Page 40 of The Whispering Night
“Well, didyousee where it was aimed?”
“Fair point.” Winnie sidles to the northern window, but there’s nothing to observe beyond trees and, as Erica said, blue sky. “Could he have hidden something inside the telescope?”
Erica is biting furiously at her lip, a frown pinched on her brow. “I guess he could have. Anything’s possible.”
This time, Winnie doesn’t reply with a sarcasticThat’s helpful. Instead she asks, “I don’t suppose Isaac has texted you? Maybe he can find out why they took the telescope.”
“If he had texted, I would have said something.”
“Fine. And… Jay?”
Erica snaps her head.“Nada.”
Winnie frowns. She doesn’t like that—not merely because of her guilt over missing Jay’s show. But because it really isn’t like him to go this longwithout contact. “Well, can you tell him to meet me at Sunday training? If he can’t make it to the Floating Carnival before noon, I mean?”
“You should really just get your own phone.” Erica glares. But she also obediently types out a message while Winnie’s thoughts vortex inward. Trillium flowers form across her brain.Whisperer. Sources. Dianas. Dad. Jenna. Lockets. Silencing spells.It’s all feeling disconnected and meaningless. Like there’s no longer a Pure Heart at the center she can rely on. All the connective tissue has been frayed by a crow-shaped razor.
Neither girl speaks again while they navigate through the Sunday estate. A cold morning greets them outside the locker room. Wind rattles down from the forest.
CHAPTER
19
Winnie outright refuses to throw candy from the pontoon-boat-turned-swan.
Dryden tells her she must. She tells DrydenCANDY KILLS,and to her surprise he drops the subject. Possibly because she literally bares her teeth at him like a nightmare. He also—wisely—does not make Winnie wear the Midnight Crown. It’s exquisitely detailed—made from painted metal to look like woven pine branches with an ouroboros sliding through—and way too freaking heavy.
Headmaster Gina—who is also on the boat with Winnie since it’sherclan parade—doesn’t seem to notice any of this exchange since she is too busy arguing with their boat’s driver over his poor navigation skills. Twice, they almost crash into one of the other swan-shaped boats. And the docking at the Floating Carnival is a real testament to Gina’s Sunday patience because they not onlydocrash into another boat (Hey, Professor Funday! You look really,reallybright today in that magenta sweater!), but they also hit the pier hard enough to knock an entire plastic bag of individually sized chocolate bars into the Little Lake.
RIP,Winnie thinks as she, Gina, and Dryden are finally helped off the swan by the driver, who now decides to reveal his second profession as a blogger. “I interview famous Luminaries! Will you answer some questions for me?”
“No.”
“Did you wish you had a parachute when you jumped off the waterfall?”
“Not sure it would have helped me.”
“Does hypothermia hurt?”
“I don’t know. I was unconscious.”
“Did the werewolf have teeth bigger than a great white shark?”
“Depends. Is the shark a juvenile?”
Winnie is saved by (of all people) Marcia Thursday. Erica is, as expected, already at her mother’s side, and she gives Winnie a look so cool, Winnie actually needs a double take. Theywerejust together, right? Winnie didn’t just imagine that whole encounter at the Sunday estate with Jeremiah Tuesday and the telescope?
As Dryden and Marcia discuss the next events on the agenda—Winnie, are you listening?—Winnie takes in the Floating Carnival around her. Water laps gently against steel pilings. Streamers in clan colors twinkle over clapboard stands and stalls. Voices churn, hailing from volunteers and workers. There are games and competitions, treats and crafts, and everywhere Winnie looks, she spies happy Luminaries with no idea that Dianas have taken over Hemlock Falls.
Banners flutter. Music plays from a calliope. And to the north, the Ferris wheel spins, spraying out reflected light each time a car hits its zenith.
“Come,” Dryden commands. “The world is waiting for you.”
Winnie looks again at Erica.
This time, Erica blinks in solidarity.
Marcia’s hand lands on Winnie’s right arm. Dryden’s lands on her left. And once more, Winnie is nothing more than a marionette being lolloped around on wooden legs.
