Ch4-Jack of Frog Creek!

CHAPTER FOUR Jack of Frog Creek! Annie was laughing so hard that she could barely stand up. "What—what happened to you in there?" she said. "After I curtsied, I left. When I looked back in the room, you were still bowing!" "She didn't say 'rise'!" said Jack. "Yes, she did, dummy!" said Annie.

"Well, I didn't hear her!" said Jack. He turned away from Annie and started walking as fast as he could. He strode through one elegant room into another. He didn't know where he was. These rooms all look the same, he thought angrily, with stupid velvet furniture and stupid gold-trimmed walls. "Jack, wait!" Annie called. She hurried after him. Jack kept walking, desperate to get far away from the scene of his disaster. Finally he came to a door that led outside. He opened it and stepped out onto a long marble terrace overlooking the back of the palace. Bright silvery light from a full moon shone on a huge garden.

Jack stood in the chilly air, trying to calm down. He took a deep breath. He desperately wanted to run back to the tree house and go home. "Jack!" Annie slipped out to join him. "I'm sorry I called you a dummy," she said. "Are you okay?" "I didn't hear her say to rise," said Jack. "And the flute fell out of my coat and my hat came off… and my wig… and I sneezed and I slipped…. Come on, let's leave. We can go down these stairs." "No, we can't leave now," said Annie. "We have a mission from Merlin. Don't feel bad. Hardly anyone saw what you did."

"Yeah, except Her Imperial Majesty and all those imperial kids," said Jack. "They all laughed at me." "They weren't being mean," said Annie. "You were funny. Here, give me your wig." Jack handed Annie his wig, and she put it back on his head and straightened it. "Your hat," she said. Jack gave her his hat, and she placed it over his wig. "Hide the flute," said Annie. Jack stuck the silver flute back into his pocket. "I don't know what we need this flute for," he said. "There's nothing dangerous here. I don't get this whole mission."

"We'll figure it out. Let's just go back in," said Annie. She pulled Jack back inside the palace. "So what do we do now?" asked Jack. "We should find the party we were invited to," said Annie. "That must be what Merlin wanted us to do." She pointed across the room. People were streaming through a set of doors into another room. Loud party noises came from inside: the chatter of guests, tinkling china, and harp and violin music. Jack pulled back. But Annie took him by the arm. "Don't worry, I'll bet there are hundreds of people in there," she said. "We'll get lost in the crowd."

"But what about all those kids and Her Imperial Majesty?" Jack asked. "They don't care about us," said Annie. "They have too many other guests to think about. Come on." Annie led Jack through the double doors into the party room. "Whoa," breathed Jack. He and Annie stopped and stared. The party room was the size of a football field. Grand paintings covered the towering ceiling. Everything was trimmed in gold. The glossy white walls and tall mirrors reflected the glow of at least a thousand candles. Musicians played harps and violins while hundreds of guests stood around long dinner