Carnival at Candlelight

another.
    Lit by flashes of lightning, Neptune’s face looked as if it had been weathered by thousands of years of wind and sand and waves. He had deep-set eyes, craggy cheeks, a white beard, and tangled hair hanging to his shoulders.
    “Neptune, save Venice from the flood!” cried Jack.
    “Please!” called Annie. “Save the Grand Lady of the Lagoon!”
    Neptune looked at them for a moment. Then, with his powerful arms, he lifted his spear and thrust it down into the waves. When the spear pierced the surface of the water, the sea made a gurgling sound—and then a long
slurp
, as if water were flowing down a drain.
    The thunder and lightning stopped. The storm-tossed waves grew calm. The wind died to a gentle breeze. The clouds parted, and the stars shined brightly.
    Neptune raised his spear. He nodded to Jack and Annie and the lion.
    “Thanks!” cried Annie.
    “Thanks!” shouted Jack. The lion roared again.
    Then Neptune began to sink back into the sea. His long arms … huge shoulders … thick neck … craggy face … floating hair—all disappeared. The prongs of his spear sank below the surface of the water.
    The Ruler of the Seas was gone. Only a shimmering whirlpool swirled in the moonlight.

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T he gondolier silently helped Jack and Annie into the boat. Then he untied the gondola and pushed off from the landing.
    As the boat glided through the shallow waters, Jack looked back at Venice. Bathed in early sunlight, the Grand Lady of the Lagoon
did
seem timeless.
    The gondola moved around the bend and up the narrow canal near the walled garden. The gondolier tied the boat to a striped pole. He then offered his gloved hand to Annie to help her outof the boat. Annie climbed out and the gondolier offered his hand to Jack.
    As the gondolier helped Jack onto the landing, the boat rocked in the water. Jack tripped, pulling the glove off the gondolier’s hand.

    “Oh, sorry,” said Jack. As he handed the glove back, he gasped.
On the gondolier’s finger was a pale blue glass ring.
    Before Jack could say anything, the gondolier pulled his glove back on and pushed the boat away from the landing.
    “Hey—hey!” Jack sputtered. “Teddy? Kathleen? Wait! Come back!”
    Neither of the masked people looked back at Jack and Annie.
    “Teddy and Kathleen? Where?” said Annie.
    “His glove—it came off! There was a blue glass ring on his finger!” said Jack.
    Jack and Annie watched the gondola disappear into a blaze of sunlight shining on the water. Had it just glided around the bend? Or had it vanished altogether?
    “Are you sure it was them?” said Annie.
    “Well, I guess
anybody
could wear a glass ring,” said Jack. “But still…”
    “Maybe Morgan and Merlin told them to watch over us,” said Annie.
    “Yeah, to make sure we’d be safe,” said Jack.
    “And be patient and follow instructions,” said Annie.
    “Right,” said Jack. “Well, Venice wasn’t destroyed by a flood. So I guess we passed our first test.”
    “I think we did,” said Annie.
    With Lorenzo’s canvas tucked under his arm, Jack led the way into the walled garden. Annie followed him to the rope ladder.
    When they climbed into the tree house, Jack pulled Merlin’s letter from his backpack. Heunfolded it and pointed to the words
Frog Creek.
    “I wish we could go there!” he said.
    “Good-bye, Grand Lady of the Lagoon!” said Annie.
    The wind started to blow.
    The tree house started to spin.
    It spun faster and faster.
    Then everything was still.
    Absolutely still.

    A nippy wind rustled the Frog Creek trees. Jack and Annie were wearing their jeans and jackets again. It was dawn.
    Annie sighed. “I wish we’d had a little more time to visit Venice,” she said.
    “I’m glad Lorenzo gave us his painting to finish,” said Jack. “That’ll be like living our trip all over again.”
    “Cool,” said Annie.
    “We’d better leave Morgan’s research book here,” said Jack. He pulled the book out of hisbackpack and put it on the floor. “And this.” He took out Teddy and Kathleen’s book of magic rhymes.
    “Wait,” said Annie. “Don’t you think we should take the book of rhymes with us? For safekeeping?”
    Jack nodded. “We can’t use them in Frog Creek,” he said. “We’ll just keep it safe till we go on our next mission.”
    “That’s what I was thinking,” said Annie. “Come on. Hurry, before Mom and Dad wake up.”
    Jack put the book of rhymes back into his pack. Carrying