“I’m sure there is,” he says.“Someone has to protect Sleepy Hollow.”
Then he turns around and marches out of the library in the same harried way he came in.
Someone has to protect Sleepy Hollow.But who is there to protect the school?
I sigh and lean back in my chair, running my hand over my face.
It’s going to have to be me, isn’t it?
—
That night Katsneaks into my bedroom so the three of us can discuss our plan.With the full moon ritual a week away,we have to do everything we can to make sure it goes off without a hitch.The horseman must be expelled, and I know that with every day that passes, Brom becomes more and more attached to the spirit.Sometimes Brom goes completely silent and drifts off, but it’s not his normal brooding way, it’s like he’s having a conversation inside his head and I have no clue what the horseman is saying to him.But I do know he’ll lie to Brom to get what he wants, whatever that is.
“Kat,” I say gently.“You said something the other day when you told us what Famke shared about your mother.You used the word ‘siphoning.’ ”
It’s a delicate subject because I believe Famke used it with regard to her father, so I don’t want to say any more if it’s going to make Kat uncomfortable.
Kat’s sitting on the bed and leaning against the wall, an open book on her lap that’s slowly sliding off.Her eyes have been closed for most of the last hour.It’s getting late.
“Yes,” she says, sitting up straighter.“She said, ‘She takes what you’re made of and uses it for herself until there’s nothing left of you.She siphons your soul.’And somehow that’s linked to her never seeming to age.”
Brom grunts at that, and Kat looks down beside her where he’s sprawled, face down on the pillow.“It’s true,” he says, lifting his head slightly.“The more I look back, the more I realize that Sarah has always looked exactly the same.When I was young I always thought she looked tired, but it was more than that.”
I tap my fingers on the desk rapidly, urging my exhausted mind to be more useful.
“She’s not a vampire,” I say.“Female vampires all turn at age twenty-one and stay that way for life, and none of them looktired.So she must have some sort of immortality?But no, that doesn’t make sense.From what Ms.Wiltern said, and what Leona said herself, immortality seemed something they were striving for.A part of the bargain.Goruun wouldn’t give them that before he was given what they promised him.”
“She’s stealing other people’s magic,” Kat says.“She took my father’s, and she wanted to take mine.I don’t think she’s immortal, but I think she’s able to extend her life from the magic she takes.Maybe the sisters are the same way.”
“The sisters are absolutely the same,” Brom mumbles.
“How does one…siphon?”I ponder.
Kat shrugs, expression strained.“My father seemed to die of a heart attack.If she physically did anything to him, I couldn’t see it.”
I know it’s hard for her to talk about it, so I try to change the subject off her father.“Have you ever felt strange around your mother?”
She lets out a caustic laugh.“Only all the time.”
“You’ve never felt her try and take your magic before?”
“I’ve never shown her my magic…” She trails off, deep in thought.“Only once.The day she helped me move in.I was so exhausted after that, but I had every reason to be.”
“Hmm,” I mutter.I wonder if it’s like the opposite of bestowal.Or what I taught in class the day that Lotte died.Like energy augmentation but different.Energy conversion?
“Kat, can you hand me that book?”I ask.
She picks up the one on her lap, and I lean over, taking it from her, and sit back in my seat, flipping through the pages, trying to find a section on energy.
Meanwhile, Brom adjusts himself on the bed, lifting his arm and hooking it over Kat’s thigh, and slowly starts gathering up the hem of her dress.
I watch this from my seat at the desk, wanting to call out to him to stop distracting us like this, but I don’t say anything.I just watch as he’s gathered up enough fabric, and then slides his hand up her inner thigh.
Kat’s gaze drops to where his hand has disappeared, his head still face down on the pillow.She swallows hard and shifts her hips just a little, opening her legs to him.
Fuck.
Now I don’t want to watch anymore.Now I want to take part.I just don’t know what part to fuck, Kat’s mouth or Brom’s ass.
