“Holy shit,” Brom bursts out. “That’s actually them. You found them.” He reaches down and pats Ichabod’s shoulder, who then hides his flinch.
I can’t tear my eyes away from the remains in the wooden box, my throat tight. A wave of emotion crashes over me as I hold them in my hands. These bones belonged to a man from centuries ago, a soldier who fought bravely, who loved my relative Katrina so deeply that he vowed to run away with her and start a new life. A man who was violently executed, was cursed to become the Headless Horseman, and who terrorised the town of Sleepy Hollow. If I’m right, he’s spent all that time waiting, searching for the woman and child he lost.
“What now?” Brom breaks through my thoughts.
I close the lid softly and get to my feet. “We lay them to rest with Katrina.”
Ichabod also stands, using the desk for support. “Back to the cemetery, then?”
I shake my head. “She won’t be there. She’ll be in the family mausoleum, back at Van Tassel Manor. It’s on the edge of the grounds.” I realise at some point, we’ll need to add a plot for my father, but best not to think about that right now.
“Back to the manor it is.” Ichabod nods.
“We’d better move fast,” Brom adds. “The Horseman knows we’re out here. I doubt he’s going to just let us stroll leisurely over there.”
“Keep your guard up, look out for any movement, and be ready to run,” Ichabod says.
The wooden box in my hands feels heavy, figuratively and literally, and I clutch it to my chest like a lifeline. Van Tassel Manor is all the way across town from here, but if we succeed, we could end this nightmare once and for all.
With one last glance around my father’s office, I turn toward the door. “Let’s go.”
As the headmaster’s office door closes gently behind us, I can feel Brom’s eyes on me.
He runs a hand through his hair. “Do you really think this is going to work?”
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Brom.
“I don’t know,” I admit, tightening my grip on the box. “It’s more of a hunch, but itfeelsright. Like it’s the only thing that makes sense to me.”
We reach the staircase and make our way back down. I glance nervously over the banister, but everything is how we left it, quiet and still.
Brom goes ahead, but Ichabod takes my hand and gently pulls me around to look at him.
“If the Horseman comes, take that box and run. Don’t look back,” he says, looking down at me from the step above.
“But what if you’re the one he’s aiming for?”
“Then you’ll be the last thing I see.”
Once again, the realisation of what’s at stake,whois at stake, thrums behind my sternum.
Without another word, we cross the entrance hall and push through the front doors. It can only be mid-afternoon, but italready feels like night has fallen while we were inside the university. I pause, taking in my surroundings, but there’s no movement, no sign of the Horseman. Yet.
A crow caws, making me jump.
“Let’s not stick around,” Brom mutters, also scanning the darkness. “The faster we get to the mansion, the better.”
The doors to the university slam shut behind us, the echo reverberating across the empty lawn. My breath puffs out in front of me, ragged even though I haven’t started moving yet.
We make our way down the long gravel drive, and we’re only about halfway before we hear it. There’s the sharp strike of hooves on stone, as if the Horseman has been waiting for us to emerge. Despite myself, I stop dead in my tracks, heart hammering against my ribs. Brom curses under his breath and Ichabod moves closer to me, his body tense.
“We need to move. We’re too exposed here,” Ichabod urges, placing a hand in the small of my back. We can’t see the Horseman yet, but the menacing rhythm grows louder. Calmly, with no sudden movements, we continue to the large gates and peer out into the darkness. We can hear him, but we can’t see him.
The gates creak as Ichabod opens them just enough for us all to slip through.
We pause for just one more moment, and then he gestures. “Let’s move.”
We break into a run.
