I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and realized it was Uri and Caspian edging closer.
Vincent saw it too.
“I will gut her like a fish right here and now if you don’t back the fuck up,” Vincent threatened, moving the knife to Cyn’s stomach. “I won’t kill her, but I’ll make her bleed.”
They halted.
“This is getting old,” Cyn called out. “One of you want to tell me what his damage is?” She hissed in pain as Vincent dug the edge of the knife in deeper. “Okay, okay. Forget it.”
“No! Don’t!” I said. “You win, Vincent. End of story.”
“Actually …” He cocked his head. “That’s not the end of the story. Did they tell you the other part? The best part? Probably not. Because they’re cowards.”
“Like you’re anything better?” Caspian said.
“I’m lots of things, but I’m no coward,” Vincent replied. “I have balls of solid rock.” Then he turned his attention to me. “You know that friend of yours? The dead one? It was supposed to be you.”
I tried to keep my face blank. “You already told me that. You thought she was Caspian’s other half and wanted to get her out of the way so they could never find each other.”
He shook his head, but grinned gleefully. “It was only a mistake on my part to get involved with her. If I’d been more patient, I could have avoided that. When she died”—he looked over at the Crane River—“right over there, I believe, you were supposed to be here. It was your death day. Not hers. Before I interfered, you would have met Caspian, and then who knows where we’d all be? I just got tired of having a loose end, so I decided to take care of it on my own. Now you’re unwritten and none of us know when it’s gonna happen.”
Shock hit me. I glanced over at Uri. “Is that true?” I asked. “Tell me. Is that true?”
Nikolas got down from his horse. “Abbey,” he said, “you have been given a chance—”
“Been given a chance!” I said hysterically. “I haven’t been given a chance! My life was spared because my best friend’s was taken in its place.”
Vincent grinned. “I was hoping that she’d bring you along with her. Then I would have had a two-for-one.”
Suddenly Cyn started whispering something. I thought I caught the word “veil,” but she was talking faster and faster and I couldn’t hear what she was saying. Her eyes closed and her head slumped forward.
She jerked once, then stood upright. When her eyes opened again, they had changed.
“Abbey,” she said, “it’s okay.”
Blinking rapidly, I tried to clear my vision. Cyn was doing whatever she’d done at the séance. Her smile, her eyes, her expression … Except for the longer hair, everything about her was Kristen. She’s really here.
“Kristen?” I said in a whisper.
Vincent must have been seeing it too, because he looked just as stunned.
Cyn put her hand on my arm. “I’ve missed you so much.” She put her other hand on my face. “I’m sorry I lied to you. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about him. For almost a whole year I kept his secret because I was so ashamed. I didn’t want you to think any less of me. I just wanted to get him out of my life without you ever finding out. That’s why I didn’t ask you to go with me. To the bridge.”
My vision blurred again. Stupid tears. “I could never think less of you, Kris,” I said. “I miss you so much. There’s so much I want to tell you.”
She smiled. “I know about everything now. I know when you come to visit me in the cemetery. I knew when your boy was keeping watch for you, and tending my grave.” She glanced back at Caspian. “He’s good for you. Very good for you. Do you love him?”
“Yes,” I whispered. “More than anything.”
Vincent interrupted us. “I don’t know what’s going on, but this—”
“You know what you need to do.” The voice that interrupted came from behind Vincent. Monty was standing there. “Grifyth, you know what you need to do. Let them be together. Let this be over with.”
“My name is Vincent!” he said. Rage turned his face purple, and Cyn/Kristen grabbed for my hand. “And you should know that!”
He pulled the knife away from Cyn for a split second to point it at Monty, and I pulled Cyn’s hand as hard as I could to jerk her away from him. She must have been thinking the same thing, because she propelled herself at me.
Vincent reached out to grab her, but he only got a handful of her hair and it slithered out of his grasp. Uri and Caspian launched themselves at him, and all three of them went down in a tangled heap.
I could hear punches flying and grunts of pain as fists hit flesh, but I couldn’t see what was happening.
When the dust finally settled, Uri was sitting on Vincent’s chest, pinning his arms down on either side, with Caspian holding his feet. Monty stood by, looking unsure of himself.
He glanced at me, and I could see guilt written all over his face. Guilt that he hadn’t done anything to stop his partner.
“Make it right,” I told him. “You can still make this right.”
He shook his head.
The other Revenants and Nikolas and Katy were still waiting by the riverbank. Grabbing Cyn’s hand, I raised my voice. “Vincent interfered. He was supposed to do one job, and he did another. He took a life that wasn’t his to take. You need to set the balance right.”
“Abbey, we can’t just—,” Cacey started to say.
But I held up one hand. “Yes. You can. I don’t care how you have to do it, but you need to set things right. Bring Kristen back. Take me. Restore the balance.”
“Abbey,” Caspian pleaded. “Don’t. Don’t do this for me.”
I turned to face him. “I would give up my heart and breath and soul for you. Gladly. But this is bigger than you. And bigger than me. It’s my destiny to be your other half, but it’s also my destiny to be the best friend that I can. To Kristen. She was robbed of her future, her dreams. Vincent took that away from her when he had no right to.”
“I won’t stand in the way of your decision,” he said. “I’ll support you. Always.”
My heart almost broke again at the unwavering look of love in his eyes.
Kame spoke up. “You realize what will have to happen if we do this, right, Abbey? What you’re asking? We’ll have to change time. To change the order of things.”
Briefly I thought about Mom and Dad. Uncle Bob and Aunt Marjorie. It wasn’t fair that I wouldn’t have the chance to say good-bye to them.
But that was life.
“I’m asking you to repair the order,” I said. “I’m ready.”
He hesitated. “We can’t be sure about what will happen, after. This is a real mess. It’s something entirely different from anything we’ve done before.”
I looked to Monty. “Are you willing to try to help me cross over?”
He glanced at Vincent.
“Don’t you fucking do it, Monty!” Vincent yelled, bucking against Uri and trying to throw him off. “It won’t work. And if you—”
Uri clamped his hand down over Vincent’s mouth. “Enough from you.”
“He’s burned on his upper shoulder,” I called out, gesturing on myself where I’d hurt Vincent. “Just there.”
Uri poked Vincent’s chest and he made an angry, choked sound.
“He may not be willing, but he’s still here,” said Monty. “I can try to use that bond.” Then he nodded. “Yes. I am willing.”
I let out a deep breath. Kame smiled at me. “Now or never, baby girl.”
I smiled back, and then I locked eyes with Caspian. “Now. Definitely now.”
“We’re going to need Uri,” Cacey said. “And Caspian.”
Nikolas stepped forward. “I can take their place.”
Cacey gave him a sideways glance. “Are you sure about that?”
Drawing himself up to his full height, Nikolas scowled at her. “You doubt a Hessian?”
“Okay, okay.” She shook her head
, and Nikolas went over to where Vincent was lying. He quickly exchanged places with Caspian and Uri, and had no trouble whatsoever subduing Vincent on his own.
Caspian came to join me, and I turned to Cyn. She still looked like Kristen.
“Bye, Kris,” I whispered, holding up my hand. “I love you. Don’t forget that. Take care of my mom and dad.”
She placed her hand against mine, our palms touching, and nodded.
“Bye, Abbey,” she said with a sad smile. “I love you, too.”
Then she stepped back.
The Revenants moved forward, forming a tight circle around me and Caspian. Their arms were touching. Uri straightened, and said, “Acacia, I call upon you.”
Cacey answered. “Uriel, I call upon you.”
“Sophiel, I call upon you,” Kame said.
“Kame, I call upon you,” she replied.
“And I call upon myself,” Monty said, “And Grifyth.”
Monty picked up my hand, and then picked up Caspian’s. Bringing them together, one on top of the other, he placed his hand on mine, directly above the ring Caspian had given me, and then pushed down.
With Monty’s hand touching mine, I could touch Caspian. I looked down. “I …”
When I glanced up again, Caspian was smiling.
“I promise you forever,” I vowed to him, staring into his green eyes. “Whatever that is. Whatever I can give you. You have all of it. All of me.”
“I promise you forever,” he replied. “Whatever that is. Whatever I can give you. You have all of it. All of me.”
“Now,” Monty said.
I closed my eyes.
The feeling of water swept over me.
The scene flashed and changed, and the cottage was in front of me. Nikolas and Katy’s cottage. But instead of seeing their belongings, I recognized Caspian’s art pad. His charcoal. Empty bottles stood along the windowsill, waiting to be filled with new perfumes.
A bowl of fresh peppermint leaves sat on the table beside my flower press and oil distiller, waiting … for me and Caspian. The new caretakers of the cemetery.
Nikolas and Katy came walking toward me, leading Nikolas’s horse behind.
“Did it work?” I said. “Am I crossing over?”
They just smiled.
“Take good care of Stagmont,” Nikolas said, handing me the reins to the horse. “He’ll stay with you now. At the cemetery.”
I nodded. “And you?”
“On to something new.”
As he spoke his face started changing, the wrinkles lessening. His hair turned darker, and so did Katy’s. The faded strawberry blond color she used to have became a rich, vibrant shade of red. Color bloomed in her cheeks. She laughed as she held her hands out in front of her. Then she turned to Nikolas.
But Nikolas wasn’t the old man I’d once met raking leaves. Now he was young. No more than twenty. Katy was young too. Maybe seventeen.
They stepped back, turning away from me. Katy lifted her hand to wave, and I did the same. But already the scene was changing again. They were dissolving around the edges. Moving on. Becoming the new Revenants.
Everything started to fade. …
And the last thing I remembered was feeling a smile on my lips.
EPILOGUE
The girl walked along the cemetery path, her feet remembering the way. She had been here so many times before that she didn’t need to see where she was going. The boy next to her swung her hand in his, to a rhythm only they could hear, his curly brown hair ruffled by the wind.
She clutched the flowers she held tightly. Red ones. Her favorite color.
The headstone came into view, the surface smooth and polished. She dropped to her knees, kicking off her sandals in the warm afternoon sun, and Kristen Maxwell laid the roses reverently next to the words that made up the sum of her best friend’s life.
She traced the carved name in bold letters, ABIGAIL.
“Hi, Abbey,” she said, pulling the graduation cap from her head and setting it on top of the stone. “Today was the big day. I wish you could have been there.”
The boy sat down beside her. “I think she was. There with us in spirit.”
“I know, Ben. But still …”
He took her hand, laced her fingers through his and pulled them up for a quick kiss. “What do you want to do today? To celebrate?”
Kristen looked off into the distance. In the direction of a cottage that she would never know was there. “Let’s stay here with her a bit longer. Then I want to go downtown and look at the vacant shops. I had this dream last night about a beautiful little store with perfumes and lotions and creams. That was what Abbey always wanted to do. To open a perfume shop here in the Hollow.”
She played absentmindedly with the ribbon in her hair. It came loose and fell free.
She tried to catch it. Stood up, laughing, as she tried to chase it down. But it slipped through her fingers, and she couldn’t hold on. The wind carried it away.
I watched them from the edge of the cemetery. Kristen and Ben. She looked so beautiful, in her graduation cap and gown. And Ben … It was obvious that he couldn’t have been happier.
Caspian came up from behind me, wrapped his arms around me, and kissed the side of my neck. I leaned into him.
“I’m so glad she’s happy,” I said.
“Me too,” he replied. “Are you happy?”
I thought about all that I’d lost. And then I thought about all that I’d gained. I threaded my fingers through his and watched my friends holding tightly to each other.
“Yes,” I answered. “I am.”
Something touched my bare feet, and I looked down. A green ribbon was lying there.
I bent to pick it up, and smiled.
Tucking it into my pocket, I turned to Caspian. His lips met mine, and the world faded away. The stars came out. And the sun shone brighter than the moon.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Special thanks go to Washington Irving, of course. I hope you don’t mind that I’ve added my own pinch of salt to the soup mix. To my editor, Anica Rissi. Thank you for all your hard work, enthusiasm, and patience, especially when I wrote and chopped, and chopped and wrote, and chopped and chopped and chopped some more. “THE END” seemed so very far away, but I finally found it. To my agent, Michael Bourret. Thank you for working so hard on my behalf and championing this book through the many levels of the publishing process. To the Simon Pulse team: I am so thankful for all of you!
Thank you, Lee and Lucy Miller, for your unconditional love and support. I know I don’t say it enough, but you really are Mom and Dad to me. To all of my friends and family members who came to signings, posted messages on my Facebook page, and spread the word: “Thanks” seems so inadequate, but I’ll say it anyway. Thanks.
The Hollow trilogy started with best friends and ended with best friends, so I’d like to thank all the best friends who have been a part of my life: Steph Batchelor, Rachel Hall, Nicole Sandt, and Lee Miller. Some of you I talk to more frequently than others, but I love you all. Thanks, besties!
To Mrs. Vincenty for her encouragement, Mrs. Carson for always knowing when to read another chapter, and to Mr. Welch: I didn’t become a rocket scientist, but at least now I’ll have the chance to write about them! P.S. You were a great teacher.
To Johnny Cash: The journey almost ended before it began, and you helped me make it through. See you in September. Thanks to the people, places, and things that have inspired me along the way, including the Jack Daniel’s distillery, the Buffalo Trace distillery, and the George Dickel distillery. Not just for the fruits of your labor, but for teaching me that sometimes the best words come slowly and steadily, aged with time.
Thanks to Michelle Zink for being a confidante along the way, and for being willing to put up with me when I e-mailed to say, “So, how about going on this crazy book tour that we put together ourselves?” You are an amazing person, and I’m honored to call you my friend. To all the bookstore owners, bookse
llers, libraries, librarians, and store employees who were a part of the Ghosts and Graves tour: Thank you for your enthusiasm and graciousness; thank you for welcoming us. We couldn’t have done it without you. Thanks also to Jim Logan at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery for the walking tour and arranging the bell ringing at the Old Dutch Church! Best. Moment. Ever.
To Erin and Keith: Here’s to a happy and healthy future for both of you, always. I love you guys. To Ephraim: You inspire me with your adorableness and never-ending spirit. I am so incredibly proud to be your auntie. As soon as Mom says it’s okay, I’m buying you that puppy. To Lauren, Matthew, Caitlin, Connor, and Samantha: You guys make me feel old, but that’s okay, because I am completely amazed by how gorgeous, talented, smart, and beautiful you all are. (I get bonus points for putting you in a book, right?) And to Aunt Debbie and Uncle Albert, thanks for showing me just how cool the garbage biz can be.
And now, thank you, dear reader. Thank you for investing your time in this story. Thank you for coming to see me at my book signings. Thank you for e-mailing me to tell me how much you loved the story and how much you loved Caspian and how much you want to be BFFs with Abbey. Thank you for telling me what my words meant to you.
Last but not least, my eternal thanks go to Lee. I could fill a whole page, but you already know all the thank-yous that should come your way—from the very big to the very small. Lots and lots and lots of ’em. I’ll keep trying. Maybe one day I’ll get thru them all.
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