CHAPTER THIRTEEN

They filed into a small room, which was very dark, since half the windows were boarded up. A flickering kerosene lamp sat atop a potbelly stove. A sagging bed sat in a corner. On second thought, maybe Elliot had seen a horror movie, one time, and it had definitely taken place right here. “Come in, come in, come in!” Dr. Thomas called, waving a spindly arm at the children. “Sit down, sit down, sit down!”

They all sat down in a big circle on the floor. Dust lay an inch thick on the creaking floorboards. A spider crawled over the spot where Elliot had been planning to sit down. He shuddered and moved to the other side of Uchenna.

“I’m all ready for you!” Dr. Thomas said, and began passing out tiny mason jars with clear liquid in them. Elliot smelled it and wrinkled his nose. Probably poison, he thought. But the tiny doctor said, “It’s sassafras tea! Not strictly legal, but it’s never hurt anybody, as far as I know.”

Not strictly legal? Elliot stared at the liquid. In other words, definitely poison, he told himself.

The professor raised his mason jar and said, “My young amigos, allow me to introduce you to Griselle Thomas. She is a very important woman. She is a keeper of history, a guardian of the land, and a protector of things that must remain unseen. . . .”

Uchenna and Elliot cocked eyebrows at each other.

“She will be our woodjin,” the professor went on. “Our guide to the Pine Barrens.”

“Except I won’t be hiking around with you,” Dr. Thomas said, “’cause I’m too darn old.” She raised her glass jar. “Bottoms up!”

Professor Fauna tipped his jar back and drained the sassafras tea. Miss Vole sniffed hers, smiled, and put it behind her. Elliot quickly did the same, as did most of the other children. But Uchenna drank her whole jar down.

Elliot stared at Uchenna. “How does it taste?”

“Weird,” Uchenna replied. “Like flat root beer.” She paused. “I kind of like it. Can I have yours?”

Elliot pushed his jar at her.

Professor Fauna began to speak. “Dr. Thomas lived in the Pine Barrens most of her life. Now she lives in Princeton, New Jersey, because the shopping is better.”

Dr. Thomas laughed. “I live there because my daughter is a doctor at the university. But I was born and brought up in this house. My mother lived in this house, and her mother lived in this house, and her mother lived in this house.”

“Yes, Dr. Thomas! Tell us about your amazing family!” Professor Fauna said.

Dr. Thomas nodded and smiled. “Well, my great-great-grandpa was of the Lenni-Lenapi Indian tribe. There’re Irish folks in my background. French. I used to visit my Jewish cousins every summer, outside of Philadelphia. No idea how we were related, but everyone said we were.” She laughed. “I kind of think of myself as a mix of every race, every people in New Jersey. I’m like a medley—a bunch of different songs, all flowing together,” she concluded.

“That’s what my daddy says about me!” Uchenna exclaimed. “Because my mom is from Lagos, in Nigeria. And my daddy is from New Orleans.”

Dr. Thomas nodded. “So you’re a medley, and I’m a medley—I guess we must be sisters!”

Uchenna said, “You’re too old to be my sister.”

Dr. Thomas suddenly stopped laughing. She crossed her thin arms and raised a threatening eyebrow.

Uchenna yelped, “Oh! Sorry!”

But Dr. Thomas had started laughing again.