Page 7 of Bewitched By the Headless Horseman
Gideon chuckled. “Bet you didn’t know accounting has a high suicide rate. But I’mfine.”
“Whatever, I at least look presentable.” She poked a finger at the Batman graphic on his chest. “You’ve been wearing the same shirt for like three days in a row.”
“Dude, it’s not the same shirt. I just have five of them!” He leaned against the door frame. “Besides the Eye of the Hollow opening, I hear other news happened last night. With Reese. He’s not your type, and I’m placing a wager now. You’ll get tired of him in the next two weeks.”
“Thank you, oh holy brother, for letting me know this most magnanimous opinion. But you’re wrong a lot.” She playfully shoved his arm.
“Never.” He smirked, reaching inside his pocket and fishing out a few coins. “I got these at a garage sale for your collection. The stamps are on their way. I ordered them this morning.”
Stevie’s eyes saucered as she looked at the two half dollars. 1912 and 1917. “Sometimes you make me not regret having a brother. Thank you!”
He chuckled. “Aww, such wonderful words spoken by my baby sister.”
“Quit dicking around with the door wide open,” Stevie’s mom, Morgan, shouted.
“If Gideon wasn’t blocking my entrance I would’ve been inside like five minutes ago,” Stevie called with a grin.
“Five minutes minus two,” he pointed out.
“Cauldron’s teeth, you’re a nuisance.” She laughed and walked past him. Pumpkin spice clung to the air like it always did inside her parents’ house during the fall.
Their mom lingered at the end of the hallway, her arms folded against her chest. Her hair was pulled back into a high sleek ponytail and gray streaked the strands. Silver eyeshadow painted her lids, black liner winging out at the edges. A pink and white striped dress hugged her curvy form, and a sleeve of tattoos covered her left arm.
“About time you showed up, my precious girl.” Her mom wrapped Stevie into a fierce hug as though she hadn’t seen her in a year. “Let’s catch up. Lucia is giving your father a special seasoning she made for the sausage.”
“Please don’t tell me she brought that spicy kind,” Gideon groaned, scurrying toward the back of the house to go outside where their dad was barbecuing.
“Nothing she brings is that spicy,” her mom barked to his back, then turned to Stevie. “He’s twenty-five and still acts like he’s fourteen.”
“To be fair, I can do that sometimes too.”
“We all can.” Her mom smiled and led Stevie to the leather couch, patting the spot beside her. Roxy lay on her back against the fur rug, staring up at the rotating fan—her own personal entertainment.
As her mom reclined into the cushions, Stevie studied her, remembering when her parents first discovered she could see ghosts. Then finding out her mom held an ability too, one she hadn’t confessed to Stevie until that moment.
Once a month, her mom’s heart would begin to die, and she’d have to replace it if she wanted to continue living. Before coming to Sleepy Hollow, her mom hadn’t known what she was exactly, only that she needed a fresh, healthy heart from someone soshe didn’t keel over and die. She’d tried both dying human and animal hearts, neither of which worked properly. At least not until Stevie’s dad had located a witch in Sleepy Hollow who could put a specific spell on a pig’s heart each month to do the job. Lucia’s aunt—Ginger. Her mom still didn’t know what she was, but regardless, Stevie loved her.
“Dad’s been cooking a lot lately,” Stevie said, staring out the window as her dad tossed the spatula in the air and caught it as if he were auditioning to be a juggler at the circus. The sound of his punk rock music drifted through the walls from outside, something Stevie had grown up on.
“He’s now found a new dream profession once he retires from the dentist office.” She laughed. “Did you bring Roxy with you?”
Hearing her name, the fox rolled onto her side and pawed through her mom’s ankle. “She’s near your feet.”
“We miss you, Roxy, and you know you’re welcome here any time.” Her shoulders sagged as she sighed. “First Gideon, who by the way I never expected to leave, then you. I miss you both.”
“If it wasn’t for Lucia, I think Gideon would’ve died here.” Stevie grinned.
Her mom straightened and clasped her hands. “More importantly, the Eye of the Hollow opened last night. I always sort of believed it was a story, but I guess not.”
“Definitely not.” Stevie turned to face her mom, propping her elbow against the couch cushions. “For the first time, I had a couple of ghosts return my one-way conversation, I watched the Headless Horseman take a head, and not much else yet.”
“TheHeadless Horseman? That asshole?” her mom gasped. “I’ve told you since you were younger to steer clear of that demon ghost. I have no room to talk because of my past, but Ginger confirmed that none of the souls lingered who I took hearts from.” When her mom discovered ghosts were real, she’dbeen terrified that some of the souls might not have passed on. But that self-loathing case had been closed when she repented with one of the priests.
Her mom had done it for survival though, not just eating hearts to eat hearts like a vicious beast. And technically, it wasn’t eating—only swallowing them. “I will. It was just something I had to see. Kind of like those people who want to go into places that are supposedly haunted.” Except for seers, no one had seen the Horseman, but psychics, mediums, witches, and priests had all attempted to rid Sleepy Hollow of him in the past. Yet like a virus, he wasn’t easy to get rid of.
“Just be careful with the ghosts. Even if they can’t touch you, that doesn’t mean a pervert can’t waltz into your bathroom.”
Stevie wrinkled her nose. “Gross, Mom!”
