Page 35 of Bewitched By the Headless Horseman (The Bewitching Hour #1)
Even as smoke seeped from the ground and the earth shook, lit candles illuminated the fog of the cemetery, some people not willing to give up the chance to be amongst the ghosts, wishing to speak with a loved one.
If the Hollow opened, staying locked up in one’s home would only be a temporary escape of what was to come anyway.
Lucia parked a short distance away from the bridge, giving them an opportunity to not be noticed so easily before cloaking herself with an invisible spell. She couldn’t see Ginger or Lucia clearly, but her sister-in-law surrounded them in a lavender glow that only they could see to follow.
Stevie trailed her finger across Kit’s bone one more time, hoping he could feel her, before she slipped it into her pocket.
Clutching Maxine for dear life, so she wouldn’t have to incur her brother’s wrath, Stevie trekked beside the two witches across the shallow creek, the cool water brushing her legs.
Lucia guided them to the opposite side of the bridge, their footsteps muted, and they hid within the trees. The single red bleeding orb shone down on the trio as if the Eye were spying on them. Lucia sprinkled a vial of liquid on the ground, then softly chanted, her voice assured.
Like hands drawing back curtains to unveil a hidden mystery, the fog slowly separated where the gate should be.
Stevie didn’t see a sign of Levi or Clara, but then a light flickered on, revealing two kneeling robed forms. A skull and the wooden box of bones rested before them next to at least ten lit candles.
Kit writhed in front of a sycamore tree mere feet away, his chains keeping him bound to the trunk, unable to pass through like he normally could’ve.
Stevie’s heart clenched at seeing Kit so incredibly close to becoming the demons’ plaything.
“Someone lifted our cloaking spell,” Levi purred and peered around. “Come out, come out, little witch. We’ve been waiting for you.”
“Their protection spell is incredibly strong. This might take longer, but hopefully it won’t be too late,” Lucia whispered.
“I need to distract them so they lose focus. You’re up.
” She uncloaked herself and pointed to her aunt, signaling it was showtime.
Ginger’s own spell vanished, allowing her to mirror Stevie in every way.
“Release Kit,” Ginger bellowed, stepping out from behind the tree, her voice matching Stevie’s.
“How sweet, you were let out of your box early,” Clara sneered, her gaze meeting Ginger’s. “Where’s Lucia?”
Trust me , Lucia mouthed to Stevie and gestured for her to follow behind her. She then led Stevie out from the trees, the invisibility keeping her hidden for now. “I heard you wanted my body,” Lucia called while Ginger now walked with them. “It’s too bad I don’t share.”
As they drew closer, only a small number of yards between them, neither of the duo moved from their spots until Clara thrust her hand forward. A flash of white light struck Lucia in the chest before she could dodge out of the way.
Lucia , Stevie screamed inside her skull, grasping her sister-in-law’s arm, rattling Maxine in her other hand. She hadn’t blown their cover, and Lucia hadn’t collapsed to the ground. No harm. Yet .
“Aww,” Clara cooed as iridescent magic from both sides pushed against one another. “You think a protection spell will save you? It’s too late for that.”
Kit grunted, wriggling beneath his chains. Stevie released Lucia and she trailed her fingers across his bone in her pocket and he stilled.
Clara finally stood, brushing her hands down the front of her red robe. “Now, give us Stevie and I’ll perhaps let you take over our body here and there. Your power is great. Your body perfect. Regardless of what you choose, we’ll take the seer from you though.”
“Hmm. That is something to think about, isn’t it?” Lucia sighed sarcastically. Stevie looked up toward the hidden new moon, its single red Eye shining like the richest of rubies. Soon, the second would crack open.
With his ghost hands, Levi lifted his backpack, making Stevie curse herself for never asking him what was in it.
Her heart pounded when he unzipped it and drew out a translucent white head.
This verified it. Kit’s head was inside.
He’d had it with him all that time in the comic book store, right under her nose.
Levi edged toward Kit and placed the pale head on his neck. It remained, not disappearing as the other one had. Kit’s head. Kit’s face. A face she might never get to touch for the first time.
“Stevie, hide!” Kit shouted toward Ginger. But then another cloth was between his teeth, muffling his words.
“Where will she go?” Clara taunted.
“How about this, little witch,” Levi said, running a digit across his thin lower lip, “if you cease your magic, I’ll make certain the demons don’t touch a single hair on your foolish husband.”
“And Stevie?” Lucia asked.
“We both know how that will end.” Levi smirked.
As Clara and Lucia’s iridescent magic battled against each other, Levi sliced his palm with a jeweled blade and spilled his blood on the ground of the gate. Reese’s blood. Seer’s blood. Another reason he needed Reese besides his body.
He emptied the box of bones near Kit. The click of them hitting one another echoed, and Kit winced. Levi lifted the skull with both hands and placed it on top of the pile of bones as if it were a crown.
The warlock whispered an incantation, then jerked his chin up after only a couple of seconds passed. “The bones aren’t connecting?” he growled toward Clara.
“They are his bones, aren’t they?” Clara hissed, her hand wavering.
“Without a doubt.”
“What did you do?” Clara shouted toward Ginger.
Magic crackled around them, a rotten odor filling the air, darkness .
And then her magic broke through Lucia’s protective barrier.
Ginger floated into the air, and Lucia didn’t fight back yet, even as her aunt fell to the ground in front of Clara’s feet.
“You aren’t Stevie—you reek of witch magic,” Clara seethed, holding out her opposite hand toward Lucia’s aunt.
Ginger stilled, unmoving, her wide eyes frozen in a trance.
“Tonight the dead will reunite with the living. Demons will walk the earth, and all the ghosts, including yours, will feed the wicked and forever be trapped below.”
“And then what?” Lucia shouted, her magic visibly shoving harder against Clara’s. “Rule it all? How cliché can you be?”
“Do you believe us to be so narcissistic?” Levi drawled. “We will bow down to our king and queen of the Hollow. We will be their right hands as was foretold.” The people of Sleepy Hollow wouldn’t just be slaughtered—their ghosts would be fed to the demons with no escape from the dark world below.
The ground trembled like it had earlier, Kit’s bones rattling. The water of the creek sloshed against the dirt. Kit’s skull lit up, glowing a brilliant red. They didn’t have much longer. Lucia needed to break open Clara’s barrier so they could get to work.
A long shadowy hand stretched from Clara and wrapped around Ginger’s throat, squeezing, the witch unable to fight back.
“Don’t!” Lucia screamed, jolting forward, and the cloaking spell concealing Stevie shattered.
“Well, well, there she is,” Levi said with a devious grin. “Where’s the bone? One is missing from the remains.”
Stevie shrugged. “How would I know? I wasn’t the one who dug up Kit’s bones and placed them inside a trunk.”
“Don’t fuck with us.” Clara gritted her teeth.
And then Stevie noticed a white form hovering near a tree behind Levi and Clara.
Roxy. Of course she hadn’t listened and gone to Stevie’s parents.
But as Clara returned to squeezing Ginger’s throat, an idea formed.
Stevie was a witch’s assistant, and that was exactly what she needed to be right now.
“It’s time for the exorcism,” Stevie murmured to Lucia as the second Eye slowly opened and the earth shook, the sound like thunder.
With the second Eye already there, Lucia wouldn’t have to feel for the ghosts—she would see them now too.
“I’m going to whistle. Be ready, Maxine.
” Setting the plant on the ground beside her, Stevie cut a thin line down her palm with the dagger and ignored its bite.
She fished out Kit’s bone and smeared red across the white before adding a few drops onto the ground.
Lucia took the bone from her, and Stevie released a high-pitched whistle, the sound echoing across the woods.
Roxy then broke from the brush as Clara whirled around, but it was too late.
The fox knocked through Adelia and took Clara’s ghost with her to the ground.
Roxy growled violently, her maw around the witch’s throat while she jerked.
“I bind you to the Hollow on this night, Clara Katrina Bonham,” Lucia shouted.
As Levi smacked Roxy away from Clara with his magic, Maxine barreled forward, growing to massive size with smaller Venus flytraps snapping beside her.
She clamped her rows of teeth around Levi’s shoulder and rattled him like a ragdoll to exorcise the ghost from Reese’s body.
Clara’s ghost form remained still and Lucia focused her chanting on Levi.
Ginger came out of her daze, no longer looking like Stevie, and didn’t hesitate to hold up her hand toward Levi too.
His pale form finally spilled forward to the ground, and Roxy didn’t miss a beat to pin him down.
“Release him, Maxine!” Stevie yelled, and the plant let go of Reese, his body collapsing near Levi’s. Maxine drew back but didn’t shrink in size just yet.
“And to you, Levi Brom Bonham,” Lucia shouted louder. “I bind you to the Hollow on this night. I bind the both of you.”
The earth before them split in two, a jagged fissure leading to the gate tore the ground open.
Lucia continued, her voice speeding up, “The two of you will be dinner for the king and queen below. You will keep them satisfied as they feast on your magic and essence.” Both ghosts roused then, clawing at the dirt as an invisible force dragged them toward the abyss, then swallowed them into its depths.
A demon’s hand, decaying skin peeling back from bone, reached from the darkness and wiggled its decrepit fingers toward Stevie and Lucia.
A second arm pierced through the thin opening, this one hoofed.
The crack needed to be closed, but before the chant could be performed, another white form flew into the demon’s grasp, the hand sinking below the surface with its treasure.
Kit .