“He’s not a priest,” Wunder said. “He’s a Minister of Consolation.”

“Consolation? Really?” Faye’s raccoon eyes considered the minister, who was shuffling along beside Wunder’s father and yelling, “What about the other mourners, you know? Quite unusual. Why even have a funeral?”

“I wonder,” she said, “if the person who hired him knows what that word means.”

Wunder almost smiled at this, but then he didn’t. He didn’t want to smile in the cemetery, on the day of his sister’s funeral, and he didn’t want to encourage Faye to keep talking.

“We could hear him from my grandfather’s grave,” she said. “He’s very loud. But I did like that one verse, ‘Behold! I tell you a miracle’!”

This last part, Faye screamed.

Wunder’s father and the minister jerked to a stop. They turned and stared at Faye. Wunder stared at her too.

Faye stared back, seemingly unfazed.

She waited until Wunder’s father and the minister finally started walking again, then continued, “It was very dramatic, like an incantation or a spell. Almost supernatural. I’m extremely sensitive to the supernatural. I’m sure you are too.”

Wunder didn’t reply.

“With a name like yours, Wundie,” Faye said, “you have no choice but to believe in signs and wonders.”

“Well, I don’t,” Wunder said. “I mean, I used to. But I don’t anymore. And it’s Wunder, not Wundie.”

Faye stopped her sneaker-dragging walk and stood stock-still. Wunder stopped too, before he really thought about it, and watched as Faye pulled a bobby pin from her cloak and pinned her bangs back. She studied him, eyes now unobstructed.

“You’re different now, aren’t you?” she said. “At the meeting you were so”—her face morphed into a crazy, huge grin and she pumped one fist in the air—“zippy.” The grin disappeared. Her fist sank slowly back to her side. “You’re not very zippy anymore.”

Wunder didn’t answer. He turned back to the shadowy path. He knew it was true. He used to be able to talk to anyone, especially about the miraculous. But now it was as if parts of him had been erased, blacked out, like he was a checkerboard inside. He couldn’t seem to find words. He didn’t even want to find them.

“Come along, young man!” The Minister of Consolation was shouting at him now. His white robe looked gray.

Wunder hurried forward, relieved to leave Faye behind.

He stayed close to his father as they headed into the woods. He could hear Faye behind him, her cloak snapping in the wind, her feet scuff, scuff, scuffing along, but he didn’t turn around. When they passed the dirt trail, he kept his head lowered so he wouldn’t look down it, down to the DoorWay House. He didn’t want to see it.

Then, very close to him, there came a sound: Caw!

Wunder ducked and threw his arms up. Behind him, Faye let out a high, sharp laugh. Something brushed past his head, something soft, light, feathery.

When he straightened up, he saw the bird flying down the trail that led to the DoorWay House. Its black shape disappeared behind the house’s tallest tower.