A Perfect Time for Pandas: A Merlin Mission

what you’ve shown us—what you said to us just now—makes me terribly sad. The emerald makes me think how much Merlin loves Penny, and your flower makes me remember the joy she brought to everyone. And your gray feather makes me think how desperately Kathleen and I have been hoping we could undo the spell and bring Penny back to life. And your panda bread makes me think how I was supposed to protect Penny while Merlin was gone. But I didn’t care properly for her. I caused her harm instead…. I—I can’t change that now. I can’t, not ever, and I’m so sorry.” As Teddy wept, his tears fell onto the stone penguin.
    “Teddy,” said Annie, “please don’t …” But then she stopped.
    Peep
.
    “Hush, Teddy,” Kathleen said. “Stop crying. Listen.”
    Peep
.
    Teddy and the others looked at Penny. As they watched, the baby penguin’s body turned from dull gray to soft white. She tilted her head. Her eyes blinked.
    Peep
.



CHAPTER TWELVE
One Penguin at a Time
    “P enny! You came back! You are alive!” whispered Teddy.
    “Hurray!” Annie shouted.
    Teddy started crying again, but this time, he was laughing, too. Kathleen and Jack and Annie laughed with him, and the only tears now were tears of joy and relief.
    The little penguin blinked and looked at each of them, one at a time.
Peep! Peep! Peep! Peep!
she greeted them, waddling up and down the length of the table.

    Teddy picked up Penny. He rubbed his cheek against her fuzzy head. “It’s a miracle,” he said softly.
    Trumpet blasts came from the distance. Startled, they all looked toward the window. Dawn light was creeping into Merlin’s cottage.
    “I’m afraid you must go now,” Kathleen saidto Jack and Annie. “The sound of the trumpeters means that Merlin and Morgan have returned from Avalon. We could
never
explain all of this to them!” Kathleen laughed as she put the emerald, the flower, the feather, and the panda bread into a deep pocket of her cloak.
    Then she looked at Teddy. He was hugging Penny and grinning as if in a daze. “Let us bring Penny with us, Teddy,” she said. “We will lead Jack and Annie back to the tree house!”
    The sun was rising when they left the cottage. Kathleen’s cloak billowed behind her as she led them all through the orchard back to the tree house.
    “Good-bye,” said Teddy. “I—I thank you a million times. All of Camelot thanks you—or
would
thank you if they knew how you had helped me.”
    “Yes, yes, they would!” said Kathleen. She hugged Jack and Annie.
    “Wait,” said Jack, “what was the last part of the rhyme again, the part you just translated? Do you remember?”
    “Yes, I do,” said Teddy. Then he recited the words from memory:
    When these four things come together

with the one who cast the spell
,
the spell will then be broken

and all again be well
.
    “Oh, now I get it,” said Annie. “
You
broke the spell, Teddy. You broke it all by yourself. By feeling all the feelings you felt for Penny, you broke the spell.”
    “Yes,” said Kathleen. “I quite think that’s what happened. The four things that Jack and Annie brought back did not break the spell. They only served to awaken feelings deep within you, Teddy. And that is what really broke the spell.”
    “Yes. You must be right,” said Teddy. “I’m sorry you two had to go to such trouble to help me, and that Kathleen had to worry so. Not only Penny, but all of you suffered on my behalf.”
    “That’s okay. We loved all our missions,” saidAnnie. “We helped an elephant find her baby. We helped a funny dog find out that he was a great dog, and a president find hope, and some pandas find their way home.”
    “All because you were trying to help Penny,” said Kathleen.
    “True,” said Jack, stroking the little penguin. “It’s weird how that works sometimes.”
    The trumpets sounded again.
    “Hurry,” said Kathleen. “They’re getting closer.” Annie brushed her hand down Penny’s back.
    “Bye, Penny,” she said.
    Peep
.
    “And
peep
to you,” said Jack. He kissed the top of the penguin’s fuzzy head.
    Jack and Annie then scrambled up the rope ladder into the tree house. Annie grabbed the Pennsylvania book, while Jack hurried to the window.
    Sunlight poured into the tree house, making it blindingly bright. Trumpet sounds filled the fresh morning air.
    “I wish we could go home!” Annie said, pointingto a picture of the Frog Creek woods.
    “Farewell!” Teddy shouted from the dazzling