10. Iris
TEN
Iris
There’s no time to waste as the school bells ring for the end of the day and I make my way to the front office. The high school is like the rest of town, unassuming and a little dull. An older woman sits in the chair of the reception desk.
“Hi, I’m looking for Kurt Van Tassel’s room?”
“Do you have an appointment?” she asks, peering over her glasses at me.
“Not necessarily. He told me to meet him here after school,” I lie easily.
“His is A300; it’s that way down the hall on your left.” I thank her and start that way.
Kids are filtering out of classes and going between lockers. Most of them stand taller than me, and it’s hard to fight my way through the dense crowd. I see A300 on a sign above a door to my far left.
“Excuse me,” I say, pushing through the last of the students leaving his room. He’s standing there in the doorway, seeing them off and looking at papers being handed in. “Kurt!” He looks up, and his face twists in confusion.
“Iris? What are you doing here?”
“We need to talk,” I demand firmly, closing and locking his door behind me. I close the blinds as well, and this sets Kurt on edge.
“About what?”
“Your family has the talisman. I want it.”
“Excuse me?” he hisses instead of answering me.
“Your family?—”
“I heard you, Iris.” He lets out a breath and turns away from me. “Why do you want the talisman?”
“Kurt, he needs to rest. He wants to be free from Sleepy Hollow.”
“And you know this how?” He crosses his arms.
“I talked to him.” I admit it simply because there’s no other way. I decline to offer up what else we’ve done.
“What do you mean you talked to him?”
“I found his skull?—”
“Found his skull?!” He faces me then and his eyes go wild with rage. “You didn’t just find his skull, Iris.”
“Oh, and how would you know that?”
“Because . . .” He’s reserved now, dodgy and irritated. “Because my father has it.”
“Had it,” I correct him. “He had it on display like some damn hunting trophy weirdo! What your family did to Brom was unreasonable. He wants to be free.”
“Oh, so it’s Brom now?”
“Why are you doing this, Kurt? Don’t you have a heart, an ounce of understanding?
You’re the only one who can free him. I know you know where the talisman is.
You’ve known this whole time how to release him from the curse.
” My pleas are laced with honey, hoping that one of them will land and resonate within him.
“Iris, it’s not that simple.” He sits on his desk and looks over his classroom. “The Van Tassel family?—”
“Yes, yes, the Van Tassel family. Why do you care so much about what your family has done when you can make it all go away?”
“You act like it’s so simple.”
“To do the right thing?” I take a deep breath. “It is that simple. Give me the talisman and I can free him. Your legend will remain a legend, and there will be no Headless Horseman to terrorize the town, as you all like to put it.”
He thinks it over, and I pray that anything I’ve said has landed its mark.
“We’ll have to go to the estate.”
“Kurt—”
“I hear you, okay? We’ll have to go to the estate to get it, but it’ll have to be at night. We can’t get caught.” He stands and stalks toward me.
“You can’t get caught, you mean.” He sighs but doesn’t argue the point.
“Meet me there tonight and I’ll help you.”
Kurt waits for me at the edge of the tree line.
The church bells toll nine times, and as though I can feel him on the breeze in my hair, I know Brom waits at the bridge for me.
I just don’t know if he’ll wait only for me to turn up empty-handed.
Kurt seems to be teetering between helping and hindering, and at the end of it all, I don’t know where he will stand.
“It’s in my father’s office,” he informs me as we watch the dark manor.
“Let me guess, it’s on display?”
“Yes, Iris.” He sighs begrudgingly. “Let’s get this over with. I have a key; just follow me and don’t trail off somewhere. I know the inside of this house like the back of my hand, and if we get caught, I have an exit plan. Do you understand?”
“Yes, yes, no wandering. I got it.”
We enter through the back door, and where he steps, I step. We stalk through the quiet house and up the grand staircase. He leads me to a room off to the left of the main hall. It’s the one that was locked before.
Inside the office, there’s memorabilia everywhere. Armor on display, swords . . .
“Kurt,” I whisper into the dim room.
“What?”
“I thought your family donated all of the stuff to the historical society?”
“Do you really want to get into how shitty my father is right now? He controls the town, the church, and feeds them the stories of the Headless Horseman. We don’t have the time to delve into this. My parents aren’t asleep,” he warns me.
“Where is it then?”
“Over there,” he whispers, pointing to a small glass case not unlike the one in the church office. Like before, I lift the box and take the necklace. It’s like a locket, heart-shaped and metal.
I open it up and read the inscription. “Katrina. It all comes back to love, don’t you see?”
“I see, Iris. Okay?” he whisper-yells at me. “I’m not heartless or cruel. I understand your reasoning. Now, if you’re satisfied, let’s go. My father could come down here at any moment.”
“I’m not satisfied. What changed?” He looks exasperated and ready to abandon the conversation.
“My mother is a bleeding heart, okay? She’s a kind woman to everyone, and when you have an absent father who puts more effort into ghost tales than reading you bedtime stories, you take after the parent that showed you love. Is that enough of a family history lesson for you?”
“Kurt, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not needed.” He turns toward the door. I follow him out, walking the exact way we came in.
“How are you going to explain it to him? He’ll notice the next time he’s in there.”
“That’s for me to worry about. Just promise me something, okay?
” He stops when we reach the trees and faces me.
“Be gone by tomorrow afternoon. I can stall until then, but your presence here is known, and if he thinks you’re still here, he’ll come after you for the talisman.
” I look at it in my hand and turn it over.
I don’t tell him that I plan to do just that.
“Why does your father want this cruelty on display?”
“Legacy. It’s that simple.”
I look at him wonderingly. “I appreciate your help. More than you know.” I reach out and hug him despite the racing clock. It’s a moment of kindness I can afford. His arms wrap around me and he squeezes me tight.
“It was nice meeting you. I wish our goodbye could have been just as nice.”
At the inn, I gather my important things into a single backpack.
I don’t know what home looks like to Brom, but I’ll stay with him like he asked.
Can I come and go like he does? Will he still be able to venture out into the world?
Questions abound as I pack clothes and my electronics.
What does freedom mean for him if he’s forced to stalk the earth in an effort to protect Sleepy Hollow? Will he abandon them all?
Nevertheless, I settle my racing mind and look forward to the night. I’m ready to leave this life behind and step into a new one carved by death. My bag is heavy, but it’s all I need for the time being. This situation will sort itself out . . . hopefully.
The church bells toll, and I pray he’s still there, waiting for me.