Lions at Lunchtime (6 page)

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Excerpt copyright ©
1998
by Mary Pope Osborne.
Published by Random House Children's Books,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

Whoo
. The strange sound came from outside the open window.

Jack opened his eyes in the dark.

The sound came again.
Whoo

Jack sat up and turned on his light. He put on his glasses. Then he grabbed the flashlight from his table and shone it out the window.

A white snowy owl was sitting on a tree branch.

“
Whoo,
” the owl said again. Its large yellow eyes looked right into Jack's.

What does he want?
Jack wondered.
Is he a sign, like the rabbit and the gazelle?

A long-legged rabbit and a gazelle had led Jack and Annie to the magic tree house for their last two adventures.

“
Whoo
.”

“Wait a second,” Jack said to the owl. “I'll get Annie.”

Jack's sister, Annie, always seemed to know what birds and animals were saying.

Jack jumped out of bed and hurried to Annie's room. She was sound asleep.

Jack shook her and she stirred.

“What?” she said.

“Come to my room,” whispered Jack. “I think Morgan's sent another sign.”

In a split second, Annie was out of bed. She hurried with Jack to his room.

Jack led her to the window. The snowy owl was still there.

“
Whoo,
” said the owl. Then he raised his white wings and took off into the night.

“He wants us to go to the woods,” said Annie.

“That's what I thought,” said Jack. “Meet you downstairs after we get dressed.”

“No, no. He says
go now
. Right now,” said Annie. “We'll have to wear our pajamas.”

“I
have
to put on my sneakers,” said Jack.

“Okay, I'll put on mine, too. Meet you downstairs,” said Annie.

Jack pulled on his sneakers. He threw his notebook into his backpack. Then he grabbed his flashlight and tiptoed downstairs.

Annie was waiting at the front door. They silently slipped outside together.

The night air was warm. Moths danced around the porch light.

“I feel weird,” said Jack. “I'm going back to put on some real clothes.”

“You can't,” said Annie. “The owl said
right now
.”

She jumped off the porch and headed across their dark yard.

Jack groaned.
How did Annie know exactly what the owl said?
he wondered.

Still, he didn't want to be left behind. So he took off after her.

The moon lit their way as they ran down their street. When they entered the Frog Creek woods, Jack turned on his flashlight.

The beam of light showed shadows and swaying branches.

Jack and Annie stepped between the trees. They stayed close together.

“
Whoo
.”

Jack jumped in fear.

“It's just the white owl,” said Annie. “He's somewhere nearby.”

“The woods are creepy,” said Jack.

“Yeah,” said Annie. “In the dark, it doesn't even feel like our woods.”

Suddenly the owl flapped near them.

“Yikes!” said Annie.

Jack shone his flashlight on the white bird as it rose into the sky. The owl landed on a tree branch—
right next to the magic tree house.

And there was Morgan le Fay, the enchantress librarian. Her long white hair gleamed in the beam of Jack's flashlight.

“Hello,” Morgan called softly in a soothing voice. “Climb up.”

Jack used his flashlight to find the rope ladder. Then he and Annie climbed up into the tree house.

Morgan was holding three scrolls. Each one held the answer to an ancient riddle that Jack and Annie had already solved.

“You have journeyed to the ocean, the Wild West, and Africa to find the answers to these three riddles,” said Morgan. “Ready for another journey?”

“Yes!” said Jack and Annie together.

Morgan pulled a fourth scroll from the folds of her robe. She handed it to Annie.

“After we solve this riddle, will we become Master Librarians?” asked Annie.

“And help you gather books through time and space?” said Jack.

“Almost … ” said Morgan.

Before Jack could ask what she meant, Morgan pulled out a book and gave it to him. “For your research,” she said.

Jack and Annie looked at the book's title:
ADVENTURE IN THE ARCTIC
.

“Oh, wow, the Arctic!” said Annie.

“The
Arctic?
” said Jack. He turned to Morgan. “Are you serious?”

“Indeed I am,” she said. “And you must hurry.”

“I wish we could go there,” said Annie, pointing at the cover.

“Wait—wait a minute—we'll freeze to death!” said Jack.

“Fear not,” said Morgan. “I am sending someone to meet you.”

The wind started to blow.

“Meet us? Who?” said Jack.

“
Whoo?
” said the snowy owl.

Before Morgan could answer, the tree house started to spin.

It spun faster and faster.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still.