Haunted Castle on Hallows Eve

said Jack.
    A giant black bird swooped down to the ground. The bird strutted through the fallen leaves. Its feathers glistened in the golden afternoon light.
    â€œWow, is that a crow?” asked Annie.
    â€œIt’s too big for a crow,” said Jack. “I think it might be a raven.”
    â€œA
raven
?” said Annie. “Cool.”
    The raven lifted its sleek head and stared at them with bright eyes. Jack held his breath.
    The bird hopped forward. It flapped its great black wings and lifted into the air. Then he glided into the autumn sky and headed toward the Frog Creek woods.
    Annie jumped up. “It’s a sign! Morgan’s back!” she said.
    â€œI think you’re right!” said Jack. “Let’s go!”
    Jack and Annie hurried across their front yard, crunching through the leaves. They ran up their street and into the Frog Creek woods.
    When they came to the tallest oak, they saw the rope ladder swaying in the wind. The magic tree house was waiting for them.
    â€œJust as we thought,” Annie said, smiling.
    Jack followed her up the ladder. When they climbed inside the tree house, they saw no sign of Morgan le Fay, the enchantress from the kingdom of Camelot.
    â€œThat’s weird,” said Jack, looking around.
    The wind blew hard again, shaking the tree branches. A huge yellow leaf fluttered through the open window and came to rest at Jack’s feet.
    â€œOh, man,” he said. “Look at this.”
    â€œWhat?” said Annie.
    Jack picked up the leaf. There was writing on it. The letters were curvy and old-fashioned.
    â€œWow,” whispered Annie. “What does it say?”
    Jack held the leaf up to the tree housewindow. In the fading light, he read aloud:

    â€œM!”
said Annie. “Morgan never signs her messages with
M.
…”
    â€œRight …,” said Jack. “But …”
    â€œ
Merlin
does!” they said together.
    â€œLike when he sent us the invitation to spend Christmas in Camelot,” said Annie. She pointed to the Royal Invitation that still lay in the corner of the tree house.
    â€œNow he’s inviting us on Halloween!” saidJack. “Halloween was called ‘All Hallows Eve’ a long time ago.”
    â€œI know,” said Annie. “We have to go!”
    â€œOf course,” said Jack. There was no way they could turn down an invitation from the master magician of all time. “But how do we get there?”
    â€œI’ll bet our invitation will take us,” said Annie, “like when we went to King Arthur’s castle on Christmas Eve.”
    â€œGood idea,” said Jack. He pointed to the fancy writing on the leaf. “I wish we could go— uh—”
    â€œTo where this leaf invitation came from!” said Annie.
    â€œRight!” said Jack.
    The wind began to blow.
    The tree house started to spin.
    It spun faster and faster.
    Then everything was still.
    Absolutely still.

J ack opened his eyes. A chilly wind blew into the tree house. Oak leaves swirled outside the window.
    â€œLook, we have our costumes,” said Annie. “I’m not a princess
or
a vampire.”
    Jack looked at their clothes. He was wearing a knee-length tunic and tights. Annie was wearing a long dress with an apron.
    â€œCamelot costumes,” Jack said softly.
    They looked out the window together. They were high in a huge oak tree in a thick forest.
    The afternoon sun was low in the autumn sky.
    â€œSo what do we do now?” said Jack.
    â€œThe invitation says we’re supposed to meet Merlin in the heart of the oak,” said Annie.
    â€œYeah, but what does that mean?” said Jack, scowling. “The heart of an oak?”
    â€œLet’s go down and try to figure it out,” said Annie.
    She carefully placed their invitation in a corner of the tree house. Then she and Jack climbed down the rope ladder. They stepped onto the leafy ground. In the fading daylight, they began circling the base of the giant oak.
    They walked all the way around, until they came to the rope ladder again.
    â€œWe’re back where we started,” said Jack. “We never found the heart.”
    â€œWait a minute,” said Annie. “What’s that?” She pointed to a long, thin crack in the bark of the tree trunk. A sliver of light seemed to be coming from the crack.
    Jack touched the bark around the light. He pushed. The crack got