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
Text copyright © 2004 by Mary Pope Osborne.
Illustrations copyright © 2004 by Sal Murdocca.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
www.randomhouse.com/kids
www.randomhouse.com/magictreehouse
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Osborne, Mary Pope.
Summer of the sea serpent / Mary Pope Osborne;
illustrated by Sal Murdocca. — 1st ed.
p. cm. — (Magic tree house; #31)
“A Stepping Stone book.”
SUMMARY: Jack and Annie travel in their magic tree house to the land of the mystical selkies to seek a magical sword for Merlin.
eISBN: 978-0-375-89453-4
[1. Time travel—Fiction. 2. Magic—Fiction. 3. Selkies—Fiction. 4. Swords—Fiction. 5. Tree houses—Fiction. 6. Brothers and sisters—Fiction.] I. Murdocca, Sal, ill. II. Title. III. Series: Osborne, Mary Pope. Magic tree house series; v 31.
PZ7.O81167Ste 2004 [Fic]—dc22 2003010248
Random House, Inc. New York, Toronto, London, Sydney, Auckland
RANDOM HOUSE and colophon are registered trademarks and A STEPPING STONE BOOK and colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc. MAGIC TREE HOUSE is a registered trademark of Mary Pope Osborne; used under license.
v3.0
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Dear Reader
1. Summer Solstice
2. The Water Knight
3. Cave of the Spider Queen
4. Web Walk
5. Barrh! Barrh!
6. The Selkie
7. Cove of the Stormy Coast
8. Cloak of the Old Gray Ghost
9. The Sword of Light
10. The Ancient Question
11. Sword and Rhyme
12. The Isle of Avalon
A Note from the Author
About the Author
Special Preview of Magic Tree House #32: Winter of the Ice Wizard
To Susan Sultan and Kathy Reynolds,
my guides to the Selkie Cove
Dear Reader,
Summer of the Sea Serpent is the third 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.
In the second Merlin Mission, Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve, they traveled to a mysterious castle. With their friend Teddy, they saved the future of Camelot by finding the stolen Diamond of Destiny.
Now, eight months later, on the first day of summer, Jack and Annie are about to go to a lonley seacoast in a fantasy land. They invite you to join them on their adventure. But beware—before night falls, incredibly strange things will happen … .
… King Arthur’s sword, Excalibur,
Wrought by the lonely Maiden of the Lake.
Nine years she wrought it, sitting in the deeps
Upon the hidden bases of the hills.
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Idylls of the King
Jack was sitting on the porch reading the newspaper. It was a warm summer day, but the porch was shady and cool.
Annie poked her head out of the screen door. “Hey, Mom says she’ll drive us to the lake this afternoon,” she said.
Jack didn’t raise his eyes from the weather page. “Did you know today is the summer solstice?” he said.
“What’s that?” asked Annie.
“It’s the official first day of summer,” said Jack. “There’s more daylight today than on any other day of the year.”
“Cool,” said Annie.
“Starting tomorrow, the days will get shorter and shorter,” said Jack.
A loud screech came from overhead.
“Look,” said Annie, “a seagull!”
Jack looked up. A large white gull was circling in the bright noon sky. “What’s he doing here?” asked Jack. “The ocean’s two hours away.”
The gull swooped down and screeched again.
“Maybe he’s a messenger from Morgan or Merlin,” said Annie. “Maybe one of them sent him to tell us the tree house is finally back.”
Jack’s heart began to pound. He put down the newspaper. “You think so?” he asked.
Jack and Annie hadn’t seen the magic tree house since their Merlin Mission to a haunted castle la
st Halloween. Jack had begun to worry that the tree house might never come back.
“Look, he’s flying toward the woods,” said Annie.
Jack jumped up. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s go.”
“We’ll be back soon, Mom!” Annie called. Then she and Jack dashed across their yard. They ran down their street and into the Frog Creek woods.
The shady woods were dappled with sunlight. The air smelled fresh and clean. Jack and Annie hurried past the leafy trees, until they came to the tallest oak. High in the oak branches, the magic tree house was waiting for them.
“Wow,” Jack and Annie said together. The tree house looked exactly the same as when they’d last seen it.
Annie grabbed the rope ladder and started up. Jack followed. When they climbed inside the tree house, no one was there.
“Look, our Royal Invitation is still here,” said Annie. She picked up the card that had taken them to Camelot on Christmas Eve.
“And our leaf from Merlin is still here,” said Jack. He picked up the yellow autumn leaf that had sent them on their Halloween mission.
“This is new,” said Annie. She picked up a pale blue seashell. The shell was shaped like a small fan. There was writing on it.
“Hey, this looks like Merlin’s handwriting!” said Annie. “We must be going on another mission for Merlin!” She read aloud the message from the magician:
Annie looked up. “What rhyme?” she said.
“Let me see.” Jack took the shell from her and turned it over. On the other side was a poem. Jack read the poem aloud:
Before night falls on this long summer day,
A shining sword must find its way
Into your hands and out of the gloom—
Or Camelot’s king shall meet his doom.
To begin your quest for this Sword of Light,
Call for the help of the Water Knight.
Then pass through the Cave of the Spider Queen—
“Spider Queen?” Annie interrupted. She frowned. Spiders were about the only thing she was afraid of.
“Don’t think about it now,” said Jack. “Let’s keep going.” He read on:
… pass through the Cave of the Spider Queen
And swim with a selkie clothed in green.
Enter the Cove of the Stormy Coast,
Dive ’neath the Cloak of the Old Gray Ghost—
Jack stopped reading. “Old Gray Ghost?” he said.
“Don’t think about it now,” said Annie. “Keep going.”
Jack read more:
Answer a question with love, not fear.
With rhyme and sword, your home is near.
Both Jack and Annie were silent for a moment. “That’s a lot to do before nightfall,” Jack finally said.
“Yeah,” said Annie, “and I’m a little worried about the spider part.”
“And the ghost part,” said Jack.
“Hey,” said Annie, “if we’re going on another Merlin Mission, I’ll bet Teddy will come with us! He can help us get through the scary parts.”
“Right,” said Jack. Just hearing Teddy’s name made him feel braver.
“So,” said Annie. “Onward?” Onward was Teddy’s favorite word.
“Onward!” said Jack. He pointed to the handwriting on the pale blue shell. “I wish we could go to the time before Camelot!”
The wind started to blow.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
A salty breeze blew into the tree house. Seagulls screeched overhead. Jack and Annie looked out the tree house window.
They were high in the branches of a gnarled old tree. The tree was on a sea cliff beneath snowcapped mountains. The mountains overlooked a rocky coast. There was no sign of human life anywhere.
“It looks wild and lonely here,” said Annie.
“Really lonely,” said Jack. “I wonder where Merlin and Teddy are.”
“I don’t know,” said Annie. “They were in the trunk of our tree last time. Let’s look for them in this one.” She climbed down the rope ladder.
Jack crammed the seashell in his pocket and followed her.
“Merlin?” Annie called. “Teddy?”
Jack and Annie circled the gnarled tree trunk, but there was no sign of an entrance into the magical chamber of Merlin the magician. They circled the tree again. Jack tapped the bark in several places.
“I have a feeling no one lives inside this tree,” said Annie.
“I think you’re right,” said Jack.
“Maybe they’re down by the water,” said Annie.
Annie and Jack walked a few feet to the edge of the sea cliff and looked down at the rugged coast. They saw three coves, separated from each other by rocky cliffs. The cliffs were filled with shadowy crags and the dark mouths of caves.
In the first cove, sunlit water flowed from the open sea through a small space between the cliffs, then washed onto a pebbly shore.
The second cove was smaller, but looked much like the first.
The third cove was different. The farthest away, it was surrounded by a ring of bright green hills. A thin white mist hung over its milky-green waters.
“I don’t see any sign of Merlin or Teddy,” said Jack. “I guess we’ll have to get started without them.”
“Read the beginning of Merlin’s rhyme again,” said Annie.
Jack took the shell from his pocket and read aloud:
Before night falls on this long summer day,
A shining sword must find its way
Into your hands and out of the gloom—
Or Camelot’s king shall meet his doom.
Jack looked up at the sky. The sun was almost directly overhead. “It must be around noon now,” he said.
“We don’t have much time,” said Annie. “What do we do first?”
Jack looked back at the rhyme and read aloud:
To begin your quest for this Sword of Light,
Call for the help of the Water Knight.
“Oh, easy,” said Annie.
“It is?” said Jack.
“Sure,” said Annie. “If he’s a Water Knight, he’s probably down by the water.” She started down the steep, rocky hill that led to the nearest cove.
Jack stuffed the shell back in his pocket. “But who is the Water Knight?” he yelled as he followed Annie.
“It doesn’t matter,” she yelled back. “We just have to go down to the water and call for his help.”
They climbed over large boulders toward the cove. The boulders were slippery, but Jack’s sneakers kept him from sliding. A damp breeze blew from the sea. It made his skin and clothes feel clammy.
When they got to the shore, Jack wiped the mist off his glasses and looked around. The wide beach was covered with silvery pebbles, shells, and rows of sea foam. Sandpipers and gulls picked at tangled ribbons of soggy seaweed.
“The tide must be out,” said Jack. He studied the cliffs above the cove. “I don’t know how a knight can get down here. A horse could never make it over all those rocks.”
“Let’s just do what the rhyme tells us,” said Annie, “and see what happens.”
Annie stretched out her arms. She closed her eyes. She raised her head toward the sky and shouted: “O Water Knight, whoever you are, come here and help Jack and Annie!”
“Oh, brother,” Jack muttered to himself.
Suddenly they heard the wild cries of seagulls. “Jack, look!” said Annie. She pointed toward the middle of the cove.
Seabirds were screeching and flapping above a giant swirl of spray and foam. The swirl was spinning just above the surface of the water, headed toward the beach!
“Wow!” said Annie. She took off running across the sand.
“Come back!” shouted Jack.
“No! Come look!” said Annie.
Jack hurried to the edge of the surf.
Through the blur of spinning spray an
d foam, he saw the silver helmet of a knight appear above the water. He saw silver breast armor. Then a strange creature burst through the surface, carrying the knight on its back.
The creature had a horse’s head and neck and front legs. But instead of back legs, it had a long, silvery fish’s tail! With the Water Knight on its back, the horse creature half galloped and half swam through the cove. Seagulls shrieked wildly overhead, following the pair toward the shore.
As the knight drew close to the edge of the water, he looked straight at Jack and Annie. He raised his gloved hand and beckoned to them.
“Okay, we’re coming!” cried Annie. She started pulling off her sneakers.
“Wait—let’s think about this!” cried Jack.
“We don’t have time!” said Annie. “He wants to help us. He’s like the stag that came for us in Camelot.”
“No, he isn’t,” said Jack. “He’s much weirder!”
But Annie tossed her sneakers onto the rocks and splashed through the shallow water. The knight held out his hand and helped her onto the strange horse creature. The creature slapped its fish’s tail against the water, sending up a fountain of spray.
“Come on, Jack!” Annie yelled. “We can’t waste time!”
Annie’s right, Jack thought. They had to find the Sword of Light before nightfall. He pulled off his sneakers and tossed them up onto the rocks near Annie’s. Then he stepped into the cold water and waded out to the knight.
Annie helped pull Jack up onto the horse creature. He sat on its scaly tail and clung to Annie while she held on tightly to the Water Knight’s tunic.
The silvery fish’s tail slapped the water. A shower of spray rained down on Jack. He closed his eyes. “Onward,” he said faintly.
The Water Knight turned away from the shore. With more slaps of its tail, the horse creature began galloping and swimming across the cove. The seagulls shrieked wildly as they swooped after them.
Bumping up and down, Jack clung desperately to Annie. He kept his eyes squeezed shut and tried hard not to fall off.
As they sped across the cove, the Water Knight guided his steed steadily over each ripple and wave. The bumpy ride soon turned into a smooth one.
Summer of the Sea Serpent Page 1
