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“But why? I mean, it’s kind of silly to think that there was music coming from the tree. I’m probably just going crazy.”
    “I think you’re already crazy,” he said. “But can’t we just go look? What do we have to lose? Maybe it’s a mystery or a puzzle.”
    “Maybe it’s magic!” she said.
    “Yeah, probably is,” he said. “So help me find it?”
    “Okay, yeah, I think it’s a good idea!”
    The time came for Jake to head back to the school. He asked her why she hadn’t been there that morning and she told him that she hadn’t been feeling well.
    “But I’ll see you on Monday,” she said.
    “Good,” he said. “Oh, I can’t really keep the backpack.”
    “You put your stuff in it already.”
    “Yeah, I was just… I don’t know, trying it on or something.”
    “You have to keep it now,” she said. “You can’t give presents back.”
    “Fine,” he said, “but I’ll get you back.”
    He turned to the hill and nodded toward it. They set out on their way and clambered up and back onto the path on the other side, beyond the creek.
    “Wait a minute,” Emma said. “But why isn’t your name called during attendance?”
    “Oh,” Jake said. “The teacher said I’m not on the attendance sheet yet because I’m new. They print them each week, see, so I’ll be on it starting next week.”
    They left the park and Emma waved goodbye as Jake turned back toward the school. She walked in the opposite direction, toward the bus stop at the end of the street.
    When Emma arrived back home, she went to her room and put the money that she had left over back into the yellow lunchbox. She also put the note from her father in there. She always kept her correspondence.
    She spent the rest of the afternoon filling out workbooks for school. She felt bad about having missed it and she didn’t want to fall behind. Emma had no idea what homework had been assigned for the weekend so she worked ahead as far as she could.
    When her father came home, Emma ran out of her room and rushed to him to tell him all about her day and about how she had finally made friends with Jake. She arrived in the living room just as he finished taking his shoes off.
    “Dad!” she said and then realized her error. She was supposed to have been resting all morning and if she told him that she had been out and about, he would be angry with her. When she saw the look on his face, she realized that he probably already had some idea about what she had been up to somehow.
    “I need to talk to you,” he said.
    Dejectedly, she walked over to the kitchen table and sat down. Her father went to the refrigerator and poured himself a glass of orange juice. He sat down across the table from her.
    “Emma,” he said. “One of my students talked to me today during class. She was very excited about having met you.”
    “Lucy,” Emma blurted out.
    “Yes,” he said. “Lucy Leroux. She said that she met you at the bus stop and that the two of you spent the morning at the mall. I told her that she had to be mistaken because you were supposed to be at home resting all day but she was able to describe you very well, Emma. She even talked about the scrapes on your hands.”
    “Snitch!” she said in a whisper. Then, “I’m sorry, Dad. I wasn’t thinking.”
    “You agreed last night that you were going to rest, Emma. I didn’t let you stay home from school so you could go riding buses around town. Didn’t you see my note? Whatever were you doing, anyway?”
    There was nothing Emma could do and no excuse she could make. She just hadn’t thought things through.
    “I caught the boy,” Emma said and explained her trap. She told him about Jake and about how she had agreed to help him find the singing tree.
    “Absolutely not,” Mr Wilkins said. “I forbid it. I don’t want you going anywhere near that forest anymore, Emma. There has been another disappearance. Another construction worker. Something is happening on that site down the road