The clock said it plainly. It wasn't later than ten o'clock. Unfortunately for one eight-year-old boy and his seven-year-old sister, it also wasn't anything but cold and clammy outside on this particular Saturday. The two had already finished 3 games of checkers and two games of Shoots and Ladders, and for now even Annie couldn't think of anything better to do.
So they sat, chins in hands, and watched their chilly-looking street in Frog Creek, Pennsylvania longingly from the living room window.
After fifteen minutes were lost to the abysses of childhood boredom, Annie gasped and turned to her brother in excitement.
"Jack!" She said eagerly.
Jack looked at her curiously, his eyes growing clearer behind his glasses.
"Yeah, Annie?"
"We should go to the tree house! I have a feeling that 'M' person will be there today." Her blue eyes sparkled.
Jack thought it over for a moment, then nodded, a little apprehensive over finally meeting the 'M' person. It would be strange, meeting the person who owned the tree house and all those books…Jack mentally shook himself.
"Sure. I'll get my pack, the Medallion and the Bookmark. You get our rain stuff."
As Annie nodded, Jack hopped up the stairs and grabbed the things from his room, double-checking to make sure his notebook and a pencil were in his pack. He never went anywhere without being able to take notes about important things. After he grabbed them, he scooped the Medallion and the Bookmark out of his drawer.
The Medallion was reddish-gold, with a formal 'M' imprinted on one side and some other, stranger symbol on the opposite side.
The bookmark was dark blue leather, with the same things on either side.
There was only one other place he or Annie had seen either symbol – the tree house. That same 'M' was engraved into the plank floor. He shrugged simply at the recollection and continued threw both items into his pack. Once he had everything they needed, he heard Annie calling from downstairs.
"I've got our rain stuff!"
"Coming down!" Jack called back, slinging the pack over his shoulder. He trotted downstairs and met up with Annie. She was already in her rain slicker and sneakers, and hopped in place impatiently as he got dressed.
After both of them were done up in their rain gear, they opened the door and stared outside, their breath instantly turning into mist. It wasn't raining or snowing, but the icy fingers of white humid mist crept over the neighborhood, seeming to strangle it. Jack shivered.
Suddenly Annie let out a cry. "CHAAARGE!" She joyfully shrieked, and plunged out of the house, tearing towards the woods.
Jack followed quickly, his shoes slapping the soggy hardtop.
Ten minutes later Jack and Annie stood at the base of the tallest oak in the woods. Birds were chirping cheerfully thorough the cold as they looked up the dangling rope ladder.
"Well, up we go," Annie said, her teeth chattering just a little. She scampered up the ladder, now oblivious to the wet cold. Jack smiled at his little sister and followed a little bit more slowly.
The tree house was as packed with books as ever, pushed into every possible nook of the small rain shelter. Both kids looked around the chilly place. No books were suspiciously open today, and there weren't any that seemed to be placed strangely. They were free to browse the stacks.
"Jack, Does this one look good?" Annie asked after a few minutes, holding up a thin, laminated book to the weak sunlight.
Its cover was of a teenage boy with amazingly long ears and strange hair looking curiously out at them, a small orange…something…perched on his shoulder. The orange thing was smirking. The title was large, jagged, and bold. It proclaimed, "Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy".
"It has your name, Jack, only minus the 'C'!"
"Let's look inside." Jack said, interested, and Annie handed him the book. "It's got a map!" He said, pulling out the large foldout.
"Have you heard of any of those places?" Annie asked, looking over his shoulder. "They sure sound funny to me."
Jack turned the map sideways as he pronounced the unfamiliar names. "Sentinel Beach, Gol and Maia's Citadel, Spider Cave, Fire Canyon…they are funny. I haven't heard of them, either."
Frowning a little bit, he flipped the page and wound up with an image of somewhere called Sandover. It looked sunny and warm. Or, exactly the opposite of where they were now.
Jack and Annie looked at each other and grinned through the cold.
"I wish we could go there," Jack said decisively, pointing at the picture of Sandover.
Suddenly, the wind began to blow, and the tree house began to spin. It started slowly, then spun faster and faster. Then, everything was still. Absolutely still.
Jack looked up from his newfound position on the floor- the spinning had knocked him to the ground. It had been a much rougher trip than usual.
Annie was already looking out the window, partially blocking the now bright sunlight.
Jack stood up and joined Annie at the window, squinting to shield his eyes.
The air was warm and sweet with the smell of the jungle and of the ocean that was just beyond the small village their window overlooked. From this distance, the huts looked friendly and full of sunlight, and one even stuck out over the water like it was on top of a ship.
"Where are we, Jack?" Annie asked in wonder. She'd shrugged out of her sweater and raincoat, as a T-shirt was perfectly good for this kind of weather.
Jack looked around for the Jak and Daxter book after he'd ducked out of his own cold weather clothes, but it was gone. There was something new on the wall, though- a copy of the map they had seen in the book.
Jack quickly walked over, pushing his glasses up to looked over the aging paper. This copy seemed older than the foldout they had just used.
"Because that's Sandover, this has gotta be the…" His finger traced the rough paper, and he paused. "This is the Forbidden Jungle." He swallowed hard, wondering about all of the possible very good reasons why it could be forbidden. He couldn't worry long, though, because Annie was already beginning to climb down the ladder.
"Let's go!" She cried cheerfully, ready to make her way to Sandover.
Jack began to follow, but hesitated. After a moment, he gently unstuck the map from the wall, and lowered himself onto the rope ladder. As he swung out on the ladder, he almost felt that he could hear his name being called or screamed in the distance, but he ignored it. There wasn't any point to getting himself more worried about what they would find.