Jack opened his eyes. He and Annie were wearingpurple and pink outfits with huge ruffled collars. Ontheir heads were funny hats. On their feet were redslippers with big bows.
"Who are we?" Annie asked.
"I don't know," said Jack. He didn't feel like a wiseand brave helper in his red slippers. He felt stupid.
Together Jack and Annie looked out the tree housewindow. They had landed in a small tree28inside a walled garden. The sky was gray. Jackcouldn't tell if it was morning or evening, but the airfelt damp and heavy, as if a storm was about to break.
"I guess this is Venice," he said.
"Let's check our book," said Annie. She opened theirresearch book and read aloud:
Today the city of Venice (say VEN-iss) is one of themost popular tourist spots in the world. It lies in alagoon of the Adriatic Sea. Instead of roads, Venicehas waterways called canals. People glide along thecanals in shallow boats called gondolas (GON-duhluz).
A man called a gondolier (gon-duh-LEER) standsin the back of the boat and uses a long oar to propelthe gondola through the water.
"That sounds like fun," said Jack.
"Yep," said Annie. She closed the book. "Let's go."29"Wait," said Jack. "We don't even know what ourmission is yet." He took out Merlin's letter andunfolded it. He read aloud:
Dear Jack and Annie of Frog CreekYour mission will require great patience and a bit ofmagic. The Grand Lady of the Lagoon is in terribledanger. The only one who can help you save her fromdisaster is the Ruler of theSeas. To locate him, follow these directions:
When waters rise beneath the moon,Visit the Grand Lady of the Lagoon.
To find out where you need to go,Seek out a painter named Tiepolo.
At midnight two men will tell you the time. To thetop of their tower hurry and climb.
The King of the Jungle will carry you there,Not over land, but high in the air.
An angel of gold will show you the way To the seaby night, and home by day. -M.
30Jack pushed his glasses into place. "Hmm," he said.
"I wonder who the Grand Lady is," said Annie.
"And why do we need to save her?""I'm wondering lots of stuff," said Jack. "What aboutthe King of the Jungle? We're in a city, not a jungle.
And what about that angel? And--""Let's just take one thing at a time," said Annie.
"What are we supposed to do first?"Jack looked back at the letter and read:
When waters rise beneath the moon,Visit the Grand Lady of the Lagoon.
"So let's start by finding the Grand Lady," saidAnnie. She headed down the tree house ladder.
Jack put Merlin's letter into his backpack, alongwith Morgan's research book and Teddy andKathleen's book of magic rhymes. Then he climbeddown the rope ladder and caught up with Annie.
Jack and Annie walked over a pebbly path as thesky darkened.
Good,thought Jack.
It's night.
31He didn't want anyone to see him in his silly outfit-especially the red slippers with the bows.
"That must be the way out," said Annie. She ledJack to a wooden gate in the garden wall and pushedit open.
Jack and Annie stepped through the gate onto aquiet, empty walkway. Next to the walkway was anarrow lane of water.
"I guess that's a canal," said Jack.
"And that must be a gondola," said Annie. Shepointed to a long, curved black boat rounding thecorner. In the last light of day, the gondola wasgliding silently up the canal toward them.
"Yikes," whispered Annie.
There were two people in the boat--a gondolier anda passenger. Each wore a black cloak, white gloves,and a ghostly white mask. The masks had long,pointy noses shaped like bird beaks. The passenger satin the middle of the boat, holding a lantern. Thegondolier stood in the back, pushing a long oarthrough the water.
32"They look a lot weirder than us," said Annie. "Nokidding," said Jack.
"Hello!" the passenger shouted.
33The person's voice was muffled behind the whitemask. "Do you need help?""Yes!" Annie shouted back. "Can you take us to theGrand Lady of the Lagoon?""Yes, of course. She is back that way!" answered themasked passenger. "Come."34"Great!" said Annie. She grabbed Jack's hand andpulled him over to the gondola. The gondola rocked abit as she and Jack climbed aboard and took seatsbetween the gondolier and the passenger.
The gondolier pushed the gondola away from thelanding. His long oar made soft splashes in the wateras the boat moved up the canal.
Jack cleared his throat. "Urn, excuse me," he said.
"Why are you wearing bird masks?""For Carnival, of course," said the passenger. "Thatis why you are wearing clown costumes, no?""Oh, yeah, sure," said Jack.
As the gondola slid through the canal, Jack snucktheir research book out of his backpack.
"Oh, boy, a carnival!" Annie whispered to Jack. "Ihope it has a roller coaster.""I don't think they had roller coasters two hundredsixty years ago," whispered Jack.
Jack looked upcarnivalin the index. He35found the page. Then he and Annie silently readtogether:
For many centuries, Carnival has been the mostfamous yearly festival of Venice. For Carnival, peopledisguise themselves as anything they want to be.
Rich, poor, male, female, young, and old--all are equalduring Carnival.
"Look, that's us," whispered Annie. She pointed to apicture of a colorful costume with a white ruffledcollar and red slippers with bows.
"Yeah, and that's them," whispered Jack. He pointedto a picture of a person dressed in a black cloak and awhite mask with a bird's beak.
Jack closed the book and put it away. The gondolapeople didn't seem so weird anymore. But he stillwondered why a grand lady was in terrible danger atCarnival.
As the boat glided around a bend, Jack caught hisbreath. He saw dozens of gondolas rocking on thechoppy waters of a wide, open canal. They36were all decorated with ribbons and flowers.
Candlelight from their lanterns danced on the dark,rippling water.
"Look, that must be Carnival over there," saidAnnie, pointing.
In the distance, thousands of candles twinkledalong the shoreline. Sounds of laughter, clapping, andshouting floated over the water.
"Hold on tightly!" said the masked person in thefront of the gondola. "The tide is high tonight!" Astheir gondola joined the fleet of boats heading towardCarnival, the wind picked up. The waves grew taller.
Jack and Annie held on to the sides of the boat. Jackheard a faint rumble of faraway thunder. He saw azigzag flash of lightning in the distant sky. Is a storm coming?
he wondered nervously.
Is the storm part of the disaster that's going tohappen to the Grand Lady of the Lagoon?
"This is going to be fun, isn't it?" said Anniecheerfully.
"Sure," said Jack. He tried to shake off his worriesas the wind and tide helped push the gondola towardthe twinkling candles of Carnival. |