A Perfect Time for Pandas: A Merlin Mission

CHAPTER ONE
The Fourth Thing
    J ack heard knocking on his door.
Teddy and Kathleen were knocking! They were calling to him! He had to help them save Penny!
Jack tried to cross his room … but his legs wouldn’t move. He couldn’t get to the door!
    The knocking grew louder. “Jack?” his dad called.
    Jack opened his eyes. Where was he?
    “Jack, get up! School!” came his dad’s voice.
    What a dream
, thought Jack. He quickly sat up in bed. He’d overslept!
    “Jack? Are you awake?” said his dad, peeking into his room.
    “Yep, thanks, Dad!” said Jack.
    “Better hurry,” said Jack’s dad. He closed the door.
    Jack hopped out of bed.
Where’s Annie?
he wondered. They had planned to go to the tree house before school! Today was the day to find the fourth thing to save Penny.
    Jack pulled on his jeans and a T-shirt and rushed out of his room. Annie charged out of
her
room at the same moment. “We overslept!” she said.
    “No kidding,” said Jack. “Hurry! We have to get to the tree house before school starts.”
    “I know!” said Annie.
    Annie and Jack charged down the steps. They rushed into the kitchen.
    “Good morning, sleepyheads,” their mom said. “You have just enough time for breakfast. I made you egg sandwiches.”
    “Thanks, Mom,” said Jack. “But would you mind if we take them with us? We have to head to school early. We have a special project.”
    “You guys really seem to love school,” their dad said.
    “Yep, school’s great,” said Jack.
    Their mom wrapped up their sandwiches and put them in a paper bag. She handed the bag to Annie. “You two have a good day,” she said.
    “Thanks, Mom!” said Annie.
    Jack and Annie hurried to the front door and stepped outside into the moist spring air.
    “We have exactly twenty-five minutes before we have to head to school,” Jack said.
    “No problem,” said Annie. “Hold on.” She put their sandwiches in Jack’s backpack. “Okay. Let’s go!” They raced across their yard and charged up the sidewalk. They ran across the street and headed into the Frog Creek woods. They ran between trees full of new green leaves until they came to the tallest oak.
    The magic tree house was high up in the branches. Annie grabbed the rope ladder and started up. Jack followed. Inside the tree house they both sat on the floor, catching their breath.
    “Whew … it’s all still here,” gasped Annie.
    Dusty rays of morning light shone through the tree house window onto the three things they’d already found to help Teddy and Kathleen: a rose carved out of an emerald from India, a dried white and yellow flower from the Swiss Alps, and a goose-feather quill pen from President Abraham Lincoln.
    “I hope Teddy and Kathleen were able to translate the last part of the rhyme,” said Jack. “Do we have a new note?”
    They both looked around the tree house. “Aha!” said Annie. She pointed to a book and a small scroll lying in the corner.
    Jack picked up the book, and Annie grabbed the scroll. “Interesting,” said Jack. He showed the cover of the book to Annie.
    “Cool, China!” said Annie.

    “We’ve been there before,” said Jack. “Remember the emperor who burned the books and tried to have us killed?”
    “That was more than two thousand years ago,” said Annie. “Maybe we’re going to a different time now.”
    Annie unrolled their scroll and read aloud:
    Dear Jack and Annie
,
    We haven’t yet finished translating the last lines of the secret rhyme to reverse the statue spell Teddy cast on Penny. But we do know the fourth object we need to break thespell. And we know that it can be found in Southwest China. It is:
    A healthy food, grainy and good
,
baked with love, tough as wood
,
round in shape, the color of sand
,
given to those who have lost their land
.
    Once you have found the last object
,
please hurry to Camelot. Morgan and Merlin
will return by break of day tomorrow!
    —Teddy and Kathleen
    “Healthy food in China?” said Annie. “That shouldn’t be hard to find.”
    “But don’t you think it sounds kind of weird?” said Jack. “How can anyone eat something that’s tough as wood?”
    “Good question,” said Annie. “But we’ll have fun looking for it. I love the food we get with Mom and Dad at Chinatown Palace, don’t you?”
    “Yeah … but …,” said Jack.
    “Okay!” said Annie. “Now, did Teddy and Kathleen send a potion or anything else magical to help us?”
    Jack looked around the tree