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New post from Cliff Parton: I thought the Headless Horseman was supposed to stick to the parade route. Why is he riding past by my house on a skeleton horse holding a sword? New routes should always be cleared with the HOA first!
“Run!” Harry cries, but I stay calm and grab her hand.
I hold tight to my sister’s hand, feeling like I’m five again as we run out onto a deserted street.
Carnival lights flicker in the distance, pointing us to the green—and the spell book we need.
Trick-or-treaters are in for the night, thankfully, since every supernatural being I can think of is on the loose, but the green will be packed.
Far too many people for the Horseman to hurt.
And if he kills them, they’ll join his army of undead.
We don’t need any more zombies.
“What’s still open in town?” Harry asks.
“The market is out of apples,” I tell her. “And for rope, we can try the hardware—”
I glance over to see Zach in front of Witches Brew, waving at me.
I race over.
I see Zach eyeing my hat with amusement. “Um, why aren’t you at your party?” He holds the broom under his chin and rests his head on it. I’m just happy to see he still has one. “My brothers are still there, but I left after a bit.” He looks at me pointedly. “You seemed sort of busy. With Colton.”
“Oh.” My stomach drops and I feel a flutter in my belly as Zach stares at me.
“We were just talking about his head,” I say, and he looks at me quizzically.
“I mean. I . . . we . . . aren’t together.
I don’t want to be together,” I clarify.
“I’m just hoping his head will be back together with his body soon. ”
“O-kay,” Zach says slowly, trying to follow.
Harry clears her throat and looks at us both. “Hey, Zach,” she says.
“Hey, Harry,” he says with a nod.
“We need to borrow a few things,” Harry tells him. “It’s urgent.”
“Right! Yes, urgent!” I say, looking around and trying to compose myself. I brush past Zach into the café. To Harry, I say, “Maybe a cake pop?”
“Those have apple in them?”
Zach walks over. “This for your recipe?”
I grab him, one hand on either side of his face. “Zach, I’m going to say this once. It’s not a recipe. It’s a spell. I’m a witch. The Headless Horseman is coming, and we need an apple to stop him.”
He stares at me. “Darn it. I was really hoping you were making some amazing apple pie.” He easily vaults over the counter, which he probably has done a million times, while Harry rolls her eyes and steps behind it by walking around. “What about apple cider donuts?”
“Zach Powell, I could kiss you,” I say, snatching the baked good from him.
“And the rope?” Harry reminds me.
Zach whips off his apron, extending it by the ties. “You can knot this.”
Well, it’ll have to work.
“Oh! And do you have a hammer?” Harry asks him.
“We need a hammer?” I ask, confused. I don’t remember a hammer being in any of the spells.
“For the monument,” Harry says, looking at me.
“Right!” I turn to Zach. “We also need a hammer.”
“O-kay,” Zach says slowly. “We’ve got a toolbox in the storage closet.” He points and I race over. “Should I ask what’s going on?”
“No,” Harry and I say in unison as we go running from the café.
I double back, just a few steps. “Stay inside, okay? The Horseman is coming with his undead army, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to try to kill us before we can send him back to his grave.”
Zach’s brow furrow worriedly, then it relaxes. “Let me know if you need another donut.”
I laugh. “That’s all you have to say? You’re not at all worried?”
“You’re the smartest person I know,” Zach tells me, the corner of his mouth lifting into a smile. “I’m sure you can handle it.”
I shake my head in amazement. “How come you understand me in a way no one else does?”
Zach stares at me seriously. “Because I know you.”
I hear Harry calling from the monument, holding a rectangular shape aloft. Beatrice’s spell book. She’s found it.
“Zach?” My stomach flutters as he looks over at me again. “Am I really the smartest person you know?”
“Well, yeah,” he says, blushing slightly. “You keep me on my toes, Hadley. And I know I give you a hard time about stuff, but you make me better at everything.”
I think about Zach, my sometimes cranky, competitive lab partner and academic rival who brings me candy pumpkins, doesn’t care that I have stuffed animals, and likes me just as I am. Maybe I have had a crush on him this whole time.
If only his feelings for me were real and not just a spell.
“I wish I could kiss you right now,” I say without thinking.
“What did you just say?” Zach says in surprise, and steps closer.
Another scream cuts the air, and I turn to see the Headless Horseman approaching. This time, he’s flanked with his undead army. As he nears the pumpkin display, he bends from the saddle and scoops one up, affixing it to his shoulders. The jack-o’-lantern flickers back at me.
Why did he have to pick one that was carved to look like the poop emoji?
“Oh, shit,” I whisper. The church clock tower chimes. It’s midnight. The veil is falling. We need to stop the Horseman now. “Zach, I gotta go.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Zach says gruffly, and I feel his hand on my lower back.
I don’t even realize I’m pressed against Zach, my fist clinging to the front of his Henley shirt. “I need to get to Harry at the monument. That’s the only way to stop this,” I tell him.
That’s when I hear my name being called.
“Kat!”
“Katherine!”
“I love you, Kat Hadley!”
Descending on the green from the opposite direction of the Horseman are high school boys.
Lots of them. I hear them calling my name while they move slowly as a pack as if they’re paddling through mud.
Reese, Hunter, and Justin are all there.
So is Colton, cradling his head under his arm. But there are dozens more too.
“Oh no,” I whimper.
“Are you threatening Kat?” Colton says, pointing at the Horseman.
His pumpkin head tilts like a curious puppy.
“She’s our girl!” says Reese.
“Yeah, the best!” says another.
“We love you, Kat!” they chorus.
“And we’ll save you!” Colton cries, and then the boys race forward, clashing spectacularly with the zombies.
So much for a damsel in distress. I’m going to have to rescue all of them—and fast.
“Zach!” I exclaim, an idea striking me as the clock finishes its twelfth chime. “Gather everyone you can and meet Harry and me at the monument! And hurry!”
Then I hold tight to my witch hat and dash off to the monument to reach Harry before it’s too late.