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)
“Yes,” Kat says through a wavering smile. “We were best friends.”
I lock eyes with hers for a moment, wondering how deep their friendship went. I know it’s terribly unfair to be so indignant over their pasts with each other, but I am. I’m possessive over her, even though I have no right to be, and I might just feel the same way about him too. This should make the rest of the school year torture, along with the ghosts of dead teachers and a headless horseman running amok.
“I see,” I say, steepling my fingers together. “Well, I have to admit, Brom Bones, it’s quite a surprise to have a new student in my class a month into the semester. Can I ask why you missed so much already? Where have you been?”
Kat looks to Brom with an eagerness she can’t hide, her fingers gripping the ruffles on her dress bodice as if holding on for dear life.
Brom stares at me blankly for a moment, like he’s trying to gather all the thoughts in his head and not having much luck. Then his thick black brows furrow, and I pick up on a flash of pain, his eyes seeming darker than ever. He reminds me of the man in New York, the one who would give himself completely to me, a toy for me to do what I wanted, and how after we were done and spent, the light would drain from his eyes, and they would turn so dark and haunted again.
I was a welcome respite, but the relief never lasted.
“I…” he begins, licking his lips, that wildness coming across him. “I don’t know.” He looks around him as if to double-check that the room is empty. “I don’t remember.”
His chin dips at that, and shame wafts off him.
“You don’t remember?” Kat asks, reaching out and putting her hand on his arm.
“What do you mean?” I add, leaning forward, ignoring the way she’s touching him.
He pinches his eyes shut and lets out a shallow breath, shaking his head. “I don’t remember. I don’t remember the time I’ve been gone. I don’t remember any of it.”
Then he opens his eyes and stares right at me with such desperation that I feel it in my skin. “You’re a teacher, right? You know things? Maybe you can help me.”
“I don’t understand,” I say, and his expression crumbles. I splay my hands out. “Try explaining in layman’s terms, and then I’ll see what I can do.”
He looks up to the ceiling for a moment, then says, “Four years ago, I left Sleepy Hollow. I don’t know why. I don’t remember why I left. I remember a feeling—I remember fear. But I can’t remember why I left. I have vague memories of a city, New York, maybe. I don’t know. But I know that time passed, and now suddenly, I’m here. I woke up…here.”
“What do you mean you woke up here?” Kat asks, her dainty brows coming together. “Out in the hall, they said you returned a few days ago and that you’d been ill.”
“That’s what they say. But I don’t remember any of that either. That’s why I didn’t come by to see you, Kat. I would have been to see you right away, you know that.” He reaches out and takes her pinky in his hand, giving it a squeeze, and the air gets caught in my lungs.
I swallow my jealousy down. “So you don’t remember why you left. You don’t remember where you’ve been. You don’t remember how you got here. You just woke up in this classroom today. Is that it?”
He nods. I glance at Kat, who gives her head a shake, a thin strand of blonde coming loose from her bun. “This is impossible,” she says.
“I know how it sounds,” he says gruffly. “But I’m telling you the truth.”
“Crane,” Kat says to me, hope swimming in her beautiful blue eyes. “You can help him. Try to read him.”
“I…” I begin. I’m about to say that I already have tried to read him once and that I didn’t get any further with him than I did with her. But while I’m sure that truth will come out sooner than later, it can wait.
I pause and fix Brom with my gaze. “Are you sure you would like me to try? I can gain access to your memories using magic. You just have to go into it wanting to let me in.”
Brom licks his lips and nods quickly. “Yes. You can try. I don’t remember anything. There’s nothing I have any shame of.”
At that, Kat’s face flushes slightly, but she doesn’t say anything.
And then I realize what he means to Kat. He was the one she was searching for in the void during the ritual, the one that made her feel desperate and aroused. He’s the dark, hot lust I glimpsed when I first tried to read her.