“And after the child is born, well, Katrina, you’ll be joining our dear Abraham in death.Which is why your ritual is so important,” she says.“Now if you’ll excuse me, I am sure this is the last time I’ll get to talk to you three.”Her jaw flexes and the smallest hint of emotion comes into her strange, ancient eyes.“Please, just complete the ritual and expel the horseman.I will do what I can on my end to protect you and help in the matter, but I’m afraid it might not be enough.The power of one is nothing compared to the power of three.”
Then she turns and walks toward the doors, her cloak flowing behind her.
“Sister Sophie!”I cry out, and she pauses and turns, her hand on the knob.“We went into the basement, under the faculty dorm.What happens in the basement?”
She gives me a sour smile.“It’s where we keep our most promising candidates.”
Then she opens the door and steps out into the morning.
I look at Brom and Crane, and both of them start to blur.“I think I’m going to faint,” I mumble.
They both come over and wrap their arms around me, Brom from behind, Crane from the front.I bury my head in Crane’s chest and let them hold me.
“We’ve got you,” Crane whispers against my head.“We won’t let anything happen to you.You know we won’t.”
“We’ll die before that happens,” Brom says hoarsely, and I hate how much he sounds like he means it.
“I’m scared,” I mumble into Crane.“I’m so scared.”
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t too,” Crane admits.“But fear is just something else we have to live with right now.Just like jealousy, just like rage, it’s another figure in our lives that we’ll get used to.The best part about fear though?It keeps you alive.”
The three of us stand in the hall for a while, all of us trying to make sense of what Sophie told us, what we have to prepare for.We hold on to each other, seeking comfort, and the sound of three hearts beating is like a balm for all the fear.
Finally, we break apart and Crane grabs both of our hands.“We need to go out there,” he says.“I know Sophie said to stay low, but it would look odd if we, the nosiest people on campus, weren’t out there and gawking at a dead body.”
I nod.“Perhaps we should go into town after and raise thealarm with the new constable.Or try the police in Pleasantville again.Maybe even Tarrytown.”
“That sounds like an excellent plan,” Crane concedes, to my relief.“It’s possible that if we can prove enough to have the school under suspicion, maybe we can have the sisters detained, or at least investigated.That will buy us some more time.”
He doesn’t have to say the next part.
It will buy us more time in case the next ritual fails.
But I can’t think about that, not now, not if I want to get through the day.
Buoyed by the idea of going straight to the police, the three of us leave the building together and walk across the courtyard to where the headless Daniels is lying in a pool of blood that reflects the hazy morning sun.By now a crowd has formed around him, many students and teachers crying and holding on to each other, like a repeat of when Lotte killed herself.Except now it feels different.Now among the tears, there is terror.People are terrified that this is going to happen to them next.
They’re starting to fear the school.
Sister Leona stands at the base of Daniels’s body, with Ana and Margaret right behind her.Sophie is there too, but off to the side a little, as if she doesn’t want to be associated with them, her hood pulled tightly.
“I know you’re all worried about what has happened here,” Leona says, her voice projecting.“But I can assure you that no matter what, we will get to the bottom of this travesty.”
“It’s the headless horseman!”someone in the crowd cries out.“He’s been killing everyone.”
“There is a vengeful spirit known as the Hessian soldier,”Leona concedes with a nod.“And we are aware of what he is capable of.The horseman should not be able to get through our wards, however, so it is hard to say who exactly has committed this crime.”
So many lies.
“What about the other missing teachers?”someone else says.
“We are still investigating what has happened to them,” Leona goes on.“It is too early to tell.But for now, I can promise you that we will solve these mysteries, and we will do our best to keep you all safe.”
She looks around at everyone in the crowd, then focuses on me, on Brom, on Crane.
“As of this moment forward, the wards have been activated to full power, and the school is on lockdown,” she announces.“Until we solve this, no one is coming in.And no one is going out.”
30
