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Now,it thinks,spring can finally come to the forest. Just after winter like it’s supposed to.

CHAPTER

49

Interview with Wednesday (Winnie) Winona Wednesday

[0:00]

Jeremiah: [seated at coffee table in back corner of Joe Squared with Winnie Wednesday. Notepad in front of him.] Interview begins now, at 9:45A.M.on Thursday, April twenty-fifth. Thank you for meeting with me, Ms. Wednesday. I…appreciatethat you didn’t have to, and I hope we can one day work through our history.

[Winnie snorts. Then sips her tea.]

Jeremiah: I have been debriefed by Erica Thursday on your current curse. It still holds, I presume?

[Winnie’s mouth opens twice before she actually speaks.]

[0:20]

Winnie: Human by day and monster by night, these rare daywalkers blend in easily and are unrecognizable from other humans in their daytime form.

Jeremiah: Right. [Jeremiah makes a note.] For the record, I have approved Ms. Thursday’s request for a Contained Spell Casting. Once she finds a way to remove the curse, then she will be allowed to—under supervision—craft a new source and cast the spell.

As for Mr. Friday, I have come to an agreement with the Council, and we will keep the information about him secret. Assuming of course that his mutation does not grow…violent.

Winnie: It won’t. [She glares.] I, however, might, if any Tuesdays ever go near him.

Jeremiah: Ms. Wednesday, I realize you believe you have leverage now—

Winnie: Because I do.

Jeremiah:—but I am still a councilor, still a Tuesday scorpion. If Jay Friday becomes a threat, then he will be eliminated. The same holds true for Erica, for you, and for anyone else in Hemlock Falls. I hope we’re clear on that.

[Jeremiah’s eyebrows rise. He sips from a latte, clearly waiting for Winnie to respond. She does not. Jeremiah sighs.]

[1:22]

Jeremiah: As I was saying, Ms. Wednesday—

Winnie: Winnie. Just call me Winnie.

Jeremiah:—you don’t need to worry. All hunters and scorpions have a no-kill order on werewolves. They are required to leave werewolves encountered inside or outside the forest alone.

Winnie: And what about Erica? You just said you approved her for a Contained Spell Casting. So does that mean she isn’t in trouble either?

Jeremiah: Not at the moment, no. And so long as she continues to cooperate fully with our Lambdas, then she too will be added to our list of known defectors.

Winnie: And the three Dianas you captured? What’s happening to them?

Jeremiah: That is confidential, Ms. Wednesday. But Icanshare that we’re building a complete picture of what happened with the, um…

[Jeremiah hesitates.]

Winnie: With the Whisperer? With the Pure Heart spell? With all that stuff you didn’t believe was real when you thought my dad and I were Dianas?

Jeremiah: Your fatherwasa Diana.

Winnie: Defected.