A Perfect Time for Pandas: A Merlin Mission

Annie. “It’s the only way we can get out of here.”
    “Yeah …,” said Jack, letting out a long breath. He reached into his backpack and took out the small bottle that held the potion.
    “Five times our size,” said Annie. “You’re almost five feet tall. So you’ll be almost twenty-five feet tall. And I’ll be just a little shorter.”
    “Right,” said Jack.
    “But we can only use it once,” said Annie. “And we only have an hour.
And
we have to choose which way to go: back to Wolong Town or back to the panda center. If we go to town, we can keeplooking for the special food to save Penny—if the restaurants are still standing.”
    “Plus we can leave in the tree house whenever we’re ready,” said Jack.
    “Right,” said Annie. “But we’d have to leave Bing-Bing and the rest of the pandas behind. And we wouldn’t know what happened to them, and we wouldn’t be able to help.”
    Jack stared at the bottle. It was a terrible choice. Then he thought of something. “Remember on our last mission, you said that when we do the right thing, it feels like it somehow helps Penny—even if it seems to take us
away
from our goal?”
    Annie smiled. “Yep, and everything worked out on that mission, didn’t it?”
    Jack nodded.
    “Panda center!” they said together.
    “You take a sip first,” said Annie.
    Jack popped the tiny cork out of the bottle. He tilted his head back and took a quick sip. He lickedhis lips, then held the bottle out to Annie.
    Just as Annie took the bottle from Jack, the ground trembled with another aftershock.
    Jack started to shake.
    “Yikes!” cried Annie.
    The aftershock ended, and the ground stopped trembling. But Jack kept shaking.
    Annie yelled something, but Jack couldn’t understand what she was saying. His body was still quaking. He had started to grow!



CHAPTER SEVEN
Jack the Giant
    J ack felt as if someone was gripping his head—and pulling him up, and up, and up! He looked down and watched his arms and hands stretch out. His legs grew longer, his feet bigger.
    Jack rocked back and forth, then stood still. He had stopped stretching and growing. His shoes, clothes, and backpack had all grown bigger to fit his new body.
    “Jack!” Annie’s voice sounded distant.
    Peering through the dust, Jack looked around for Annie.
    “Jack! Down here!”
    Jack looked down. Annie was standing next to him. She only came up to his knees! “I dropped the bottle and it broke!” she said. “I didn’t get to drink the potion!”
    “Oh, no!” Jack boomed. Even his voice was bigger. “I’m so sorry.”
    “You’re huge!” said Annie. “How does it feel? Is it fun?”

    “Not yet,” said Jack.
    The earth trembled again with another aftershock. Annie lost her balance and fell. Jack leaned over and picked her up with both hands. He placed her on one of his giant shoulders.
    “Whoa,” said Annie. “This is cool! Now I’m taller than
you
! I can be your lookout.”
    From their new height, Jack and Annie could see over the rubble to the vast devastation. Trees down in the valley had been uprooted. The river was wild and raging. The mountaintops were shrouded in dark clouds.
    “It’s starting to rain again,” said Annie.
    “That’s the least of our problems,” said Jack. “I just hope the earthquake didn’t destroy the panda center.”
    “I know! Let’s hurry! We only have an hour!” said Annie.
    Annie held on to Jack’s head, and Jack held on to Annie’s legs. He lifted one giant foot and stepped over the boulder that had crushed their bikes. Picking his way through the rubble, he headed back tothe panda center. He stepped over fallen debris, power lines, and deep cracks in the road. His enormous sneakers crushed twigs and brush.
    Jack stepped over huge mounds of mud as if they were anthills. He kicked away boulders as if they were soccer balls. He tossed aside fallen trees as if they were broken branches. He leapt over a river of water coursing down from the mountain as if it were a rain puddle.
    “This is incredible!” said Jack.
    “Watch out!” said Annie. A boulder was rolling down the wet road toward them.
    Jack spread his legs wide, and the boulder went between them and kept rolling downhill.
    Jack and Annie laughed. “
Now
are you having fun?” she said.
    Jack nodded. “Maybe a little bit.”
    Suddenly a tree crashed across the road. Jack stumbled over it. He fell to the ground just as a wall of mud came cascading down the mountain slope.