Page 5 of The Whispering Night
Jay: [speaking at the same time as Winnie] Because I woke up one night in the forest with no clue how I got there. Is that specific enough for you?
Erica: [sniffs] I found a spell in Jenna’s room. It was hidden in her diary.
Winnie: A spell for what?
Erica: I don’t know.
Winnie: Do you still have it?
Erica: Of course not. With how nosy my mom is?
Jay: That still doesn’t get us from point A to point B. So Jenna was a Diana—why did you become one?
Erica: [glares] They started contacting me. With Jenna’s locket. I ignored it at first until… I didn’t anymore.
Winnie: Wait, how does that work? [She fishes out her locket from her sweater.]
[2:24]
Winnie: This thing sends messages?
Erica: Yeah, the lockets send messages. A small piece of paper shows up in mine with words, sometimes in Latin. Sometimes not.
Jay: [under his breath] Pretentious.
Winnie: Does it ever heat up? And burn?
Erica: No. And that’s a weirdly specific question. Does yours do that?
[Winnie doesn’t answer. Just pushes the locket back into her sweater.]
[2:45]
Jay: Wait, I thought Grayson had your sister’s locket. How did you get it back?
Erica: [bites lip] He gave it to me. After Jenna’s funeral.
Jay: Does that mean he knew what Jenna was?
Erica: I have no idea. We didn’t talk about it, and I didn’t know what the locket meant when he gave it to me. [lifts hands in frustration] Jenna spentallher time with him the year before she died. When he showed up to give me the locket and invite me to a party at the old museum… Well, the only reason I wanted to go was so I could tell him off for stealing all my sister’s time. But then my mom wouldn’t let me leave the house, and that was that.
Winnie: But only a few weeks ago, you told me you’d lost the locket. Where was it?
Erica: [flushing] I just misplaced it. The latch is shoddy, and it fell off.
Winnie: Okay, so when did you get your first message from a Diana?
[Erica’s lips compress.]
[3:28]
Jay: Come on, Erica. Answer the question.
Erica: Well, when didyoubecome a werewolf?
Jay: [unfazed] When I was thirteen.
Erica: [Her eyes narrow again.] Okay, fine. I was twelve. And they sent a message every year after that, but I never answered until last year.
