Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 130924 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 655(@200wpm)___ 524(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130924 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 655(@200wpm)___ 524(@250wpm)___ 436(@300wpm)
“I want to believe you,” he says quietly.
“Then believe me,” I tell him. “You can choose to believe me.”
He opens his mouth slightly, wanting to say something, then closes it.
We keep riding, and all I can think about is how Brom’s inability to believe he’s worthy of family and love might be the biggest obstacle of all. How do you get through that? How do you convince someone that they’re worth everything?
It’s not long before we’re crossing over Hollow Creek and nearing Mary’s farmhouse when I decide to bring the horses down her lane.
“Where are we going?” Brom asks.
“I wanted to talk to Mary,” I tell him. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen her, and she’s the only friend I have left on this side of the gates.”
By luck, Mary is outside in her front yard, rifling through the pumpkin patch.
“Kat?” she asks once she spots us. She wipes her hands on her apron and comes running over, a piece of hay in her messy updo. “What a pleasant surprise!” she exclaims. She looks at Brom and gives him a hesitant smile before facing me again. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s Saturday, I was invited down for supper,” I tell her. “It’s been ages since we talked. Would you like to come?”
“Come to supper?” she asks, surprised.
“What are you doing?” Brom says under his breath.
“Yes,” I tell her, ignoring him. “It wouldn’t be a problem at all. My mother loves to have company. Brom is coming with me right now, we would love to catch up with you.”
She weighs that for a moment, then looks at Brom. “I suppose this would be the time to introduce myself. My name is Mary Wilson,” she says, giving him a slight bow. “And you must be the infamous Brom Bones.”
“Pleasure,” Brom says stiffly. He’s never been very affable when it comes to meeting new people, and he’s not turning a new leaf with Mary.
“And you don’t mind if I come for supper?” Mary asks him. “I wouldn’t want to intrude on you young lovers.”
“Mary,” I chide her with a potent look. “Don’t be silly.”
She laughs. “Alright, let me go ask my mother.”
She turns and runs into her house, the front door closing behind her. In some ways it feels like a lifetime ago that I was knocking on that door and pleading for someone to save me from the very person I’m riding next to.
“Why did you invite her?” Brom asks me while she’s inside.
“I need time to talk to Famke alone, and I don’t think you’ll be able to distract my mother long enough,” I tell him. “I wouldn’t put that burden all on you, and I don’t trust her around you either. I also haven’t seen Mary in a while. It would be good for me to hang onto the few friends I have.”
He nods. “Your mother won’t be happy about this.”
“Well, it’s a damn good thing I don’t care.”
Finally, I see a ghost of a smile on his lips.
Mary comes running back out of the house. “I can come for an hour or two,” she says, taking off her apron and leaving it on the fence post. “I’ll skip dessert, if that’s alright. I have to help Mathias with his homework after.”
She walks over to us, and I pat Snowdrop’s back behind me. “Want a leg up?”
She shakes her head. “No, I’m used to walking. I had to lend my brother my horse for the last few weeks. His mare went missing for a bit, she’s back now though.”
My stomach churns. Oh no.
“Missing?” I ask, trying to sound calm and not at all like I had stolen her brother’s horse in the middle of the night when I was trying to escape the horseman.
“Yes. The sweet little roan? She went missing the night of the bonfire. Which was so odd because after we came back, I checked on the stables and she was there, snug as a bug. Someone must have taken her in the night or freed her. I don’t know how else she could have gotten loose.”
“Don’t you think you would have heard that?” I ask warily.
She laughs. “Oh no. Not our family. We all sleep like the dead. Doesn’t help that my father snores so loud he drowns out all noise for acres.”
I force a laugh at that. That explains why she never heard me banging on the door that night.
“Well, I’m glad the horse returned,” I tell her as we continue down the road.
Mary, meanwhile, has lost interest in the horse and starts peppering Brom with all sorts of questions, telling him she’s heard so much about him. She asks him about his parents, about what I was like as a kid, about New York, to which he gives one-word answers.
Finally, she says, “And since you’re at the school, I take it that you’re a witch too? Don’t worry, Kat told me everything.”