Page 15 of Headless Over You
“We need to talk,” I demand firmly, closing and locking his door behind me. I close the blinds as well, and this sets Kurt on edge.
“About what?”
“Your family has the talisman. I want it.”
“Excuse me?” he hisses instead of answering me.
“Your family?—”
“I heard you, Iris.” He lets out a breath and turns away from me. “Why do you want the talisman?”
“Kurt, he needs to rest. He wants to be free from Sleepy Hollow.”
“And you know this how?” He crosses his arms.
“I talked to him.” I admit it simply because there’s no other way. I decline to offer up what else we’ve done.
“What do you mean you talked to him?”
“I found his skull?—”
“Found his skull?!” He faces me then and his eyes go wild with rage. “You didn’t just find his skull, Iris.”
“Oh, and how would you know that?”
“Because . . .” He’s reserved now, dodgy and irritated. “Because my father has it.”
“Had it,” I correct him. “He had it on display like some damn hunting trophy weirdo! What your family did to Brom was unreasonable. He wants to be free.”
“Oh, so it’s Brom now?”
“Why are you doing this, Kurt? Don’t you have a heart, an ounce of understanding? You’re the only one who can free him. I know you know where the talisman is. You’ve known this whole time how to release him from the curse.” My pleas are laced with honey, hoping that one of them will land and resonate within him.
“Iris, it’s not that simple.” He sits on his desk and looks over his classroom. “The Van Tassel family?—”
“Yes, yes, the Van Tassel family. Why do you care so much about what your family has done when you can make it all go away?”
“You act like it’s so simple.”
“To do the right thing?” I take a deep breath. “It is that simple. Give me the talisman and I can free him. Your legend will remain a legend, and there will be no Headless Horseman to terrorize the town, as you all like to put it.”
He thinks it over, and I pray that anything I’ve said has landed its mark.
“We’ll have to go to the estate.”
“Kurt—”
“I hear you, okay? We’ll have to go to the estate to get it, but it’ll have to be at night. We can’t get caught.” He stands and stalks toward me.
“Youcan’t get caught, you mean.” He sighs but doesn’t argue the point.
“Meet me there tonight and I’ll help you.”
Kurt waitsfor me at the edge of the tree line. The church bells toll nine times, and as though I can feel him on the breeze in my hair, I know Brom waits at the bridge for me. I just don’t know if he’ll wait only for me to turn up empty-handed. Kurt seems to be teetering between helping and hindering, and at the end of it all, I don’t know where he will stand.
“It’s in my father’s office,” he informs me as we watch the dark manor.
“Let me guess, it’s on display?”
