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Wonder

A Novel

Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

The greatest sound in the world at the end of that summer was the jangling of the bells on the door leading into Fascination Street Records. It's the sound that brought Marvella Garcia into my life. It's the sound I hoped for on a daily basis, since the store doesn't get a lot of customers. Unfortunately, it was also the sound that introduced me to Marvel's uncle shortly before the start of the school year ...

I'm sure the opening door is Marvel, surprising me at the store even though she's supposed to be visiting family in Michigan. But then I see a face I've seen only in passing a few times.

I know he's not looking for any kind of music. This is not the kind of guy who bothers with shopping. For anything. His dark brown eyes stay locked onto me as he walks up to the counter.

"What's up, Brandon?" He says it as though we've been friends for a while.

He's got a bit of a Latino accent, but at the same time he sounds like a regular Chicago guy. I just nod. I wasn't expecting to see Carlos Acosta face-to-face today. Or maybe ever.

"Look—I'm going to make this absolutely clear. I want you to leave Marvel alone. I know you'll see her at school and talk to her there. But I don't want to see you at our apartment. And I never want you speaking to my wife. Do you understand?"

I feel like someone's just come into the shop and hit me in the gut with a baseball bat. I don't know what to say. Oh, sure, sounds great?

Carlos Acosta wipes back his long, dark, wavy hair, the kind that looks good only on actors and musicians. He's gotta be in his thirties and he looks like he spends half the day on his appearance. I can even smell the bottle of cologne he's wearing.

"Brandon, hey—say you hear me, okay? Or I'm going to come behind that desk and force your mouth to say it."

"I hear you," I say.

There's something awful about the way he looks at me. His eyes are cold and dead. Even when he threatens me, they don't move an inch.

"The last thing I need is a six-foot-tall distraction in my life, you got that?" he says.

I nod again. He doesn't give me one last menacing glance, doesn't say anything else. He just walks back out of the store, his business apparently done.

I get my phone and tap it and see the cover photo of Marvel and me. I'm sure he waited until she was away to confront me.

The problem is that this guy doesn't know who he's talking to.

He doesn't realize that I've been threatened by worse men than him.

He also has no clue how I really feel about his niece.

Then again, she probably doesn't either. But hopefully, very soon, Marvel will know.

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Excerpted from Wonder by TRAVIS THRASHER. Copyright © 2014 Travis Thrasher. Excerpted by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc..
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