Faye’s voice had grown faster, faster and higher, as she recounted all the things that had made Wunder so confused last night, all the things he had been trying not to think about.

“They aren’t miracles!” he said. “They aren’t anything. There isn’t—”

“Miss Lee!” Vice Principal Jefferson was barreling down the hallway. “Miss Lee, you are in violation of the dress code. Take off that cape!”

“We’ll talk later, Wundie.” Faye spun away from him, moving faster than he had ever seen her move. “It’s a cloak!” she shrieked.

Then she ran down the hallway, her black cloak streaming behind her.

Chapter 8

As Wunder finished putting away his books, he tried not to hear Faye’s words playing over and over in his mind. The verse. The bird. The witch.

He wished he had never talked to her. He slammed his locker shut and picked up his backpack. The Miraculous was still inside, still weighing him down.

Outside, Tomás and Davy were waiting in their usual spot by the stairs.

“Hey, Wunder,” Tomás said. “Ready to go?” Davy hovered by his elbow, smiling hopefully. “Come on. I want to try to get the high score.”

Wunder didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t go play video games right now. It was like Tomás didn’t remember what had happened. Or didn’t care. He started to back away from his friends.

“Wait, Wunder.” Davy spoke for the first time. His voice was a nervous squeak. “We haven’t—I haven’t seen you in—in forever. And I wanted to talk to you about—”

“Sorry, Davy,” Wunder said. “I need—I have some things I have to—sorry.”

He practically ran down the school steps. As he hurried away, he saw Faye at the bike rack. He thought again about what she had said. He opened his mouth to yell her name.

Then he closed it again. He walked faster, hands in his pockets.

He needed to be alone. He needed to get rid of The Miraculous. Now.

The sky was clear and the afternoon sun was so bright that the world looked washed out and unfamiliar as Wunder stumbled down the sidewalk, away from school. The voices of kids at the bike rack and by the buses faded behind him. He wasn’t headed toward home. He wasn’t exactly sure where he was going.

In town, things were quiet, and there was hardly any traffic. Everyone was still inside, finishing the afternoon’s work.

Wunder passed the town hall, a brick building with a fountain and a few saplings out front. Then he hurried past Safe and Sound Insurance, where his mother worked, and the Snack Shack, where Tomás and Davy were probably already shooting aliens.

He passed the library and the pharmacy and stores he had never been in. There were trash cans here and there on street corners, and he thought about tossing The Miraculous into one, but he didn’t. None of them seemed like the right place.

He went through the downtown, through the residential section—and then he was in the woods.