After a quick shower, I pull on some leather-look leggings, a chunky black roll neck jumper, and my boots. I quickly braid myhair and add a small amount of makeup, checking my reflection in the mirror before heading out the door.
The corridors are quiet, and I don’t see anyone as I leave through the main entrance and walk across the driveway.
About half an hour later, I meet Brom by the old bandstand.
“Morning, Van Tassel,” Brom greets me as I walk up, pushing off from the wooden post he was leaning against.
“Morning,” I return. “Lovely day for it.” I point up at the gloomy sky.
He laughs, “Yeah, but at least it’s not raining!”
“Same place as yesterday?” I ask as we start to walk towards the shops.
“I was thinking I’d show you somewhere new today, if you’re up for it,” he replies, grinning.
I follow his lead and soon we turn right down a side street, one I didn’t explore yesterday, and continue walking until we reach a shop painted in a dark blue.
This coffee shop isn’t anything like the one from yesterday. In fact, it’s more of a book shop. Shelves of paperbacks line the walls, and more are piled up on tables dotted here and there. There are comfy-looking sofas and wingback chairs with low coffee tables next to them spread out around the room.
“You always had your nose in a book as a kid. I figured you might like this shop,” Brom says gleefully. “They do much better coffee than the place yesterday, too,” he adds, winking.
The shop has herbs and crystals lined up on the windowsill, and I can smell incense burning somewhere, warm and floral. At the other end is a counter holding a display of cakes and a big, gold coffee machine. A woman with straight, pale blonde hair is sat reading a book, a tapestry of intricate woven symbols hanging behind her.
We head to the back and the woman looks up, smiling.
“Brom, hi! What can I get you guys?” she asks warmly, her grey eyes sparkling in the light. She’s wearing several bangles and layered necklaces, all adorned with charms which clink together as she sets her book face down on the counter.
“Morning, Pop. This is Katrina.” He indicates me. “And Katrina, this is Poppy,” he introduces us. “Just two of the usuals please.”
“Sure, no problem.” She stands up and gestures around the room, to more clinking bracelets. “I’ll bring them over, so feel free to have a browse.”
The book she’s left on the counter doesn’t appear to have a title or an author, just an image of a pentacle carved into the front cover. Spooky. Despite Poppy’s bubbly demeanour, looking at that book makes the hair prickle at the nape of my neck.
I drift away from the counter, wondering where to start. There are books literally everywhere. I examine the shelf next to me, running my fingers along the spines and pulling out a few that look the most interesting. Stepping over to the table closest to me, I pick up a book with a dark red cover and turn it over. A crime thriller. That reminds me.
“Did you hear about the doctor?” I ask Brom, who is a few feet away, studying the back of a book that seems to be about camping.
“Yes,” he grimaces. “Found with no head. What a grisly way to go.”
“It must have been a horrible accident,” I say, thinking back to what Dad had told us last night. “But I can’t even begin to imagine how something like that happens,” I shake my head sadly, returning the book I’ve been holding to its original spot on the table.
“Here you are.” Poppy appears with two steaming mugs topped with foam, passing one to me.
“Thanks.” I take a sip, tasting coffee and chai. Very autumnal, and definitely better than yesterday’s pumpkin spice latte.
As I lower the mug from my lips, I spot the table to my right and the book proudly propped up in the middle of all the others. I lean over and pick it up.
“The History of Sleepy Hollow?” I turn it over to look at the blurb on the back. “This town has its own history book? What’s happened here that’s interesting enough to write a whole book about?” I ask Brom, scoffing a bit as I hold the book up for him to see.
“Of course it does. It’s all about the legend. Don’t you remember?” He plucks the book from my outstretched hand. As he does so, the lights in the shop flicker and dim ever so slightly.
“Umm.” I bite the corner of my lip and think about it.
“Kat! Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten the legend of Sleepy Hollow!” he exclaims. I look back at him blankly, so he continues. “The town is cursed. It all started hundreds of years ago, when an outsider came to Sleepy Hollow and fell in love with the daughter of the wealthiest landowner in town. They planned to run away together, but her father found out and stopped them. He locked the daughter up in his house and had the stranger beheaded. The legend says that he rode around town as a headless horseman, cutting people down with his sword in revenge. If you believe all that.”
The sound of the doorbell chiming jolts me from his story, as another customer enters the shop, the cold wind whipping inside before the door can close again.
Brom pauses and looks sideways dramatically. “Let’s just hope he hasn’t returned in time for Halloween…” he trails off suggestively.
