Page 51 of The Whispering Night
• Again, expect photographs.
12P.M.–1P.M.: Monday Lunch
• This is a buffet-style meal held in the primary Monday banquet hall for presenters.
• Expect photo requests and possible interviews.
1:30P.M.–3:30P.M.: Science Fair Judging
4P.M.–5P.M.: Science Fair Awards Ceremony
• This too will be held in the banquet hall.
• Winnie will be expected to stand on stage with other judges.
6P.M.–9P.M.:Monday Awards Dinner & After-party OR Nightmare Forest “Safari”
• Winnie will meet at the Monday estate, and you can decide if you’d rather attend the dinner/after-party or attend a “safari” through the forest.
• FOR PARTY: Dress is cocktail/fancy.
• FOR SAFARI: Dress warm and wear shoes for hiking.
9P.M.: Floating Carnival
• Monday firework display on the Little Lake.
CHAPTER
23
Under normal circumstances, Winnie would be thrilled by an entire day at the Science Fair. In fact, this is so on-brand for her, she is legitimately angry she can’t spend the hours enjoying behind-the-scenes access to all the new Monday inventions. Like, this is the only perk of winning the Midnight Crown, but rather than gush over technology, she spends every minute with a countdown timer in her head.
T minus forty-eight hours until the Crow makes good on her threats.
Sure, it sounds like a lot of hours… until you start carving out chunks for awards ceremonies and races (see the Tuesday schedule for details). Which is why Winnie has strapped on an old Timex dug out from the bottom of her closet: so she can keep track of exactly how much time she has before eightA.M.on Wednesday morning arrives.
As she tromps around from booth to booth, stage to stage, green room to green room, Winnie scowls when spoken to by any councilor (yes, even Leila Wednesday), smiles only for photos, and spends every tick-tocking moment pretending she doesn’t hear Dryden when he snarls at her, “Hurryup,Ms. Wednesday! There are more exhibits to see and judge.”
Marcia is, of course, less gentle, screwing a Philips-head fingernail into Winnie’s spine whenever Winnie dares question a Monday about their invention.Wow, so you’re modeling this suit after kelpie anatomy? How do you make the circulatory system preserve warmth without a pumping mechanism?
Screw, screw, screw.
Tens of booths, tens of inventions, and Winnie can’t enjoy a single one.Her only “relief” comes in the thirty-minute bathroom break she gets before lunch. She’s at least got access to a VIP toilet, and it’s right as she’s about to stride in that Darian springs.
“There you are,” he pants, his cheeks red as if he already got started on the Tuesday Olympics. “I’ve got something for you.” He reaches into a leather messenger bag at his hip—one Winnie recognizes, but has never seen so sloppily stuffed before. But then he pauses. “Oh… you bought more clothes.”
For the first time since the Big Bang created the universe, Winnie is actually better dressed than her brother, and she can see he is having trouble processing this. He smooths at his rumpled pale pink sweater—which actually looks a lot like her sapphire-blue sweater (jewel tones!) that is brand new, and therefore doesn’t need smoothing. She has paired it with the same jeans as yesterday, and though she knows she’d look better in literallyanyother shoes in her closet, she opted for combat boots this morning. Because come on: Nightmare Safari? She ain’t hiking in the forest without proper footwear.
“Erica helped me,” Winnie says, the implication beingYou didn’t.
It flies over Darian’s head. He blinks behind his glasses (no longer smudged). “You’re friends again?”
“Why? Want access to Marcia?”
Now he grimaces. “You’re still mad at me, huh?” Genuine shame collapses his skeleton like a folding chair. For a brief moment, he is not only worse dressed, but also the shorter sibling too.
And now Winnie feels bad. Because it’s not really him she’s mad at. That’s the Crow, whom Winnie has seen neither feather nor talon of today. Still, she lacks the energy to apologize, so she simply says, “Did you need something? Because I’ve really got to pee.”
