(It’s over there. He carved it into the tree with his sword.)
“It was on the Tarot card,” she said. “I was so freaked out by the whole experience I didn’t think to mention it. Madame Zora didn’t know what it meant either.”
“Who the hell is Madame Zora?”
Then he saw in his head a picture of a woman wrapped in fake jewels in a candle-lit room. The psychic, he knew.
“Oh,” he said.
Kate looked at him funny but continued to run. Both looked over their shoulders. They were almost past the field now, but still not close to the bridge.
(Why didn’t you tell me?)
Quinn heard the thought inside his head and didn’t know how to answer. He was rapidly becoming too terrified to think.
“You had enough to worry about,” was all he said.
“But this could be important,” she said. “It could be a clue.”
The sound was much louder now and even Kate recognized it-the galloping gait of a large horse, riding as if it had the devil at its heels.
She looked to the forest around her.
“We could go in there,” she said, becoming slightly out of breath.
“The woods don’t help,” he said. “He’ll just get ahead of us. We have to beat him to that bridge. We will be safe there.”
But the bend in the road still seemed too far away and the hoof beats were getting steadily louder. They seemed to echo off the trees around them.
“What’s coming, Quinn?” she asked. “The fear I’m feeling, I can’t tell if it is yours or mine or both. But I don’t think you would be this afraid of just a horse. So what’s chasing us? What’s on that horse?”
“See for yourself,” Quinn said, as they continued running.
She turned to look behind her and she could now see something in the distance. It was little more than a blur, but it was moving very, very fast.
With a little relief, she saw they were now close to the bend in the road. She and Quinn ran forward, hearing the gait of the horse grow louder with every step. They rounded the bend and Kate felt her spirits drop.
The bridge was still far away. She could see it in the distance.
(We aren’t going to make it.)
(I might be able to slow him down, Kate.)
(I’m not sure much could slow him down at this stage.)
She could see details of the bridge, could tell they were getting closer, but now the sound of hooves was everywhere. The bridge was one of the old-fashioned covered ones-long and narrow. She had heard there was one in Loudoun County, but it had fallen into disrepair. It reminded her of something, some story she had been told.
(The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.)
Kate looked behind her and stifled a scream. The horse had just rounded the bend and she could see the rider pushing it to go faster. Somewhere she heard a terrible laugh, deep and booming, and it did not sound human.
(Because it isn’t human, is it, Quinn?)
(Just keep going. You have to keep going. Even if I fall behind. You will be safe in that bridge. I don’t know how I know that, but I do. You have to reach it.)
She could tell the Horseman was gaining in huge strides behind her and she pushed herself to run as fast as she could. How could she feel so tired in a dream?
The bridge was closer. It was just 50 feet, then 40 feet.
The sound of the horse drowned out everything else. Kate and Quinn looked behind them and immediately regretted it.
The Horseman was no more than 15 feet away-a black rider out of a nightmare.
He was in ancient clothes that looked half-rotted away. A black tattered cloak spread out behind him. In the moonlight, they could see a long saber held in his hand pointed forward-like a cavalry officer on a final charge. Even the horse was frightful, with red penetrating eyes that seemed to flash each time a hoof hit the ground. But the rider’s most striking feature was what was missing… He rode with no head at all, with his sword held forward as if it was guiding the way.
The Horseman was now 10 feet behind them. And they were still 20 feet from the bridge.
(Keep going, Kate. Run as fast as you can.)
Before she knew what happened, Quinn had abruptly stopped, turned and ducked out of the way of the Horseman before it trampled him. Even as she continued to run blindly forward while looking back, she saw the effect on the Headless Horseman was immediate.
He yanked back on the reins and the horse gave a terrible cry of pain. The Horseman rounded as Quinn stood in the road facing him.
Kate was a few steps from the bridge and stopped.
(Don’t stop, Kate, keep going.)
“Quinn, what are you doing?” she shouted.
The Horseman paused, turning sideways suddenly. It was almost as if he was unsure what to do.
“Just get into the bridge,” Quinn yelled. “It’s me he wants.”
But suddenly that seemed unclear. The Horseman sat poised between the two, as if deciding which to pursue.
“Come on,” she yelled at the Horseman. “I’ve got five feet between me and the bridge. You scared of a little water?”
“What are you doing?” Quinn shouted.
“I’m not losing you,” she said.
“Just get in the damn bridge,” he said. “Come on, you headless bastard. Let’s get it on.”
The Horseman suddenly turned again to face Kate, and before she could move, the horse surged forward. His sword was out and the Horseman closed the distance in mere seconds. Kate cried out and fell in the dirt as she made a desperate attempt to close the few remaining feet between her and the bridge.
But the Horseman was too fast.
He held the sword high over his body. His laugh again echoed off everything and it seemed to Kate that it was in her head as well.
Quinn felt like he watched in slow motion as the sword came down, flashing brightly for a half second, in a swift stroke aimed at Kate’s head.
He screamed at the top of his lungs, shouting “No” louder than he ever had before.
For a moment, everything seemed to stop-the blade held in midair, the deadly stroke did not come down. The Horseman halted, laughed, turned to face Quinn and then abruptly disappeared.
Quinn and Kate found themselves awake in their hotel room.
“What the hell was that?” she asked and nearly jumped out of bed.
“I don’t know,” Quinn replied, and it seemed stupid to ask if she was inquiring about the same dream.
Kate put her hand to her neck and felt the back of it.
“I thought I was finished,” she said. “But you stopped him. You defeated him.”
“No,” Quinn said, as he got out of bed and quickly began pulling on clothes. “I don’t think so.”
“What do you mean?” she asked. “He stopped.”
But she began putting on her own clothes.
“Help me get the chairs away from the balcony door,” he said.
“What is going on?”
“It was a trick,” Quinn said. “I don’t think he could have hurt us in the dream. But I think… I think he heard me for real when I shouted like that.”
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“I don’t either,” he replied. “But I think he knows where we are now. And I think he will be coming soon.”
“Quinn, that’s ridiculous, it was only a dream…”
But her voice fell flat. Far away, she started to hear the pounding hooves again. This was not a dream. The Horseman was coming for them.
She ran to the balcony door and the two of them hurriedly removed the furniture in front of it.
(He’s coming for us both now. I’m sorry Kate.)
(This can’t be happening, Quinn.)
(I know, but it is.)
The horse was getting closer.
“We need to get down to the balcony below us,” Quinn said.
Kate saw a picture of them lowering themselves down the balconies. She added her own mental picture of
creating a rope with bed sheets.
Quinn nodded.
“That’s a better idea,” he said.
(What the hell is happening to us? I can hear what you’re thinking.)
(Worry about it later.)
The hoof beats stopped.
Far from feeling better, Kate now felt worse.
“What happened?” she asked.
“He’s in the hotel now,” Quinn said. “He’ll be here soon.”
“How, the elevator?”
“I don’t know,” he said.
She grabbed the sheets from the bed and yanked them off. They opened the balcony door and Quinn began tying part of the sheet to the railing.
“This won’t get us very far,” he said. “We’ll need to scramble down the rest of the way.”
Both of them heard a large crash down the hall, clearly coming from the same floor. Impossibly, they heard the sound of hoof beats in the hotel and someone began screaming.
Kate crossed the room and picked up her gun off the side table.
“I’m not sure a gun is going to help against him,” Quinn said.
“Maybe, but it beats the hell out of just standing here,” she replied.
“True,” he said.
The pounding hooves came to their door and stopped.
For a second there was silence. And then the room exploded with noise as a giant force collided with the door. They watched as the door seemed to bend inward and the furniture in front of it shook. But it held.
“He’s trying to come through,” Quinn said.
There was another moment of silence. Somewhere down the hall, Quinn heard a voice shouting for someone to call the police.
It definitely isn’t our imagination, he thought bitterly.
Kate pointed her gun at the door.
Another loud crash came a few seconds later as the horse collided with it again, but this time there was a cracking sound as well. They could see the door begin to splinter.
Kate cocked her gun.
“Come on through,” she said. “I’ll shoot you, you headless son of a bitch.”
The door shuddered again with another large crash.
“That ought to put the fear of God into him,” Quinn said. “Be sure to shoot him in the head.”
“Well, I don’t see you coming up with any better ideas,” Kate said.
The door bulged in the middle and there was another loud crack as it began to come apart. The horse made another run at it and splinters flew from the door. The furniture reinforcing it fell over and the horse’s nose broke through.
“Well, running away is starting to look like a great option,” Quinn said.
Kate stared at the door. Would a bullet even harm the thing?
“Okay, we need to get out of here,” she said and headed for the balcony. She holstered her gun and put it into her pants. “Come on, Quinn.”
“Where is he?” Quinn said. “The horse is out there, but I can’t tell if the Rider is.”
“It doesn’t matter. Come on!”
Quinn went to the balcony.
“You first,” he said.
Kate grabbed the bed sheet and swung herself around the iron railing. In the room, the horse now appeared to have pushed his whole head through the door. She tested the sheet-rope and decided it would probably hold. Using it, she lowered herself to the balcony below.
Quinn watched as the horse continued to destroy the door. It now had most of its body through. But he couldn’t see the Headless Horseman. The horse was there, but no rider. He didn’t have time to think about it. Instead, Quinn swung his legs around the railing and lowered himself down to the balcony below.
Above, they could hear a loud crashing. The horse was now through. Quinn could hear its hooves on the floor above.
Hanging to the fifth floor balcony, he lowered himself until his feet touched the balcony railing below. He balanced himself and then jumped to the fourth floor balcony.
“Come on,” he yelled up.
Kate followed his lead.
Above them, all chaos seemed to have broken loose. They could hear the smashing of glass and it felt like the roof might cave in.
“We don’t have much time,” Kate said.
“Where is he?” Quinn asked. “I didn’t see him up there.”
Quinn looked down to the ground below, but it was too dark to see.
Quinn swung himself over again and dropped down to the third floor balcony.
“Come on down,” he said.
He helped her down to the third floor.
Quinn felt blind. He could not tell what was happening above and he still had a sinking feeling some other trick was waiting for him below.
He swung himself over the balcony and dangled his legs over the edge again. But this time, when he looked down, he could see him.
The Headless Horseman stood on the ground below the hotel, waiting for him.
“Holy shit,” Quinn yelled. “Kate, start climbing up.”
Quinn could see the Horseman moving now, as if to start climbing the balconies himself.
Quinn tried to balance for a second, before pulling himself up to the third floor balcony. But when he looked down to see if the Horseman was pursuing, he lost his footing and fell the three stories to the ground.
Kate screamed. She watched Quinn fall in slow motion to the ground. The Horseman stood below him, waiting.
He’ll kill Quinn, she thought.
But as soon as Quinn hit the ground with a large thud, everything changed. One minute the Horseman was there, striding toward where Quinn lay.
And then he wasn’t. He disappeared as if he was never there at all.
Kate looked everywhere and she heard nothing from upstairs anymore either.
She scrambled down the last remaining balconies and hurried to Quinn, who lay unconscious on the ground. Kate looked all around her, but there was nothing anymore.
The Headless Horseman was gone.
Chapter 20
“ For those that were chosen, there is always the time of trial, Crowley said. A time when the chosen two’s destinies are not set. It is the most critical point for any Prince of Sanheim. Only by understanding his cennad and himself will he be able to do what must be done. Only by staring wide-eyed into the abyss will he survive.”
— Horace Camden, “The Prince of Sanheim”
Kate was having trouble deciding where to look. She tried to stay focused on the road, but she kept looking at the back seat where Quinn lay.
She should have called an ambulance, she knew. She should never have moved him herself. But she had panicked and did not want to take the chance that the Horseman could come back. There was no time to think about why he had disappeared.
Thank God they were in a big enough town that there was a hospital. They had noticed it on the way into town. It must serve most of the surrounding area-it wasn’t huge, but it would be enough. She wanted him to be okay. She tried sensing something about him-in the hotel room, she was pretty sure she could hear what he was thinking and vice versa. But now she got nothing.
She didn’t know what to tell the hospital and it was only now dawning on her that the hotel would want some type of explanation for a wrecked room and vanished customers.
She shook her head and glanced back again at Quinn.
Please let him be okay, she thought. Please let him be okay.
She was unsure what to think or do. If their problems had seemed bad 12 hours ago, everything now was much, much worse. And she still had only a limited picture of what was going on.
Only a day ago, they had been worried about one vicious killer. Bad-really bad. And now? Were there two? Was one working for the other? Who was she kidding anyway? What kind of being could literally spring out of your dreams and attack you? It was too much.
Thank God Quinn had left his cell phone in the car. She picked it up while still driving and called Janus. She had to trust somebody and he was one of the only ones left.
He
answered immediately, sounding wide awake even though it must have been around four in the morning. She remembered Quinn telling her he always sounded ready for action.
“It’s Kate,” she said.
“What the hell is going on, Kate?” Janus asked. He sounded concerned. “I tried to call you guys again last night. The police are out looking for you and Quinn’s place looks like someone ransacked it before leaving.”
“You’ve been there?”
“I was looking for you guys,” he said. “Look, you may have decided that now is a good time for a romantic romp somewhere, but there is some bad shit going on and I can’t get a hold of anyone.”
“I’ll explain later,” she said.
“Wait a second, Kate, I…”
“Quinn’s hurt,” she said. “He’s unconscious and I don’t know…”
She broke off. This was simply too much.
Janus’ voice changed.
“Just tell me where to meet you,” he said.
“I’m taking him to Bluemont Hospital,” she said.
“Bluemont?” he said. “In West Virginia?”
“Look, I’ll explain later. But I need help here.”
“I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.”
Kate pulled into the emergency entrance and thought a minute before leaving Quinn in the car.
What if the Horseman came back? Or what if Lord Halloween somehow knew where she was? She felt trapped. And very alone. She hadn’t realized how grateful she was to share everything with Quinn until he was no longer there.
She ran into the hospital.
“My friend,” she told the nurse. “He’s in the car. He fell three stories. He’s hurt.”
The nurse stared at her in total disbelief.
“You moved him?” she asked.
“Yes, but that’s done,” Kate said. “Please. I need help.”
The nurse summoned three others and they went to the car to retrieve Quinn.
Janus showed up a little more than an hour later, having driven as fast as he could push his Jeep. Kate stood outside the room where Quinn was being examined. She couldn’t tell what was going on. The doctors had tried to attach Quinn to monitors earlier, but the machines had appeared on the fritz.
“What happened?” Janus asked, looking in.
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