In the wake of Davy Ray’s death, Cory suffers a crisis of faith and becomes withdrawn. His father, Tom, finds a new job as a stock clerk at the new supermarket, Big Paul’s Pantry. Cory’s inner turmoil culminates in an outburst at school where he strikes his teacher, Mrs. Harper, whom the students call Leatherlungs. The principal, Mr. Cardinale, suspends Cory for three days. When Cory refuses to write a letter of apology, his father whips him, and Mom sends him to his room and withholds dinner. That night, Cory sneaks out and visits Davy Ray’s grave on Poulter Hill. Overwhelmed, he decides to run away and hops aboard a passing freight train. He then experiences a vivid, surreal dream in which three strange men—Princey, Ahmet, and Franklin—escort him through a violent, nightmarish city to show him the cruelty of the world. Cory awakens at the gravesite, realizing he was only asleep for a short time, and decides to return home. The next day, after several other parents complain about Mrs. Harper’s harsh methods, Tom speaks with the principal. Mr. Cardinale, who had already heard rumors about Leatherlungs from other teachers, decides no apology is necessary, and Cory is allowed to return to school.

Back in school, Cory apologizes to Mrs. Harper, but she remains hostile. In retaliation for her continued cruelty, the Demon uses a powerful homemade glue she calls “Super Stuff” to stick Mrs. Harper to her desk, chair, and the floor. Later, Cory visits the Glass house and finds Miss Blue Glass devastated; her sister, Katharina (Miss Green Glass), has eloped with their mutual love interest, Mr. Owen Cathcoate. Miss Blue Glass confirms Cory’s suspicion that her sister owned an emerald green parrot. She confirms that Katharina’s parrot died of a brain fever at Dr. Lezander’s office in March, the same month the man was murdered at Saxon’s Lake. Cory also learns that Mrs. Lezander had taken piano lessons from Miss Blue Glass four or five years earlier and knew Beautiful Dreamer—the song Miss Blue Glass taught her older students and that caused the blue parrot to curse in German. Cory theorizes that both parrots were at the Lezanders’ house on the night of the murder and that Mrs. Lezander played the piano to drown out the sounds of violence coming from the basement.

On Christmas Eve, Cory attends a reception at the new Bruton Hall of Civil Rights. There, the Lady shows him a photograph display of the four young Black girls killed in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing. Cory recognizes them from a recurring dream and tells the Lady, who then worries that the dynamite he witnessed KKK members Dick Moultry and Gerald Hargison purchase from Biggun Blaylock could be used against the people of Bruton. Earlier that evening, at the church entrance, Cory calls Dr. Lezander “Birdman,” and Lezander’s cold, threatening stare deepens his suspicion. That night, a bomb accidentally dropped from a military jet crashes through Dick Moultry’s house, trapping him in the basement with the live explosive. The town is evacuated, and the bomb’s timer is inadvertently activated. Desperate, Tom Mackenson asks the Lady for help in saving Mr. Moultry. She sends Mr. Marcus Lightfoot, a local fix-it man, to the scene. Believing he is about to die, Moultry confesses to Mr. Lightfoot that he and Hargison planted the dynamite bomb at the museum. After hearing the confession, Mr. Lightfoot calmly informs Moultry that their bomb has already been found, and then successfully defuses the jet’s bomb.

Following Dick Moultry’s confession, he and Gerald Hargison are arrested by the FBI for the bombing plot. Tom Mackenson visits the Lady to ask for help with his persistent nightmares. She performs a ritual and reveals that Tom is not actually being haunted by the victim. She suspects that, in actuality, he is psychically intercepting the killer’s own tormented dreams—the dead man’s voice saying, “come with me, down in the dark” is directed at his killer, not at Tom (550). The ritual has Tom and the Lady each squeeze eight drops of blood onto paper; connecting the resulting blotches reveals the numbers 3 and 3. Tom becomes obsessed with the number 33. After learning that the Trailways bus that passes through Zephyr is route #33, he takes a job at Hiram White’s gas station so he can watch it every day, convinced it holds the key to the mystery. For weeks, the bus passes without stopping, but Tom remains at his post, waiting.

One Saturday, the #33 bus finally stops in Zephyr, and two men disembark: an older man named Jacob Steiner and a younger man, Lee Hannaford. Tom takes an interest in the new arrivals. Going out of his way to help the men, Tom takes them to the Bright Star Cafe, where he notices a winged-skull tattoo on Hannaford’s arm, identical to the one on the murder victim. Hannaford reveals the dead man was his brother, Jeff, a neo-Nazi who was blackmailing a Nazi war criminal named Gunther Dahninaderke living secretly in Zephyr. Steiner, a Nazi hunter, shows Tom a photograph of Dahninaderke from the Esterwegen concentration camp. Tom recognizes Dr. Lezander and realizes the dream voice was saying “Dahninaderke.”

Meanwhile, Cory has been cornered at the Lezander house. Lezander admits his past and tries to bribe Cory into silence. Tom, Steiner, and Hannaford arrive just as Lezander kidnaps Cory and flees in his Buick. Tom gives chase. Near Saxon’s Lake, the escaped beast from the lost world charges Lezander’s car, knocking it into the water. The collision staves Lezander’s ribs through his innards. As the car sinks with Cory trapped inside, Tom dives in to save him. Mortally wounded, Lezander lifts Cory up and guides his hand into Tom’s, saying, “Up you go […] Bronco” (586), before sinking with the car. As it disappears into the depths, Cory glimpses an unidentified mossy shape from the lake’s depths wrap itself around Lezander. The mystery is finally solved.