By the time the dogsled arrived at the tree house, the snowstorm had become a blizzard.

“Can you wait just a minute?” Jack asked the seal hunter. “So we can check something?”

The hunter nodded. His dogs whined as Jack and Annie climbed through the tree house window.

Jack grabbed the scroll that held the riddle. He unrolled it. The riddle was gone. In its place was one shimmering word:

“We did it!” said Annie. “The tree house will take us home now.”

“Great!” said Jack. “Let’s say good-bye to the seal hunter and give him back his clothes.”

They quickly pulled off their sealskin clothing and their boots.

“Thanks for letting us borrow these!” Jack called through the window.

The seal hunter walked to the tree house and took the clothes from Jack and Annie. They stood shivering in their pajamas and bare feet.

“Th-th-thanks for everything!” said Annie, her teeth chattering.

The seal hunter gave them a wave. Then he walked through the swirling snow to his sled.

“Mush!” he shouted.

The dogs took off through the stormy night.

“Let’s get out of here!” said Jack. He hugged himself. “Before we freeze to death!”

Annie grabbed the Pennsylvania book that always took them home. She pointed to a picture of the Frog Creek woods.

“I wish we could go there!” she said.

They waited for the tree house to start spinning.

Nothing happened.

Jack shivered.

“I wish we could go there!” Annie said again.

Again nothing happened.

“Wh-wh-what’s going on?” said Jack.

He looked around the tree house. The four scrolls with the solved riddle answers were in the corner.

Then he saw it—a fifth scroll.

“Where did th-th-that come from?” he said.

Jack grabbed it and unrolled it. On it were the words:

Look at the letters:
the first, not the rest.
Discover the place
that you love the best.

“Oh, no!” said Annie. “Another riddle!”

“Okay, okay. Let’s stay c-c-calm,” Jack said, shivering. “Look at the letters: the first, not the rest. Okay, the first letters in this riddle are L-A-T-L-T—”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Annie broke in.

Icy winds battered the tree house. Snow blew inside.

“We have to hurry!” said Annie.

Jack was freezing. He looked around wildly.

“Letters, letters, letters. What letters?” he said.

His gaze rested on the scrolls in the corner.

“M-m-maybe we should look at the letters of the answers,” he said.

“Right,” said Annie.

They began unrolling the scrolls.

The scroll from their adventure under the ocean said:

The scroll from their trip to the Wild West said:

The scroll from their journey to Africa said:

Their scroll from the Arctic said:

“Oyster, echo, honey, mask,” said Jack. “Their first letters are O-E-H-M.”

“That doesn’t make any sense, either,” said Annie.

“Yeah, but maybe we have to unscramble those letters,” said Jack. “O-E-H-M …  They could spell hemo.”

“Or meho,” said Annie.

“Or home!” said Jack.

“HOME!” cried Annie. “That’s the place we love the best!”

Jack unrolled the fifth scroll again. The riddle was gone. In its place was one shimmering word:

“Yay!” cried Annie. She grabbed the Pennsylvania book. “I wish we could go home! HOME! HOME! HOME!”

The tree house started to spin.

It spun faster and faster and faster.

Then everything was still.

Absolutely still.