He softly tells her that in the pond, all around them, creatures are growing and changing. Winnie boldly gets in the boat with Angus. They discuss how the man in the yellow suit saw the Tucks leading Winnie away, and this thought gives Winnie confidence-she believes the man will tell her father and help her get home. She announces that she wants to go home, and Angus says that he'll take Winnie out on the pond to talk. Winnie is shocked to eat in the parlor without napkins, and soon she begins to think that eating is a private, intimate activity that she shouldn't be doing with her kidnappers. Mae suggests that life needs to be lived, no matter how long it is. She says that she and Angus will have to move soon so people don't begin to suspect anything about them, which Winnie thinks is sad. Mae explains that Jesse and Miles spend their time away, working when they can, and says that Jesse's eternal youth means he can't settle down. Winnie is shocked to see how disorderly the Tucks' home is: it's dusty and organized haphazardly, but it feels homey and comforting.
Jesse and Miles jump straight into the pond, while Angus greets Winnie with a smile.
It takes hours to reach the Tucks' homestead. The world feels wide and wonderful, and she and the Tucks don't notice that the man in the yellow suit was also listening to the story. Winnie decides to agree and feels as though anything is possible. Mae asks Winnie to help them keep their secret and says that they need to take her home with them so she can understand, but they'll bring her back the next day. Jesse says that being immortal is fantastic, but Miles suggests that Jesse should take things more seriously. Winnie isn't convinced, but the Tucks are clearly relieved to have told someone. Miles's wife left with their children after 20 years of marriage, believing that Miles sold his soul to the devil, and the Tucks eventually figured out that the water was the source of their immortality. Finally, they reach a stream on the other side of a meadow, offer Winnie Mae's music box to look at (which Winnie learns is the source of the "elf music") and tell Winnie a fantastical story: 87 years ago, they drank from that stream in the wood and since then, they haven't aged at all. They pass the man in the yellow suit on the far side of the wood and ask Winnie to not scream or be afraid as they go. They immediately throw Winnie onto their horse and lead her away quickly. He is trying to keep her from drinking the water when when Mae and Miles show up. Winnie is immediately smitten and asks Jesse if the water she saw him drinking is good to drink, as she's thirsty. The wood is surprisingly pleasant, especially when she comes across a handsome young man who introduces himself as Jesse Tuck. The man in the yellow suit walks away, whistling the tune from the "elf music."īy the next morning, Winnie has decided that she's too afraid to be alone to run away, but she does decide to walk into her family's wood and explore. She tells Winnie that this is the elf music she hears every now and again and leads Winnie inside. Winnie's Granny rescues her from the conversation, though they all hear tinkling music that makes Granny pause excitedly. The man makes Winnie suspicious, but she speaks to him and suggests that he talk with her father. At sunset, the man in the yellow suit appears at the Fosters' gate and asks Winnie if she knows everyone in Treegap. At noon on this day, Winnie sits inside her family's fence and tells a toad on the other side that she'd like to run away so she can be independent and do something important. Mae ignores this and the narrator explains that nothing can happen to Angus, Mae, or their sons, Jesse and Miles: they're all immortal. Her husband, Angus, isn't excited and assures Mae that he'll be fine while she's gone, as nothing can happen to him. On the first day of the first week of August, Mae Tuck wakes up, excited to go meet her sons in Treegap. Discovering this stream would be a disaster. The narrator insists that this is wise, as if a person were to go into the wood, they'd discover a huge ash tree and a spring coming from its roots. The wood is a strange place and it makes people want to avoid it. On the outside of this hub, connected by the wood, are the Tuck family, ten-year-old Winnie Foster, and the man in the yellow suit. The world, the narrator suggests, is like a giant wheel, with spokes connected in the center by a hub that, in this case, is a small wood owned by the Foster family. The narrator explains that the first week of August is the highest point of the year's cycle and that during this time, people do things they regret later.
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