jack.

“Which way do we go now?” asked Annie. “Which way did we come from?”

It was hard to see anything in the white haze of the falling snow. The buildings bordering the park and the skyscrapers in the distance had disappeared.

“Let’s see what our book says,” said Jack. He unbuckled his leather briefcase and pulled out their research book. He found a picture of Central Park and read:

“Okay, okay, got it,” said Annie. “It’s a
big
park. Is there a map that shows where we are?”

Jack tried to read from the index, but the wind and snow made it impossible. He stuffed the book back into his briefcase. “Forget it,” he said. “Let’s just try to get out of the park.”

Jack and Annie turned away from the lonely merry-go-round and walked across the snow. A gust of wind blew Jack’s cap off. As he turned around to grab it, he saw a couple walking a short distance behind them.

The two people looked like teenagers. They were walking with their heads bowed against the wind. The girl wore a dark cape with a hood. The boy wore a hat and a tan raincoat with a belt.

“Hey, look—” Jack said to Annie. But at that moment, the wind shook the trees, and big clumps of snow fell from the branches. Jack and Annie ducked and covered their heads. When the wind died down, Jack looked around for the couple.

“They’re gone now,” he said.

“Who’s
gone?” said Annie. “Who did you see?”

“Two teenagers, I think,” said Jack. “A boy and a girl. We saw them earlier from the tree house. I think they might be following us.”

“Wait a second,” said Annie. “Two teenagers? A boy and a girl? Following us? Who does that remind you of?”

A big smile crossed Jack’s face. “Teddy and Kathleen?” he said.

“Think about it,” said Annie. “On our last three missions, it seemed like Teddy and

Kathleen were always nearby, wearing disguises, ready to help us when we needed it.”

“Right,” said Jack. “We could sure use their help now.” He turned around. “Hello!” he shouted.

“Hello!” Annie yelled.

But the wind answered them with a howl. More clumps of snow blew down on Jack and Annie.

“Let’s get going,” said Annie. “They’ll find us sooner or later. They always do.”

J
ack and Annie kept walking until they came to the ice pond again. “We’ve been here before,” said Jack. “We’re going in circles. How do we get out of the park?”

“We have to try to walk in a straight line,” said Annie.

Annie and Jack struggled on. Jack kept looking back, trying to catch sight of Teddy and Kathleen again. But it was getting harder and harder to see anything. Wet snow kept sticking to his glasses. Snow had blown up the sleeves of his jacket, under his neck scarf, and into his mittens.

“Yikes!” said Annie. She grabbed Jack’s arm. “Look!”

A huge wolf-like dog stood on a ledge above them, his mouth open.

“Whoa!” said Jack.

The dog didn’t move. He stood perfectly still.

Annie laughed. “Oh, he’s a statue!” she said. She ran to a plaque under the dog statue, brushed off the snow, and shouted to Jack. “His name is Balto! In 1925, he carried medicine six hundred miles through a blizzard in Alaska!”

“That’s really great,” said Jack. “But how do we get out of the park?”

“Well, if we follow this path, it’s bound to lead somewhere,” said Annie.

Jack followed Annie up a wide path. They walked and walked, passing a snow-covered outdoor stage and a fountain with the statue of an angel. Raising her outspread wings, the angel seemed about to fly away.

“Which way now?” said Jack.

Two paths led away from the angel fountain: one to the right, one to the left. “I don’t know,” said Annie. “Pick one.”

Jack headed to the left. Annie followed. They passed a frozen lake and walked over an arched bridge. Jack kept his eyes on the ground and
walked and walked and walked. Every time he lifted his head, the snow felt like needles against his skin.

Jack tried to keep walking in a straight line, but the path they were following began twisting and turning like a maze. Different paths branched off, curving this way and that. Jack remembered information from their research book:
The park has thirty-two miles of winding footpaths.

“We have
got
to get off these paths!” he shouted to Annie. “Or we’ll be lost in Central Park forever!”

Annie didn’t answer. “Annie!” Jack shielded his face from the cutting wind and looked back. He didn’t see her.

Jack turned around and around, looking for Annie. But he couldn’t see anything—the world was completely white.

“Annie!” he cried. Had she gone off on another path? Was she lost? “Annie!”

She could wander around in the storm for

hours!
thought Jack.
She could freeze to death! I have to find her!

Jack tried to stay calm. He took a few breaths.
A rhyme
, he thought. He couldn’t remember which magic rhymes were left. He struggled to unbuckle his briefcase—his fingers felt frozen. He pulled out the book and hunched over it, trying to shelter it from the storm. He wiped his glasses off and read:
Turn into Ducks.
That wouldn’t help.
Pull a Cloud from the Sky.
That would only make things worse.
Find a Treasure You Must Never Lose.

Is Annie a treasure?
Jack wondered. He’d always thought of a “treasure” as something super valuable, like gold or silver or rare jewels. But right now Annie seemed more valuable than any of those things. She seemed like the most valuable thing in the world. Jack found the rhyme and shouted:

“Jack!”

Jack whirled around. Annie was standing right behind him. “There you are,” she said. “I was afraid you got lost.”

“
I
wasn’t lost,” said Jack.
“You
were lost.” He slipped the rhyme book back into his briefcase.

“Not me,
you,”
said Annie.

“Whatever,” said Jack. “Just stay near me now.” He took her hand and gripped it tightly. “Okay, let’s figure out what to do.”

“Wait, is that a castle over there?” said Annie.

“A
what
?” said Jack.

“A castle. Look!”

Peering through the storm, Jack saw a small castle sitting on top of a snowy hill. A light burned in a window.

“A castle in Central Park?” Jack said. “That’s weird.”

“Let’s go see if anyone’s inside,” said Annie. “Maybe they can help us. People in a castle might know about unicorns.”

“Or at least know how to get out of the park,” said Jack.

Jack and Annie struggled up the stone steps that led to the castle. At the top of the steps, Jack glanced back at the park. He could barely make out two figures in the snow: one in a dark cape and one in a raincoat.

“Them—it’s them!” said Jack.

A cloud of wind-driven snow blew over the couple. Jack kept looking, eager for another glimpse of the two young enchanters. But the snow hid everything in sight.

“They’ll find us,” said Annie. “Come on.” She pushed open the door to the castle and led the way inside.

The door slammed shut behind them. Jack and Annie stood in a dimly lit hallway.

“Hello? Who’s there?” a man called.

“Jack and Annie!” shouted Annie.

A tall, thin man came down a curving stone stairway. He wore an old-fashioned blue-striped suit. “Goodness! Two children!” he said. “What are you doing here on a day like today?”

“We got lost in the park,” said Jack. “My
name’s Jack and this is my sister, Annie.”

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Bill Perkins,” said the man. “Welcome to Belvedere Castle.”

“What
is
this place?” asked Annie.

“The castle was built in 1869,” said Mr. Perkins. “It was meant to be a delightful surprise when one wandered the park. Today it’s a delightful surprise with a nature observatory and weather instruments inside.”

“Weather instruments?” said Jack.

“Yes. I’ve come from the U.S. Weather Bureau to check them,” said Mr. Perkins. “I’m afraid right now our data is telling us that the weather’s undergoing a rapid and terrible change.”

Jack shivered in his damp clothes. “Our data is telling us the same thing,” he said.

“A storm has blown in from the Midwest, bringing wind and snow,” said Mr. Perkins. “But after nightfall, things will get worse. Another storm is coming up from the South, gathering speed on its way.”

“That sounds serious,” said Annie.

“It’s worse than serious,” Mr. Perkins said. “It’s disastrous. After dark, the two systems will meet and create a monster blizzard! It could be the worst in New York history! Even worse than the Blizzard of ’88!”