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)
“Why?” Crane asks. “Because the horseman came from the direction of the school?”
“Yes,” she says, pressing her hands together. “Perhaps you opened a window with your ritual. The Sisters should know. If the Hessian starts to kill again, they may be the only hope to put him back where he belongs.”
“Excuse me?” Crane says incredulously, his brows shooting up. “Kill again?”
I look to my mom with an equally bewildered expression. “What do you mean kill again? He’s killed before?”
“Ja,” Famke says, still hanging by the door and looking around nervously. “They say he cuts the heads off people he meets in the night.”
“They say, or he actually does?” Crane asks. “Because fact over speculation is of the utmost importance here.”
“And he didn’t chop off our heads.” I push at mine as if to demonstrate it’s still on my neck.
“Speculation,” my mother says patiently, giving Famke a warning look. “Don’t listen to her.”
“No, but it’s true,” Famke refutes. “I was a child when it happened. You wouldn’t remember, Sarah. You were too young.” She looks to me and Crane. “It happened when my family arrived from Holland. I remember that one of the clergy at the church had gone missing. No one knew what happened to him. And then the killings started. Two of the other clergymen were discovered with their heads missing, one in Wiley’s Swamp, the other in Hollow Creek beneath the bridge.”
Crane makes a face. “Charming little town you have here. You left that out of the brochure.”
“So then he’s back,” I say. “What does that mean?”
“It means the both of you will stay here tonight. Crane”—she nods at him—“you can have the guest bedroom. Katrina, you’re sharing my bed tonight.”
“Whatever for?” I say as she puts her hand on my shoulder and ushers me toward the house. I would have been a baby the last time I slept with my parents.
“This whole thing has me frightened,” she whispers. “And I am feeling weak. I don’t wish to be alone.”
Oh. Well, I can’t refute that. I look at Crane over my shoulder, but he’s staying behind with Snowdrop, stroking her neck.
“I’ll put her away in the stable for you,” he says and starts leading her along the side of the house, and I mouth my thanks.
“You could have been nicer to the professor,” I whisper to my mother as we step into the warmth of the house. It smells like honey, woodsmoke, and spices.
“Why should I? He’s the one who broke the rules. Be glad I’m not making him sleep in the barn.”
“What happened to all the things you said last week about being intimate with him? You were encouraging it.”
She gives me a sharp look. “Do you need the tea?”
“No,” I hiss at her as I start taking off my coat. “I haven’t…we haven’t…there’s no need.”
She leans in and peers at me closely, then grabs my chin and moves my face around. “Are you certain? Because there’s certainly a change in you, Katrina.”
“I’m certain.”
“Good,” she says in a clipped voice, letting go of my face. “Time to adjust your expectations about him. He’s your teacher, nothing more. A ghoulish fellow, too, at that, with those haunting eyes and cheekbones and skin like a ghost.”
I don’t know what to say. How quickly she’s changed her tune about him. “I don’t understand.”
She stoops down and unlaces my boots. “There’s someone better out there for you.” She looks up at me and winks, which is most unnerving. “You’ll see.”
“I’ve put on the kettle for some tea,” Famke says, coming out of the kitchen. “I’ll go make sure the guest bedroom has everything he’ll need.”
Moments later, Crane comes in, smelling like frost. “She’s all settled and happy,” he says to me, taking off his coat. “She’s a good horse.”
My mother just stares at him before she walks off into the kitchen.
Crane comes over to me, leans down, and whispers, “I don’t think she likes me very much.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, looking around to make sure no one is watching before I reach up and place my hand on his cheek. “I don’t know why she’s being like this.”
“She’s just looking out for her daughter,” he says with a smirk. “I wouldn’t trust anyone around a man like me either.”
I’m about to tell him that there’s nothing wrong with a man like him, but then again, I am his student, and he did just ravage me with his fingers while on the back of my horse.
“A cup of tea before bed?” my mother asks, coming out of the kitchen holding two steaming mugs. “I picked it from herbs in the garden. They’ll help calm you down and sleep. I can’t imagine the nightmares you might have after such an ordeal.”
Crane and I take the mugs from her. I sniff mine. Crane does the same. It smells warm and soothing, cinnamon and orange rinds. It’s not the tea I was thinking of.