The Shape of Thunder

Quinn and Cora meet regularly in the woods to try to find a wormhole. Quinn explains that Parker changed in the months before his death; he became reclusive, always on his computer, and became impatient and mean to Quinn. Quinn explains that he would say awful things at dinner and she is reluctant to repeat them. Cora asks whether he went after Mabel because she was Muslim. Quinn is shocked and scrambles to answer. She says she felt like she didn’t know Parker well toward the end of his life. Cora angrily tells her that she should have stopped him. Quinn starts crying and apologizing, agreeing with Cora that she should have stopped him. Quinn convinces Cora to stop researching and just try to time travel.

Quinn and Cora go to the tree in the woods after school. They decide to trust Quinn’s instincts about the tree’s knot that looks like an eye. Cora’s research suggested that “exotic matter” associated with wormholes can sometimes be found through intuition. They climb the tree and Quinn is assaulted with memories about climbing it with Parker. A sliver of sunlight shines on the tree’s knot, and the girls are excited that it might be the wormhole.