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Greg didn't understand the look Sara-the-Bee had when he pointed at the water and told her, shivering in the big jacket she had wrapped him up in, that they had to wait for Wirt. Then her friends had to grab her when she tried to go help him get back faster, and she was screaming and crying, but Greg didn't know why. Because all he'd said was that they needed to wait! Sara-the-Bee didn't strike him as the impatient type, but dad says that teenagers sometimes get really upset about things that don't need much upsetting about.
When the police and some doctors showed up, he tried to tell them that his brother was on his way, but they all just went quiet until one of the officers said something into their walkie-talkie. The doctors wrapped him and Jason Funderburker the Frog up in a metal blanket and got them in a cool bed with wheels, but they were leaving without Wirt . Greg was the leader when they left, and if his brother came back and was all alone, he would be scared! He tried to tell them, but then Sara elbowed one of the doctors really hard, and they had to give her a shot to calm her down, and they helped her into the ambulance with him and Jason Funderburker the Frog.
He hadn't meant to fall asleep, it's just the doctors put a heating blanket on him and Jason Funderburker, and they were both really, really tired. The next thing Greg knew, someone was screaming too close to him and squeezing his hand way too tight. He scrunched his face up before opening heavy eyes, and it took a moment to realize he was in the hospital. Dad sat next to him, and Greg was really happy to see him until he noticed Dad was crying. He was also the one who was squeezing his hand. But the screaming was still happening, and even though Dad played puppets with him all the time, he wasn't very good at not moving his mouth. Also, it was on the opposite side of the bed.
When Greg turned his head, he saw a shaking hand clutching part of his blanket so tight he could see all the little veins. That was Mom's hand! He started to sit up to ask why she was being so loud if she wanted to hide, and Dad must have just realized he was awake. He tried to say something, but it was caught in his throat. Why did he look so sad? Why was Mom screaming still? Well, it was starting to sound more like howling. Either she was turning into a werewolf or something else was going on. He leaned over the bed railing to see her better, even though Dad weakly tried to stop him.
Mom sat on the floor, all curled up, her crazy hair even crazier than usual. She was rocking, like Wirt sometimes didn't realize he did when things got really loud. But she was the one being really loud, so that didn't make sense. He couldn't see her face, but Greg figured out that she was crying, too, from how her shoulders jumped around. He had never seen her scream when she was crying before. When aunt Dora got sick, Mom cried, but it was much quieter. Then when aunt Dora got better, Mom cried a lot louder, but it was happy crying.
"Again, I am so sorry." A new voice said, and Greg noticed a police officer had been standing in the room the whole time. "We've got divers coming in to search in the morning, but—"
" GET OUT!" Mom suddenly shrieked, so loud and upset that it scared Greg a little bit. The police officer nodded at Dad and walked out.
"Mom?" Greg's voice didn't sound like how he meant it to, and his throat hurt. But the screaming stopped as Mom scrambled up from the floor on shaky legs. Her face was all red and wet, and the look on her face was one he had never seen before, like she was hurting really bad. It made him sad to see it; he didn't want Mom to be hurting! She looked at him as if she had just discovered treasure and brushed trembling hands through his hair before sitting on the bed to hug him super tight. She kept kissing the top of his head, but he could feel it when her lips curled back to cry again, her teeth bumping his skull.
"Calliope…" Dad started to say to Mom, his voice all sticky and rough. She didn't seem to hear him. Greg figured it would be best to wait before he asked where his brother was.
Police wanted to talk to Greg a lot, especially about the Beast, and kept asking weird questions. He said that Wirt killed the Beast by being super smart, but that just made them ask even more weird questions. Then he had to go back to the doctors so they could draw all his bumps and scrapes on a paper doll.
Everyone kept saying Wirt was dead. Greg had tried telling them that he was just taking a long time to get back (the Unknown was funny with time, he explained,) but Dad told him to stop because it was hurting Mom's heart. He didn't see her very often; apparently the doctors gave her some new medicine that made her want to sleep all the time. Greg wondered if it was the same medicine they gave Sara. He hoped his mom wasn't having to get shots every day; she was sad enough.
He and Sara had been hanging out a lot. Her mom said something about "babysitting," which didn't make any sense. It must have been a joke, because who sits on babies? Sara was also sad a lot, but she said Greg was really good at cheering her up.
They were in Sara's room; she was writing in one of her journals while Greg played Putt-Putt Joins the Parade on her computer. It was too cold to go to the park or color on the picnic table in Sara's backyard. He didn't want to admit it to Sara or Putt-Putt, but Greg didn't really like computer games.
"Hey, Sara-Bee?" Greg couldn't pay attention to the parade anymore and had a question he'd been wanting to ask. Sara looked up, eyes wide like she forgot he was there.
"Hm? What's up?" She went back to her journal, but Greg knew she was listening because her head was tilted.
"When you told everyone you were a girl, were there people who didn't believe you?" Greg spun the chair, but not too fast. He didn't want to be dizzy for a Serious Conversation.
"Wh–uh, what? I mean, yeah, some, like my grandparents and some teachers at school. Why?" She gasped, suddenly closing her journal and setting it beside her. "Is there, like, something you're feeling confused about? Like about, uh, yourself? As a boy? Oh man, this was easier with—"
"No, but how did you make them believe you?" Greg continued. Sara's face scrunched up a bit, confused. " You knew you were a girl, but people still didn't believe you even though it was true. How did you get people to believe you were right?"
Sara squinted as she thought before her eyes went wide again.
"Oh! You mean… this is about the Unknown?"
"Well yeah. What did you think I was talking about?" He slid from the chair to lie on the floor next to her.
"I just thought—never mind. My grandparents didn't believe me until I got older, 'cus a lot of times, adults think little kids are just playing pretend. One of my old teachers still doesn't believe me, which is dumb because, like, no one else thinks I'm not a girl. It bothered me a lot when I was younger, but then I realized it didn't matter if people believed I wasn't a girl because I knew the truth. And I had other people who knew the truth, too. If that makes sense. Did that make sense? I hope that made sense…" Sara wrung her hands, a lot like Wirt does, actually. Greg wondered if she was copying Wirt or if Wirt was copying her.
"Yeah, that makes sense! I know the Unknown's got Wirt. It's okay if Mom and Dad don't know that yet." Greg got nervous all of a sudden. Sara also said other people knew the truth, but what if–oh! Greg found himself wringing his hands too! If Wirt wrung his hands, and Sara wrung her hands, and Greg wrung his hands, then that could only mean— "You know it too, don't you, Sara-Bee?"
Sara stared down at him for a bit, prompting Greg to sit up. It seemed like the situation called for sitting up. She sighed and picked her journal back up, shuffling through the pages before turning it to show him. It was a really good drawing of Sara with her hair in a bunch of decorated braids and cornrows (he really liked that word) instead of the poofy afro she had in front of him. She was sitting in a field, carving a pumpkin as pumpkin folk watched. She was in Pottersfield!
"Yeah, Greg, I think I do."
"After Halloween, I started getting these like, I don't want to say visions because that sounds stupid, but I can't think of a better word right now." They had decided to brave the cold to walk down to the now-frozen river.
"Man, I wish Wirt was here. He would know a better word!" Greg sighed, missing his brother too much to pay much mind to the clouds his breath made.
"Yeah, he would, wouldn't he?" Sara cleared her throat before getting back on topic. "Anyway, I saw myself in that field before you told me about the Unknown! And when you said "the Unknown," it was like I knew about it? But I don't know about it! It was like… not like I've been there, but that I'm going to be? And I'm getting memories of things that haven't happened yet?"
"Sara-Bee!" He shouted, grabbing her coat sleeve to stop her. "You're a Sara-Witch!" It all made sense! She was seeing the future after they figured out how to go back to the Unknown! And that drawing of her looked very witch-like. A good kind of witch, not an Adelaide kind of witch. "You should try doing spells!"
"I'm not a witch, Greg. Or, well, I would know if I was a witch. Right? I think that's how it works. I mean, I did have an ancestor accused of witchcraft, but like, everyone was being accused of witchcraft back then." She started to seem less sure as she spoke.
"There's lots of witches in the Unknown! Me and Wirt only met two, but Beatrice said there's lots and lots. Maybe witches have special ways to get to the Unknown!" He dashed forward. "Come on, Witch Sara! You need to practice your spells at the river!"
"But I'm not–Greg, I'm not a—oh, whatever . Slow down!" Sara caught up quickly, snatching his jacket as he slipped on some ice. "Hey, careful, dude! I have, like, a duty of care or something."
They made their way to the river, slower than Greg would have preferred. He was trying to come up with a song for Witch Sara when said Witch Sara stopped suddenly. They were at the gate to the cemetery, and people were digging in there. Dad told him that, since everyone thought Wirt was dead, they were gonna do a funeral. It bothered Greg, but seeing people digging up a grave for his brother? For the first time, he briefly wondered if Wirt really was dead. He pulled hard on Sara's sleeve, and they kept walking.
There wasn't much to see at the river, and it was too cold to stay out. Sara said she would ask her mom about her super great grandma witch, and the next day they could go to the public library to find stuff about the Unknown. They moved to the other side of the street when walking past the cemetery again, but they still held each other's hands a little tighter.
Greg heard his mom shouting from the end of the street. He briefly wondered what made her so mad, madder than he thought Mom's could be, when a man's voice started shouting, too. It wasn't Dad; they would never shout at each other anyway. Sara slowed them both down, pushing Greg behind her as the front of the house came into view. There was a fancy car parked crooked and blocking the driveway, still running with the door wide open.
The man was tall, with black and gray shiny hair cut short. He looked a little bit like Wirt, with the same skin that reminded Greg of the old-looking maps Dad collected, and had the same spidery hands, but not as much as Mom looked like Wirt. It was enough for Greg to realize the man was Wirt's dad. And Wirt's dad was shouting at Mom, standing close enough to look down at her.
It was scary, but Mom didn't seem scared. Her fists were clenched tightly at her sides, and even from the driveway, Greg could see her jaw was all tight as she glared hard at Wirt's dad. She looked like she was gonna hit him.
"—and you have no right to keep me from going to my own son's funeral!" Wirt's dad yelled in Mom's face, probably getting spit all over her.
"I have every right, Nathaniel! Whittaker hasn't been your son since you happily gave up any custody of him! You're lucky I even bothered to let you know!"
" You bothered to let me know? You?! No, I got a call at work from the police telling me my kid was dead!" He loomed over Mom more, his face getting red. Sara turned Greg around, pressing his face against her tummy and covering his ears. It didn't do much, but he managed to peek around her enough to see Dad running up.
" HEY!" He shouted. There was so much shouting; if Wirt was there, Greg knew he wouldn't like it one bit. Mom sometimes had to pick him up from school early because they made him go to a pep rally. Greg had never been to a pep rally, but Wirt didn't talk much after them, so there must be lots of shouting.
Dad pushed Wirt's dad, Nathaniel, away from Mom and stood between them. Dad was a lot bigger than him, and Nathaniel backed up a little bit. Sara really wasn't doing a super good job at keeping Greg from watching. Was Dad going to get in a fight?
"Who's this ugly fucker?" Nathaniel sneered at Dad, pointing at all the old scars on his face. That made Greg really mad. Dad wasn't ugly! He had a glass eye and battle scars from a mean dog! No one called Dad ugly and a swear! Greg squirmed away from Sara before she could react.
"Don't call my dad ugly!" Greg tried to run forward and protect Dad like he'd done for Mom, but Sara got a hold of him again before he could. Nathaniel turned to look at him, but Dad grabbed a fistful of his shirt and pulled him back around.
" Leave." He barely heard Dad growl. Greg would never have thought of Dad as scary before, but he could see it now. He was like the Woodsman when he stood in front of the Beast to protect him and Wirt and Beatrice. He looked like a big angry grizzly bear about to eat a scraggly wolf for looking at his cubs wrong.
Nathaniel laughed, raising up both hands. Dad kept his hold on his shirt as Mom went around them both and rushed toward Greg and Sara. She pulled them both more into the yard, but still not close to the door. She and Dad nodded at each other, and Nathaniel was released. He brushed himself off as if Dad had gotten dirt on him and backed up more.
"Alright, alright! I'm sorry, man. I'll leave! I had no idea Callie had other kids, or a Neanderthal…boyfriend? Husband?" He kept his eyes on Dad, but Dad didn't say anything. He just pointed at the fancy car with his chin. Nathaniel still wanted to be mean, though. As he turned to leave, he looked at Mom, pointed at Greg and Sara, and said, "I hope those ones aren't retarded, too."
Dad punched Nathaniel before Mom could cover his eyes. Wirt's mean dad crumpled against the brick wall of the house. Then Dad picked him up by the back of his shirt and dragged him back to his fancy car. Mom ushered Greg and Sara inside before they could see what happened after, but Dad came back a minute later, slamming the front door behind him.
Mom was quiet, gripping the kitchen counter with her head hanging low. It sounded like she was counting her breaths. Dad didn't look scary anymore, just upset and tired. He gestured for Greg and Sara to follow him into the living room and sat them down. Greg realized suddenly that Sara was shaking.
"Hey, I know that was scary, and I'm sorry. Neither of you should have seen that." Dad started. Sara hugged Greg a little tighter. She hadn't let go of him since she'd kept him from confronting Nathaniel. "Sara, I'm gonna call your mom and let them know what happened, but I would like you to stay here for a little bit. You don't have to, but—"
"C-can I spend the night, actually?" Sara asked, her voice thin. "I just–I wanna stay with Greg. If that's okay?" Dad was already nodding.
"Of course, as long as your mom is okay with it. You're always welcome, Sara." Something soft in his tone made Greg think he wasn't just thinking about what happened with Nathaniel. Dad had been very Dad-ly with Sara after Halloween, especially after Greg told him about how she tried to find Wirt in the river.
Sara's mom had come over really fast, hugging her a lot and crying a little. She said it was okay for Sara to sleep over and went back home to get her pajamas and a few of her notebooks, and something called "pads" that Sara got really embarrassed about for some reason.
Sara changed into a pretty night dress and wrapped her hair up in an equally pretty headscarf before they both settled down in Greg's room. Greg asked if she could wrap up his hair, but she said she only had one headscarf. Then she taught Greg about how her hair was different from his because she was Black, and then she talked about all the different braids her mom knew how to do. That made Greg remember the drawing of Sara in the Unknown.
"Oh!" Greg started, looking under his bed, "I had an idea!" He found the shoebox he was looking for and wiggled his way back out. He scooted over to where Sara was feeding Jason Funderburker crickets.
"What's that?" She asked, then jumped as Jason Funderburker snatched the cricket from her fingers. Greg opened the box, pulling out the colorful drawings.
"It's my Unknown box! It's where I keep all my drawings of people me and Wirt met in the Unknown and of our adventures! I was thinking, since you're getting witch visions of the Unknown, maybe you'll recognize some of them!" He spread the many drawings out, and Sara was quick to examine them.
"These are the Pumpkin Folk," She picked up the drawing Greg made of his Pottersfield friends, then picked up another with the big pumpkin head guy. "And this is… Enoch? But he's actually a cat. This is his maypole costume." Greg gaped up at her. It was working! Sara really was a witch! He snatched up one of his favorites and showed her.
"What about this one?" He pushed the paper into her hands.
"Hm, a bluebird? I know you mentioned having a bluebird friend named Beatrice. When I think about her name, there's a redheaded girl in my head, but not a bluebird."
"Oh! Of course! Because you're seeing the times you'll go to the Unknown in the future, and Beatrice must have broken the bluebird curse! So you'll meet her when she's human!" He took the drawing and handed her another one.
"The Huntsman." She said instantly. Greg looked back at the drawing, confused.
"No, that's the Woodsman! He helped us fight the Beast!" He pointed at the axe in the Woodsman's hand. "See? Wirt used that to get me out of the Edelwood!" Maybe the Woodsman had a secret twin brother? He was about to ask, but Sara wasn't paying attention, staring at the drawing he had left in the box. She was holding it before Greg could tell her not to.
"This…" Her voice was shaky again, and her eyes started to get teary.
"That's the Beast," Greg whispered. He didn't like that drawing, but he kept it for "dockentation purposes." And because sometimes he made fun of it after a bad dream.
"No, no, it's–I mean, yes, but that's not the Beast I know. " Her hand brushed over the drawing like she was trying to rub it away to reveal another face underneath.
"Well… who's the Beast you know?" Greg asked. The idea of another Beast made him feel cold and scared. Sara turned her head, meeting his eyes. She was crying, but she was also laughing. She looked happy, not sad or scared.
"It's Wirt. The Beast I know is Wirt ."