Note: To read The Wishing Mapfrom the beginning, click here.

The WishingMap

Chapter Two: Aunt Aloysia

Previously: Once the “startlingly large, alarmingly red-headed woman” arrived in Middleton, everything began to change.

⇔ ⇔ ⇔

“We really do have a lovely home.” The two-person entity known as Momandad said this at least once a week, and it was true. There was a huge cedar tree in the front yard with a swing that went so high you could kick the moon. The back yard smelled of grass and dirt, and a million smoldering birthday candles.

The house was old, but in a white-slat-boardy, red-chimneyfied way. It was warm and lived in, with talkative floorboards and walls full of smiling off-color relatives; Gina and Zack sometimes felt that the house itself actually loved them.

The hands on the clock were feebly dragging themselves forward. Barely past ten, and the air…