Page 12 of Bewitched By the Headless Horseman (The Bewitching Hour #1)
Kit lingered out front, his back against a tree, his body rigid with what might’ve been impatience. “Took you long enough.”
Stevie rolled her eyes, the cool wind tousling her curls. “Sorry, I don’t easily float through walls and can’t see well in the dark.”
“Come.” Kit started walking ahead, his cape billowing from the breeze, his ethereal white hue aglow. Above, in the night sky, the ruby of the open Eye shone down on Sleepy Hollow. A light fog, maybe an inch tall, swayed against the ground.
“So,” Stevie called, catching up to Kit’s side.
“Since you’ve said you take heads for a purpose, do you feel any remorse?
” Her mom had once told her that she used to not have shame over what she’d done—it was about survival.
But after she met Stevie’s dad, things started to change, and once they’d moved to Sleepy Hollow, her conscience weighed more on her.
“Hmm.” Kit rubbed his invisible jaw. “I don’t think we’re fond enough of one another to have deep conversations just yet.”
“Only having me dig up your bones. Got it.” Stevie gave him a false smile and a sarcastic thumbs-up.
“That’s the first step, yes,” he said, edging ahead of her to cross through the front of the abandoned house before she could argue.
Stevie pushed open the door, a repeat of last time. Flipping the flashlight switch on, she swept the yellow glow around the room to make sure they were alone.
“No one’s here. Dead or living.” A smile was in Kit’s voice as he added, “Unless you consider me.”
“That’s the only good news of this night, it seems.” Stevie’s shoulders relaxed, and he led her toward the basement.
She descended the wooden steps, each one creaking louder than the last. Dust pluming around her tickled her nose, the air damp against her skin.
A musty odor permeated the basement, much stronger than anything upstairs.
She sneezed as her gaze drifted toward the window.
A board covered the small rectangle and she tore it off to let the moonlight filter into the large room from the iron bars guarding the glass.
Stevie roamed her flashlight around the basement, catching on nothing of importance as she searched.
Only a rusted water heater near the AC. All that was left of the washer and dryer were frayed cords, the appliances most likely hauled away ages ago.
Cement walls lined the room except for one that was fully bricked, its color a reddish hue.
“I don’t see a single bone anywhere,” Stevie muttered, guiding her flashlight across the space one more time.
“If they’re buried under the foundation we’ll need a jackhammer.
Even then, my weak little arms couldn’t operate one to retrieve them any time soon.
” She focused her light on the AC and water heater—unless they were hidden in there. That could easily be doable.
“No, they aren’t buried down there,” Kit said, patting his hand against the wall. “The bones are just behind these bricks.”
Stevie lifted her light to where his hand rested, looking for any sign of an opening. The wall might’ve been added at some point to specifically hide the Headless Horseman’s bones. But why?
She traced her fingers over the wall, along the mortar between the bricks, trying to find something like a door that would budge as she pushed.
Nothing gave way. Not until she reached the portion near the bottom where a sliver of mortar was missing.
She wrapped the tips of her fingers around the brick and tugged.
It didn’t budge. And she had a pretty big hunch it was spelled .
“I have an idea!” Stevie stood and brushed the dust from her hands. “Give me a couple minutes, and I’ll be right back.”
Hurrying home, Stevie snatched a vial and needle from the kitchen pantry before hauling butt back down to the basement of the abandoned house. Uncorking the vial, she spread Lucia’s spelled liquid around the seal of the bricks, then pricked her finger.
“Your sister-in-law taught you this, I’m assuming,” Kit stated when she pressed the droplet of blood to the seal. A spicy scent filled the air and tiny smoky hands dug at the previous spell, appearing like zombie arms battling away at dirt to come out of their graves.
“I can’t create or make spells, but from being her assistant, I do know my blood can break a good number of them with this brew.
Lucia made it for me when I purchased a sealed box at an estate sale, where I’d been hoping to find some unusual antiques.
The contents were old love letters, so the reward had been a lost cause.
” Stevie brought a finger to her lips. “Don’t tell anyone I have this since it’s something she would never sell in her apothecary. ”
“You have my word.”
With a small smile, she tugged on the bricks, and it wasn’t one brick that shifted but several rows of them. Like a hidden door, except that the stuck-together bricks pulled all the way out from the wall in one large rectangle.
A cloud of dust stormed out and Stevie covered her mouth while hacking up a lung. She swiped her hand through the air, then held up the flashlight.
Stevie’s stare landed on something black—a metal trunk. “Score!”
Kit attempted to haul it out, but his hands passed through the box since his bones were inside. Stevie gripped the side handle and pulled the trunk from the hidden space. It was like a pirate’s wet dream of a chest, jewels embedded along the top.
A small golden plaque was displayed on the front. Wiping away the thick layer of dust, she read the quote aloud: The Headless Horseman darkens the sky!
“If people believe that, I can see why you believed me to be a demon,” Kit said sarcastically.
Stevie rolled her eyes and brushed her fingers against the lock, rattling it. Of course it didn’t break... “Come on, Horseman, looks like we’ll have to bring the loot home to get your bones out of this beast.”