Falling through the air, Jack forgot everything he’d written down. He forgot: legs together—face earth—arch back—spread arms—count to five. But miraculously, he remembered, Pull rip cord!

Jack fumbled for the cord on his chest strap. He grabbed the metal ring and pulled hard. The parachute popped out from Jack’s harness.

As the chute’s white canopy opened above Jack, it yanked him backward. The billowing silk slowed his downward plunge. Jack clutched his field pack as he drifted through the night air.

The drone of the spy taxi engine faded into the distance. Teddy was gone. Not far away, Jack could see Annie in the moonlight, floating to earth, too. “Hi!” she yelled to Jack.

Jack was too amazed to answer. He was filled with a strange happiness as they both drifted in a dreamlike fall toward the field below.

Suddenly the earth rose up to meet him. Jack hit the ground with a thud and, remembering the eighth step, rolled onto his left side. He lay in the cold damp grass, trying to catch his breath.

“We’re in France! We did it!” Annie called from nearby. She threw off her parachute harness and ran to Jack.

“We did it,” he repeated, sitting up. His parachute lay spread on the ground behind him. “We did it!”

“Wasn’t it fun?” said Annie.

“Yeah … yeah, it was,” said Jack in a daze.

Jack wiggled out of his harness. Floating through the night sky actually had been fun—although he had no idea how he’d done what he’d just done. “I have some bad news, though.”

“Suddenly the earth rose up to meet him.”

“What?” asked Annie.

“Teddy forgot to give us the magic wand for Kathleen,” said Jack.

“Oh, no,” moaned Annie.

“ ‘Oh, no’ is right,” said Jack.

“I guess it means we’ll have to help Kathleen without magic,” said Annie. “But that’s okay. We have lots of skills.”

“Like what?” Jack asked.

“Well, like—just a lot of skills,” said Annie. “Don’t worry. We can do this. Let’s go.”

“Hold on. We have to roll up our chutes and figure out where we are first,” said Jack. He and Annie looked around. In the moonlight, they could see trees bordering the field on three sides and a road on the fourth side. A church with a tall white steeple was down the road.

“Let’s take that road,” said Annie.

“Yep,” said Jack. “That should work. But we have to hide the parachutes before we go.”

In the quiet night, Jack stood up and strapped his field pack on his back. He and Annie carefully rolled up the soft silk canopies of their parachutes. They gathered the straps and tangled cords in their arms and started across the field.

“Hey,” said Annie, stopping. “I hear a plane.”

“Teddy’s back!” said Jack. “He remembered that he forgot to give us the magic wand and spell!”

“Yay!” said Annie.

“Wait,” said Jack, squinting at the sky. Not just one plane—but three planes droned overhead!

“It’s not Teddy,” said Annie.

“Run!” said Jack.

As the planes dipped down over the field, Jack and Annie ran toward the road, lugging the bundles of their parachutes.

“Get down!” Jack shouted. He pushed Annie into a ditch at the edge of the road. Clutching their gear, they lay in a thick bed of wet and rotting leaves.

The planes roared off into the distance. After a long silence, Jack and Annie stood up. “They’re gone,” Jack said.

“So what do we do now?” Annie asked.

“We have to find that town,” said Jack. He looked around at the moonlit dark. “But we might have to wait for daylight to figure out how to get there.”

Jack saw the glare of car headlights coming up the road. “Hide!” cried Annie.

They threw themselves facedown again in the ditch. Jack held his breath as the car rumbled by. Soon all was quiet again, except for the distant barking of dogs.

Jack and Annie lifted their heads. “We have to get away from this road,” said Jack, “and find a place where we can stay hidden for a while. Remember, we’re behind enemy lines. Nazis could be anywhere. Come on.”

Annie didn’t say anything. She didn’t move.

“Hey, are you okay?” Jack asked her.

“No. I’m scared,” Annie said in a whisper.

“You are?” said Jack. He knelt beside her. Annie was never scared. He was always the scared one.

“This seems so dangerous,” she said. “Hiding from Nazis.”

Jack was frightened, too. She was right. Hiding from Nazis seemed much scarier than anything they’d done before. But if Annie was scared, he had to act brave. “It’s okay,” he said. “Think about what you told me earlier—we don’t have magic, but we’ve got skills. And we’ve used our skills again and again on our missions. Right?”

“Right …,” said Annie.

“Well, we’ll use them this time,” said Jack.

“You think we can?” asked Annie.

“I know we can,” said Jack. “First, we need to get to a safe spot.” He pulled out his flashlight and pointed it toward the road. The light lit up a sign that said Biéville. Not far down the road was the white church. “Okay. Biéville. This is where Teddy will pick us up with Kathleen.”

“Right,” said Annie. “The field near the sign that says Biéville, near the white church.”

“See, we solved that. With our observation skill,” said Jack. “So now we’ll head into the woods across the road and hide there until daylight. Okay? That’s the skill of, um—”

“Being smart,” said Annie. She stood up. “Let’s bury our stuff here.”

“Good idea, I’d forgotten that,” said Jack. “See? Skills! We got ’em!”

They buried their parachute gear under piles of leaves and brush. “Don’t forget these,” said Jack. He pulled off his helmet and goggles and shoved them under the heap. Annie did the same. “And my notes!” Jack ripped his notes out of his notebook, tore them up, and hid the pieces with everything else.

“Okay!” he said. “Onward! Let’s go!” With Annie close behind, Jack led the way across the road and into the woods.

Tramping through tangled undergrowth, Jack and Annie made their way deeper into the moonlit forest. They didn’t stop until they came to a wooden fence. When Jack pointed their flashlight toward the area beyond the fence, it shone on neat rows of vine-covered trellises.

“Looks like a vineyard,” he said.

“What’s that?” asked Annie.

“You know, where they grow grapes to make wine,” said Jack. “We shouldn’t trespass—”

Before he could finish, Annie grabbed his arm. “Listen!”

Jack listened. From the woods behind them came the sound of a dog barking. Then he heard men’s voices.

“They’re searching for us!” said Annie.

“Trespass!” said Jack. He turned off his flashlight, and they scrambled over the wooden fence and took off running through the moonlit vineyard. They ran between long rows of grapevines until they saw a small farmhouse ahead. Smoke was rising from the chimney. Not far from the house was a barn.

The barking behind them was getting louder. It sounded as if the searchers had entered the vineyard and were heading their way.

“There!” said Jack. He grabbed Annie’s hand and pulled her toward the barn. Jack yanked open a wooden door, and the two of them ran inside.

Jack switched his flashlight back on and shined it around the barn. Horses stood in stalls, swishing their tails and munching hay.

“There!” Annie pointed to a stack of hay bales in the back. They crouched together behind the bales. Jack turned off the flashlight and put it in his field pack. He and Annie waited motionless, huddled on the floor, inhaling hay dust and animal smells and trying to breathe as quietly as they could.

The barking grew louder and closer. The horses moved restlessly. Jack heard men shouting above the barking, but he couldn’t understand what they were saying.

Then the door to the barn banged open. “Fritz! Check inside!” a man said.

Jack heard two sharp barks and the sound of a dog sniffing and scratching. The next thing he knew, a German shepherd bounded over to the hay bales! With a low growl, it bared its teeth.

“It’s okay!” Annie whispered to the dog. “It’s okay.”

The dog snorted and sniffed their faces. Jack didn’t move a muscle as Annie gently stroked the dog’s head and whispered in its ear.

The dog grew calm. Annie whispered again. The shepherd licked her face. Then it barked once and loped out of the barn.

“Nothing in there, Fritz?” the man said to the dog. “Good boy.” Then the door slammed shut. The men’s voices faded away. Everything grew quiet.

Jack and Annie waited a long moment. Then Jack let out his breath. “What did you say to that police dog?” he asked.

Annie shrugged. “I said, ‘Good dog, everything’s okay. We’re friends.’ I just didn’t tell him whose friends we were.”

Jack shook his head in amazement.

“Let’s escape while we can,” said Annie.

Jack was relieved. Annie sounded like her old self again. Calming the dog calmed her, too, he thought. “Okay, but let’s go slowly.”

Just as Jack and Annie stood up, the door to the barn creaked open again. Jack’s heart pounded as they dropped back behind the hay bales.

The barn was lit with flickering lantern light. Jack heard footsteps on the wooden floor. The steps grew closer and closer. Then a man with a black beard peered over the hay bales. He wore a black beret slanted over one eye.

“Aha! We found you!” he said in a deep, growly whisper.