Night of the New Magicians

In this Magic Tree House Merlin Missions adventure, siblings Jack and Annie live in the small town of Frog Creek and travel through time and space using a magic tree house. On this mission, Merlin the magician sends them to find four "new magicians" at a real moment in history, warn them about a threat, and learn their secrets.

One summer evening, Jack and Annie head out for ice cream when the crickets in the Frog Creek woods go silent, a sign that the magic tree house has returned. They climb into the tree house and find a letter from Merlin and a guide book titled Paris' World's Fair 1889. The letter warns that an evil sorcerer is plotting to steal the secrets of four "new magicians" at the World's Fair. Jack and Annie must find them, warn them, and learn their secrets. Each magician is described with a riddle: the Magician of Sound, whose voice carries a thousand miles; the Magician of Light, whose fires glow but do not burn; the Magician of the Invisible, who battles deadly enemies no one can see; and the Magician of Iron, who bends metals and triumphs over the wind. Jack is skeptical but checks their book of magic rhymes, a spellbook from their young sorcerer friends Teddy and Kathleen, confirming five unused rhymes remain. He wishes them to the fair, and the tree house transports them to 1889 Paris.

They arrive near the Eiffel Tower dressed in period clothing and follow crowds to the fairgrounds. They board a sightseeing train to survey the sprawling exhibits but find nothing connected to their mission. Near the Eiffel Tower, a girl's comment catches their attention: She tells her father that a device "can send a voice a thousand miles." Jack and Annie find the exhibit signed "Telephone: A New Invention by Alexander Graham Bell" and identify Bell as the Magician of Sound. A woman at the exhibit tells them Bell left after a strange messenger in a dark cloak and hood delivered an invitation. Jack and Annie conclude this messenger is the evil sorcerer. The woman adds that the cloaked figure asked for directions to the Hall of Machines.

Inside the Hall of Machines, a stadium-sized glass building filled with thousands of inventions, Jack overhears someone call an exhibitor "the Wizard of Menlo Park" and connects this to their guide book's entry on Thomas Alva Edison. At the Edison exhibit, a man named Henri demonstrates the phonograph, the first device to record and play sound, and the incandescent lightbulb. Henri explains that the filament heats up, but because there is no oxygen inside the glass, "the fire glows, but it does not burn." Jack identifies Edison as the Magician of Light. Henri tells them Edison left after receiving an invitation from the same cloaked messenger, who asked for directions to the Pasteur Institute.

Jack and Annie hire a horse-drawn carriage to the institute. During the ride, they memorize the Make Something Disappear rhyme so they can use it against the sorcerer: Jack learns the first line, Annie learns the second, and they practice silently to avoid triggering it accidentally. At the Pasteur Institute, a dark and locked building, a friendly night watchman explains that Dr. Louis Pasteur researches microbes, invisible germs that cause deadly diseases, and develops vaccines to fight them. Annie identifies Pasteur as the Magician of the Invisible. The watchman confirms that the cloaked messenger left an invitation for Pasteur, who departed for the Eiffel Tower. It is now twenty-five minutes to ten.

Unable to find a carriage, Jack and Annie accept a two-seater bicycle from a couple who appear somewhat odd: The man has a tall hat and a fake-looking beard, and the woman wears a veiled hat and speaks in a high, squeaky voice. As they leave, the man calls back that Jack and Annie will have to "spin like a whirlwind" to make it in time. They ride through Paris but quickly become lost. Annie connects the man's phrase to their unused Spin into the Air rhyme. They each read their line aloud and pedal hard, and the bicycle lifts off the cobblestones, rising above the rooftops. Annie steers toward the glowing Eiffel Tower, and the bike gently descends near its base.

A guard tells them a private party is being held at the top with Edison, Pasteur, and Bell as guests. The elevators are shut down, and the only way up is 1,652 steps. Since each magic rhyme can only be used once, they begin the grueling climb. Along the way, Annie reflects on how the sorcerer could reasonably mistake each inventor's achievements for magic when such technology was new. Near the top, they hear piano music and reach a small apartment that Jack identifies from the guide book as belonging to Gustave Eiffel, the French engineer who designed the tower using iron and glass to withstand strong winds. Eiffel matches the Magician of Iron. He welcomes them inside and introduces Dr. Louis Pasteur, Mr. Alexander Graham Bell, and Mr. Thomas Alva Edison, who asks them to call him "Alva." Annie warns the men about the evil sorcerer, but they laugh.

The men share their secrets. Eiffel credits a taste for adventure and a love of work. Pasteur says chance favors the prepared mind. Edison offers that genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. Bell says that when one door closes, another opens, and warns against staring at the closed door so long that one misses the new ones. Just as Annie finishes summarizing their secrets, a loud knock comes at the door.

Jack panics, but Eiffel opens it anyway. A clap of thunder and a ball of fire blast into the room, freezing the four inventors motionless. Jack begins shouting his line of the disappearance rhyme, but Annie does not finish hers. She recognizes the cloaked figure and laughs. The golden haze clears to reveal Merlin himself. He explains there was no evil sorcerer: He invented the threat to motivate Jack and Annie to use their full powers of thinking and courage. He was also the cloaked messenger who delivered invitations to all four men, gathering them so Jack and Annie could meet them in one place. Merlin tells them that problems help people focus and think more sharply. He asks Jack and Annie to recite the secrets, and they do. Merlin notes that the children not only learned the secrets but lived them during the mission.

Merlin points out that Jack's half-spoken rhyme cannot be left unfinished, and Annie completes it to send him back to Camelot. With a clap of thunder, Merlin vanishes. The four inventors immediately revive, and Eiffel attributes the commotion to the wind. He invites everyone onto the terrace, where they gaze out over Paris. Annie enthusiastically tells the men about future inventions, but they chuckle, thinking she has a delightful imagination.

Jack and Annie descend the stairs and return to the tree house in the park. They wish themselves home, and the tree house spins them back to Frog Creek. Walking home, they discuss how each inventor's secret applied to their own experience: They showed a love of adventure, perspired climbing the stairs, kept hope when the institute was locked, and used the guide book to prepare. Annie observes that the odd couple with the bicycle may have been Teddy and Kathleen in disguise, noting the fake beard, veiled face, and the hint to "spin like a whirlwind." The ice cream truck bell jingles in the distance, and Jack and Annie run out of the woods with three magic rhymes left for their next adventure.