Moonlight on the Magic Flute: A Merlin Mission Read Free Page B

Majesty say “rise.”
    Maybe I’m not bowing low enough,
Jack thought. He bent over a few inches more. To his horror, the silver flute slipped out of his coat pocket! It clattered to the floor. As Jack grabbed it, his hat fell off.
    The imperial children snickered.
    Clutching the flute, Jack reached for his hat with his other hand. But when he grabbed his hat, his wig fell off! Jack reached for his wig, but powder got in his nose, and he sneezed. As he sneezed, he slipped on the polished floor and fell to his knees. Gripping his wig, his hat, and his flute, Jack scrambled back up to his bowing position. But he still hadn’t heard Her Imperial Majesty tell him to rise!
    The imperial children laughed loudly. Jack even heard Her Imperial Majesty laughing!
She probably can’t speak because she’s laughing so hard,
thought Jack. He didn’t know what to do. His face was burning hot.
You’ve got to get out of here!
he told himself.
    Still bowing, Jack began backing up with little steps—until he bumped into a wall.

    As the imperial children howled with laughter, Jack turned his head and saw Annie peeking out from a doorway, giggling. He backed over to her.
    Annie grabbed his coattails and pulled him out of the Great Rosa Room.
    The imperial children clapped and cheered. Jack heard one of the girls say between gulps of laughter, “Who was that fool?”
    “That was Jack of Frog Creek!” answered the small boy in his high voice. And they all laughed loudly again.

A nnie was laughing so hard that she could barely stand up. “What—what happened to you in there?” she said. “After I curtsied, I left. When I looked back in the room, you were still bowing!”
    “She didn’t say ‘rise’!” said Jack.
    “Yes, she did, dummy!” said Annie.
    “Well, I didn’t hear her!” said Jack. He turned away from Annie and started walking as fast as he could. He strode through one elegant room into another. He didn’t know where he was.
These rooms all look the same,
he thought angrily,
with
stupid velvet furniture and stupid gold-trimmed walls.
    “Jack, wait!” Annie called. She hurried after him.
    Jack kept walking, desperate to get far away from the scene of his disaster. Finally he came to a door that led outside. He opened it and stepped out onto a long marble terrace overlooking the back of the palace. Bright silvery light from a full moon shone on a huge garden.
    Jack stood in the chilly air, trying to calm down. He took a deep breath. He desperately wanted to run back to the tree house and go home.
    “Jack!” Annie slipped out to join him. “I’m sorry I called you a dummy,” she said. “Are you okay?”
    “I didn’t hear her say to rise,” said Jack. “And the flute fell out of my coat and my hat came off … and my wig … and I sneezed and I slipped…. Come on, let’s leave. We can go down these stairs.”
    “No, we can’t leave now,” said Annie. “ We havea mission from Merlin. Don’t feel bad. Hardly anyone saw what you did.”
    “Yeah, except Her Imperial Majesty and all those imperial kids,” said Jack. “They all laughed at me.”
    “They weren’t being mean,” said Annie. “You were funny. Here, give me your wig.”
    Jack handed Annie his wig, and she put it back on his head and straightened it.
    “Your hat,” she said.
    Jack gave her his hat, and she placed it over his wig. “Hide the flute,” said Annie.
    Jack stuck the silver flute back into his pocket. “I don’t know what we need this flute for,” he said. “There’s nothing dangerous here. I don’t get this whole mission.”
    “We’ll figure it out. Let’s just go back in,” said Annie. She pulled Jack back inside the palace.
    “So what do we do now?” asked Jack.
    “We should find the party we were invited to,” said Annie. “That must be what Merlin wanted usto do.” She pointed across the room. People were streaming through a set of doors into another room. Loud party noises came from inside: the chatter