Chapter 17
Crane
I’m not a huge believer in coincidences.
Life isn’t as random as people make it out to be, I suppose that’s why I do tarot and have a gift for divinity.
Things happen because they are supposed to, because it is ordained, because there is order to life.
Are we all flies in a web? Perhaps. But are we all cogs in a wheel? Most definitely.
The fact that our way out of Sleepy Hollow was blocked by a giant, healthy-looking tree wasn’t a coincidence to me.
It was there for a reason. To prevent us from leaving.
And if we had more time, perhaps to venture on another route to Pleasantville, or the road to Tarrytown, or on a riverboat down the Hudson, each of those attempts would have been thwarted in some way.
The prickling feeling on the back of my neck, that kick in the gut that I’ve come to trust as instinct, all of those things are telling me that there is no escape now, at least not for today.
I don’t voice this to Kat or Brom, of course.
They don’t need to hear my wild theories, especially ones so demoralizing and based on nothing but a gut feeling.
But I know it. Witchcraft and magic go beyond what you can see, and often beyond what you understand.
The sisters have been at this game for a very, very long time.
They are in charge of the chessboard, seeing the moves ahead of time.
The wards protect the school; does something similar protect Sleepy Hollow when they want it to?
All the more reason to get the damn horseman out of Brom, to start working on our magic so in the event we are being kept from leaving town, we can learn to break through it.
I’ll admit my defenses, as I demonstrated in class earlier this morning, aren’t the strongest, but I also know I have the ability to change that.
“We’ll do the ritual tomorrow night,” I shout as we’re cantering down the road to Kat’s house, loud enough that Brom hears me.
“It’s the dark moon. The energy will be perfect for shadow magic too.
If it doesn’t work, then we only have two weeks until the full moon ritual.
And if that fails, it’s just a couple of days until Samhain. ”
And if that doesn’t work, on the day of the year where the veil is at its thinnest, well…
Both Kat and Brom nod. I’m still a little worried about how they’ll do during the ritual.
Brom because I don’t want him to get funny when it comes to Kat.
I take control when it comes to the both of them, but he’s used to being the dominant with her.
He’s going to struggle with having to obey me in this case. Luckily, I like it when he struggles.
Kat, I worry about more. She seems a little looser around Brom now, she doesn’t freeze up when he’s close, which is good for their relationship, bad for my possessiveness and my need to keep them apart.
Still, I need to make sure she feels safe and protected throughout the whole ritual.
She’s our most important piece, the one both of us love dearly, the key to bonding the three of us together.
The ritual will get intense, as well. I’ll need her complete trust in order to have the whole thing go off without a hitch, because the last thing we need is the ritual being broken.
There will be pain, there will be blood drawn (all superficial wounds that I will quickly heal), and Kat might be terrified in the process, especially when dealing with shadow work, but she will need to commit to the ceremony one hundred percent or it won’t work.
Then, after, if we are successful in driving the horseman’s spirit from Brom’s body and back into the spirit world, we can think about leaving Sleepy Hollow.
All I know is that when the time comes, a fallen tree isn’t going to stop me.
And the students? the voice in the back of my head nags. What will you do to protect them?
To that I don’t have an answer yet. I don’t even know what the truth is, what the true purpose of the school is.
I’m starting to think it’s not about education at all, that’s just a ruse.
If I could find out exactly what the sisters are up to, then I can at least warn the students and help them leave if they need to.
I could tell the outside world the truth.
But Kat and Brom come first. Everything else is second. And my conscience will have to live with that.
It’s not long before we’re approaching Kat’s house.
In the sunshine it looks like a perfectly bucolic scene—the stately farmhouse, the fallow fields, the river in the distance—but I know inside that house there is one very wicked witch, and I’m doubtful that we’ll be able to get Snowdrop without calling attention to ourselves.
Still, we all fall silent, taking the horses straight to the stable, where Kat slips off Gunpowder and runs in to get her tack for Snowdrop. I have to admit, I’ll miss having her pressed up against me.
It isn’t until she’s mounted on her horse and we’re riding past the house, about to take off at a gallop back to the school, that the front door swings open and Sarah comes striding out, her shawl floating behind her. She’s more gaunt than usual, her eyes sunken.
“What the heavens is going on here?” Sarah says to us. Though she looks frail, her voice and temperament remain sharp. Behind her, the housemaid Famke peeks her head through the door, then disappears back into the shadows of the house.
“I wanted to get Snowdrop,” Kat says, squaring her shoulders. I can feel her energy, how intimidated she is by her mother, and yet her voice doesn’t quaver. “She’s my horse, she should be with me at the school.”
“Of course,” Sarah says, her gaze going to Brom, where it softens. She doesn’t even look my way. She doesn’t need to. She knows I’m right there, staring at her from atop her dead husband’s horse.
“Brom,” she says as she approaches him. “Did Kat tell you I invited you both over for supper?”
“Uhhh,” Brom says. “Yes. She did.” Clearly lying.
“And? Will you be able to make it? I can’t imagine having any big plans up at the school. You know, now that you’ll be marrying into the family, we’re going to be spending a lot more time together.”
“Of course,” Brom says in resignation.
“So you’ll be there. Great. Come at three.
” Her hands clap together, and then she finally brings her attention to me.
“Mr. Crane. I hope you won’t be too offended to know you won’t be invited.
And if I see you dare set foot on this land again, I won’t have any qualms grabbing my shotgun and putting it to use. ”
“No offense taken,” I tell her with a jaunty tip of my head. “Sometimes we have to take drastic measures to protect our property.” But while my tone is polite, my eyes are not, and I hold her gaze until I see her falter.
She looks away, giving Kat an uneasy smile, and I bask in my minor triumph.
“You should hurry back to class, dear,” she says. “Not very smart to come get Snowdrop in the middle of a school day.”
The front door opens and Famke comes out, holding something wrapped in a cloth.
“Katrina,” she says, bustling toward her. “Here, I made some banketstaaf, your favorite. Practicing for Christmas already.” She hands Kat the bundle. “There’s enough for everyone.” She nods at Brom and then me, and there’s something in her eyes that I can’t seem to read.
I stare at her, trying to get a hold of her aura, her energy. She’s warning me about something, but I don’t know what it is. It’s not coming from a malicious place, it’s coming from her need to protect Kat, something we both can agree on.
I give her a slight nod so she sees that I’m on her side, then give Gunpowder a nudge. “Mrs. Van Tassel is right,” I announce. “We should go back to the school. Especially before dark. Can’t be too careful with the headless horseman about.”
Brom is first to go, nodding his goodbye to the women before Daredevil takes off at a gallop, with Kat following and me bringing up the rear.
Gunpowder is already tired from all the exertion earlier, so I take it easy on him.
The only time I catch up is at the end of the trail when Kat and Brom are waiting by the school gates, their horses huffing.
“Oh, I see how it’s going to be now,” I comment, bringing Gunpowder between them. “Leaving the old man in the dust.”
Kat and Brom exchange a glance, and she laughs as he bites back a smile.
“Try to keep up, Crane,” Brom says as the gates swing open toward us.
After we pass through the wards, the atmosphere back on school grounds is more of an adjustment than ever.
While you can hear the occasional bird, it’s quiet compared to how the woods outside sang with calls from wrens and thrushes, the way the sunlight had filtered through the autumnal trees, but here there’s nothing but low fog and gray gloom.
This truly is a land of harbored secrets and I’m starting to suspect the fog works in the way that the sisters’ moving faces do.
It keeps you from looking too closely.
We bring the horses to the stable and dismount, giving them a quick groom before putting them away.
“Are you going to the assembly tonight in the cathedral?” I ask Kat as I stop by her stall. I would go out of curiosity, but I’m not leaving Brom unattended.
She shakes her head. “I would feel too strange about it.”
“Then I guess I’ll see you in class tomorrow, unless those are also canceled,” I say. I’m about to tell her to read up on the rituals if she can so she can get a better picture of what tomorrow night will bring, but I’m distracted by a movement out of the corner of my eye.
“Excuse me,” I say to her, and march down the stable aisle to the feed room at the end.
I peer inside and see the peculiar stable boy standing by a bag of oats, looking as if he’s been caught doing something he shouldn’t.
“What is your name?” I ask him as Brom and Kat come behind me, hovering in the doorway.