Through me.
I gasp as a sickly, icy feeling washes over me, chilling me to my core.
Then, he’s through me, to the other side. Into the tomb behind.
I turn and at the very last second, I see him disappear into the stone.
I wait, expecting something to happen. A flash of blinding light maybe, or smoke curling up from the place where he passed through. But nothing.
I look to the entrance. The horse is no longer there either. The mausoleum is still.
I release a long, exhausted breath, reaching out to Katrina’s tomb for support, steadying myself. I take a few deep gulps ofair, but I know there’s one last thing I have to do. I brace myself against the solid stone lid. Little by little, I push it back, until I’ve created a small opening.
I’ll be honest, I’ve seen enough bones for one lifetime today, and so I don’t look inside the tomb.
But I gently lower the wooden box into the gap, until I feel it touch the bottom of the casket.
Reunited once more.
I move to the other side and push the lid back into place, sealing it off. So they can’t be separated again.
Time seems to have warped, or I was in the mausoleum far longer than I thought, because as I step back out into the cool air, the sky is beginning to lighten, as if with a new dawn.
My legs are weak, and I only make it a few paces before I collapse down on the grass. The ground is damp with dew, and I feel it seeping into my clothes, but I can’t find it in me to care.
It’s over.
The Horseman is gone.
I did it. I actually did it. My instincts had been right. I broke the curse. Love won in the end.
A sob escapes me.
Ichabod. Brom.
I’d left them behind.
I raise my head, eternally thankful that I still have one, and look towards Van Tassel Manor. Even from here, I can see it looks broken. The French windows, shattered during yesterday’s battle, gape like a toothless smile.
I can’t remember when I last slept. Maybe I’ll just stay here a while. I start to close my eyes.
But there’s voices, shouting. My eyelids flutter open just long enough to make out two blurry figures heading towards me. Ichabod is in the lead. I blink and see the relief flash across hisface, quickly followed by worry. He moves as if he’s in pain, his clothes torn and bloodied. But he’s alive.
Brom is just a few paces behind him. I can tell he’s hanging back, letting Ichabod reach me first. He looks equally battered but alive.
Ichabod throws himself to the ground beside me, pulling me into his arms and cradling me.
“Kat? What happened? Are you hurt?”
So many questions.
I can only find the strength to smile and say, “He’s gone.” Then I close my eyes again and drift into a long, deep sleep.
34
Isit on the stone steps of Van Tassel Manor, a cardigan of my mother’s wrapped tightly around me. Meredith found it for me in a wardrobe in one of the unused bedrooms. She knew it was important I have something of my mother’s and had gone searching herself, but after everything else had taken over, hadn’t found the time to give it to me. Now, I pull the sleeves down over my hands.
I’m not cold. With the Horseman gone, the milder autumn weather has returned. The sun is high in the sky, chasing away the dark shadows of the last week, and there are bright, crisp orange leaves on the ground.
