Faye had been wrong about her mother. As soon as Officer Soto stopped in front of her house, Mrs. Lee came running out. She went right to Faye, grabbed her, and hugged her tight. Then she pushed her away to arm’s length, gave her a little shake, and pulled her close again. Officer Soto drove away before Wunder could see if Faye hugged her back.
Mrs. Baum did not hug Davy. She was waiting at the curb in front of his house, arms crossed. When they pulled up, she marched over to the police car and opened the door herself.
“Out, David Baum,” she ordered.
“See you, Wunder,” Davy said. He looked miserable as he climbed out of the car. But then he popped his head back in and smiled. “We did it,” he said, before his mother dragged him away.
Then they were at Wunder’s house. No one was waiting at the curb. No one came running out the front door. Officer Soto walked him inside.
Where he found his parents. Both of them.
For the first time, Wunder wanted to be alone in his room.
His mother had been sitting on the couch, but when he came in, she got to her feet. Her dark hair was unwashed and uncombed. She was wearing an old T-shirt and sweatpants, and her eyes had rings under them. She started toward him, then stopped. She didn’t seem to know what to do with herself.
“Wunder!” she said. “Where have you been?”
“It’s all right, Mrs. Ellis,” Officer Soto told her. “I picked them up at the train station. And they did have that tree branch, like the ticket agent said.”
“We’ve been so worried,” Wunder’s mother said. Her voice wasn’t her normal voice. It had so many edges, sharp and jagged. A broken voice. “How could you—what is going on with you? First breaking into the town hall, now this! Do you think we don’t have enough to worry about right now?”
Wunder’s father came over and gave him a hug. Then he said, very seriously, “What did you think you were doing, Wunder? Sneaking out of the house and traveling all that way—don’t you realize how dangerous that was? Where did you even get the money for the tickets? And what’s going on with the tree branch?”
Wunder didn’t know what to say. He had been so sure that everything would go according to plan, that his parents would find out about everything—the witch, the letters, the branch—but on the second of November. On the morning of the miracle. On that morning, he was sure that his mother would smile and hug him and his father would stay around for the whole day and the world would be changed again—this time for the better.
But things were not working out that way.
“I needed the branch,” he finally said. “It’s for something. For somebody.”
“Who?” his mother demanded.
“You don’t know her,” Wunder said evasively. “She’s new in town.”
“Is it the old lady?” Officer Soto said. “The one living in the DoorWay House?”
Wunder’s eyes opened wide. He knew he should deny it, but he was so surprised that he said, “How do you know about her?”
“She’s our newest resident,” the officer said. “And we’ve had some … concerns.” He paused. “Mostly from people visiting the cemetery. It seems she invites, well, funeral attendees in. She’s been sending letters too—or having them delivered, anyway.” He raised his eyebrows at Wunder. “Some people felt like maybe she was spying on them or planning to—to coerce them into giving her money or something. I don’t know.”
“And is she?” Wunder’s mother asked. “Is she spying on people and trying to get their money?”
Officer Soto shrugged. “Well, I don’t know about that. We’ve been trying to determine if she has any legal right to be in the DoorWay House, but the records from that far back are a mess. And she’s very old. I think she’s probably just lonely.”
“But you don’t know that,” Wunder’s mother pressed.
“No,” Officer Soto said. “I don’t know that.” He cracked his knuckles, one side, then the other. “And when I spoke with the police chief in Benedict, he did say there have been other attempts to take branches from that same tree. Apparently, it’s very rare and it’s worth a lot of money.”
“Did she tell you why she wanted the tree branch, Wunder?” Wunder’s father asked.
Wunder didn’t say anything. Officer Soto’s words were playing back in his head—she invites funeral attendees in. How many? he wondered. Everyone? All the friends and families of the dead that she read about in the obituaries?
“Did she ask you to do anything else, Wunder?” Wunder’s mother asked.
Wunder thought about the letters, the dozens of letters he had delivered. Was that what the letters were for? Was she planning to ask for money on the second of November? And the DoorWay Tree? Was she going to sell the branch?
He shook his head.
“You need to look into this,” Wunder’s mother said to Officer Soto. “This old woman—it sounds like she’s preying on grieving families. She’s got some sort of—of mental issue. A sociopath maybe.”
“We’re definitely addressing the issue,” Officer Soto assured her. “But, like I said, I think she’s a lonely old woman who doesn’t mean any harm. It’s probably best if the kids stay away from her though.”
“That’s not good enough!” Wunder’s mother was yelling now. “This woman is luring bereaved, heartbroken children to a condemned house and convincing them to commit crimes for her! What would she have asked them to do next? Steal from us? Break into a store? Vandalize the cemetery?”
“Austra, please,” Wunder’s father said, his voice calm but a strained, forced kind of calm. “I’m sure Officer Soto knows how to do his job.”
Officer Soto looked uncomfortable. “I know you’re concerned,” he said. “But, well, Wunder was having problems before. It’s not the first time I’ve had to come to your house.”
This wasn’t what Wunder’s mother wanted to hear. She started yelling again. She started to cry. And that made Wunder feel terrible, but he was still trying to understand what had been said and what it meant for him. What it meant for his miracle.
“What about the tree branch?” he asked. No one heard him over the yelling. “What about the tree branch?” he shouted.
Officer Soto tried to crack his knuckles again, but nothing happened. “Well, that was a piece of public property,” he said. “There are laws letting you cut down Christmas trees in certain areas and laws letting you chop trees for firewood, but there’s no—you can’t—” For a moment, Officer Soto’s mouth moved, but no words came out. His hands opened in a what-can-I-say gesture. Then he said, “You can’t chop up any tree you like. In a graveyard and everything. I have to—I’m going to have to take the tree branch. I can’t do anything else.”
After all that, Wunder wasn’t even going to get the branch. He wasn’t going to be able to give it to the witch.
But what did it matter anyway? What had he thought the branch was going to do? Why had he thought the witch wanted it? She invites funeral attendees in … spying on them … coerce them into giving her money.
It seemed like nothing had been what he wanted it to be. It seemed like everything had been exactly as it appeared to be.
The bird was just a bird.
The tree was just a tree.
And the witch? She was just an old woman living in an old, abandoned house.
Nothing more.
“I don’t know what to tell you right now, Wunder,” Wunder’s mother said. “I don’t know what to think. You would never have done anything like this before.”
Wunder’s exhaustion had caught up to him. The heaviness in the room, the weight of his mother’s grief and his father’s helplessness—it was all pressing against him so hard. He had tried to make things better, but everything was worse now, far worse. He didn’t want to try anymore.
“I guess we’ve all changed,” he said.
Then he went to his room, and he shut the door. He shut the door on all of them.