"Go, go!" said Jack.
Jack and Annie ran through the Great Rosa Room,through the next three rooms, and into the room offthe back terrace. Then they turned and hurried to thehuge party room, where the thousand candles hadnearly burned out. They ran to the door that led outto the front entrance.
"We have to leave. Good night!" Annie said to theguard. "Thanks for everything!"The guard opened the door, and they ran outside.
98"Keep going!" said Jack.
They hurried down the sweeping, curved stairwaythat led to the giant square.
A line of coaches was parked below, waiting to pickup guests. Jack and Annie saw Josef standing by hiscoach. The moonlight shone on his two milk whitehorses.
"Josef!" shouted Annie.
Jack and Annie ran over to the coachman.
"Ah, my young friends!" he said. "How was yourevening?""Great," said Annie. "But we have to go home now.
Do you have time to take us back to the gate?""Indeed, it is early," said Josef. "I can take you nowand then return for my employer and his family."Josef gave Annie his hand and helped her into thecoach. Then he helped Jack. Josef climbed up onto hisbench and snapped the reins, and the two horsesclomped over the cobblestones.
99"So tell me now, young lady," said Josef, "did youhave a good time at the party? What did you see andwhat did you do?""I had a great time!" said Annie. "I was received byHer Imperial Majesty. I saw a room lit with athousand candles. I made good friends, met some zooanimals, heard a great concert, and saw a silly clown.""Excellent," said Josef. "And you, young man?""I did all those things, too," said Jack. "But theclown was the best part. He knew how to make greatuse of his wits and his talents."Annie laughed. Josef drove the coach through thepalace gate and stopped on the cobblestone street.
"Where do you need to go?" he asked.
"Oh, this is perfect," said Annie. "We can get outright here. Thank you."Jack and Annie climbed out of the coach and lookedup at Josef.
"Thank you, Josef!" said Annie.
"Yeah, thanks a lot for the ride," said Jack.
100"You two are very mysterious," said Josef. "Youappeared out of the twilight and now you disappearinto the moonlight.""We're magicians," said Annie.
"It would seem so," said Josef, smiling. He tippedhis hat. "Well, I had better return now. Good night,my young friends.""Good night, Josef," said Jack and Annie.
Josef flicked the reins, and the milk white horsesclomped back toward the palace gates.
"Nice guy," said Jack. "Let's go."Jack and Annie ran to the trees that lined thecobblestone street. "There!" said Annie. She grabbedthe rope ladder.
Annie started up to the tree house. Jack followedher. When they got inside, they looked out thewindow at the full moon shining over Vienna,Austria.
"Good-bye, Wolfie," said Annie.
"Good luck, kid," said Jack.
Then Jack picked up the envelope from their101invitation. He pointed at the words Frog Creek. "Iwish we could go there!" he said.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
Jack opened his eyes. "Ahhh," he sighed with relief.
They were back in the Frog Creek woods. They werewearing their own clothes again. Jack was holdingthe magic flute.
"Ready?" asked Annie.
"Totally," said Jack.
Jack carefully laid the flute in a corner of the treehouse. Then he and Annie climbed down the ropeladder and started for home.
Jack was in such a good mood, he nearly bouncedthrough the woods. The sun was going down,dappling the ground with lovely light. The air wassoft and smelled like new leaves. Jack knew a gooddinner was waiting for them at home.
102When Jack and Annie came out of the woods, theytook off running down the street. They crossed theiryard, scrambled onto the porch, and banged throughthe front door.
"We're back!" Annie called.
"Just in time," their dad said from the kitchen.
"Dinner's in a few minutes.""Quick, before we eat...," Jack said to Annie. He ledher over to the computer. He sat down and typed inone word: Mozart.
There were 48,400,207 entries.
"Whoa!" said Jack. He clicked the first one. He readaloud:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the most famouschild musician in history; He performed all overEurope for many years. As Mozart grew up, hecomposed more than six hundred pieces of music. Forover two hundred years, his music has brought joy tothe world.
"Yes!"said Annie.
103As Jack scrolled down, three words leapt out athim. He gasped. "Listen to this!" he said. And then heread to Annie:
Mozart's last great opera was called The MagicFlute.
Annie smiled at Jack. "Wolfie kept his promise," shesaid. "He never forgot us." |