"Morgan?" said Annie.
Annie ran to the table. She touched Morgan's cheek, thenquickly pulled back her hand.
"She's cold. She's as cold as ice!" said Annie. Tears filled hereyes.
Annie turned to the Christmas Knight in a fury. "What didyou do to Morgan?" she asked. "Bring her back!""Do not fear," said the Christmas Knight. His voice was softerand kinder. "She will come back to life after you complete yourquest.""What--what exactly is our quest?" said Jack.
"You must journey to the Otherworld," said the ChristmasKnight. "There you will find a cauldron. The cauldron is filledwith the Water of Memory and Imagination. You must bring acup of the water back to Camelot. If you fail, Camelot will nevercome back to life. Never.""How do we do all that?" asked Annie, wiping her eyes.
"Remember these three rhymes," said the Christmas Knight.
"Wait, let me write them down," said Jack.
His hands trembled as he pulled out his note-book and pencil.
He looked at the Christmas Knight.
"Okay, I'm ready," he said. Gripping his pencil made Jack feelstronger.
The knight's voice rang out from inside his helmet.
"Beyond the iron gateThe Keepers of the Cauldron wait."Jack quickly wrote down the knight's words. "Okay, what'snext?" he asked.
The Christmas Knight went on:
"Four gifts you will need-The first from me.
Then a cup, a compass,And, finally, a key.""Cup ... compass ... key.... Got it," said Jack.
The Christmas Knight's voice boomed again:
"If you survive to complete your quest, The secret door lies tothe west."Jack copied down the last rhyme, then looked up at theknight.
"Anything else?" he asked.
Without a word, the knight pulled off his red cloak. Hedropped it to the floor. It fell silently into a heap at Jack andAnnie's feet.
The Christmas Knight snapped his horse's red reins, thengalloped out of the great hall. |