Hollowed: Return to Sleepy Hollow, the Complete Duology

by Candace Wondrak

  Running. It was something I hadn’t done full-force since gym class, back in high school, which was…God, so many years ago. I might’ve only been twenty-four, but I felt so much older right now. What regular twenty-four-year-old had to deal with shit like this?

  No one was in the bathrooms, and I hurriedly checked the bedrooms, no one was in them, either.

  “Shit,” I muttered, leaving the room that had become Wash’s. I was about to head down the hall and the stairs, but something in Crane’s room caught my eye, something that wasn’t there before.

  I stepped into the bedroom, looking at what hung on the closet doors. I hadn’t seen it in my initial search, because I’d come from the other direction and had only seen the empty bed and its folded, made-up sheets. I didn’t see the mauve dress hanging there.

  It was prettier than I wanted to admit, a floor-length ensemble with two silky sleeves meant to sit off the shoulders. A pink so dull it was hardly pink. Simple, and yet elegant. I reached a hand out, running it down the dress’s front.

  A dress for later, after Katrina had done everything she’d wanted? I should burn it, but I liked its design too much. Hell, maybe Katrina and I were more alike than I thought.

  But now wasn’t the time to ogle a pretty dress. Now was the time to find my guys and make the bitch pay.

  I left Crane’s room, heading into the living room. I sat myself on the couch, closing my eyes and turning my hands palms-upward, laying them flat on my lap. It was easier to call my tablet of shadows, because I knew it existed. I didn’t doubt; a certainty dwelled within me, new and strong.

  Within a few seconds, my tablet appeared on my hands, and when I turned my eyes downward upon it, its screen lit up. Pages flipped across it, landing on the spell I needed most right now. It was a magical tablet that knew exactly what I needed: a locator spell, the same kind of spell that Katrina had done while in my body, to find Wash’s head.

  Now I’d use the spell to find Crane, Bones, and Wash.

  I stared down at the old English words for a few moments. As I willed it, my tablet started to change the words on the screen into ones I’d understand. Ones that made sense to me, and ones I didn’t need Crane here to translate.

  I didn’t need anything to do the spell. All I had to do was say the words, so I said them.

  “The powers that be, I call upon thee. Lead me to what I seek. Show me where I must go to find what I need most.” I spoke them with confidence, and maybe it was because I was getting better at this witch stuff, or maybe it was because I was desperate, but the spell worked on the first try.

  Images flashed in front of my eyes. One of old trees, eerie woods. One of an old gate that no one bothered to lock anymore, because hardly anyone ever went there anymore. Another of rows and rows of old limestone graves, their faces too worn off from the rain to be legible. And, lastly, an image of my destination: Abraham Van Brunt’s mausoleum, the same one the spirit had taken me to while wearing my dad’s body as his meat suit.

  Of course.

  Of course it would end there.

  I took my tablet with me, taking Crane’s car and driving to the old cemetery on the outskirts of town. It was the same place Bones had taken me on a date of sorts, when I’d fallen into the otherworld and saw the Headless Horseman again. This cemetery held many memories of my childhood, but now it was gaining some pretty awful ones. This was the cemetery where my dad’s body lay, and I prayed it would not be the one where Crane’s and Bones’s bodies would be, too.

  Pulling off the road, I leaped out of the car and slammed the door. Night had descended upon Sleepy Hollow, the moon rising into the sky nearly full. I headed into the cemetery, feeling the air drop in temperature as I went. I clutched my tablet against my side, refusing to let it go. I’d probably need it again soon.

  Across the rows and rows of graves, past the statues the rich had enacted for themselves, I found myself before the mausoleum soon enough, its stone door hanging open. I doubted anyone had come here after the ordeal with the spirit, and I prayed they were alright. If they weren’t…

  I heaved a giant breath and walked in.

  Crane and Bones were tied together in the back, and they looked…terrible. Pale and sick, not to mention the wounds on Bones that had reopened. Wash was nowhere to be seen. I rushed to their side, falling to my knees, my heart threatening to burst. Were they…

  Crane’s greasy head moved, his eyes opening into slits as he saw me. He didn’t wear his glasses, so I was probably just a blur to him. “You’re you again,” he whispered, somehow knowing I was me and not Katrina.

  God, what did that bitch do while in my body?

  “I am,” I whispered, feeling tears forming in my eyes. Bones was unconscious, and by the look of it, they’d been here a while. Their clothes were dirty, and they reeked. I set my tablet on my lap, working to untie their restraints, which held them to the stone coffin in the center of the crypt. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know…”

  “Neither did we,” Crane spoke, his voice dry. His lips were cracked, too. He needed to hydrate, and to shower. “Until it was too late. She played you well, Kat.”

  When they were untied, Bones slumped over, and I caught him by the shoulder, struggling to keep him up. “What’s wrong with him?” I asked Crane, a sinking feeling in my gut. Bones looked too pale, too sick. Some of his wounds looked…infected.

  “I’m certain some of his cuts have gotten infected, and Katrina knocked him back hard with her magic. She really doesn’t fancy him,” Crane spoke, moving to hold Bones so I didn’t have to.

  He might be hurt. Might have brain damage. I knew Crane had told me overdoing it with the spells could kill me, but if there was a night to go all out, tonight was that night. My eyes fell to my tablet, and the pages on the screen started to flip again.

  “Kat, what are you—” Crane reached for me, using one hand to hold up Bones and the other to touch my arm. “Please, don’t hurt yourself. We can take him to the hospital and…”

  The tablet landed on a spell, and when I saw what was needed, I didn’t hesitate. I glanced around, looking for what I knew was nearby: the bone from my dad’s forearm, the same one the spirit had used to cut into me, trying to weaken me. When I picked up its stained, sharpened ivory, Crane sent me a look.

  I knew that look. I knew he didn’t think I should do this, but I had to. Bones was not going to die.

  Listening to the instructions written at the top of the spell, I took the bone’s sharp edge and drew it along my scar on my arm, opening the wound again. The pain jolting up my arm as a response was nowhere near the pain I felt inside knowing I might lose Bones.

  Blood magic. This was blood magic, AKA dark magic, the kind of magic Katrina knew well.

  You had to fight fire with fire sometimes.

  I dropped the bone as dark maroon started welling from the injury. I ran a thumb over it, moving to Bones. Crane had propped him against the back wall, the one that had etched Abraham’s name and date of death on it. Ironic, considering it was his descendant who I was now desperately trying to save. I touched my bloodied thumb against his forehead, making a cross, drawing my finger from his hairline down to between his eyebrows, and then from side to side.

  Glancing back at the tablet, I recited the words to the spell, “With blood we are born, and with blood we die. With this blood freely given, I strengthen its receiver. Blood to blood, will to will, soul to soul.” As I spoke the spell, I watched as the blood smeared on Bones’s pale forehead sunk into his flesh.

  It took a few moments, but color returned to his cheeks, and Bones let out a gasp, his blue eyes flying open as he glanced all around, landing on me instantly. On me, and the cut on my arm. “You…” he spoke, uncertain.

  “It’s Kat, not Katrina,” Crane said, kneeling beside him.

  The wounds on Bones’s body slowly disappeared, and he watched in silence as the skin puckered and scarred in a matter of minutes. “That’s…new.”

  “I’m
sorry,” I spoke, hating that this happened all because of Katrina and our shared bond. “I came back as quickly as I could. I think we have some time, though. Where’s Wash?”

  Crane gave me a look that sunk my spirits further. It was not a happy look. “He left after helping Katrina do this to us. She had him…under some kind of spell. Compulsion, maybe. He knew you weren’t you before we did, but she’s quick with her spells. Although—” He paused as he eyed the wound on my arm, which still bled freely. “—you are getting better.”

  Katrina had Wash off doing whatever. Not okay. He was not hers to command. He wasn’t anyone’s. He was his own man, not a spirit she could control.

  “Go back to the house,” I told them. “I’m going to find Wash and make sure he’s not doing something he shouldn’t be.” And if he was…then what? Would I have to kill him? What if I couldn’t break Katrina’s hold over him? What if he was past the point of no return?

  Damn it. I’d just gotten him. I couldn’t lose him so soon.

  “Take the car,” I added, reaching into my pocket and handing Crane the keys. I held back a wince, my arm throbbing steadily.

  “Kat, if you go after him…” Crane trailed off, glancing to Bones for backup.

  “I don’t think you’ll like what you find,” Bones finished for him.

  That thought had already crossed my mind, trust me. Still, it didn’t mean I could just sit back and let Katrina do whatever it was she wanted with him, with this town. “No,” I said, relatively calm, considering the situation. “This ends tonight.”

  And it would.

  “Then we’re going with you,” Crane said. “I refuse to let you walk off into danger by yourself—”

  “Same,” Bones agreed, and suddenly both men were intent on me.

  Me, as if I held the answers to it all. I didn’t—my tablet did. I knew I couldn’t dissuade either of them from coming with me, so I simply glanced down at the screen and headed out of the crypt. The same spell that I used to find Crane and Bones flashed on the tablet screen, but I knew it wasn’t good enough.

  I decided to change one of the words, hoping the spell still worked: “The powers that be, I call upon thee. Lead me to what I seek. Take me where I must go to find what I need most.” Take, not show. Hopefully this way, I’d get transported to where Wash was.

  Was this my way of trying to protect Crane and Bones? Maybe.

  My head grew fuzzy for a moment, but I shook the lightheadedness off. Now was not the time to give in to my weakness. Katrina was a powerful witch; so was I. She just had more practice. I could do this.

  I would do this.

  The air temperature dropped further, and as I breathed in the chilly air, I heard a sound. It was a sound I’d heard before, although it was different on grass. Behind me, both Bones and Crane gasped, neither one of them able to hold in their shock at the creature that was slowly walking up to me, a part of the real world suddenly, as if it had always been here.

  Its body was a sheer black, save for its eyes, which were a demonic, bright red. The animal was muscled, just as its owner was. This was a horse I’d seen before, although each time I’d seen it, Wash had been atop, riding it, headless.

  This was the Headless Horseman’s steed, and it was currently walking up to me in the middle of the cemetery, its hooves heavy in the grass.

  The horse would take me to him. Fitting.

  I started for the demonic steed, but Bones pulled me back by the shoulder. “Kat, you’re not seriously getting on that thing, are you?”

  I gave him a smile I hoped was comforting. “If you’re that worried, follow me in the car.” I tugged away from him, holding onto my tablet as I grabbed the reins of the horse with my other hand. Pulling myself onto the horse was hard, given the cut on my arm, but I managed. I swung my leg up and around it, fitting both feet into the stirrups.

  The horse pawed at the grass below, and I met the eyes of my men. Two of them, anyway, since one was MIA. I’d find him soon enough; I only prayed Wash would be alright.

  “See you on the other side,” I spoke, grinning. I didn’t need to yank on the reins; the horse knew when it was time to leave. It turned its wide body, walking us away from the crypt, away from Crane and Bones, and soon out of the cemetery.

  The horse took me to the road, its hooves clicking as it steadily walked along. I prayed we wouldn’t come across anyone else, no cars driving by. No other people who could snap a picture of me riding the red-eyed horse and post it online. The last thing Sleepy Hollow needed was more urban legends.

  “Wash,” I whispered his name, “I’m coming.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  After a long while walking along the roads, the horse drew us off the street, across the sidewalk, and into the grass. I knew where we were headed: the square, or at least the field near it. It was the same field I’d dreamt of before, the one with all the spirits who were both non-corporeal and tangible at the same time. If my dream was some kind of premonition, Sleepy Hollow was in for a world of hurt. I couldn’t stop a stampede of spirits.

  The moon was high overhead. I had no idea what time it was, but it was late enough. Just before midnight, maybe. The horse had taken its damned good time getting here.

  The field was a few acres long, surrounded by trees. It was the same field Crane and Bones had dug up Wash’s head. The horse drew us at the foot of the field, the shops surrounding the square a good ways behind us. As it turned to face the length of the grassy field, I spotted Wash standing fifty feet away, wearing all black and looking, for a lack of a better word, terrifying.

  Absolutely terrifying.

  Everything had come full circle. I was afraid of him, then I loved him, and once again, I was afraid. Though he was far enough away from me, I couldn’t help it. His face was shrouded in shadows; he might as well still be the Headless Horseman for all I knew.

  I slowly and carefully got off the horse. As soon as my feet hit the ground, the horse vanished, as if it had never been here in the first place. I still clutched my tablet in one hand, the other I let hang there, feeling the blood trail down to my fingertips from the wound.

  Wash said nothing, but he did fade away, stepping into the otherworld. I stood there, waiting with my head held as high as it could possibly be, for what felt like ages. In reality, it was only a few moments. When Wash returned, stepping out from the otherworld and materializing out of nothing, he wasn’t alone. He held hands with someone.

  My heart dropped.

  It was an old woman, one I’d seen before. A single line of dried blood ran from her forehead to her cheek, and I couldn’t help but wonder if that was my doing. When our minds wrestled, and mine won.

  Bernice. The town’s florist. The old woman who was helping set up for the festival, the one who thought Wash would make a great Horseman. The fucking bitch. She knew it was him all along; she was just biding her time until she was ready to strike.

  Oh, I planned on making her regret her choices.

  “It’s you,” I whispered. We were still fifty feet apart, but I didn’t doubt she could hear me. All along, and she was right under everyone’s nose. I gripped my tablet tighter, hating that Wash was by her side and not mine.

  “And it’s you,” she hissed, sounding quite feral for an old lady. “Or, should I say, me.” A smile grew along her face, wrinkled and aged. “You might have that body back now, but once the full moon hits, it’ll be mine forever and you’ll be locked inside just like everybody else.”

  Her words might’ve scared me before, but in all honesty, I was more frightened of the man she stood beside, the man under her spell. “Why not try again now?”

  Katrina, wearing the face of an old woman, gave me a smile. “Over the years, I’ve attuned my power to the cycle. You are a fledgling witch. Your power is all over the place, but once I have my body back…” She let out a laugh.

  My eyes dropped to the tablet, and I desperately hoped for some kind of spell that could break the compulsion she
had over Wash. “If you want it, what are you waiting for?”

  She broke away from Wash’s side, stepping closer to me. The wind rustled the old dress she wore, her silver hair stuck to her head with pins and clips. “I wait so I can show you exactly what I have in store for this town. Every single person in it…” As she trailed off, her frail shoulders began to shake with laughter. She lifted her hands in the air, and it was as if she was touching me.

  Her fingers, though she stood a good ways from me, dug into my hair, her thumbs pushing against the sides of my forehead. I let out a cry, falling to the ground, my mind forced to witness her plan in its entirety.

  She wore my body. Her body. Our body. The moon hung full over the world, everything around her dark. Her hair was down and straight, a beautiful auburn color, a single flower lodged in her ear. Her slender, petite body wore the mauve dress, and she stood in the same field we were now in.

  Wash stood behind her, dourly looking on, holding onto his double-sided ax with an intensity no one could match. He wore dark colors, a uniform similar to the one he’d been caught in for centuries. His brown eyes watched the field in front of him, his mouth drawn into a thin line. He would remain at her side until the end of time; now that Katrina knew how to create bodies that were hers, she would never have to worry about wearing another’s face again. She would use child after child, never growing old, always having a steady supply.

  And what’s worse? The townsfolk of Tarry, of the little nook that was Sleepy Hollow, would pay the ultimate price. This town would be hers, and she would rule it with an iron fist. No outside interference, the veil between earth and the otherworld torn permanently over the field.

  But, of course that wasn’t all.

  Of course it wasn’t, because all of that wasn’t bad enough.

  The entire field would shake once she had my body. The ground would split, skeletons from the past rising for the first time since they were felled in the Revolutionary War. But mere skeletons they were not.