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shelved the book and pocketed the keys. She did not want her nosy brother interfering with her puzzle.
     
    Seth charged through the door and slammed it behind him. He was flushed and breathing hard. Dirt smeared the knees of his jeans. His face was smudged with sweat and grime. “You should have come,” he sighed, flopping onto his bed.
     
    “You’re getting the bedspread filthy.”
     
    “It was freaky,” he said. “It was so cool.”
     
    “What happened?”
     
    “I found this path in the woods and met this weird old lady who lived in a shack. I think she’s a witch. A real one.”
     
    “Whatever.”
     
    He rolled over and looked at her. “I’m serious. You should have seen her. She was a mess.”
     
    “So are you.”
     
    “No, like all scabby and gross. She was biting an old rope. She tried to make me stick my hand in some box.”
     
    “Did you?”
     
    “No way. I took off. But she chased me or something. She threw rocks at me and knocked down this big branch. It could have killed me!”
     
    “You must be pretty bored.”
     
    “I’m not lying!”
     
    “I’ll ask Grandpa Sorenson if he has homeless people living in his woods,” Kendra said.
     
    “No! He’ll know I broke the rules.”
     
    “Don’t you think he would want to know a witch built a shack on his property?”
     
    “She acted like she knew him. I went pretty far. Maybe I was off his property.”
     
    “I doubt it. I think he owns everything for a long ways.”
     
    Seth leaned back, lacing his fingers behind his head. “You should come visit her with me. I could find my way back.”
     
    “Are you nuts? You said she tried to kill you.”
     
    “We should spy on her. Find out what she’s up to.”
     
    “If there really is a weird old lady living in the woods, you should tell Grandpa so he can call the police.”
     
    Seth sat up. “Okay. Never mind. I made it up. Feel better?”
     
    Kendra narrowed her eyes.
     
    “I found something else cool,” Seth said. “Have you seen the tree house?”
     
    “No.”
     
    “Want me to show you?”
     
    “Is it in the yard?”
     
    “Yes, on the edge.”
     
    “Okay.”
     
    Kendra followed Seth outside and across the lawn. Sure enough, in the corner of the yard opposite the barn, there was a light blue playhouse up in a thick tree. It was situated on the back side of the tree, making it hard to see from most of the yard. The paint was peeling a little, but the little house had shingles on the roof and curtains in the window. Boards had been nailed into the tree to form a ladder.
     
    Seth went up first. The rungs led up to a trapdoor, which he pushed open. Kendra climbed up after him.
     
    Inside, the tree house felt bigger than it looked from the ground. There was a little table with four chairs. The pieces to a jigsaw puzzle were spread out on the table. Only a couple had been fit together.
     
    “See, not bad,” Seth said. “I started that puzzle.”
     
    “It’s beautiful. You must be gifted.”
     
    “I didn’t work on it long.”
     
    “Did you even find the corners?”
     
    “No.”
     
    “That’s the first thing you do.” She sat down and started looking for corner pieces. Seth took a seat and helped. “You never like puzzles,” Kendra said.
     
    “It’s more fun doing them in a tree house.”
     
    “If you say so.”
     
    Seth found a corner piece and set it aside. “Think Grandpa would let me move in here?”
     
    “You’re a weirdo.”
     
    “I’d only need a sleeping bag,” he said.
     
    “You’d get freaked out once it was late.”
     
    “No way.”
     
    “The witch might come get you.”
     
    Instead of responding, he started looking more intently for the other corner pieces. Kendra could tell the comment had gotten to him. She decided not to tease him any further. The fact that he seemed scared of the lady he had met in the woods legitimized his story a lot. Seth had never scared easily. This was the kid who had jumped off the