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 knowinside 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 bemarrying 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 somebanketstaaf, 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.
