Page 83 of The Whispering Night
“For now.” Winnie feels the lock on her seat belt engage. Oh, and there goes another stop sign—with a car in the intersection too.
Who is, understandably, laying on the horn.
“Where exactly are you taking us?” Winnie demands, grabbing the oh-shit bar. She’s seated diagonally behind Erica, and if she weren’t alreadytotally alarmedby everything going on, the excited flush currently rising up Erica’s cheeks would definitely worry her.
Erica is having fun right now.
Like a lot of fun.
Winnie adjustschaotic neutraltochaotic evil.
“We’re going here,” Erica replies right as she slams on the brakes and executes the kind of turn Winnie thought was only possible in a Fast & Furious film. The tires scream. The SUV drifts, drifts, drifts.Vrrrooom.And now they’re revving into the Sunday estate. Erica hurtles them right up to the front of the school. “We’re going inside. Follow me!”
Given that the Tuesday Hummer is also rushing into the parking lot, Winnie sees literally no alternative. Aside from arrest, of course. So she chases Erica out of the Lexus, and into the school—which appears to be open for Sunday hunter training.
As the double doors swing shut behind them, she spares a glance backward.
Okay, three more Tuesday Hummers are zooming into the parking lot. Awesome.
Fortunately, the main hall is fully lit and fully empty. Erica’s boots squeak; Winnie’s too. And if Winnie thought the stares on the clan banners were disapproving on Sunday morning… well, ha.Ha.She’s pretty sure the Wednesday bear would climb down and tackle Winnie right now if it could. And that Tuesday scorpion definitely wants to eat her.
At the locker room, Erica slings inside. “Grab your training gear,” she orders. “You look like you were in the prom scene fromCarrie.”
This reference flies past Winnie, but she obeys all the same, and in seconds, she and Erica are sprinting onward again. Erica has a black duffel; she crams Winnie’s clean clothes inside. Except now, rather than lead Winnie toward the back door and the shadowy freedom of encroaching night, Erica pulls Winnie toward Coach Rosa’s office. It’s just past the showers, right before the door to the obstacle course.
The window beside the door is dark; Rosa is at hunter training, of course.
Erica tries the knob. It resists, but that doesn’t slow her. She digs out a single key from the duffel she had in her locker, and with practiced ease,she slides the key in. This time, the knob turns. This time, she shoulders in easily before tugging Winnie along.
Once they’re both in the dark, Erica locks the door. And in case this wasn’t already too much for Winnie’s brain to keep up with—although yes… she’s starting to remember howcomfortableErica was sneaking into the school on Sunday—Erica is now hissing, “Come on, Winnie. Comeon.”
“Where?” Winnie asks. It’s a room with only one door! No. Wait. She spies a second, much tinier door in the room’s corner, tucked next to a filing cabinet. It’s the kind of door that would block a crawl space, and honestly, Winnie would never have noticed it if not for Erica. It’s the same boring beige as the wall.
But now Erica is opening the hatch with the key she used to access the office, and… now she’s crawling into total darkness. “Comeon,” she snarls again, and though Winnie would really like to ask,WHERE DOES THAT GO, THANK YOU?!she also understands the stakes of her situation. Right now, she is wanted by the Tuesdays for witchcraftandbreaking out of their bunker.
It’s safe to assume that Tuesdays are pouring into the school. They will search everywhere, including this office. And if they are actually good at their jobs (unlike poor Isaac), they will also circle behind the school to close off locker room exits.
In other words, Winnie is trapped and the only way out is through that hatch.
So Winnie gets on her hands and knees and starts crawling. She shuts the hatch behind her with an awkward hook of her heel on the knob. All light falls away. And Winnie’s rods freak out. If there are any photons here, her eyes sure aren’t finding them.
Until a light flips on—small. Targeted. Winnie recoils. Her cones go haywire.
“Sorry,” Erica whispers. “There’s a ladder straight ahead. We’ve got to go down.”
“To where?”
“Pump room,” she replies before chomping onto her phone with her teeth and continuing to crawl. Her light, now aimed straight down, doesn’t offer much guidance to Winnie’s eyes. Still, it’s so much better than the darkness, she could cry from relief. Or maybe that’s stress that makes hereyes prickle. Or exhaustion. Or the adrenaline that has been pumping in her veins since she fled her Tuesday cell.
The light ricochets. Erica whispers, “Here’s the ladder.” Then Winnie hears a metallic clanging replace the previous rustle of clothing.
Moments later, Winnie reaches the ladder too.Pump room,she thinks, remembering what Jay said when he found her in the steam two days ago. He offered to sneak her out of class this way.
“What if scorpions check where we’re going?” They must know the pump room exists.
“They won’t.” Erica’s voice is breathy from exertion. Or perhaps elation.
“How do you know?”
