Lakhasly

At school, Conor is bullied by a boy named Harry and two other students.After Conor refuses to tell the truth about being tripped by Harry, Lily is punished by their teacher, Miss Kwan, for pushing one of the bullies into a shrubbery.His old friend Lily, who he became alienated from after she told everyone about his mother's diagnosis, steps in to defend him.

At school, Conor is bullied by a boy named Harry and two other students. His old friend Lily, who he became alienated from after she told everyone about his mother's diagnosis, steps in to defend him. After Conor refuses to tell the truth about being tripped by Harry, Lily is punished by their teacher, Miss Kwan, for pushing one of the bullies into a shrubbery. That night the monster visits again and tells Conor it will tell three tales, after which Conor must tell his own tale, which will be "the truth."
Conor's grandmother comes to stay when Conor's mother's condition worsens. She says it is important for him to know he has a loving home to go to once Conor's mother dies. Conor has a hostile relationship to his grandmother and denies that they need any extra help at the house. That night, the monster tells Conor the story of a wicked queen and a deceitful heir to the throne. After the heir murders his lover and blames the murder on the queen, the yew tree monster intervenes to protect the queen from the mob of villagers. Conor doesn't understand the point of a story in which both central characters are in the wrong and neither suffers any punishment.
After another encounter with his bullies at school, Conor comes home to learn that his mother's new treatment isn't working and she has to go back to the hospital. His father is also visiting from where he lives with his new wife and daughter in America. Against his wishes, Conor goes to stay at his grandmother's house. For five days the monster doesn't visit and Conor wonders where he is.
When his father arrives, Conor makes fun of the way his father's accent is changing. Conor says he would rather live with his father in the States than stay with his grandmother, but his father says there isn't enough room. Conor returns to his grandmother's angry and breaks her antique clock. The hands stop at 12:07 and the monster appears to tell the story of an apothecary and a parson who got into a dispute when the apothecary wanted to cut down the churchyard yew tree to make remedies. The parson refused and tried to destroy the apothecary's business by badmouthing him in his sermons, but then went to the apothecary for help after his daughters fell ill to an infection modern medicine couldn't cure. The apothecary refused to help someone who was willing to sacrifice everything