Magic Tree House Super Edition #1: Danger in the Darkest Hour

“We shouldn’t drive far,” said Jack. “Kathleen left a note for the baker, telling him to look for his truck near the church in Biéville. I hope he’s still alive tomorrow and comes to get it.”

“You hope he’s still alive tomorrow?” said Annie. “That sounds terrible.”

“I know,” said Jack. “War is terrible.” He started the truck, and they bumped back over the grass to the road. Jack drove about a hundred yards, then pulled off the road and parked the bakery truck beside a clump of trees. “I think this should do it,” he said.

Annie hopped out of the truck. Jack switched off the motor and rolled up his window. Then he climbed out, too. “Let’s hurry—”

Jack looked up. Two giant beams of light were sweeping across the sky, crisscrossing each other.

Jack didn’t answer right away. Maybe the worst isn’t over yet, he thought. “Let’s hurry back and tell Kathleen,” he said.

Jack and Annie ran up the road to the church. Inside, they found Kathleen still singing with the children.

Row, row, row your boat

Gently down the stream.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

Life is but a dream.

Our plan isn’t going to work, Jack thought. He felt sure that the Nazis would spot Teddy’s plane and shoot it down before he could land.

Kathleen told the children to keep singing, and she hurried over to Jack and Annie. “What’s wrong?” she asked.

“The Nazis are using searchlights to spot planes,” said Jack. “They’re sure to see Teddy.”

Jack and Annie led Kathleen outside. The lights were still sweeping across the night sky.

“See?” said Jack, pointing up at the moving beams of light. “How can Teddy possibly—”

Below the dazzling searchlights, a silver plane sat in the dark field. The gleaming plane was much bigger than a spy taxi. It had a snub-nosed cockpit, a long row of windows, and four huge propellers—two on each wing.

“I don’t know,” said Jack, stunned. “I didn’t see it when we moved the truck or came back to the church. I didn’t hear it fly overhead or land or anything!”

The rear door of the plane swung open. Silhouetted in the doorway was a person in a flight suit and helmet.

“Oh!” cried Kathleen. She dashed across the dark field. Jack and Annie ran after her.

When Kathleen reached Teddy, she threw her arms around him. Jack and Annie piled on, and they all hugged him at the same time. Everyone was laughing.

“Yes, I found out today,” said Teddy. “With all the preparations for the invasion, I had trouble finding a big enough plane to come for you. But finally I was able to call upon a friend to help me.”

“How did the plane land without the searchlights spotting it?” asked Jack. “And why didn’t it make any noise?”

“I will explain later,” said Teddy. “We must act quickly. You have others with you, no?”

“This way!” said Kathleen. She grabbed Teddy’s hand and pulled him toward the church.

“Oh, no!” Teddy whirled around to Kathleen. “I should have come myself to save you!”

“Do not feel bad,” said Kathleen. “Jack and Annie have given me miraculous help, and all without magic. I have lost my powers, Teddy.”

“I gathered that from your message,” said Teddy. “That is why I sent you the wand and—” He stopped and smacked his forehead. “Oh, no! I forgot, didn’t I?”

“You did,” said Jack. “But it’s not all your fault. Annie and I forgot, too, until just before I jumped. And then it was too late.”

By then they had arrived at the door of the church. “Get ready to be mobbed by little kids,” Annie said to Teddy.

Led by the two sisters, all the children clambered toward the door of the church. They gathered around Teddy, asking questions.

“Hush, children, hush now,” said Kathleen. “Everyone grab someone’s hand. Etty, take Sophie’s hand. Daniel, take Sarah’s hand. Leo and Eli, Jack’s hands. Marcella and Ella, Annie’s hands. Pierre and Solly, Teddy’s hands. Come along now. Follow me! We are about to go on a great adventure!”

With little hands tucked into bigger hands, everyone followed Kathleen out of the church into the field.

“Yes,” said Jack, walking with the two boys. “Let’s run! We’re going to fly through the air on the silver bird!” Gripping their hands, he ran with little steps so the kids could keep up.

When they reached the plane, Teddy took charge. “Big kids help small kids up the step-ladder,” he said.

Kathleen lifted two preschoolers up to the rear door. Annie climbed up with two more. Sophie and Sarah each helped a smaller child. Jack held on to Leo and Eli and led them up the steps.

Boarding last, Teddy squeezed into the passenger cabin with Pierre and Solly. Then he closed the heavy door and latched it. “Sit down. Relax, everyone!” he said. “We don’t have far to go!”

The little kids laughed and squealed as they scrambled into seats. Some of them jumped into Kathleen’s and Annie’s laps. Others climbed onto Teddy, all chirping at once.

“Wait a minute,” said Jack. “Teddy, aren’t you going up to the cockpit to fly the plane?”

“No. As I said, I called on a friend to help me,” said Teddy. “He is the pilot.”

“Oh,” said Jack. “But how did he land without our hearing him? And how did he get past the searchlights?”

“Explanations later,” said Teddy. “I think we are about to take off.” He said something else, but his voice was drowned out by kids still asking questions: “Where are we going?” “Who are you?” “Is Kathleen your sister?”

As Kathleen and Teddy laughed and tried to answer the children, Jack thought that Kathleen was completely her old self again. Her eyes were bright; her laughter was lighthearted.

Jack looked out the window. The searchlights were still combing the dark for incoming planes. So how did the SOE pilot land the plane? he wondered. And how will he take off without being seen?

The large silver plane started moving. It moved across the grass with no bumping and no engine sounds—no whirring, roaring, or rumbling.

This is so weird, thought Jack. Did they make super-silent spy planes in World War Two? He would have to look it up, he thought. Before he knew it, the plane had lifted off the ground and was gliding through the night with no vibration, rocking, or shaking.

“Oh, but on this plane we can open windows,” said Teddy. He leaned over, undid a latch, and pushed open the glass.

As cool air rushed inside the cabin, Annie grabbed Jack’s field pack. Without a word, she pulled out the flyers made by the resistance fighters, Tom and Theo. She showed the printed message to Teddy and Kathleen.

Then, one at a time, Annie released the flyers out the open window: one, two, three, four, five … ten sheets of paper flapped into the moonlit night.

Kathleen looked at Annie for a moment. Then she smiled and rose from her seat. She pointed her finger at the flyers fluttering toward the earth below. She whispered some words:

Ain solas keng dural ay du!

Annie’s wish shall now come true!

Through the window, Jack saw the flyers begin to multiply … from ten to a hundred … from a hundred to a thousand … from a thousand to ten thousand!

“Jack saw the flyers begin to multiply …”

Kathleen’s magic was working again! Now that she was with Teddy, now that she was flying home to England, now that she was saving the children, her joy—her magic—had returned!

As the plane crossed the English Channel, the flyers kept multiplying across the sea. Like white petals falling from apple trees, the sheets of paper tumbled and swirled through the air. Tom and Theo’s message filled the night sky, gleaming with their bright words:

HOPE AND COURAGE!
FREEDOM SOON!