Page 23 of Bewitched By the Headless Horseman
“That can be a good thing.” She laughed. “Just put it back when you’re finished or Gideon will flip out.”
He saluted her. “Yes, ma’am.”
“All right, the boxes are officially packed and ready,” Gideon called.
“I gotta go, but I’ll see you next time.” She gestured to Roxy. “Come on, girl.”
Stevie took the boxes and went out the back to load them into her trunk. Gideon had told her it would only be a couple when he should’ve said ten, but she stuffed them in.
As she entered the apothecary, the familiar scents of herbs surrounding her, Lucia looked up from the counter. “Still no word from the…” Her sister-in-law pretended to remove her head from her shoulders.
“Still zero word from him.” Each night, Stevie had wasted time and gas driving through Sleepy Hollow to search for Kit. When she wasn’t doing that, she’d open her closet to see if he was there during the day since before the Eye opened he’d linger near his bones. No sign of him had been there either. And then she was frustrated with herself for questioning that something might’ve happened to him. She’d wondered if he’d found his head and passed on—she’d even tried one of Lucia’s contactthe dead spells that only worked for Heaven. There’d been no answer from up above. So it was either he was still a ghost or he’d ended up in the Hollow…
“Hmm. Well, if he found his head, you would know.” Lucia shrugged. “I don’t think he passed on.”
Stevie shrugged in return. “Maybe… But I need to talk to him. I’ve never met another seer before, and if he is one…”
“Then what? You share seer ghost stories? Just because I see another witch doesn’t really mean much. But I get it. You want to know more about his story. And hexed flames, I’m nosy enough to want to know too. I don’t have anything of his to perform a spell where he would feel you calling him or I’d do it.”
“I do.”
Lucia arched a brow. “What do you have of his?”
Stevie lifted a crystal from the counter and turned it over in her hand. “I have his bones. Some witch or warlock had them spelled at the abandoned house.”
“What?” Lucia hissed. “And you kept this from me?”
“I didn’t want you to tell Gideon.” She sighed. “We know what a big mouth he has and he’d blab it to my parents. I don’t want Mom stressed.” Her energy seemed fine after she’d gotten the new heart, but Stevie didn’t want her to worry.
“I don’t tell himeverything.” She placed a hand on her hip. “Okay, well maybe a lot of things, but my lips are zipped on this. I’ll come by your place after work and see what I can do.”
“All right. I’ll see you then.” If it didn’t work, and Kit never slinked back into her life, what would she even do with his bones? Just take them back to the basement of the abandoned house?
Roxy had decided to stay at the shop with Lucia to watch her cast scheduled protection spells.
After Stevie added the black crystal to the customer’s package and shut the trunk, she noticed she’d missed a text from Reese.
I’m back in town and was checking to see if you wanted to come over tonight? Sorry the past few weeks have been insane.
Stevie smiled.What time?
Does 7 sound good?
Yep. See you then!
She’d been too busy with both her jobs and wondering where Kit had burrowed himself to think too much about Reese. He’d had to cancel their previous planned date because of a meeting in New York City.
Before Stevie opened her car door to leave, she caught a flutter of flowing white from her periphery. “Where in all of Sleepy Hollow have you been?” She paused when it wasn’t a cape billowing but a long bridal veil trailing across the pavement. “Oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else.”
The ghost halted and spun to face Stevie, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. She was young, maybe nineteen, her hair long and curled to her waist, her gown silky with a lacy hem and matching sleeves. It was the bride Stevie had seen pacing up and down the sidewalk for years now, usually lingering in front of the church near the end of the street. Always crying and occasionally screeching like a banshee.
“Can you help me?” the ghost pleaded. “A little girl with balloons told me you might be able to.”
Stevie had passed the little girl each day she drove this way, once stopping to ask her about the Headless Horseman. “Possibly,” she said slowly, hesitant that she would need Stevie to dig up her bones too. There were only so many bones she could store at her house. “How can I help you?”
“I was supposed to meet my fiancé for our wedding, but I was running late,” she sobbed. “An envious old bittie murdered me.Cara was supposed to be my friend. I just need to tell him why I was late. My name is Joanie Wilcher.”
Stevie hadn’t heard of her before. “What’s his name?” she asked, lifting her phone to search.
