They had given the Meadow a very wide berth, especially since Hattie’s Kitchen was torn down. But on this Saturday morning they were out in force. Most of the twenty-seven families, including several who no longer lived in Whitfield, showed up. In fact, aside from the mayor and a few Wonderland officials whose job it was to attend these things, almost all of the people who came to the event were witches. I was there with Agnes and Gram. It was the first time I’d been allowed out of the house since the Shaw mansion burned down. They wouldn’t even let me stay in my dorm room. I suppose I should have been grateful, though. It could have been a lot worse. As it was, my aunt and great-grandmother and Hattie managed to contain the situation with only the minor consequence of keeping Peter and me under lock and key for the rest of our lives. Naturally, the police didn’t believe us when we told them that the fire had started spontaneously, or that it had spread in the bizarre way that we described, but in the end, it was decided that since there was no evidence of arson, and the burned house technically belonged to Peter, then no charges would be filed.
