He subsided, fiddling with his reins again. Jerome tapped his booted foot impatiently. Chad stood still, tall and broad as a football player but apparently a history major. What had hewanted to do with that degree? Teach? What did one do with a master’s degree in history besides teach?
None of her business. Although, she supposed she’d get to know these Headless Horsemen pretty well now that she was trapped in the Between with them. Unless she was allowed to wander around on her own, which sounded as if it was frowned upon.
Forever. The word clanged like a funeral bell in her mind, the resonance aching in her bones. She couldn’t stay here forever. She had plans. She had her mom and a friend who loved her. She had classes and papers to grade and lectures to write and?—
Chad held out his hand, and she stepped forward and took it. He helped her back up onto the massive horse, then adjusted around until they both fit into the saddle. It was a squeeze, but they made it.
Without another word, they set off for the camp. Wherever that was.
3
Camp was little more than a clearing in the woods southeast of Ozark. Esmie thought for a while that it was taking quite some time to get there, then remembered A) they were on horseback, and B) they were outside of time. It was no longer “after midnight”. It was no time at all. A never-ending twilight time with no sun or moon in the sky, no cars on the roads, and no clouds in the gunmetal sky.
Thus, when they did finally arrive, she wasn’t sure they were actually there until the other Horsemen dismounted. Chad took her gently by the left armpit again but didn’t move to heft her down until she leaned that way herself. A gentleman Headless Horseman. Who’d have thought?
When she felt steady on her feet, she stepped back and looked around. Woods. As far as she could see, which wasn’t very far, thanks to the woods. She was alone in some nexus of time with three strange, headless men. She should be very, very afraid, and not in an existential sort of way. She should be afraid of the men themselves.
The hair on the back of her neck tried to stand up, and she abruptly stopped and stared at them as they went about unsaddling their horses.
“You’ve gone very quiet,” Chad said at her back, causing her fear to kick up a notch into an actual shiver. “Something we said?”
Unfortunately, that only gained the other men’s headless, eyeless attention. They stopped their tasks and turned their bodies to face her general direction. Not what she wanted. Her mouth went dry.
“Now you’ve done it,” Aaron said, sounding dismayed. “What’s wrong, miss? Did we say or do something to upset you?”
“Esmie,” Chad said mildly. “Her name is Esmie. He is Aaron. The smartass is Jerome.”
She pushed past her dry throat. “I remember.” She wanted to cough so badly, and she sounded like she was being strangled, but she managed to speak. “I just… it just struck me that I’m literally alone in the woods with three strange men with no way out.” She tried to laugh, but it had a shrieky quality she didn’t like, so she stopped immediately. “Something tells me my cell phone won’t work out here to call 911.”
“Your what?” Jerome asked, then snorted. “Kidding. We know what cell phones are.”
“Sort of,” Aaron said tentatively.
“But it’s not the woods that won’t let it work, lady. It’s the other dimension.”
Oh. Right. That.
Her knees weakened, and she sat down without quite meaning to. Aaron made an abortive motion toward her, but she was already down.
“Maybe we should all sit down,” Chad said, again seeming to take the lead. Was he the leader? Did they have a leader? Did it matter? “We have some explaining to do.”
“Storytelling around the campfire,” she said weakly, again trying to laugh but not managing even the shrieky laughter from before.
“No fire here either,” Jerome said, settling his saddle on the ground, then reaching back up to pull down the blanket from the horse’s back. “It doesn’t start for some reason. You can get sparks, but no fire. It’s a pain in my ass, let me tell ya. But it doesn’t actually get cold here, or night, so I guess it’s fine.”
Aaron shook his head, folding his horse’s blanket neatly into quarters. “You’re bombarding her. None of that is important information right now.”
“I’m just making conversation, Mr. Roboto. You know, like human beings do here on Planet Earth.” He gestured with his thumb toward the shorter man. “Mr. MBA, here. You’re a walking calculator, dude.”
Frowning, she broke in. “Actually, he’s been trying to make me feel better this whole time. You, on the other hand, are being a jerk.”
“Ah, there you are.” The jerk had the nerve to sound pleased. “I was afraid we’d lost you back in the portal.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t act like you’re being a jerk on purpose.”
“Are you suggesting I’m a jerk on accident?”
“I’m suggesting it’s your personality.”
