Page 73 of The Hunting Moon
“Winnie.” Lizzy blinks at her, clearly as startled to find Winnie as Winnie is to find her. She wears her pj’s—loose shorts and a heather-gray T-shirt. Her blond hair is a fallen version of the usual braid she keeps crowned upon her head. “I, uh… thought you were Jay.”
“I thought you were Jay too.” Winnie frowns, her righteous rage briefly dulling. “Do you know where he is right now?”
Lizzy glances behind Winnie at the empty bed. Then gives a quick scan of the stale room before shrugging. “Guess he went out for the night. He does that, you know?”
“No, I don’t know,” Winnie says, even though she obviously does. For some reason, she needs to hear Lizzy say it. She needs to have Lizzyacknowledgeit.
And Lizzy does at least have the decency to look sheepish as she explains, “Oh, sure, you know. He’s always out partying at the old museum or hanging with those older Fridays, but what are you gonna do?”
“There’s a lot you could do,” Winnie responds. “Like, not let Jay leave the house.”
“Oh yeah?” Lizzy sniffs. “You know a lot about teen boys, then, Winnie?”
“I know letting Jay drink and smoke his life away isn’t good parenting.”
“And I’m not his parent.” Lizzy plants her hands on her hips, a glare taking hold of her gray eyes. “I’m just the aunt trying really hard to make him happy. He’s seventeen, Winnie, and Lead Hunter. If he wants to party, then he can party.”
“He skips school too.”
“I’m well aware.” Now Lizzy is full-on pissed. Her shoulders puff up. “Did you come here tonight to yell at me?”
No, of course not.That’s what Winnieshouldsay. Instead, she says nothing and simply glares right back.
Lizzy shakes her head. “It’s so easy to criticize when you aren’t here, isn’t it? And youhaven’tbeen here, Winnie Wednesday. You’ve spent four years walking around, furious that Jay wasn’t at your beck and call, but it’s not like you’ve been around at his. So stop being such a hypocrite, and try looking at your own choices for once.”
Winnie’s jaw unhinges. She is so stunned, she actually cannot breathe. Her backpack slides off her shoulders… then hits the floor by her feet.
And Lizzy isn’t done yet. In fact, she’s only just getting started. “Youtry locking the doors and windows, Winnie. Jay always finds a way out.Youtry pleading with him that school actually matters. He always promises to do better. Andyoutry getting him to see a therapist because his bad dreams never stop. By all means”—Lizzy opens her arms wide—“have at it because I have run out of cards to play here. At the end of the day, Jay is Lead Hunter. If he can go face the nightmares of the forest, then he can decide how he wants to live his life.
“Now, if you’re done lecturing me,” Lizzy finishes, “I’m going into my lab to wait on Mario.”
And that’s it. That’s the end of the conversation before Lizzy stomps away.
Winnie lets the Friday councilor leave. Her jaw still hangs open, a host of arguments jammed bumper-to-bumper inside her throat. Because this night just keeps getting better. One clusterfuck after another. One person after another who doesn’t want to help her.
For half a fragile moment, while the music played at Joe Squared and Winnie’s friends danced around her, Winnie thought she was going to be okay. That she was going to be a lantern after all.
But now the light is gone and there is only darkness, darkness, darkness.Furiousdarkness at the hypocrisy of it all. At how hard she fought for these four years only to discover her Luminary prize was an illusion.
Winnie is so angry, she is trembling. Her muscles feel like they belong to someone else; her teeth start chattering with the ferocity of a staple gun.
She turns in to Jay’s room to search for pen and paper. She will leave him astrongly wordednote because what else can she do? He isn’t here; she isn’t waiting. But her eyes catch on the photograph beside his bed—the one with her and Erica and Jay. It makes her think of the drawings in Darian’s birthday cards. Of how Dad managed to capture the essence of her and Darian growing up.
This photograph has essence too, of a different boy named Jay and a different girl named Winnie. But while it is obvious why Winnie has changed so much, why, why,whyhas Jay?
As she stares at those young, hopeful kids only weeks away from watching their worlds end, it hits Winnie: the words Lizzy barked before she stalked away.I’m going to my lab to wait on Mario.
At eleven thirty on a Wednesday night, Mario Monday is coming here?
And they are meeting in Lizzy’s lab?
Winnie’s whole body goes cold at that realization. A blast of AC after walking through a sweltering day. She lurches out of the bedroom. “Mario?” she shouts down the hall. Lizzy has only just reached her lab door. Light floods over her. “Why is Mario coming here?”
Lizzy pauses.
“Why?” Winnie repeats, her voice almost frantic now. Somehow, she knows what Lizzy is going to say even if the gas and dust haven’t quite become a star yet. “Why is Mario coming here in the middle of the night?”
“Because,” Lizzy answers coolly, “the Wednesday hunters have finally hit the werewolf. Your aunt, actually, with six bolts to the abdomen. Now all they have to do is to track it down and land the final blow.”
