Ghost Town at Sundown (2 page)

They hurried down their street and into
the Frog Creek woods. The sun was setting above the trees.

“There he is!” said Annie.

The rabbit was standing in a ray of sunlight. When he saw them, he took off.

Jack and Annie followed the rabbit until he vanished behind the tallest tree.

“I told you! See?” said Annie, panting. She pointed up at the tree.

Morgan le Fay was waving to them from the magic tree house high in the branches.

Jack and Annie waved back to her. As always, Jack was very happy to see the enchantress librarian again.

“Come on up!” she called.

Annie and Jack started up the rope ladder. They climbed up to the tree house.

“We followed a strange rabbit here,” said
Annie. “Is he your friend?”

“Perhaps,” said Morgan. She smiled mysteriously. “I have many odd friends.”

“Including us,” said Annie.

Morgan laughed. “That's right.”

“How are you?” said Jack.

“I'm still having problems with Merlin,” said the enchantress, “which leaves me little time to do my real work. But soon you both will become Master Librarians, and that will be a big help to me.”

Jack smiled. He was going to be a Master Librarian who traveled through time and space. It was almost too good to believe.

“Are you ready to solve another riddle?” asked Morgan.

“Yes!” said Jack and Annie together.

“Good,” said Morgan. “First, you'll need
this for research … ”

She pulled a book from her robe and handed it to Jack. It was the book that would help them on their journey.

The title of the book was
Days of the Wild West
. On the cover was a picture of a western town on a prairie.

“Oh, wow,” said Annie. “The Wild West!”

Jack took a deep breath.
Just how wild
? he wondered.

Morgan reached into the folds of her robe again and pulled out a scroll. She handed it to Annie.

“Read this when the tree house lands,” she said.

“Is it the riddle?” asked Jack.

“Yes,” said Morgan. “Then you'll only have two more to solve. Are you ready to go?”

Jack and Annie nodded. Annie pointed to the picture on the cover of the Wild West book.

“I wish we could go there,” she said.

The wind started to blow.

“Good-bye!” said Morgan. “Good luck!”

The tree house started to spin.

Jack squeezed his eyes shut.

The tree house spun faster and faster.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still.

Jack opened his eyes.

Morgan le Fay was gone.

A fly buzzed around his head.

The air was hot and dry.

Jack and Annie peeked outside.

The tree house had landed in a lone tree on a prairie. The sun was low in the sky.

Right in front of them was the town from the cover of the book. In real life it looked empty and spooky.

To one side of the town was a patch of ground with several tombstones.

“That's creepy,” said Annie.

“Yeah,” said Jack. He took a deep breath. “What's our riddle say?”

Annie held up the ancient scroll. She unrolled it. Then she and Jack read together:

Jack pushed his glasses into place and read the riddle again to himself.

“There must be a mistake,” he said. “ ‘Am I?' is written twice.”

“Well, I don't hear any voices now,” Annie said as she looked out the window.

There were no human sounds at all—only the buzzing of flies and the whistling of the dry wind.

“Let's look at the book,” Jack said.

He opened the book. The pages were yellow with age. He found a picture of the town and read the words beneath it out loud:

“Wow, a
ghost
town,” said Annie, her eyes wide.

“Let's take a quick look around,” said Jack. “So we can leave before dark.”

“Right,” said Annie. “Let's hurry.” She started down the rope ladder.

Jack put the old book into his pack. Then he followed Annie down the ladder.

They stood by the tree and looked about. Tumbleweeds blew across the dry ground.

Suddenly something jumped past them.

“Yikes!” they both said.

But it was just a rabbit—a lone, long-legged rabbit hopping past them.

“Hey, he's just like that rabbit we saw at home,” said Jack.

“Yeah, that rabbit must have been a sign of things to come,” said Annie.

The rabbit hopped across the prairie and out of sight.

“I'd better take notes,” said Jack.

He reached into his backpack and took out his notebook and pencil.

He wrote:

“What's that sound?” said Annie.

“What sound?” asked Jack.

“That rattling sound!” said Annie.

Jack looked up. “
What
?” he said.

“There!” Annie pointed to a rattlesnake. It
was about a hundred feet away. It was coiled up and rattling.

Jack took one look at the snake and ran. Annie ran, too. They ran past the graveyard and right into the ghost town.

“I guess that's why this town is called Rattlesnake Flats,” said Annie when they stopped.

Jack looked around. The town was hardly big enough to call a town. There was one unpaved street and a few old buildings.

It was quiet, too quiet.

“Look, a store,” said Annie.

She pointed to a building. The faded sign said
GENERAL STORE
. “Let's look inside. Maybe the answer to the riddle is in there.”

Jack and Annie stepped onto the porch. The wooden boards creaked loudly. The door
had fallen off its hinges. They peeked inside.

The air was thick with dust. Spider webs hung from the ceiling.

“Maybe we shouldn't go in,” said Jack.

“But what if the answer's here?” said Annie. “Let's just take a quick look.”

Jack took a deep breath. “Okay.”

He and Annie tiptoed into the store.

“Look,” said Annie. She picked up a pair of rusty spurs.

“Careful,” said Jack. He poked at other stuff in the store—an old feed sack, a rusted tin cup, a faded calendar dated 1878.

“Oh, wow,” said Annie. She held up two cowboy hats. She put one on and handed the other one to Jack. “For you.”

“It's too dusty,” said Jack.

“Just blow on it,” said Annie.

Jack blew on his hat. A cloud of dust rose up. Jack sneezed.

“Just try it on!” said Annie.

Jack put the hat on. It nearly covered his eyes.

“Boots!” said Annie. She pointed to a row of cowboy boots on a shelf. “There are even some small ones, like our sizes. Here's a pair for you.” She handed the boots to Jack.

“They're not ours,” he said.

“I know, but just try them on,” said Annie.

Jack turned his boots upside down and shook them as hard as he could.

“
What
are you doing?” Annie asked, pulling on another pair of boots.

“Checking for scorpions,” Jack said.

“Ja-ack.” Annie laughed. “Try them on!”

Jack sighed. He pulled off his sneakers. He
pushed his feet into the boots. He pushed and pushed. The boots were really stiff. Finally he got his feet inside. Then he tried to walk.

“Owww!” he said. “Forget it.” He started to pull off the boots.

“What's that?” Annie said.

Jack froze.

“Piano music,” said Annie. “Maybe it's the voice in the riddle! Come on!”

Jack threw his sneakers into his backpack and hobbled after Annie.

Outside, the sad tune played on.

“It's coming from there,” said Annie.

She crept toward a building that had a sign with the word
HOTEL
on it. Jack limped after her.

Annie slowly pushed open a swinging door. They peeked inside.

The fading daylight lit a piano in the corner of the room. The keys were moving up and down. But no one was there!