Jack opened his eyes. Sunlight streamed through his window.

“Tuesday!” he whispered. Morgan’s note had told him and Annie to come back to the magic tree house on Tuesday. He could hardly wait to find out where she was sending them today!

Jack scrambled out of bed. He threw on his clothes. He packed his notebook and pencil into his backpack. Then he headed into the hall.

Jack bumped into Annie. She was dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.

“Tuesday!” they both whispered.

Together, they hurried down the stairs.

“Mom, Dad, we’re going out for a few minutes!” Jack shouted.

“Don’t you want breakfast first?” his dad called from the kitchen.

“When we get back!” said Annie.

They rushed out the front door. They ran down their street in the bright summer sunlight.

A warm wind gently shook the trees as Jack and Annie headed into the Frog Creek woods. Soon they came to the tallest tree in the woods. The magic tree house waited for them in the high branches. Jack and Annie grabbed the rope ladder and climbed up.

Inside the shady tree house, the note from Morgan was still on the floor:

Dear Jack and Annie,

Camelot is in trouble. To save the kingdom, please find these four special kinds of writing for my library:

Something to follow

Something to send

Something to learn

Something to lend

     Thank you,

     Morgan

“Okay,” said Jack. “We have the first writing: something to follow.” He picked up a list from the Civil War.

“And we have the second,” said Annie, “something to send.” She picked up a letter from the Revolutionary War.

“Now we need the third,” said Jack, “something to learn.”

“No problem,” said Annie. She grabbed a book lying in the corner. “I hope we’re not going to another war.”

Jack and Annie looked at the cover. It showed a field of tall green grass.

The title was Life on the Prairie.

“The prairie?” said Annie. “We already went to the prairie the time we met Black Hawk.”

“Yeah,” said Jack, remembering their adventure with the Native American boy.

He opened the book and turned to a picture of an old-fashioned train crossing the prairie.

“Oh,” he said. “I get it. Trains crossed the prairie after the pioneers came. When we went to the prairie before, Native Americans were the only people who lived there.”

“So we must be going to pioneer time,” said Annie.

“I think so,” said Jack.

He pointed at the picture that showed the train crossing the prairie.

“I wish we could go there,” he said.

The breeze picked up.

The wind started to blow.

The tree house started to spin.

It spun faster and faster.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still.