Abe Lincoln at Last!: A Merlin Mission (2 page)

Now Jack and Annie are waiting to find out what they must search for next.…

CHAPTER ONE
The Third Thing

A
nnie peeked into Jack’s room.

“Ready?” she whispered.

“Yep,” said Jack.

Even though it was two hours before school started, Jack and Annie were already dressed. Jack put his notebook and pencil into his backpack. Then he picked up the pack and his sneakers and followed Annie into the hall. In their sock feet, Jack and Annie tiptoed past their parents’ bedroom. Then they slipped down the stairs.

When they reached the front hall, Jack and
Annie put on their jackets and shoes and stepped outside. The early-morning sky was gray. Everything was quiet, except for the sound of a gentle spring rain.

“Should we get our raincoats?” Jack asked.

“It’s clearing up,” said Annie. She pointed to blue sky in the distance.

“Oh, good,” said Jack. “Let’s hurry.”

Jack and Annie stepped off their porch. Then they ran up the sidewalk and crossed the street. By the time they started into the Frog Creek woods, the rain had stopped. Misty rays of sunlight slanted down through the wet trees.

Jack and Annie kept going until they came to the tallest oak. The leaves at the top of the tree sparkled with raindrops, and the magic tree house was lit by the morning sun.

“It’s waiting for us,” said Jack.

“I knew it would be,” said Annie. She grabbed the rope ladder and started up.

Jack climbed after her. Inside the tree house,
they looked around for the two special things they had found on their last missions.

“Great, they’re still here,” said Jack, pointing to a green jewel and a white and yellow flower in the corner.

“And it looks like Teddy and Kathleen sent some stuff for us,” said Annie.

Lying in the shadows was a book. Next to it were a small folded note and a tiny blue bottle. Jack picked up the book. Its cover showed an old black-and-white photograph of a building. It looked like the White House in Washington, D.C.

Jack gasped. “Oh, man! Abraham Lincoln!”

“Wow,” said Annie, looking at the book’s cover. “He was a great president.”

“No kidding,” said Jack. “Do you think we’re actually going to meet him?” He opened the book to the first page and read aloud:

“I can’t believe it,” Jack said, closing the book. “Abraham Lincoln! Do you think
he’s
supposed to help us find the third thing to break the spell that turned Penny into a statue?”

“Maybe,” said Annie. “Let’s see what else Teddy and Kathleen left for us.…” She picked up the tiny bottle and the note. She unfolded the note and read aloud:

“That sounds like a riddle,” said Jack.

“I’ll bet Abraham Lincoln is the hero,” said Annie. “And”—she looked at the note again—“we have to get a feather from him. Then we’ll use the feather to give him hope.”

“Confusing,” said Jack.

“A lot of our missions sound confusing at first, don’t you think?” said Annie. “But in the end, they all make sense.”

“Yeah, I guess,” said Jack. “But that doesn’t help us right now. There must be a magic potion in the bottle. What does the label say?”

Annie held up the small blue bottle and read the tiny writing on its label aloud:

“That sounds kind of general,” said Jack. “Wish for one thing to help us on our mission? That could be
anything
.”

“And remember to trust the magic,” said Annie. She shrugged.

“Okay … we’ll try to do that,” said Jack. He took the bottle and the note from Annie and put them into his backpack.

“We’ve got everything we need,” said Annie. “A mission, a research book, and a little bit of magic. Ready to go?”

“Yep,” said Jack. He pointed to the picture of the White House on the cover of their book and said, “I wish we could go there!”

The wind started to blow.

The tree house started to spin.

It spun faster and faster.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still.

CHAPTER TWO
Pirate Captain

J
ack shivered. The air was chilly, but the sun was bright. Bare branches outside the tree house swayed in the wind. Annie was wearing a long dress with an apron. Jack wore a cotton shirt over a red undershirt and a pair of trousers with suspenders. His backpack had turned into a leather bag.

Jack looked into the bag. Inside were his notebook and pencil, the message from Teddy and Kathleen, and the bottle with the magic potion. “Good,” he said, “it’s all here.”

“We’ve worn clothes like these before,” said Annie.

“Yeah, when we ran from that twister on the prairie,” said Jack.

“And when we helped Clara Barton in the Civil War,” said Annie.

“Right,” said Jack. “So, did we land at the White House?”

They looked out the window. The tree house had landed in a grove of bare, sunlit trees. Beyond the trees, horse-drawn carriages rumbled over a circular carriageway toward a stately white mansion with tall columns.

“Oh, man,” whispered Jack.

The White House was breathtaking in the morning air, bathed in sunlight. A crowd was gathered outside the front entrance: men in long black coats and tall hats, and women in hoopskirts and bonnets with big bows.

“Looks like lots of people are visiting Abraham Lincoln today,” said Annie.

Jack thumbed through their research book until he found another black-and-white photograph of the White House. He read aloud:

“So
anyone
can just walk right into the White House and look for the president?” said Annie.

“That’s crazy,” said Jack.

“But it’s good for us!” said Annie.

“I guess,” said Jack, “but I don’t want to be one of those people who make it hard for the president to work.”

“Don’t forget,” said Annie, “we’re supposed to give him hope.”

“With a feather that
he’s
supposed to give
us
,” said Jack. He shook his head, then took out their note from Teddy and Kathleen.

“How can we get a feather from him?” said Jack. “And how can it give him hope?”

“It’s better to do just one thing at a time,” said Annie. “First we have to find the president.”

“Hey, Willie! Look!” someone shouted from below. “It’s a tree house! See? See?”

“Oh, no!” whispered Jack.

Jack and Annie peeked out the window. A boy about seven or eight years old was looking up at the tree house. The boy wore baggy gray trousers with suspenders and a white shirt. He had dark, piercing eyes.

“Hello!” the boy shouted when he saw Jack and Annie. “Who are you? Why are you in our tree house?”

“
Your
tree house?” said Jack. “It’s not your tree house!”

“Yes, it is!” the boy said confidently.

“Tad, hush!” An older boy ran to join the younger one. He had a friendly, open smile and looked to be around Jack’s age. “Don’t mind my brother Tad!” he shouted.

“But it’s
ours
, Willie!” said Tad. “The White House is our house! And the tree house is in
our
yard!”

Oh, man
, thought Jack. That was what the book said, too: the White House was considered to belong to all the citizens of the country, as well as to the president.

“I’m sorry, but this tree house is not like the White House,” Jack called. “It doesn’t belong to the citizens of the country. It’s ours!”

“No, it’s not!” yelled Tad. “I’m coming up!”

“No, you’re not!” Jack yelled back. He reached for the rope ladder to pull it up. But Tad had already started climbing.

“Hide our stuff!” Jack said to Annie.

Jack quickly pushed the Lincoln book into his leather bag. Annie stuck their note and the tiny bottle into her apron pocket.

“Tad, come back!” called Willie. “Leave them alone!”

Tad scrambled into the tree house. He grinned at Jack and Annie, his dark eyes gleaming. “I’m a
pirate captain, and I’m taking over your ship!” Tad shook his small fists in Jack’s face. “Fight me!” he shouted.