Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100859 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Answer. Please answer.
“Help me!” I sob, tears of desperation running down my face.
The house remains quiet and dark, and even if they’re slow to wake, I don’t have time to wait and see.
There’s only one person who can help me.
There’s only ever been one person who can help me.
I run around the house to their stable, relieved to see Mathias’ roan mare in the stall. I coax her out of the stall, and then use a stepping post to swing up onto her back.
“Take me north,” I whisper to her frantically. “Take me to Crane.”
The mare responds with a flattening of her ears and starts galloping out of the farm, careening out onto the road, dust and soil kicked up behind us.
I glance over my shoulder at the dark road. I don’t see Brom behind me, but I swear I still hear him, hear his horse on our trail. As long as I get to the school before he does, I should be safe.
But will you be? the voice inside my head says. Or are you going into the lion’s den?
All the more reason I need to get to Crane.
The mare picks up on my thoughts and goes as fast as her little pony legs will take her.
Up ahead, beyond the bend of withered sunflowers, the covered bridge comes into view.
It’s then that I hear the hoofbeats more clearly.
I twist in my seat, looking over my shoulder, and I see dust rising in the distance like a ghost. I don’t see Brom or his nightmare horse, but I know they’re there now, coming for me and fast.
I’m not going to make it in time.
It’s when I’m turning around as we approach the bridge that everything goes sideways.
There’s another sound, another set of thunderous hooves that are getting louder and louder, and suddenly, a horse and rider come shooting out of the bridge. My horse rears up in surprise, and I reach forward to grab her mane, but then I’m falling off, landing in the ditch at the side of the road while she tears off.
The wind is knocked out of me as I roll over, and I hear Crane’s voice. “Whoa!” he commands the horse, and Gunpowder comes to a stop beside me. “Kat!”
In seconds, his strong hands are under mine, pulling me to my feet, then embracing me.
My heart sobs with relief, and I collapse into him, just for a moment, just so I can have a taste of safety.
“Brom,” I try to say to Crane, unable to get a breath in. “He’s coming. He’s the horseman.”
“I know,” Crane says, his voice grim. “I got a visit from him too.”
He pulls back and peers at me, his expression anguished. “Did he hurt you?” he asks, brushing my hair off my face. Then his gaze goes from the corner of my forehead where Brom rammed my head into the wall and drops to my neck where he crushed my throat, and his jaw tightens, the cords of his neck becoming visible. “Did he do that to you?” he says in a voice so calm it frightens me.
“It’s not him,” I manage to say.
Crane’s nostrils flare, rage burning in his eyes. “I’m going to kill him.”
“No, you know it’s not him,” I say, grabbing hold of his coat, trying to keep him with me as he gets up. “Don’t hurt him.”
He ignores me, a vein rigid in his forehead.
“He’s here,” he says, looking off down the road, eyes narrowing.
I follow his gaze and see Brom and Daredevil galloping right for us, a force of darkness and evil rushing on the wind.
“Crane,” I plead. “We need to get out of here.”
“No,” he says, pushing me back behind him. “You need to get out of here. Take Gunpowder. Cut through the fields and go into town. To the constable. I’ll handle Brom.”
“I’m not going anywhere without you.”
“He’s after you, Kat,” he practically growls.
“And he’ll kill you,” I tell him. “He’s just as possessive as you are. He doesn’t want to share.”
At that, he tilts his head, and for the first time, I see a real darkness in Crane’s grey eyes. It makes my blood run cold. He opens his mouth to say something, and I know he’s going to ask if I’ve just been intimate with Brom. But he presses his lips together and takes in a deep, shaking inhale as he looks over my nightgown.
But there’s no time for Crane to recant on his own feelings about sharing me with Brom because he’s almost at us now.
We both turn to face the galloping black horse.
Stop, I say inside my head, directing the command at Daredevil. Stop now, stop!
But though the horse lets out a whinny, Brom kicks him forward. And he obeys his master.
Meanwhile, Crane reaches into his coat pocket.
He pulls out a gun.