Jessica Verday: The Hidden

He put out a hand and reached for me. “Come on. We’re leaving.”

Apparently I didn’t have a choice in the matter, because he was already hauling me behind him, and my legs followed.

“What’s going to happen with Vincent?” I said.

“He’s not going to be happy when he gets out, but we need to get you back to the other Revenants.” He directed me to a gray car sitting outside. We both got in.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“You can call me Monty.”

“Do you know where Caspian is?”

He nodded. “With the Revenants. But he doesn’t have much more time.”

He looked sad as he started up the car, but he floored it and we drove away. He was going over the speed limit by a good thirty miles as we headed back to Sleepy Hollow, but something told me we weren’t going to be stopped by any cops.

“You were at the asylum, right?” I said. “Gray’s Folly?”

“Yes.”

“How did Uri know you would be there?”

“I spent a lot of time there when I was human. The place was named for me, actually.”

The puzzle pieces were starting to slide into place. But the biggest one, the most obvious one, didn’t fit yet, and I wanted to tread delicately. I don’t know why, but he struck me as someone with a wounded soul.

“Monty … can I ask you something?” I said.

He nodded.

“Are you Vincent’s partner? His other half?”

Sorrow crossed his face, along with something else. And I knew the answer was yes.

“How can that be?” I said. “I thought Shades were supposed to be male and female? A love match?”

“Most are. But when Grifyth was a child-I’m sorry, I mean Vincent. When he was a child, he was a student at my school. He died there, but I still kept seeing him everywhere. I thought that I was being punished for not saving him.”

“Not saving him? How did he die?”

Monty’s expression darkened. “He drowned.”

Vincent had drowned? Now it made sense. Shades and their other halves were a love match. But for Monty it had been a self-sacrificing love.

“So when you found out you were like me, you completed him out of guilt, right?”

He sighed. “I did. That was many lifetimes ago now.”

We passed the enormous covered bridge as we drove through Sleepy Hollow, and I glanced back at it for a moment. It reminded me of what I was rushing toward. If I was going to save Caspian, if I was going to complete him, there was only one thing I was sure of: I had to die first.

Reaching over to touch his hand as we pulled up to the cemetery, I said, “Thank you, Monty. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t come.” Then I got out of the car, unsure if he would follow, but I knowing where I had to go.

To the river. To the spot where Kristen had died.

They were all there, waiting for me, forming a small circle, with Uri and Cacey off to one side and Kame and Sophie on the other. Caspian was standing in the middle, gesturing and speaking loudly.

I went running. Flying. Toward the bridge. Toward him .

He met me halfway, and I stumbled, hands reaching out for him. They went through, of course, but I was so happy to see him that I didn’t care.

“Where were you?” he asked. “Oh, God, Astrid. I was so worried! We didn’t know where to look, but I didn’t want to leave in case you came here. What happened? Why didn’t you-”

“Vincent was here,” I said. “He took me, to my family’s cabin. He kidnapped me.”

Monty came strolling up behind me, and the others welcomed him. He didn’t seem very comfortable around them, but Uri slapped him on the back, and I heard him say, “I knew you’d help.”

Caspian came closer to me. “He took you? Oh, love. Did he hurt you?”

My eyes slid away from his. “He was … his usual charming self.”

Caspian looked me over, his eyes narrowing. “What did he do?”

“He sort of used his fist to subdue me,” I admitted. “In the face.”

“Jeez,” Cacey said. “He really has gone off the deep end.”

Caspian glared at her.

“Later,” I said. “We don’t have much time.”

“Why?” Caspian asked suspiciously. “That’s what they keep saying. Does someone want to clue me in?”

“At midnight it’s November third,” I replied. I looked over at Cacey. “Vincent told me everything. About the original Revenants. About the fact that you were once all human. Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you lie?”

Kame held up one hand. “There were certain things we couldn’t tell you, Abbey.”

I turned to Uri. “ You told me practically everything. Why didn’t you tell me about what would happen to Caspian? Was it really that hard? I had to find out from Vincent. ”

“This was all new to us, Abbey,” Uri replied. “Vincent and Monty were the only ones authorized to tell you anything. We were just here to find Vincent and bring him back, to restore the balance.”

“Oh, come on . You had to have had some idea. All the signs were there. You might not have known the exact date, but you knew it was getting close.”

“Well, now you know, and that’s that,” Cacey said.

“There is a bigger issue to be dealt with here, Acacia,” Kame said. “You know that.”

I traded looks with Caspian. “What’s the bigger issue?”

“Vincent is your Revenant,” Kame replied. “That means he must help you cross over.”

“But he doesn’t want to do the job. So that means I’ll have to do it,” Monty said. “And I’m going to need the help of everyone.”

“Nothing needs to be done,” Caspian said. “We’ll just keep things the way they are.” He softened his tone. “November first will come around again next year, Astrid.”

I closed my eyes briefly, but that didn’t stop the tears from coming. “You don’t understand,” I told him. “All the recent changes lately, you losing your touch, falling into a deep sleep … it means something more. If I don’t complete you now, you’ll move on. Without me.”

Caspian looked around for one of the Revenants to tell him I was wrong.

The answer came from Cacey. “Your time is up, sweetie.”

He looked down at the ground, stunned disbelief written all over his face, and my tears came harder. I tried to push them away, scrubbed my hands across my face, but the tears just came faster. “Please,” I said. “ Please . Just let me be with him.”

“It’s not up to us,” Cacey said. “That’s just the way it goes.”

“But you guys have powers. You have to be able to do something.”

Uri came over and put his arms around me, wrapping me in a protective embrace. Turning me away from the group, he whispered, “Abbey, you don’t understand. You don’t have to die. You get to live . Doesn’t that mean something to you? Anything?”

I gazed at Caspian. “Not without him.”

Uri let out a frustrated sigh. “I didn’t tell you this before, but my death hurt. It was painful, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

I shook my head stubbornly. “I don’t care. I don’t care if it hurts. Besides, Nikolas told me that his death was easy.”

“It’s different for everyone, that’s true, but don’t you see? Why would you want to give up all of this? I don’t get it.”

I wrapped my hand in his. “Think about Cacey. Acacia. Then tell me you still don’t get it.” A half smile stretched across his lips, then disappeared. “See?” I said. “You get it.”

Straightening my shoulders, I stepped away from him and moved to Caspian. “Love,” I whispered. “It’s okay. I’ve decided.”

His eyes were filled with anguish, and he put one hand up next to my cheek. “You can’t, Abbey. You can’t do this. You have to let me go. Just let me go.” Very purposefully he stepped away from me and turned his back, moving next to Sophie on the other side of the circle.