He was happy for Faye. He was happy for Davy. He was happy for Branch Hill. He was happy for himself.

But he was still waiting.

He was waiting for his mother. He was waiting for his father.

And they didn’t come.

Another hour passed, and Faye returned to the top of the hill. There were dozens of people there now. Ladders leaned against the DoorWay Tree. Flowers fell.

“Can you believe this?” Wunder smiled at Faye. Then he caught himself. “Oh, sorry,” he said. “I know you don’t like my excessive smiling.”

Faye shrugged. “It’s not so bad,” she said. “I think I’ve decided that the world needs people like you, Wunder. Zippy people. People who smile and mean it.”

“The world needs people like us, Faye,” Wunder told her. “The world needs people who believe in miracles.”

When he hugged her, she didn’t even protest. She hugged him back, there on Branch Hill, under the DoorWay Tree, where they had become friends.

Chapter 47

Wunder left after that. He couldn’t wait any longer. He wondered, as he hurried home with his arms full of flowers, if anything would be changed there.

But at home, the house was cold and heavy and dark, the same as it had been. Wunder’s heart sank as he saw the door to his parents’ room, closed.

But his mother wasn’t in there.

She was in his room.

She was sitting on the floor, a screwdriver in her hand. Her face was blotchy and shiny with tears. And the crib was in pieces all around her.

“Mom, are you okay?” Wunder asked, alarmed. He sank down next to her. “What happened?”

When she saw him, Wunder’s mother pressed her hand to her mouth and let out a long shaking sob. She didn’t speak. She just looked at him. She looked at him like she was seeing him for the first time in a long time, like she had missed him. Like she had desperately, desperately missed him.

She drew in a deep breath. “I thought it was time we took this down,” she said, gesturing around with the screwdriver. “I’m so sorry we left it in here for so long. I’m so sorry I left you for so long. I was—I was in such a dark place. I’ve never been anywhere that dark.” Then she started to cry. “But, Wunder, where have you been?”

Everything was so unexpected—his mother’s look and her words and her presence in his room—that it took Wunder a moment to realize what she was asking. It took him a moment to realize that he had been gone for an entire night.

But even when he did, it seemed like there was more to the question. There was so much she had missed, so much she didn’t know.

“The witch—” he started to say. “The tree—Milagros.”

He wanted to tell her. He wanted to tell her everything.

But after not saying anything for so long, it was hard to find the words right away.