Page 20 of The Whispering Night
Winnie is so lost in the lecture and taking notes—actual notes instead of just drawing in her notebook’s margins—that she doesn’t notice when the classroom door opens and a wheelchair wedges in. No one notices, actually, and Headmaster Gina has to cough twice to get everyone’s attention.
And when Winnie meets Gina’s eyes, the headmaster beckons a single finger.
A grenade goes off inside Winnie’s stomach.It’s time,she thinks.The Tuesdays have finally come for me.It had to happen eventually, after all. It’s the third law of motion.
She thinks of melted hound masks. She thinks of ghosts and pizza. And her body goes numb as she rises and gathers her things. She distantly hears Headmaster Gina say,I need Winnie Wednesday, please,and Professor Alice reply,Of course. She is all yours.But the grenade is still echoing in Winnie’s eardrums, so the words have a muddy, distant quality.
Winnie reaches the hall. “Ma’am?” She holds her books to her like a shield. They press against her locket, digging it into her sternum.
That’s when Winnie realizes that it is not Jeremiah Tuesday striding down the hall, but Darian, her brother, followed by Councilor Leila Wednesday, followed lastly by Councilor Marcia Thursday—who is also Erica’s mother.
Winnie feels all the blood return to her face… until she meets her brother’s eyes and he mouths,I’m so sorry.
Sorry for what?she wants to ask.And why is Marcia strutting toward me on patent leather kitten heels?The woman is dressed in a black pantsuit, which makes her look like she’s about to go to a funeral. Leila, meanwhile, wears a flowing almond-colored gown and a pistachio-colored hijab. Darian is the only one of them who isn’t fancied up, but then, his default setting is “fancied up,” since sweater vests and khakis are all he seems to own. (That’s not fancy, Winnie, that’s business casual.) He circles behind Leila and Marcia, letting them take the lead.
His face is as bloodless as Winnie imagines her own was a moment ago.
Marcia reaches Winnie first, and after a prim nod at Headmaster Gina, she places a firm hand on Winnie’s shoulder and pushes her toward the school’s front doors. Literallypushes. Which, okay, Marcia.Where the heck else is Winnie going to go right now? It’s very clear this entourage is here for her.
Leila also mouthsI am so sorryas Winnie is corralled past her.
Sorry for what? Sorry for what?!
“What is going on?” Winnie demands as Darian opens the school’s double doors like he’s a footman instead of a councilor’s assistant. He even appears to be bowing. Spring wind batters over them. Ten steps away, shackled out of reach, is Winnie’s bike.
Marcia points at a black Lexus SUV waiting at the curb. “Get in.” This is all she says before releasing Winnie and strutting toward the driver’s seat. Leila, meanwhile, gets in the passenger door.
“You’re about to have to do some PR,” Darian half whispers, half squeaks. He smells like spearmint toothpaste as he cattle-prods her onward. “And I am really sorry about it.”
“P… R?” Winnie’s first thought is pulmonic regurgitation—which is a frequent cause of death for a certain subspecies of velue—but her brain quickly points out that this makes no sense.Public relations,it provides. Then it adds,Wait a minute, what?Which Winnie blurts out loud: “Wait a minute, what?”
“I know, I know.” Darian shakes his head. A smudge mars the left side of his glasses. It has been there for almost a week, which says a lot about Darian’s current mental state. “I told them they should have warned you, Winnie. I told them this wasn’t right, but I might as well be invisible for all anyone listens to me. I think she”—he jerks his thumb toward Leila, now firmly ensconced in the SUV—“is the only person who heard me say,This is a bad plan.And even she was like,Sorry, Darian. We have to.”
“Have towhat?” Winnie practically screams. But Darian never gets to answer before Marcia barks: “Winnie, get in this vehicle right now.”
Darian nudges at Winnie again, and this time, she lets herself be maneuvered onto the spotless, squeaking beige leather. A white suit hangs in a clear plastic bag on the opposite door. Winnie barely gives it a glance before shifting her attention to the rearview mirror—where Leila is again mouthingI am so sorry.
Then, as if afraid Marcia might catch her, Leila’s mouth buttons up and she swivels around to meet Winnie’s gaze head on. “We are on our way to the Luminary Welcome Breakfast at the Saturday estate. This suit is for you to wear—”
“Huh?”
“—because although I told Fatima to get you a suit yesterday, she obviously didn’t listen. And in her defense,” Leila quickly adds before Marcia can say something nasty, “I did not explain to herwhyWinnie needed new clothes. So she presumably thought the suit was just a suggestion and not a requirement.”
“A requirement for what?” Winnie shoots a bewildered glance at Darian, then back to Leila. “Why am I putting on a suit, Leila?”
“Because,” Marcia answers, icicles practically forming around her head,“congratulations, Winnie: you have won the Midnight Crown, earning more votes than anyone else in the entire school.”
“I thought juniors wore a golden crown—”
“We’ve eliminated the rest of the Nightmare Court. There is only the Midnight Crown this year, and you’ve won it. As such, you are the new face of Hemlock Falls, which means you must impress forty-nine of the most important Luminaries in the world. And believe it or not, sweatpants and a leather jacket are not appropriate attire for such an event. So put on that suit hanging beside you. Then, put on some lipstick because, bless your heart, you look like a revenant.”
No,Winnie thinks.Do not “bless my heart.” And no, I will not put on this suit or lipstick.Except when she tries to say this, the only sound that comes out is the dying gasp of two lungs who’ve abandoned all hope.
She wishes she’d crumpledeveryballot yesterday instead of just her own. Then she wishes she’d lit the entire ballot box on fire and flung it into the Little Lake.
Marcia stares at Winnie in the rearview. She has not bothered to turn around like Leila did, and it is honestly one of the most intense power moves Winnie has ever experienced in her life.I don’t need to face you to be in command. My reflection is enough to control you.
Basilisks could learn a thing or two from that stare.
