1The air was warm.

2It was dawn. Far away a dog barked.

3“I think that’s Henry barking!” Annie said. “We did come home.” They both looked out the tree house window.

4“That was close,” said Jack.

5In the distance, streetlights lit their street. There was a light on in their upstairs window.

6“Uh-oh,” said Annie. “I think Mom and Dad are up. Hurry!” “Wait.” In a daze, Jack unzipped his backpack. He pulled out the castle book. It was quite wet. But Jack placed it back with all the other books.

7“Come on! Hurry!” said Annie, scooting out of the tree house.

8Jack followed her down the ladder.

9They reached the ground and took off between the gray-black trees.

10They left the woods and ran down their deserted street.

11They got to their yard and crept across the lawn. Right up to the back door.

12Jack and Annie slipped inside the house.

13“They’re not downstairs yet,” whispered Annie.

14“Shhh,” said Jack.

15He led the way up the stairs and down the hall. No sign of his mom or dad. But he could hear water running in the bathroom.

16Their house was so different from the dark, cold castle. So safe and cozy and friendly.

17Annie stopped at her bedroom door. She gave Jack a smile, then disappeared inside her room.

18Jack hurried into his room. He took off his damp clothes and pulled on his dry, soft pajamas.

19He sat down on his bed and unzipped his backpack. He took out his wet notebook. He felt around for the pencil, but his hand touched something else.

20Jack pulled the blue leather bookmark out of his pack. It must have fallen out of the castle book.

21Jack held the bookmark close to his lamp and studied it. The leather was smooth and worn. It seemed ancient.

22For the first time Jack noticed a letter on the bookmark. A fancy M.

23Jack opened the drawer next to his bed. He took out the gold medallion.

24He looked at the letter on it. It was the same M.

25Now this was an amazing new fact.

26Jack took a deep breath. One mystery solved.

27The person who had dropped the gold medallion in the time of the dinosaurs was the same person who owned all the books in the tree house.

28Who was this person?

29Jack placed the bookmark next to the medallion. He closed the drawer.

30He picked up his pencil. He turned to the least wet page in his notebook. And he started to write down this new fact.

31But before he could draw the M, his eyes closed.

32He dreamed they were with the knight again. All three of them riding the black horse through the cool, dark night. Beyond the outer wall of the castle. And up over a moonlit hill.

33Into the mist.