Mary Pope Osborne - Magic Tree House 46 (7 page)

“R
eady?” said Jack.

Annie nodded. “Ready,” she said.

Jack took a sip of the potion and handed the bottle to Annie. She took a sip and put the bottle down on the ground. They looked at each other.

“Okay. Together,” said Jack. “One, two, three …”

“Turn us into Saint Bernard dogs!” they shouted into the cold wind.

Nothing happened.

Then suddenly, Jack was hurled face-first into
the snow. The world went black, and Jack felt his body shaking uncontrollably.

When the shaking stopped, Jack opened his eyes. He wasn’t dizzy. He wasn’t scared or worried or tired. He felt enormously happy. He looked down at himself. He was covered with thick red and white fur. He had four furry legs with big paws.

Something moved behind Jack. He turned and saw a fluffy tail waving. He leapt toward it. The tail moved away! Jack realized the tail was
his
! Still, it was fun to try to catch it. He turned in a circle, around and around and around.

Jack noticed fat snowflakes floating like feathers through the air. He stopped chasing his tail and bounced around clumsily, trying to eat the swirling flakes. He snapped at the air, until he heard another dog barking.

Jack understood the dog’s language right away: “JACK! JACK!”

Jack looked at the Saint Bernard running
toward him through the snow. She was a little smaller, with smoother fur and bright, lively eyes. She barked, “WOW! WOW! CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?”

Jack and Annie laughed with short bursts of loud panting. Their tongues hung out of their mouths, and their breath billowed into the cold. The world was alive with exciting sounds Jack had never heard before. The sounds weren’t loud, but they were clear and distinct.

Along with the
HEH-HEH-HEH!
of their heavy breathing, Jack heard the
swish-swish
of the wind-driven snow and the
crick-crack
of ice on the mountain slopes.

“SMELL!” barked Annie. She and Jack lifted their big black noses into the air and sniffed.

Strong scents wafted from all directions. Jack stepped forward, sniffing this way and that, his nostrils quivering. The smells changed with every step and every turn of his head. The sky had a scent. The distant chimney smoke, craggy rocks, and mountain slopes—all had different scents.

Jack smushed his nose into the newly fallen snow. The snow held a dozen different smells, all wonderful and amazing. Jack licked the snow like ice cream. It was so cold, it felt hot!

“JACK! JACK!” Annie barked again.

Jack looked up at her, his nose covered with snow.

Annie stood perfectly still, her paw up. Jack sniffed the air. The wind now carried different smells that stood out from all the others: a whiff of fish and crackers mixed with wet fur.

Amid the sounds of wind and ice, Jack heard distant barking.

“BARRY!” Jack barked. He had been so busy discovering what it was like to be a dog, he’d almost forgotten Barry!

Jack and Annie started yapping and bumping against each other. They bolted into the wind and the flying snow, scrambling over rocks and plowing through snowdrifts. Jack’s four legs were nimble and strong. The freezing cold didn’t bother him at all. He didn’t feel a bit stiff. None of his muscles ached.

Jack and Annie ran this way and that, through the fresh mountain air, following sound and scent. As Barry’s barking grew louder, they slowed down.

And then they saw him!

“BARRY!” Jack barked.

Barry stood on a small ridge above them, his tail high in the air. When he saw Jack and Annie, he looked surprised. He sniffed the air. He cocked his head to the side.

“IT’S US!” barked Annie.

Barry began yelping with glee. He leapt off the ridge, half tumbling, half running down the slope to greet them.

Barry’s giant head pushed against Jack and
Annie. His eyes shone in the snowy afternoon light. As they all nudged each other and sniffed, three tails wagged in the air. Barry yowled and whined, “YOU’RE DOGS! HOW? HOW?”

“MAGIC!” barked Annie.

Barry sneezed, “OH! OKAY!” Then he went down on his front paws and barked, “LET’S PLAY!” The three of them started play fighting. They stood on their back legs and pushed each other around. Jack nipped at Barry’s fur. Annie nibbled his ears.

Jack, Annie, and Barry bounced and barked and fell and fought, until finally they all collapsed into the snow and rolled over onto their backs, sticking their paws in the air.

Rubbing his furry back against the crunchy snow felt wonderful to Jack. He wiggled and rocked from side to side. Then he and Annie and Barry stood up and gave their wet bodies good shakes. They shook their heads, too, flinging drool and snow on each other.

But Jack didn’t mind drool a bit now. He was
completely happy to be a big, furry dog playing in a snowstorm in the mountains. Even though the wind whipped against him and it was hard to see, he felt no fear. He was warm, his body was sturdy and strong, and he could smell and hear a whole new world of scents and sounds.

Relaxed and happy, Jack decided to give Barry some advice: “LISTEN, MAN,” he barked, “IF YOU WANT TO STAY WITH THE MONKS, YOU HAVE TO GET SERIOUS AND ACT RESPONSIBLE!”

Barry turned his giant head from side to side, listening to Jack.

Jack barked: “DO NOT KNOCK PEOPLE OVER, AND WHEN THEY SAY,
SIT,
YOU SIT! SAME WITH
COME
AND
STAY.
”

Barry looked curious. “HUH!” he barked.

“DON’T CHEW THINGS LIKE BOOKS,” Jack barked. “AND DON’T CRY LIKE A PUPPY WHEN PEOPLE LEAVE YOU. YOU’RE A BIG, FUNNY DOG. BUT YOU COULD BE A
GREAT
DOG!”

Before Barry could answer, Jack felt a distant tremor, and he heard a
whumph!
He knew that sound! He sprang to his feet and lifted a paw, listening. Annie and Barry scrambled to their feet and listened, too.

Jack heard the sounds of rumbling and ice cracking and snow sliding.

Barry barked and bolted in the direction of the noises. Jack and Annie followed him down the pass. The three of them swerved around rocks and threaded their way along a narrow path. Then they stopped and whimpered and whined.

A pile of avalanche snow blocked their way. With barely a pause, Barry barreled on, his paws and powerful chest plowing through the snow, clearing a passage.

Jack and Annie plowed after Barry. Then they all stopped. A black hat was lying on top of the snow ahead of them! A knapsack with buckles lay next to it!

Barry, Jack, and Annie yelped and quivered
as they sniffed the hat and the knapsack. Jack smelled wool, metal, and leather.

“DIG! DIG!” Barry barked.

Jack, Annie, and Barry swiped at the snow with their huge paws. Bucketfuls of snow flew behind them. Whimpering and whining, they dug deeper and deeper. The more snow they cleared, the more smells Jack inhaled—hair, wool, blood.

Barry yelped. He had uncovered a face: a young man’s face with brown hair matted against white skin, with bloody scratches and bluish lips. Jack remembered being caught in the avalanche and how the dogs had saved him. He barked at Barry, telling him to lick the man’s face.

Barry swiped his warm tongue across the man’s eyes and nose and mouth. Barry snuffled and whined and kept licking. He frantically licked the man’s ears and hair.

Jack and Annie stood back, watching Barry work to save the avalanche victim. Barry’s Saint Bernard instincts had taken over. He kept licking
and licking, until the man’s eyelids fluttered open. The man blinked. Then he blinked again. He was alive! He tried to speak, but no sound came from his mouth.

Then something else seemed to grab Barry’s attention. The dog jumped up and held his nose in the air. He barked, “STAY!” to Jack and Annie. “I’LL BE BACK! DIG!” Then he scrambled down the snowy passage and disappeared.

“BARRY!” Annie barked. She started to go after him.

“HE TOLD US TO STAY!” Jack barked. “KEEP DIGGING!”

Jack and Annie dug deeper and deeper into the snow. They uncovered the rest of the man’s body—his blue, white, and red uniform with brass buttons, and his leather boots. They began licking his hands. They licked and licked until his fingers trembled. Jack and Annie barked with joy.

Suddenly Jack felt a shock pass through his body. It shot through his head, chest, back, and four legs. He and Annie were hurled away from
the man in the snow. The world went black, and Jack felt his whole body shaking wildly.

Finally Jack was still. He opened his eyes. In a daze, he saw the French soldier lying in the snow nearby. Jack wasn’t a Saint Bernard anymore. He was a person again.

Annie was a person, too. “I guess the magic hour just ended,” she said.

J
ack and Annie crawled over to the soldier lying in the snow. “Hi there,” said Annie, gently shaking him.

The young man opened his eyes. “Who are you?” he asked in a hoarse voice. “Where are the dogs?”

“The dogs are gone. We’re Jack and Annie,” said Annie. “We won’t leave you.”

“Thank you,” breathed the young soldier, and he closed his eyes again. He was trembling with cold.

Annie pulled off her monk’s robe and tucked it around the soldier. Jack did the same. Annie began rubbing one of the soldier’s shaking hands, and Jack rubbed the other.

As the snow flew around them, Jack wondered what to do. Where was Barry? How could they get the soldier up on his feet? How would they find their way back to the monastery?

“Listen,” said Annie, as if answering Jack’s questions.

Jack heard distant voices. He heard booming barks. People were coming to help! And Barry was leading the way.

The huge dog bounded down the narrow passage to the young soldier. He seemed startled when he saw Jack and Annie. He sniffed them, and then barked his booming bark.

Jack wasn’t sure what Barry was saying now. He wondered if it might be: “HOW THE HECK DID YOU CHANGE FROM DOGS BACK INTO PEOPLE?”

“Magic,” Jack said.

Barry just panted, but Jack had the feeling he understood.

“Hello!” Brother Michael was hurrying up the narrow passage. Behind him were the two French soldiers who had stopped earlier at the monastery. The soldiers dropped to their knees and helped lift the avalanche victim to his feet. They wrapped Jack’s and Annie’s robes tightly around him.

“Did Barry find you?” Jack asked Brother Michael.

“Yes. We had just met these soldiers on the pass when Barry came running up to us,” said the monk. “How did he get out of the monastery?”

“He escaped when we weren’t looking,” said Jack. “When we found him, he led us to the buried soldier.”

“Amazing!” said Brother Michael.

Barry wagged his tail. It didn’t seem to worry him any longer that Jack and Annie had turned back into people.
Dogs accept whatever comes along,
Jack thought.

“We must help this young man to the monastery,” said Brother Michael. The two soldiers lifted the rescued man to his feet and helped him walk. “Barry, lead us home!”

Barry took the lead with Jack and Annie. The three soldiers and Brother Michael followed.

“I loved being a dog,” Jack whispered to Annie. “I loved all of it. Didn’t you? Didn’t you love it?”