Page 83 of The Luminaries
Rachel still isn’t moving.
“And on the night of the second trial, I found a spot surrounded by running water and spent the night there. Emma got hurt because of me. Because everyone… becauseyouthought I was something I’m not.” She braces as if to stand.
But Rachel finally moves, lifting a hand. “Stay.” It’s a Lead Hunter command, except instead of fury unleashing, Rachel only offers a cool “I know all this already.”
Winnie blinks.
“Or, I guessed it.” Rachel folds her arms over her chest. “That banshee’s head hadn’t been cut by a hunting knife, and I saw the running water when we found you on Monday morning.”
Winnie blinks again. This isn’t making any sense. “But then… if you knew, why did you let me keep going?” She shakes her head. Pushes at glasses that aren’t there, and ends up scratching the bridge of her nose. “Why didn’t you kick me out of the trials right away?”
“Because.” Rachel taps a finger against her biceps. “That wasn’t really the point, Winnie. I don’t care if you can kill a banshee yet—or spend the night in the forest. Those are all things you can learn. But loyalty? Commitment to the cause? That can’t be hammered into you.”
Of course it can. Culture runs thicker than blood.
Winnie’s teeth start clicking, her head starts shaking. “But…”Click, click, click.“If you knew, then why did you let the third trial happen? I almost died.Emmaalmost died.”
“No, actually. Look.” She strides to the bed and plops down beside Winnie. Springs squeak. “I know you’re blaming yourself right now for what happened to Emma, but it’s not your fault. You werebornto be a hunter. Your mom, me—we have that spark in our blood. Hell, for someone who hasn’t been properly trained in four years, you still managed to take down more nightmares in one night than most hunters, and all you had was a green dress and a red stake.
“Emma knew what she was agreeing to, okay? And when she’s all healed up, she’ll be a hunter too.”
“Too?” Winnie asks numbly, still staring at the bear.
“Yeah.” Rachel rests a hand on Winnie’s shoulder. “I’d be honored to have you on the hunt with me. If you want, of course.”
Winnie isn’t sure what she wants. Not anymore. Everything is a jumble in her head. Emma trusting Winnie’s skills. Aunt Rachel knowing she was liar. No one caring that Emma almost died—that Winnie almost died too. No one caring about the Whisperer.
Death is a part of life in Hemlock Falls,she thinks as the bear seems to laugh at her from the door, just as she’d laughed at Marcus a week ago.The sooner “the children” learn what the forest can do to them, the safer and happier they’ll be.
She thought she’d understood what being a Luminary meant. Whatbeing aWednesdaymeant. Truth is, she’d had absolutely no idea. And truth is, Aunt Rachel is right: she was born to do this. It is written on her DNA, and even now, after everything, her body aches to go back into those gray-hazed trees.
She kind of hates herself for that. Her head throbs.
Culture runs thicker than blood.
“I… need more training.” She finally breaks away from the bear’s stare and pushes again at invisible glasses.
Aunt Rachel smiles with relief. “I’ll set you up with tutors.”
“I have one.”
“Ah. In that case.” She opens her hands, noticeably not asking who the tutor might be—as if she already knows and doesn’t disapprove. “You just let me know when you’re ready to join us, and we’ll be waiting. Oh, and here.” She rises to her feet with the fluid ease of a hunter and fishes something from her pocket. “We found this. I thought you might want it back.”
Gold glints. A crescent moon dangles, and Winnie finds herself staring at the locket. It should have been lost in the woods, used to burn a werewolf. Before she can ask where Rachel found it, though, Rachel says, “It was your grandmother’s.”
Winnie frowns. “Winona’s?”
“No, on your dad’s side. I only ever saw it once, when I helped your parents move in. I thought, when I saw it on you…” Rachel bites her lip.
And Winnie finishes, “You thought he had given it to me and maybe I was still seeing him.”
“Yeah.” Rachel looks pained as she drops the locket into Winnie’s cupped hands. “But now I know you’d never do that. And neither would Fran or Darian. You’re a bear, Winnie. You’re a Wednesday through and through, and I’m proud to be your aunt.” She offers what’s probably meant to be an encouraging smile, but it ends up looking slightly pained.
Winnie’s head throbs even more. “Why did Dad’s mom have a Luminary locket?”
“Because it’s not a Luminary locket. The moon is backward, and there are three stars instead of two.”
Winnie squints down at the gold, only to find Rachel is right. How had she not noticed before? Andah,now that she’s looking at it properly, ideas are stirring to life in the back of her brain, like silt on the bottom of a pond. Spin, stir, twirl…
