Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
She stared at him, a tiny smile on the corner of her lips. He knew she liked being called special.
“You know what else makes you special?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“I think you do.” He gestured to the fire with a nod. “The fire listens to you, doesn’t it? You can make the fire dance with your fingers.”
Her eyes went wider, like fancy blue-and-white porcelain saucers Sarah brought out when they had company.
“It’s your secret, I know,” he said gently. “But I am your father, and there is no hiding things from me. I also know that you talk to birds and animals, and they understand you. That when you’re really upset, a gust of wind will flow through the house, slamming all the doors. And I know you’ve made yourself disappear on more than a few occasions, something that has always given me such a fright.”
Katrina swallowed hard, her legs no longer swinging. She chewed on the inside of her cheek, and Baltus felt bad for bringing all of this up.
“I’m not telling you all of this to punish you, my dear,” he said. “For I know it is not your fault. If anything, it’s because of your mother and I. Because we are also special in similar ways.”
She nodded slowly. “I know.”
He chuckled. “Of course you do. Do you know what that’s called? The name we have?”
She shook her head.
“A witch,” he said.
She stuck out her lower lip and pouted for a moment. “No. That can’t be. Witches are bad. You’re not bad. And men can’t be witches.”
He straightened up in his seat. “Men can very much be witches, and witches aren’t bad either.”
Except for a few, he thought.
“Witches are special,” he went on. “But the world doesn’t know that. They think what you have been told. That they are bad and wicked and up to no good. That is not the case, but the world doesn’t understand. Sleepy Hollow is the last safe haven for us, and even then, not everyone is…as special as we are. As you are.”
She seemed to think that over. “So I’m a witch?”
“You are. A beautiful, wonderfully good witch. But because you are a witch, you have a responsibility you must adhere to. It will keep you safe. It is so important to keep yourself safe, Katrina.”
“You keep me safe,” she said with a smile.
His heart pinched at that. “I won’t always be there to keep you safe, my dear.”
“Then Mama will keep me safe.”
“Of course she will,” he said, feeling the pinch in his heart grow tighter. “But one day, your mother might not be able to protect you. One day, you’ll be on your own.”
“I won’t be on my own. I’ll be married to Brom Van Brunt,” she said proudly. “You always tell us that we are to marry each other when we’re older.”
Baltus tried to keep a smile plastered on his face, but it faltered. “Yes. Your mother has seen to that.”
“Brom is my best friend, so that’s okay,” she said. “And he’ll protect me.”
Brom was three years older than Katrina and a good kid, if not a bit wild. His parents were spineless though, and Baltus always thought it odd how much Sarah pushed for them to get together. Brom’s mother, Emilie, was a witch, but his father was not, and Brom himself showed no signs of magic at all. But when Sarah set her mind to something, she’d keep going until the whole town agreed with her. She was persuasive like that.
“Be that as it may,” he continued gruffly, “one day, you might be alone, and you’ll need to keep safe. So in order to stay safe, I need you to promise me something. Are you ready to promise your father something very, very important?”
“What?” she asked.
“I want you to never tell anyone that you’re a witch. Even your own mother. I want you to keep it a secret from the world, even from yourself. We don’t show our magic and powers, and you won’t show yours either. You must hide all of that deep down until you’ve forgotten it.”
“Why?”
“Because the world is cruel. You know what happened to the witches of the past.”
“But they were bad.”
He quirked a brow. “Were they? Or is that what people were told? They might have been as innocent as you are. The world isn’t ready for people like us. Even this town.”
“Are there other witches in Sleepy Hollow?”
He wasn’t sure how to answer that. The truth would come out soon, once Katrina learned what her mother was doing at the school and what the school was doing with their students. Who the students really were. After all, if Sarah wasn’t so wrapped up with the idea of Brom and Katrina getting married, she’d be sending Katrina off to the school when she was of age, just like her mother and grandmother before her.