The Field Guide

In the morning, Jared’s mom angrily brings him downstairs to show him a mess in the kitchen. Food is splashed everywhere, including on the floor. She thinks he did it. He notices tiny tracks in the mess and points to them, but Mallory accuses him of designing them. Despite his protests, his mom sweeps them away. Simon is crying: His arms have bruises, his mice are gone, and inside the freezer his tadpoles lie frozen in ice. A note says: “Not very nice to ice the mice” (80).

Jared’s mom makes Jared take out the trash. On the way, he snags one bag on a branch, and it spills open to reveal the boggart’s things from inside the kitchen wall. Wondering if he can somehow use these items to lure the boggart into a trap, he sets them aside. His mom confronts him again, saying he must learn how to manage his anger like his siblings, or she’ll take him to a psychologist. Jared realizes his protests about faeries make him sound like Aunt Lucy.

Jared finds Mallory and Simon watching TV and asks them to help him. He explains that everything started when they pulled the things out of the wall.