Leprechaun in Late Winter by Mary Pope Osborne

I t was a chilly afternoon in late winter. Annie was doing her homework on the computer in the living room. Jack sat on the couch and stared at a blank page in his small notebook. He heaved a sigh.
    “What’s wrong?” said Annie.
    “I have to write a story for school,” said Jack, “and I’m stuck.”
    “Well, you’d better get unstuck,” said Annie. “Mom and Dad said we have to get our homework done before we go to the theater with them tonight.”
    “I know,” said Jack. “But I can’t think of anything to write about.”
    “Why don’t you do what you love to do?” said Annie. “Go outside and write down some facts about what you see. Then turn them into a story.”
    “Hey, that’s a good idea,” said Jack. “Thanks.” He jumped up and grabbed his coat from the hall closet. Then, taking his pencil and notebook with him, he headed outdoors.
    The early March weather was sunny but cold and windy. Jack looked around. Then he wrote down some facts in his notebook:
    old snow in yard
sun sparkling on sidewalk
    Jack looked up again. Treetops swayed in the March winds. Jack started to write about them. But when he looked down at his notebook, he nearly dropped his pencil. On the page were two large, fancy letters:
    T K
    “Oh, man!” whispered Jack. He dashed back in the house and into the living room. “Annie! Look!” Jack held up his notebook. “Look at
this
!”
    Annie stared at the page. “Old snow … sun sparkling … Nice.…”
    “No, not that!” said Jack. “The letters!”
    Annie looked at Jack like he was a little crazy. “Uh … what letters?” she said.
    Jack looked back at the page. “They’re gone!” he said. “A big, fancy T and K!”
    “T and K?” said Annie.
    “Yes! For Teddy and Kathleen!” said Jack. “The letters just appeared on the page when I was outside! They were there! Really!”
    “I believe you,” said Annie. She jumped up from the computer. “Let’s go.”
    “Wait, I have to get my backpack from upstairs,” said Jack.
    “Forget it! Come on! The tree house must be waiting for us!” said Annie.
    “Okay, okay,” said Jack. He quickly shoved hisnotebook and pencil into a pocket of his coat.
    Annie grabbed her jacket. “Mom! Dad! We’re going to take a little break from our homework!” she called.
    “Okay, but make it short! We have to leave for the theater by seven!” their dad called from the kitchen.
    “We will!” said Jack.
    Jack and Annie headed outside. They ran over the melting snow in their front yard and up the sun-sparkling sidewalk. They charged across the street and into the Frog Creek woods. They hurried between the windblown trees until they came to the tallest oak.
    High in the branches was the magic tree house. Their friends from Camelot, Teddy and Kathleen, were looking out the window.
    “Hello!” called Kathleen.
    “Hi!” shouted Annie, waving.
    “Good trick with the magic letters!” Jack called.
    “We thought you’d like that!” said Teddy. “I just learned how to do it!”
    Annie grabbed the rope ladder and started up. Jack followed her. They climbed into the tree house and hugged the young enchanters.
    “So what’s up today?” asked Jack.
    “Where does Merlin want us to go now?” asked Annie.
    “Merlin wants you to go to Galway, Ireland,” said Kathleen.
    “Ireland? Cool!” said Annie.
    “Morgan sent us to Ireland once before—to the ninth century,” said Jack.
    “Yes. Well, this time you will go to Ireland in the
nineteenth
century,” said Teddy. “To 1862, to be exact. Your mission is to find an imaginative and creative girl named Augusta.”
    “Augusta doesn’t know yet what her talents are,” said Kathleen. “She lives in a time when it is not easy for girls to explore their creativity. Your mission will be to inspire her, so she can give her gifts to the world.”
    “What does that word mean exactly?” asked Annie.
“Inspire?”
    “’tis a beautiful word,” said Kathleen, her sea-blue eyes