"Welcome to Antarctica," said Annie.
Jack and Annie were bundled in cold-weather gear.
They both wore snow pants, gloves, boots withspikes, and thick red parkas with hoods. Gogglescovered their eyes, and wool masks covered theirmouths and noses. A hiker's backpack had replacedJack's own pack.
Jack felt trapped by all the gear. He pulled his maskdown under his chin and pushed his goggles onto hisforehead. Annie did the same. Their breath madeclouds of mist in the freezing air.
2425"It's really cold here!" said Jack. The wind stung hisbare face and made his eyes water. But he kept hismask and goggles off as he looked out the windowwith Annie.
The tree house was on the ground. It was tuckedunder the overhang of an ice cliff near the ocean. Icyseawater sparkled in the sunlight. The shore wassilent and deserted.
[Image: A lake.]
26"It looks totally empty out there," said Jack. "I stilldon't get it--how do we find the Cave of the AncientCrown here? No king or queen ever ruled Antarctica.
In fact, no people ever lived here at all until explorerscame in recent times.""Let's get started and try to figure it all out," saidAnnie.
"Not so fast," said Jack. He pulled off his glove andopened their research book to the first chapter. Heread aloud:
The continent of Antarctica is the coldest, driest,and windiest place on earth. Larger in area than theUnited States, it is a land filled with ice--ice cliffs, icebergs, ice sheets, ice shelves-"Okay, lots of ice," said Annie. "Got it. Let'sgo.""In a minute." Jack kept reading:
But Antarctica was not always a land of ice. Eonsago, it was part of asupercontinent scientists have named27Gondwana. It had forests, flowers, and manyanimals, including dinosaurs. But no people ever livedthere.
"See?" said Jack. "No kings, no queens, no crowns.""Yep, let's go," said Annie. But Jack kept reading:
Over millions ofyears,Antarctica broke off from Gondwana and driftedsouth.
"Okay, I'm drifting now myself, Jack," said Annie.
"Byeee--" She climbed out the window anddisappeared from the tree house.
Jack looked back at the book, but before he couldread further, he heard Annie whoop with laughter.
"Oh, wow! Jack, come look!" she yelled.
"What is it?" said Jack, closing the book.
"You won't believe this!" said Annie. "You have tocome see!"Jack put his glove back on and pulled on hisbackpack. He folded the paper with Morgan's28rhyme and put it in his pocket. Then, clutching theresearch book to his chest, he climbed out of thewindow.
Jack followed the sound of Annie's laughter beyondthe tree house. On the frozen seashore was a group ofpenguins, grown-ups and babies. The grown-ups hadorange streaks on their cheeks, puffy white chests,and black wings they held straight by their sides. Thebabies were fluffy balls of gray fuzz. All the penguinswere waddling toward Annie. They rocked from sideto side, taking funny little steps.
Jack burst out laughing. The big penguins lookedlike a committee of little men in black suits.
The group stopped in front of Annie and squawkedat her.
"Hi, guys," said Annie. "Glad to meet you!"The penguins stared back at her with friendlycuriosity.
"They're so cool," said Jack. He opened the29book and found a picture that looked like the groupof penguins around Annie. He read:
Emperor penguins are the tallest and heaviest of thepenguin species and are also the most ancient. Overthree feet tall, grown penguins can weigh up toninety pounds. Researchers say the penguin's closestancestors lived 40 million years ago.
"Forty million years!"said Jack. "So what time have we gone back to? Amillion years ago? A thousand years ago?""I don't know," said Annie. "But I'll take a picture ofthem for my family project. They look like a littlefamily, don't they?" She pulled her camera out of herpocket and aimed it at the penguins. "Smile,everyone."As Annie took a picture, a shadow moved over theice. The penguins squawked loudly and clusteredtogether.
Jack and Annie looked up. The shadow30belonged to a giant bird circling above them. Thebird was brownish gray with a long beak. It let out aneerie cry.
"What is that?" Annie asked with alarm.
"I'll look it up," said Jack. He flipped through thepages of their book to find a photo. "Here!" He readquickly:
Giant petrels are the vultures of Antarctica. Theyeat dead birds and animals. Sometimes they evenattack young seals and pen"Oh, no!" cried Annie.
Jack looked up. The petrel was diving toward thepenguins. It hit the smallest one with its wing andswooped back into the air.
The penguin squawked and waddled away from thegroup. The petrel spread its wide wings and doveagain.
"NO!" Annie cried.
The petrel swooped away but circled back towardthem.
31Jack dropped the book and scooped up a handful ofsnow to make a snowball. Before he could throw it,the petrel attacked again. Jack leapt toward the smallpenguin. He fell on his knees and threw his armsaround the fluffy little body.
32Annie charged at the petrel. "Go! Get out of here!"she yelled, waving her arms.
The petrel cawed, then rose high into the sky anddisappeared over the ice cliff.
Jack let go of the small penguin and stood up. Thepenguin peeped and waggled its head at Jack.
Jack laughed. "You're welcome," he said. "Now goback to your family. Go--"He shooed the penguin back to the group. "All ofyou guys, back in the water now. You'll be saferthere. Go, go."The penguins squawked and flapped their wings asif saying good-bye. Then they waddled across the icyshore, taking quick, tiny steps toward the sea. Oneafter another, they dove between cracks in the iceuntil they all disappeared.
"Bye, guys," said Annie.
HONK!
"What's that?" said Jack.
HONK!
33"It sounds like some kind of horn," said Annie.
"That's weird," said Jack.
"It's coming from over there," said Annie.
Jack picked up their book and followed Annie upthe side of an icy slope. The metal spikes on his bootsdug into the ice and kept him from slipping. When heand Annie reached the top, they looked down.
"Oh, man," said Jack. "We haven't gone back in timeat all!"
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