“Mom won’t believe it,” said Jack.
“She’ll say it was pretend.”
“My teacher won’t believe it,” said Jack.
“She’ll say you’re nuts,” said Annie.
“We better not tell anyone,” said Jack.
“I already said that,” said Annie.
Jack sighed. “I think I’m starting to not believe it myself,” he said.
They left the woods and started up the road toward their house.
As they walked past all the houses on their street, the trip to dinosaur time did seem more and more like a dream.
Only this world and this time seemed real.
Jack reached into his pocket. He clasped the gold medallion.
He felt the engraving of the letter M. It made Jack’s fingers tingle.
Jack laughed. Suddenly he felt very happy.
He couldn’t explain what had happened today. But he knew for sure that their trip in the magic tree house had been real.
Absolutely real.
“Tomorrow,” Jack said softly, “we’ll go back to the woods.”
“Of course,” said Annie.
“And we’ll climb up to the tree house,” said Jack.
“Of course,” said Annie.
“And we’ll see what happens next,” said Jack.
“Of course,” said Annie. “Race you!”
And they took off together, running for home.
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Magic Tree House #2
The Knight at Dawn
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Excerpt copyright © 1993 by Mary Pope Osborne.
Published by Random House Children's Books,
a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Jack couldn’t sleep.
He put his glasses on. He looked at the clock. 5:30.
Too early to get up.
Yesterday so many strange things had happened. Now he was trying to figure them out.
He turned on the light. He picked up his notebook. He looked at the list he’d made before going to bed.
Jack pushed his glasses into place. Who was going to believe any of this?
Not his mom. Or his dad. Or his third-grade teacher, Ms. Watkins. Only his seven-year-old sister, Annie. She’d gone with him to the time of the dinosaurs.
“Can’t you sleep?”
It was Annie, standing in his doorway.
“Nope,” said Jack.
“Me neither,” said Annie. “What are you doing?”
She walked over to Jack and looked at his notebook. She read the list.
“Aren’t you going to write about the gold medal?” she asked.
“You mean the gold medallion,” said Jack.
He picked up his pencil and wrote:
“Aren’t you going to put the letter M on the medal?” said Annie.
“Medallion,” said Jack. “Not medal.”
He added an M:
“Aren’t you going to write about the magic person?” said Annie.
“We don’t know for sure if there is a magic person,” said Jack.
“Well, someone built the tree house in the woods. Someone put the books in it. Someone lost a gold medal in dinosaur time.”
“Medallion!” said Jack for the third time. “And I’m just writing the facts. The stuff we know for sure.”
“Let’s go back to the tree house right now,” said Annie. “And find out if the magic person is a fact.”
“Are you nuts?” said Jack. “The sun’s not even up yet.”
“Come on,” said Annie. “Maybe we can catch them sleeping.”
“I don’t think we should,” said Jack. He was worried. What if the “magic person” was mean? What if he or she didn’t want kids to know about the tree house?
“Well, I’m going,” said Annie.
Jack looked out his window at the dark-gray sky. It was almost dawn.
He sighed. “Okay. Let’s get dressed. I’ll meet you at the back door. Be quiet.”
“Yay!” whispered Annie. She tiptoed away as quietly as a mouse.
Jack put on jeans, a warm sweatshirt, and sneakers. He tossed his notebook and pencil in his backpack.
He crept downstairs.
Annie was waiting by the back door. She shined a flashlight in Jack’s face. “Ta-da! A magic wand!” she said.
“Shhh! Don’t wake up Mom and Dad,” whispered Jack. “And turn that flashlight off. We don’t want anyone to see us.”
Annie nodded and turned it off. Then she clipped it onto her belt.
They slipped out the door into the cool early-morning air. Crickets were chirping. The dog next door barked.
“Quiet, Henry!” whispered Annie.
Henry stopped barking. Animals always seemed to do what Annie said.
“Let’s run!” said Jack.
They dashed across the dark, wet lawn and didn’t stop until they reached the woods.
“We need the flashlight now,” said Jack.
Annie took it off her belt and switched it on.
Step by step, she and Jack walked between the trees. Jack held his breath. The dark woods were scary.
“Gotcha!” said Annie, shining the flashlight in Jack’s face.
Jack jumped back. Then he frowned.
“Cut it out!” he said.
“I scared you,” said Annie.
Jack glared at her.
“Stop pretending!” he whispered. “This is serious.”
“Okay, okay.”
Annie shined her flashlight over the tops of the trees.
“Now what are you doing?” said Jack.
“Looking for the tree house!”
The light stopped moving.
There it was. The mysterious tree house. At the top of the tallest tree in the woods.
Annie shined her light at the tree house, and then down the tall ladder. All the way to the ground.
“I’m going up,” she said. She gripped the flashlight and began to climb.
“Wait!” Jack called.
What if someone was in the tree house?
“Annie! Come back!”
But she was gone. The light disappeared. Jack was alone in the dark.
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Magic Tree House® Books
#1: DINOSAURS BEFORE DARK
#2: THE KNIGHT AT DAWN
#3: MUMMIES IN THE MORNING
#4: PIRATES PAST NOON
#5: NIGHT OF THE NINJAS
#6: AFTERNOON ON THE AMAZON
#7: SUNSET OF THE SABERTOOTH
#8: MIDNIGHT ON THE MOON
#9: DOLPHINS AT DAYBREAK
#10: GHOST TOWN AT SUNDOWN
#11: LIONS AT LUNCHTIME
#12: POLAR BEARS PAST BEDTIME
#13: VACATION UNDER THE VOLCANO
#14: DAY OF THE DRAGON KING
#15: VIKING SHIPS AT SUNRISE
#16: HOUR OF THE OLYMPICS
#17: TONIGHT ON THE TITANIC
#18: BUFFALO BEFORE BREAKFAST
#19: TIGERS AT TWILIGHT
#20: DINGOES AT DINNERTIME
#21: CIVIL WAR ON SUNDAY
#22: REVOLUTIONARY WAR ON WEDNESDAY
#23: TWISTER ON TUESDAY
#24: EARTHQUAKE IN THE EARLY MORNING
#25: STAGE FRIGHT ON A SUMMER NIGHT
#26: GOOD MORNING, GORIL
LAS
#27: THANKSGIVING ON THURSDAY
#28: HIGH TIDE IN HAWAII
Merlin Missions
#29: CHRISTMAS IN CAMELOT
#30: HAUNTED CASTLE ON HALLOWS EVE
#31: SUMMER OF THE SEA SERPENT
#32: WINTER OF THE ICE WIZARD
#33: CARNIVAL AT CANDLELIGHT
#34: SEASON OF THE SANDSTORMS
#35: NIGHT OF THE NEW MAGICIANS
#36: BLIZZARD OF THE BLUE MOON
#37: DRAGON OF THE RED DAWN
#38: MONDAY WITH A MAD GENIUS
#39: DARK DAY IN THE DEEP SEA
#40: EVE OF THE EMPEROR PENGUIN
#41: MOONLIGHT ON THE MAGIC FLUTE
#42: A GOOD NIGHT FOR GHOSTS
#43: LEPRECHAUN IN LATE WINTER
#44: A GHOST TALE FOR CHRISTMAS TIME
Magic Tree House® Research Guides
DINOSAURS
KNIGHTS AND CASTLES
MUMMIES AND PYRAMIDS
PIRATES
RAIN FORESTS
SPACE
TITANIC
TWISTERS AND OTHER TERRIBLE STORMS
DOLPHINS AND SHARKS
ANCIENT GREECE AND THE OLYMPICS
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
SABERTOOTHS AND THE ICE AGE
PILGRIMS
ANCIENT ROME AND POMPEII
TSUNAMIS AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS
POLAR BEARS AND THE ARCTIC
SEA MONSTERS
PENGUINS AND ANTARCTICA
LEONARDO DA VINCI
GHOSTS
LEPRECHAUNS AND IRISH FOLKLORE
RAGS AND RICHES: KIDS IN THE TIME OF CHARLES DICKENS
More Magic Tree House®
GAMES AND PUZZLES FROM THE TREE HOUSE
Dinosaurs Before Dark Page 3