The old woman stepped close to the pile and leaned down. "Wendell!"
The mound stirred for a moment but then became totally still.
"Wendell! Your father is worried sick about you," Granny Relda scolded. "Now come out of there this instant."
"No!" a voice shouted from the depths of the rabbits. "You're going to take me to jail. I won't go."
"No one is taking you to jail, Wendell," Granny said. "All we want to do is take you home."
The mound stirred and shivered. A brief note from the boy's harmonica was heard and suddenly the rabbits rushed off in different directions.
"Run, you dirty little carrot-munchers," Puck shouted after them. "But know today that your kind has made an enemy of the Trickster King!"
When they were all gone, Wendell lay at the family's feet. Granny stepped forward, helped the boy up, and got him into his coat.
"I didn't do it," he insisted.
"Then why did you run?" Sabrina asked.
"And send rabbits to eat us! I'm a seven-year-old girl," Daphne said. "Do you know how important bunny rabbits are to me?"
"I didn't think you'd believe me. I knew how it looked, but I was trying to stop them," the boy pleaded. "If I had gotten in trouble, it would have ruined all my work so far."
He shoved his hand into his coat pocket and pulled out a business card. He handed it to Granny. The old woman read it, looked impressed, and nodded at him.
Sabrina took the card and read it closely. It said, WENDELL EMORY HAMELIN, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR. At the bottom of the card was a magnifying glass with a huge eye inside it.
"So, you're a detective," Granny Relda said with a smile.
Daphne snatched the card and studied it. "I want a business card, too."
"Something terrible is happening inside the school," Wendell said. "I'm trying to find whoever's responsible and stop them."
"We know. Why don't you tell us everything on the way back to the school," the old woman said. "Your father is there waiting for you."
The group trudged back through the forest and Wendell told them all he had learned.
"I was leaving the school yesterday, when I looked back and saw something happening in Mr. Grumpner's room," he said, stopping to blow his nose into his handkerchief. "Sorry, I've got really bad allergies."
"It's OK, go on," Granny Relda replied.
"Like I was saying, Grumpner fell backward over some desks and at first I thought he might be sick, but then a monster attacked him. I was kind of far away, so I couldn't really see, but it looked like a giant spider. It grabbed Grumpner and started covering him in its sticky web. Well, I remembered from science class that birds are a spider's natural predator."
"What's a predator?" Daphne asked.
"It's like a hunter," Sabrina replied.
"So, I got out a harmonica I'd bought and blew into it as hard as I could," the boy continued. "I didn't even know if it would work. Dad told me to never do it. He said musical instruments were off limits on account of his past. Please don't tell him I bought the harmonica. He'll get real mad."
Granny took his hand. "Don't worry, Wendell."
He relaxed and continued. "So, I just thought of birds and before I knew it the sky was full of them. They were looking at me like I was their leader or something, and it took me a while to realize they were looking for instructions, so I pointed at the window and said 'Save Mr. Grumpner'."
"How come you remember Mr. Grumpner?" Sabrina asked. "The rest of our class doesn't."
"My dad had a protection spell put on our house. Whenever they dust the town, we aren't affected.
"So, anyway, the birds went straight for the window and smashed it. They flew in and attacked the monster. Unfortunately, it was too late. Even from out in the yard, I could see the spider had already eaten him."
"That explains the feathers," Daphne said.
"And what about the janitor?" Sabrina asked, still not sure she believed the strange boy's story.
"Ms. Spangler gave me a detention for refusing to play dodgeball," Wendell said. "1 mean, we know how to play the game. Let's move on, already. So, when I walked in, there was this ugly, hairy thing fighting with Mrs. Heart and Ms. White. At first I thought it was a bear, but it moved way too fast and it had these weird yellow eyes. Mrs. Heart was pretty useless against it. She hid behind a desk and screamed while Ms. White fought the thing. I got my harmonica out, wondering if I could control it, too, and at first it seemed to work, but it ran to the window, opened it, and leaped outside. When you guys saw me, I wasn't running away, I was trying to catch it."
"You're quite brave, Wendell," Granny Relda said.
"My line of work isn't for the faint of heart," he declared, wiping his nose on his handkerchief.
"We've also had a run-in with an unusual creature," the old woman said.
"I know this is going to sound crazy, but I don't think these creatures are monsters. I think they're the children of Everafters."
"That's an excellent deduction," said Granny Relda. "You've got the makings of a great detective."
The boy smiled. "The only thing I wasn't sure about was why the attacks were taking place in the first place. That is, until I found the tunnels."
"Tunnels!" Sabrina and Daphne cried.
"Yes, someone is digging under the school. They start in the boiler room and go on for a long time. I'm sure it's all connected-the tunnels, the giant spider, hairy things. I just don't know how."
"Perhaps we should team up," Granny Relda said. "Combining our efforts might solve the case sooner."
"Sorry, lady, I work alone," Wendell said as they reached the front door of the school. "Detective work is dangerous business. I don't want any dames getting in the way."
Sabrina rolled her eyes. Someone's been watching too many detective movies, all right, she thought.
"I understand," Granny said, trying her best to sound disappointed, just as Mr. Hamelin came running down the hallway. He swooped his boy up in his arms and hugged him.
"Do you know how worried your mother and I have been?" his father said, half lecturing and half laughing.
"I'm sorry, Dad," the boy said. "But there's a caper afoot, and I'm in the thick of it."
"Thank you, Relda," Mr. Hamelin said, reaching over and kissing the old woman on the cheek. "Thank you all."
Daphne tugged on her pants and stepped forward, mimicking the sheriff's funny little bow-legged walk. "Just doing my job, citizen," she said.
"You're welcome," Sabrina added.
"I've heard stories that you have a harmonica, young man," the principal said, reaching his hand out to the boy.
Wendell frowned. "But I need it," he argued. "It helps with my detective work."
"You're about to retire," his father said, sternly. "Until these monsters are caught, your days as a detective are over."
Wendell reached into his pocket and pulled out his shiny harmonica. He reluctantly handed it to his father and grimaced when Hamelin stuffed it into his pants pocket.
"Mr. Hamelin, before we go, I was wondering something," Sabrina said. "Are there any more children here at the school like Wendell?"
"What do you mean?" the principal asked.
"You know, children of Everafters?"
"He's the only one I know of."
"Anyone else on the staff?"
"Only Ms. White, myself, and now Mrs. Heart," Hamelin said. "About ten years ago Ms. Muffet, the Beast, and the Frog Prince were all on staff, but they went in on a lottery ticket and won millions of dollars and quit. I was happy for them but it was a real shame. Good teachers are hard to find."