Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve

by Mary Pope Osborne

  Here’s what kids have to say to

  Mary Pope Osborne, author of

  the Magic Tree House series:

  WOW! You have an imagination like no other.—Adam W.

  I love your books. If you stop writing books, it will be like losing a best friend.—Ben M.

  I think you are the real Morgan le Fay. There is always magic in your books.—Erica Y.

  One day I was really bored and I didn’t want to read. . . . I looked in your book. I read a sentence, and it was interesting. So I read some more, until the book was done. It was so good I read more and more. Then I had read all of your books, and now I hope you write lots more.—Danai K.

  I always read [your books] over and over . . .  1 time, 2 times, 3 times, 4 times. . . . —Yuan C.

  You are my best author in the world. I love your books. I read all the time. I read everywhere. My mom is like freaking out.—Ellen C.

  I hope you make these books for all yours and mine’s life.—Riki H.

  Teachers and librarians love

  Magic Tree House® books, too!

  Thank you for opening faraway places and times to my class through your books. They have given me the chance to bring in additional books, materials, and videos to share with the class.—J. Cameron

  It excites me to see how involved [my fourth-grade reading class] is in your books. . . . I would do anything to get my students more involved, and this has done it.—C. Rutz

  I discovered your books last year. . . . WOW! Our students have gone crazy over them. I can’t order enough copies! . . . Thanks for contributing so much to children’s literature!—C. Kendziora

  I first came across your Magic Tree House series when my son brought one home. . . . I have since introduced this great series to my class. They have absolutely fallen in love with these books! . . . My students are now asking me for more independent reading time to read them. Your stories have inspired even my most struggling readers.—M. Payne

  I love how I can go beyond the [Magic Tree House] books and use them as springboards for other learning.—R. Gale

  We have enjoyed your books all year long. We check your Web site to find new information. We pull our map down to find the areas where the adventures take place. My class always chimes in at key parts of the story. It feels good to hear my students ask for a book and cheer when a new book comes out.—J. Korinek

  Our students have “Magic Tree House fever.” I can’t keep your books on the library shelf.—J. Rafferty

  Your books truly invite children into the pleasure of reading. Thanks for such terrific work.—S. Smith

  The children in the fourth grade even hide the [Magic Tree House] books in the library so that they will be able to find them when they are ready to check them out.—K. Mortensen

  My Magic Tree House books are never on the bookshelf because they are always being read by my students. Thank you for creating such a wonderful series.—K. Mahoney

  Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve is the second in a special group of Magic Tree House books called “The Merlin Missions.” In these books, it is Merlin the magician who sends Jack and Annie on their tree house adventures, often to mythical and legendary lands.

  In the first Merlin Mission, Christmas in Camelot, Jack and Annie journeyed into a world of magic and fantasy to find a secret cauldron that held the Water of Memory and Imagination.

  Now, nearly a year later, Jack and Annie are about to set out on a new Merlin Mission. They invite you to come with them to an outlying realm of Camelot where strange and eerie things are happening at a duke’s castle.

  Enjoy your journey! But beware—in the world of Merlin the magician, anything can happen….

  Text copyright © 2003 by Mary Pope Osborne.

  Illustrations copyright © 2003 by Sal Murdocca.

  www.randomhouse.com/kids

  www.randomhouse.com/magictreehouse

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Osborne, Mary Pope.

  Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve / by Mary Pope Osborne;

  illustrated by Sal Murdocca. — 1st ed.

  p. cm. — (Magic tree house; #30)

  “A Stepping Stone book.”

  eISBN: 978-0-307-53064-6

  [1. Haunted Houses—Fiction. 2. Castles—Fiction. 3. Ravens—Fiction.

  4. Halloween—Fiction. 5. Time travel—Fiction. 6. Magic—Fiction.

  7. Tree houses—Fiction.] I. Murdocca, Sal, ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.081167Hat 2003 [Fic]—dc21 2002156313

  v3.0

  For Will, the real magician

  in the heart of the oak

  Cover

  Title Page

  Dear Reader

  Copyright

  Dedication

  1 All Hallows Eve

  2 The Heart of the Oak

  3 Rok

  4 The Castle

  5 Ghosts!

  6 Merlin’s Diamond

  7 One, Two, Three!

  8 SPREE! SPREE!

  9 A Piece of a Star

  10 Where Is It?

  11 Or Else!

  12 A New Day

  13 Jack and Annie’s Magic

  A Note from the Author

  Special Preview of Magic Tree House #31: Summer of the Sea Serpent

  The hearth is cold in the lonely hall,

  No banquet decks the board;

  No page stands ready at the call,

  To ’tend his wearied lord.

  From “Earl Desmond and the Banshee”

  —Anonymous

  “Maybe I should be a vampire instead of a princess,” said Annie.

  She and Jack were sitting on their front porch. A cool breeze rustled the trees. Autumn

  leaves twirled to the ground.

  “But you already have your princess costume,” said Jack. “Besides, you were a vampire last Halloween.”

  “I know, but I want to wear my big teeth again,” said Annie.

  “So wear your big teeth and be a vampire-princess,” said Jack. He stood up. “I’m going to go put on my ghoul makeup now.”

  KRAW!

  “Oh, man!” said Jack.

  A giant black bird swooped down to the ground. The bird strutted through the fallen leaves. Its feathers glistened in the golden afternoon light.

  “Wow, is that a crow?” asked Annie.

  “It’s too big for a crow,” said Jack. “I think it might be a raven.”

  “A raven?” said Annie. “Cool.”

  The raven lifted its sleek head and stared at them with bright eyes. Jack held his breath.

  The bird hopped forward. It flapped its great black wings and lifted into the air. Then he glided into the autumn sky and headed toward the Frog Creek woods.

  Annie jumped up. “It’s a sign! Morgan’s back!” she said.

  “I think you’re right!” said Jack. “Let’s go!”

  Jack and Annie hurried across their front yard, crunching through the leaves. They ran up their street and into the Frog Creek woods.

  When they came to the tallest oak, they saw the rope ladder swaying in the wind. The magic tree house was waiting for them.

  “Just as we thought,” Annie said, smiling.

  Jack followed her up the ladder. When they climbed inside the tree house, they saw no sign of Morgan le Fay, the enchantress from the kingdom of Camelot.

  “That’s weird,” said Jack, looking around.

  The wind blew hard again, shaking the tree branches. A huge yellow leaf fluttered through the open window and came to rest at Jack’s feet.

  “Oh, man,” he said. “Look at this.”

  “What?” said
Annie.

  Jack picked up the leaf. There was writing on it. The letters were curvy and old-fashioned.

  “Wow,” whispered Annie. “What does it say?”

  Jack held the leaf up to the tree house window. In the fading light, he read aloud:

  “M!” said Annie. “Morgan never signs her messages with M. …”

  “Right …,” said Jack. “But …”

  “Merlin does!” they said together.

  “Like when he sent us the invitation to spend Christmas in Camelot,” said Annie. She pointed to the Royal Invitation that still lay in the corner of the tree house.

  “Now he’s inviting us on Halloween!” said Jack. “Halloween was called ‘All Hallows Eve’ a long time ago.”

  “I know,” said Annie. “We have to go!”

  “Of course,” said Jack. There was no way they could turn down an invitation from the master magician of all time. “But how do we get there?”

  “I’ll bet our invitation will take us,” said Annie, “like when we went to King Arthur’s castle on Christmas Eve.”

  “Good idea,” said Jack. He pointed to the fancy writing on the leaf. “I wish we could go— uh—”

  “To where this leaf invitation came from!” said Annie.

  “Right!” said Jack.

  The wind began to blow.

  The tree house started to spin.

  It spun faster and faster.

  Then everything was still.

  Absolutely still.

  Jack opened his eyes. A chilly wind blew into the tree house. Oak leaves swirled outside the window.

  “Look, we have our costumes,” said Annie. “I’m not a princess or a vampire.”

  Jack looked at their clothes. He was wearing a knee-length tunic and tights. Annie was wearing a long dress with an apron.

  “Camelot costumes,” Jack said softly.

  They looked out the window together. They were high in a huge oak tree in a thick forest.

  The afternoon sun was low in the autumn sky.

  “So what do we do now?” said Jack.

  “The invitation says we’re supposed to meet Merlin in the heart of the oak,” said Annie.

  “Yeah, but what does that mean?” said Jack, scowling. “The heart of an oak?”

  “Let’s go down and try to figure it out,” said Annie.

  She carefully placed their invitation in a corner of the tree house. Then she and Jack climbed down the rope ladder. They stepped onto the leafy ground. In the fading daylight, they began circling the base of the giant oak.

  They walked all the way around, until they came to the rope ladder again.

  “We’re back where we started,” said Jack. “We never found the heart.”

  “Wait a minute,” said Annie. “What’s that?” She pointed to a long, thin crack in the bark of the tree trunk. A sliver of light seemed to be coming from the crack.

  Jack touched the bark around the light. He pushed. The crack got bigger.

  “It’s a secret door!” said Jack. He pushed harder. Creak. A tall, narrow door swung into the tree. Light streamed from inside.

  “We found it,” whispered Annie, “the heart of the oak.”

  Jack nodded.

  “Let’s go in,” said Annie. They slipped through the narrow doorway into the bright hollow of the tree trunk.

  Jack couldn’t believe his eyes. The round room was lit with hundreds of candles. Shadows danced on the curved brown walls.

  This isn’t possible! thought Jack. The heart of the oak seemed much bigger than the tree itself!

  “Welcome,” said a deep, whispery voice.

  They turned around and saw an old man sitting in a carved wooden chair. He had a long white beard and wore a red cloak.

  “Hi, Merlin,” said Annie.

  “Hello, Annie. Hello, Jack. It is good to see you again,” the magician said. “I am grateful for the help you gave us on Christmas Eve in Camelot. Now Morgan and I believe you might be able to help us again.”

  “We’d love to!” said Annie.

  “The whole future of our kingdom depends upon your success,” said Merlin.

  “Are you sure you want us?” Jack asked. “I mean, we’re just kids.”

  “You have passed many tests for Morgan,” said Merlin. “Are you not Master Librarians and Magicians of Everyday Magic?”

  Jack nodded. “Yes, we are,” he said.

  “Good. You will need all your skills on this mission,” said Merlin. “You will also need a helper and guide from our world, the world of magic and legend.”

  “Are you coming with us?” asked Annie.

  “No,” the magician said. “Your guide shall be one much younger than I. He is in my library now. Yesterday he brought me some books I had requested from Morgan’s library.”

  Merlin rose from his chair. “Come,” he said, leading them to a door in the curved wall. He opened it and stepped into another room. Jack and Annie followed him.

  The musty room was filled with scrolls and ancient-looking books. Sitting on the floor was a boy about eleven or twelve years old. He was reading by the light of a lantern.

  “Your helper and guide,” Merlin said to Jack and Annie.

  The boy looked up. He had a friendly, freckled face and dark, twinkly eyes. He broke into a big grin.

  “Arf, arf!” he said.

  “Teddy!” cried Annie.

  Jack couldn’t believe it! Their helper was the young sorcerer who was training as Morgan’s apprentice!

  Merlin, for once, looked surprised. “You already know each other?” he asked.

  “Yes, we met a while ago when I accidentally changed myself into a dog!” said Teddy.

  “Morgan wanted to teach Teddy a lesson,” explained Annie. “So she sent him with us on four tree-house journeys before she changed him back into a boy. He saved us on the Titanic. And he saved us from a buffalo stampede!”

  “And from a tiger in India,” said Jack, “and a forest fire in Australia.”

  “Wondrous journeys, indeed,” said Merlin. “I am glad you are already friends. Your friendship may help you on this mission.”

  “What is our mission?” asked Annie.

  “We are now in one of the outlying realms of Camelot,” said Merlin. “Beyond these woods lies the castle of a duke.”

  Merlin leaned forward, as if he were about to tell them something really scary. “It will be your mission,” he said, “to bring order to the duke’s castle.”

  Merlin sat back in his chair. His gaze was calm, but a fierce light shone in his eyes.

  Bring order to a castle? thought Jack. Is that all?

  “Who messed it up, sir?” asked Annie.

  “You will find out soon enough,” said Merlin.

  “We accept our assignment gladly,” said Teddy. “The mission will be done without fail!”

  Merlin fixed his gaze on Teddy. “Perhaps,” he said. “But a warning, my boy: you are hasty and careless with your magic rhymes. On this mission, you must choose all your words wisely.”

  “Indeed I will,” said Teddy.

  Merlin turned to Jack and Annie. “And a warning to you, too,” he said. “You are about to enter a tunnel of fear. Proceed onward with courage, and you will come out into the light.”

  Tunnel of fear? Jack thought.

  Merlin picked up the lantern and handed it to Teddy. “The duke’s castle lies to the east. Go quickly,” he said. “Order must be restored as soon as possible.”

  Teddy nodded at Merlin. Then he turned to Jack and Annie. “To the duke’s castle!” he said, and he led them out of the heart of the oak.

  It was cooler outside now. Daylight was fading quickly. The wind had picked up.

  “A grand adventure for us, eh?” said Teddy.

  “Yes!” said Annie.

  Jack was excited, too, but he had lots of questions. As Teddy started off through the oak forest, Jack hurried to keep up.

  “What do you think our mission is exactly?” he asked.


  “Merlin said we should bring order to the castle,” said Annie.

  “Perhaps he wants us to mop the floors and wash the dishes,” Teddy joked.

  “And make the beds!” said Annie. She and Teddy laughed.

  “Our mission has to be harder than just doing chores,” said Jack. “What about the tunnel of fear?”

  “Oh, you need not be afraid of fear,” said Teddy. “I know magic, remember?”

  “Teddy, did you know any magic before you met Morgan and Merlin?” asked Annie.

  “Ah, indeed. My father was a sorcerer,” Teddy said. “And my mother was a wood sprite from the Otherworld.”

  “That is so cool,” said Annie.

  They crunched through piles of dead leaves. A gust of wind shook the tree branches. Golden oak leaves spun to the ground.

  Jack’s thoughts were spinning, too. Merlin in the heart of the oak, sorcerers, wood sprites— none of these things would ever make sense back in Frog Creek.

  At last Teddy led them out of the forest and into a clearing. “Halt!” he said.

  They all stopped walking. Beyond the clearing was a small village of thatched-roof cottages. The cottage windows twinkled with candlelight. Chimney smoke rose into the dusky sky.

  Teddy held up his lantern. “Onward!” he said.

  They went down a dirt path that passed through the village. Several children in ragged clothes peeked out their front doors.

  “Greetings!” called Teddy. “Can you tell us how to get to the castle of the duke?”

  “The castle?” a boy said in a frightened voice. “’Tis just beyond the wood!” He pointed at a forest on the other side of the village. “Follow the path and you’ll come to it!”

  “Oh, but you mustn’t go there!” a girl cried.

  “Why not?” asked Annie.

  “Something’s been very wrong at the castle,” said the girl. “Ever since the ravens came!”

  “Has anyone been there to see what’s going on?” asked Jack.