Page 14 of The Whispering Night
But Winnie’s got nothing. She has been taught the exact same history as Rachel: back in the earliest days of Hemlock Falls, when the spirit had onlyjustbeen born in the US, the Dianas fought to gain a foothold in the forest. It was ugly; people died; and the siren downtown—built to warn of Diana attacks—howled almost weekly.
In the end, the Luminaries of Hemlock Falls were stronger than the Dianas. The witches went back into hiding around the globe. The old siren fell into stale disuse, and later, it was repurposed to warn of nightmares escaping the forest.
But just because the siren hasn’t howled doesn’t mean the Dianas are gone—as Rachel and Winnie know all too well.
The Dianas still want to wake up each of the world’s spirits.
They still want to overrun the world with nightmares and claim all the spirit magic for themselves.
So ifDanger to Luminarieswere plotted on a graph, withNightmareson one side of the X axis andDianason the other, then all the data woulddefinitelytrend toward Dianas.
And this is why Jay doesn’t trust Erica.
“All right,” Rachel says with a heavy exhale. “I’m going to poke around a bit. Carefully, of course.”
“And me?” Winnie asks. “What should I do?”
“Same as you have been for the last eight days: avoid attention, stay out of trouble, and keep training. Be the model Luminary you’ve always wanted to be.”
Winnie has to fight to keep a grimace off her face. She’s pretty sure leaving secret messages with her ex–best friend who is a Diana does not qualify asstaying out of troubleorbeing a model Luminary.Nor does dating a werewolf.
Ahead, footsteps rumble. Rachel’s lips pinch with part frustration, part disappointment. “We have to cut this short, Winnie. I see my hunters coming this way.”
“Right,” Winnie replies. She tries to swallow; her mouth tastes like cherry mixed with maggots.
“Don’t forget dawn training this week,” Rachel finishes. “And we’ll chat more soon. Hey, Tanaz! Look at you, leading the pack. Not bad. But let’s see if you can beat me.”
CHAPTER
6
“Mom! I’m home!” Winnie bangs at the kitchen back door. It is locked, which isn’t a bad thing. Winnie was the one to lock it, after all. But this is a new behavior for her since discovering Erica stole all her stuff, so Winnie is now out here without a key.
Worse, the rain finally broke. No warning, of course, and with all the clouds seemingly gone until halfway on Winnie’s bike ride home.Kapow! Here you go,the forest seemed to say, its thunder a maniacal laugh, and by the time Winnie reached the house, she was soaked through—as was the enormous bear flag still hanging off the front porch.
Winnie imagines she looks as limp and defeated as it does.
“Mom!” Winnie bangs harder. “Let me in! I locked the door and forgot a key!” Winnie knows Mom is home. The Volvo is parked on the front curb, and the light is on in her room.
A crow caws—loudly. Winnie jolts sideways, practically tripping over herself. But it’s just the usual crow that lives on the roof, now perched on the recycling bin. Why it is out in this rain, Winnie can’t say. But she shoos at it.
The crow caws again. Then nips at her, wings flapping.
“Eep!” Winnie shrieks at the same moment the back door finally swings wide. Winnie topples inside. “Did you see that?”
“I did.” Mom slams the door shut before the crow can hop in—because it isliterallytrying to hop in. “It did that to me earlier! Do you think we should call Animal Control?”
Animal Controlis really just Mom’s second cousin Lauren and the fivepeople Lauren gets to help her out with wildlife control. Vermin are vermin everywhere, even if sometimes the rats and raccoons become ghost-rats and ghost-raccoons in Hemlock Falls.
“No, leave Lauren alone.” Winnie peels off her wet training gear. “The crow is probably just hungry.”
“Oh.” Mom blinks. “That’s possible. Now that I’m working fewer hours at the Daughter, I’m not giving him as many hamburgers.” She bites her lip and hurries to a notepad beside the swear jar (currently full after Mom got spectacularly angry over a pot pie that exploded last week). “Crow… food,” she murmurs, pen scratching. “Hey, wait.” Her head snaps up. Winnie is now down to her sports bra and underwear. There’s a small puddle forming around her. “Why was the back door locked? I’ve noticed you’ve been doing that lately—and I’ve almost been locked out twice now too. You know we have a key hidden under the azalea, right?”
“I didnotknow.” Winnie hastily grabs her wet garments—and then hastily stomps to the laundry room. She can’t exactly say,Well, Mom, I met Dianas in the forest a week ago, and they might try to break in and steal my stuff like Erica did—who, surprise! Is a Diana! As such, I feel that locking our doors would be a smart tactic moving forward.On top of that, since Winnie is the worst liar in the history of bad liars, she is better off trying to deflect right now than respond.
“Did Jay call?”
“No.” Mom appears at the laundry room door. She waggles her eyebrows. “But the night is young.”
