Page 8 of Halloween in Sleepy Hollow (Heroes of Sleepy Hollow #7)

SHEA

If it hadn’t happened to me, I wouldn’t believe it.

And I thought I’d heard everything.

Russians trying to kidnap me to use as leverage to blackmail Oliver? Check.

My best friend taken by a sinister trafficking organization run by her father? Check.

Rose’s hand horrifically broken by her obsessed coworker in a sick attempt to win her over? Check, check, and check.

But held hostage by the unassuming grocery store cashier because we accidentally stumbled onto his crazy plan to summon the Headless Horseman? Using four innocent women as sacrifices, no less?

Out of anything I could have imagined, that wasn’t one of them.

But I’m okay. We’re all okay. Aside from some minor bruises, none of us were hurt.

Well. That’s not completely true. Randy has a broken nose that mysteriously happened sometime during his arrest.

“I have no idea how he broke his nose,” Cole told Mike Troy, one of the first officers to arrive on the scene. “It’s possible he tripped. I honestly can’t remember.”

“Probably tripped,” Kane agreed. “He was trying to get away from Cole and Oliver at first. But my attention was on the women. So I can’t say for certain.”

No one would say who did it. Not any of the guys, not the four women Randy originally kidnapped, and definitely not me, Thea, or Ari.

We’re all glad Randy’s nose was broken. Truthfully, the small, vindictive part of me wishes Oliver had done more.

He couldn’t have. Not as a Sleepy Hollow police officer sworn to uphold the law.

But if Randy just happened to run into Oliver’s fist? I can’t say I’m sorry about it.

If not for the whole kidnapping and ritual part of it, I’d almost feel sorry for Randy. To be desperate enough to turn to a ritual tucked away in a hundred-year-old book no one’s read in years…

“I almost got rid of it,” Thea told us once we arrived at the police station. “When I was going through the collection last spring, it was on my list to pull from the shelves. No one had checked it out in over ten years, after all. But with it being local history, I decided to keep it.”

With a regretful glance at Ari and me, she added, “I’m sorry. If I had only…”

But it wasn’t her fault. Not in the least. If Randy hadn’t found the strange ritual in that book— Secrets and Spells of Sleepy Hollow —I’m sure he would have found something equally crazy in another .

“No,” Ari assured her. “Don’t even think that. If it was anyone’s fault, it was mine. I’m the one who suggested going to the library.”

“But if you hadn’t,” I reminded her, “we wouldn’t have run into Emily. And Randy would have gone through with his ritual.”

When I think about it that way, I’m almost glad I was kidnapped.

Almost.

“We should be cleared to leave soon.” Oliver sinks into the plastic chair beside me and takes my hand in his.

His thumb strokes across my palm, the gentle movement soothing my rattled nerves.

Lines of worry crease his forehead as he studies my face.

“Are you holding up okay, Shea? Do you need anything?”

I lace my fingers between his. “I’m okay. Just a little tired, that’s all.”

He frowns. “I’m sorry. I wish I could have made this go faster. But there being so many people to interview…”

“I get it.” Edging closer to Oliver, I rest my head on his shoulder. As weariness sweeps through me, I stifle a yawn. “I wasn’t expecting it to be quick. And with you working here, especially.”

Oliver’s lips come to the top of my head, resting there for a moment. “I’m not on the case,” he says. “Not officially. Since you were one of the victims—” He grimaces. “It would be a conflict of interest.”

He’s still feeling guilty. I can tell. It’s in the slump of his shoulders and the lines bracketing his downturned mouth.

It’s in his shadowed gaze and how he looks pained whenever he’s forced to leave me, whether it’s when I went into the interrogation room— It’s an interview , Mike Troy emphasized as soon as I sat down, not an interrogation, since you didn’t do anything wrong —or Oliver had to meet with his fellow officers.

Oliver has nothing to feel guilty about, of course. But good luck convincing him of that.

I have a feeling my already-overprotective husband will be operating in uber protector mode for the next few months, at least. He’s already mentioned increasing the security at our house again and switching out my earrings for a tracker that can be implanted subcutaneously.

A tracker under my skin? Part of me feels a little weirded out by the idea.

Then again, I wouldn’t have to worry about losing the earrings. Or remembering to wear them.

“I was thinking,” Oliver muses as he looks around the police station waiting room, “about looking into some other tracking methods. Something that has a more reliable signal. My buddy, Archer, might have an idea. The SAG is always getting early access to new intelligence technologies.”

“Maybe we can talk about it later,” I suggest gently. “Once everything has settled down.”

Oliver’s arm tightens around me. “Shit. Sorry, love. Of course you don’t want to talk about that right now. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

I lift my head to kiss his jaw, feeling the soft brush of his stubble against my lips. “You were thinking that you were worried. And that—” My voice dips. “You were scared.”

He turns to me, the truth of my statement evident in his gaze.

He frames my face and kisses me tenderly.

“I was.” His staid police officer demeanor falls away, revealing the sensitive and vulnerable part he only lets me see.

“I was really scared, Shea. I don’t think my heart could take going through that again. ”

It’s hard to snuggle closer, given the unforgiving plastic seats we’re sitting in.

But I do my best, twining my arm around Oliver’s back and pressing my thigh flush against his.

“You weren’t the only one who was scared,” I tell him.

Angling my chin at Cash and Ari, who are squished together in two seats with Winnie fast asleep on Cash’s lap, I add, “Cash was scared. So was Ben.”

Oliver looks at the two couples for a few seconds. A thoughtful expression moves across his face. “Yeah. They were. And I felt really bad for them. Having to make the choice between staying with their kids or going out to look for their wives…”

“That must have been hard. But they knew Elias and Winnie were safe. So they had that, at least.”

We both look over at Ben and Thea again, and my lips curve up of their own volition. Ben has his arm around Thea, and she’s holding a sleeping Elias on her lap. Laila is right beside them, clutching Thea’s hand and looking much younger than her twelve years.

She was brought over by the parents holding the party she was at—her first boy-girl party, that is—about an hour ago.

As soon as Laila spotted Thea, she sprinted over and flung her arms around her.

In a voice wobbly with tears, Laila said, “The party was good. But I missed you guys. Maybe next year we can stay home and spend Halloween together instead?”

A lot can happen in a year, of course. By then, Laila will be thirteen. She might decide staying home with her parents for Halloween isn’t cool. She might even have a boyfriend, much to poor Ben’s dismay.

Or she might remember tonight, when her stepmom—no, her mom in all the ways that count—had another brush with danger.

Ben told Laila what happened, drawing her aside to gently explain the basics of it. Not the part about the sacrificial ritual, but that there was a sick man who was trying to hurt some women, and Thea, Ari, and Shea got involved when they tried to help.

Elias didn’t need an explanation, of course. When Grant brought him to the station—Scarlett was already home with the twins—Elias launched himself at Thea, announcing loudly, “I peed on the big boy potty, Mom. Are you proud of me?”

I didn’t miss the sheen of tears in Thea’s eyes as she hugged him. “I’m so proud of you, Eli. So proud.”

Cash and Ari didn’t tell Winnie all of it either.

They explained that Ari went with Aunt Thea and Shea to help someone and they got lost. Winnie stared at Ari with a very serious look on her little face before replying, “Next time I’ll go with you.

And we’ll bring a compass. So you don’t get lost again. ”

Just the thought of the touching moment brings a lump to my throat. My nose prickles.

“Shea?” Oliver touches my cheek. His worry is a visible thing. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He takes my wrist and pushes the sleeve up to inspect it. “Do you want me to get you some ice?”

I glance at the slight redness ringed around my wrist. “No, it’s fine. I was just thinking about Winnie, Elias and Laila. And how sweet they were when they saw Ari and Thea.”

“Yeah.” He gives me a slight smile. “That was nice, wasn’t it?”

“It was.” Scanning the waiting room again, I add, “And it’s nice how everyone came, even if they didn’t have to. Just to give their support.”

Because the people involved aren’t the only ones here.

As soon as news got out about what happened, all our friends converged on the station.

Jess and Rose came right away of course, along with Eloise and Dave from the fire station, Willow and Ryan from the Ambulance Corps, Penny from the library, and Dallas, Oliver’s friend from high school and new transplant to Sleepy Hollow.

Maya is home with the kids, but Rylan’s wife, Charlie, came too, along with Leo’s wife, Georgia.

Even quirky Mrs. Plimpton showed up with a giant platter of cookies in hand, just in case anyone was feeling peckish , as she explained.

Seeing everyone here reminds me of how much I love Sleepy Hollow and how glad I am that I moved here. It’s more than just a town. And my friends are more than that. Sleepy Hollow is home. And my friends are family.