10 Home Before Dark

10. Home Before Dark A bird began to sing. Jack opened his eyes. He was still pointing at the picture of the Frog Creek woods. He peeked out the tree house window. Outside he saw the exact same view. “ We’re home, ” whispered Annie. The woods were lit with a golden late-afternoon light. The sun was about to set. No time had passed since they’d left “ Ja-ack! An-nie! ” a voice called from the distance. “ That’s Mom, ” said Annie, pointing.

Jack saw their mother far away. She was standing in front of their house. She looked very tiny. “ An-nie! Ja-ack! ” she called.

Annie stuck her head out the window and shouted, “ Come-ing! ” Jack still felt dazed. He just stared at Annie.

“ What happened to us?” he said. “ We took a trip in a magic tree house, ” said Annie simply. “ But it’s the same time as when we left, ” said Jack. Annie shrugged. “ And how did it take us so far away?” said Jack. “ And so long ago?” “ You just looked at a book and said you wished we could go there, ” said Annie. “ And the magic tree house took us there. ” “ But how?" said Jack. “ And who built this magic tree house? Who put all these books here?” “ A magic person, I guess, " said Annie. A magic person? “ Oh, look, ” said Jack. “ I almost forgot about this. ” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the gold medallion. “ Someone lost this back there. . . in dinosaur land. Look, there’s a letter M on it. ”

Annie’s eyes got round. “ You think M stands for magic person?” she said. “ I don’t know, ” said Jack. “ I just know someone went to that place before us. ” “ Ja-ack! An-nie! ” came the distant cry again. Annie poked her head out the window. “ Come-ing! ” she shouted. Jack put the gold medallion back in his pocket. He pulled the dinosaur book out of his pack And put it back with all the other books. Then he and Annie took one last look around the tree house. “ Good-bye, house, ” whispered Annie. Jack slung his backpack over his shoulder. He pointed at the ladder.

Annie started down, Jack followed. Seconds later they hopped onto the ground and started walking out of the woods. “ No one’s going to believe our story, ” said Jack.