Blizzard of the Blue Moon: A Merlin Mission

comes with us, of course,”
someone said.
    Jack and Annie gasped.
    Balor and Grinda slunk out from behind the tree. Balor carried the black rope.
    Jack was stunned. “How—how did you get here so fast?” he asked.
    “We took the A train,” said Balor. “’Tis actuallya bit faster than riding a unicorn.” The boy laughed meanly.
    “Shut up, Balor,” said Grinda. Then she turned to Jack and Annie. “I am glad you had a happy little ride. But you can say good-bye to Dianthus now. We will take him from here.”
    “No, you won’t!” said Annie.
    “Stay away from us!” said Jack.
    “Come on, Dianthus, let’s go!” said Annie.
    Before Dianthus could move, Grinda rushed forward and grabbed his collar with both hands. The unicorn snorted and shook his head. Grinda clung fiercely to the collar. “Get the rope over his head, Balor!” she yelled. “Now!”
    Balor looped the black rope into a noose again. The unicorn twisted and turned his head.
    Jack kicked at Balor. “Stop!” he yelled. “Get away from us!” Jack felt stupid just yelling and kicking, but he didn’t know what else to do.
    As Balor and Grinda struggled to get the noose over the unicorn’s head, Annie pointed at them. In a loud voice, she shouted:
    Fowl of air, appear now here!
    Aka-aka-aka-mere!
    The black rope fell to the snow. Balor and Grinda started to spin around. They spun like two spinning tops. As they spun, they grew smaller and smaller. Jack saw a blur of colors: gray and brown, green and white, a dash of orange, a dash of yellow.
    The spinning slowly came to a stop. The two scary teenagers were gone. In their place were two small mallard ducks.

O ne duck was gray with black and white markings. The other had a glossy green head and a rust-colored chest. Both had orange webbed feet and long yellow bills.
Quack, quack
, they said.
    Annie looked over her shoulder at Jack. “I memorized the duck rhyme a while ago,” she said with a grin. “I knew it would come in handy someday.”
    Jack laughed. “Good work,” he said.
    The two ducks waddled around on their bright orange feet, quacking. Answering criescame from overhead. A flock of ducks was flying through the clear November sky.
    “Go on, Balor and Grinda!” Annie shouted to the two mallards. “Go with them now!”
    The mallards quacked at Annie.
    “Go on!” Jack chimed in. “Fly south for the winter! You’ll have fun! We promise!”
    The two mallards quacked and flapped their wings. First one and then the other rose off the ground. They flew high into the sky. Jack held his breath as he watched the mallards soar away, flying south over New York City.
    Annie put her arms around the unicorn’s neck. Then she rested her head on his silky white mane. “You’re safe now,” she said. “But you have to leave us. I have to show you the way to Camelot. The problem is, I don’t know how to do that.”
    AH-U-GA! AH-U-GA!
    Jack looked over at an avenue that bordered the park. A big yellow taxi was parked by thecurb. The driver was honking his horn. He waved through the window.
    “What’s that guy want?” said Annie, sitting up.
    “I don’t know,” said Jack.
    The driver jumped out of the car. He wore a cap and a plaid scarf. “Hey, it’s the same driver who deserted us outside the Cloisters,” said Annie.
    The passenger door of the taxi opened, and a girl stepped out. She was wearing a purple shawl. “And that’s the girl who told us to get off at the wrong subway stop,” said Jack.
    The taxi driver and the girl in the shawl both waved at Jack and Annie. Then the driver lifted his cap and pulled down his scarf. He had red curly hair and a wonderfully familiar grin.
    The girl pulled the shawl off her head. Beautiful long black curls fell down to her waist.
    “It’s
them
!” said Jack.
    “Teddy! Kathleen!” Annie shouted.
    Jack and Annie slid off the unicorn’s back ontothe snowy ground. The young enchanters ran across the snow to them. Annie threw her arms around Teddy. Kathleen threw her arms around Jack. The four of them laughed and talked at the same time.
    “That was
you!”
    “That was
you!”
    “That was
us!”
    “I’m sorry I told you to get off at the wrong stop,” said Kathleen. “But Teddy was waiting for you there!”

    “And I’m sorry I left you stranded in the storm,” said Teddy. “But I knew you’d find your way to the Cloisters!”
    “We thought you guys were these two kids following us, Balor and Grinda!” said