“…So, you got pranked and robbed?” Frez wondered aloud, Big murmuring out a thought of his own.

            “Moves it a bit beyond a prank, I would think.” 

            “And that is assuming that it was taken. With the way you were stumbling around it could be out in the driveway. I’d rule that out before declaring it missing, or stolen.” Missus Edith pointed out, the group falling silent as the old woman’s voice rose. Even still, H’s fist clenched, the Hessian’s shoulders stiffening in a brief moment of frustration that he eventually released with a slight sigh. Missus Edith, for her part, watched the Horseman’s reaction with a more knowing air.

            “You could try to look now, if you feel up to it.”

            And H did nearly seem ready to go, if his “line of sight” hadn’t turned to the quietly staring Harriet, the girl watching her uncle with an unreadable expression on her face. The Horseman paused about a fraction of a second, before waving his hand at the suggestion and taking his seat.

            Though that admittedly left Moth standing there, Susie being the one to quickly get up and bring over the stool that the Mothman regularly used as it worked best with his wings.

            “So, first day of being eleven!” Susie said as she took her dishes to the sink, triggering a question from Missus Edith.

            “Indeed, are you going to do anything special today?”

            “I’m gonna be with Uncle H.” Harriet replied, more calmly casual though she couldn’t help passing a brief look up at her “uncle,” seeming to check his response. H jolted, but gave the words a hurried thumbs-up, trying to disguise a hand that rested against his sternum. He was quick to drop it though, especially since Moth was eyeing him with a fair amount of worry from his end of the table.

            “So, will you and Uncle H be doing anything special?” Missus Edith asked, just as Brian piped in with a more wry, “You gonna have him take you all over the woods again?”

            “Ugh, no.” Harriet groused, ironically covering Moth’s more worried look at H, the Headless Horseman himself jolting a bit at the emphatic refusal. Harriet might not have been an avid horse rider, but she got on well enough with it. Or so he’d thought.

            “Everyone got rides last night. I don’t want what everyone else got.”

            Oh. The headless Hessian’s shoulders minutely slumped as it dawned on him. Then again, perhaps the notion of a ride was somewhat cheapened when he’d been doing the same thing for other children barely twenty-four hours ago.

            It was funny, he never used to hate the Sleepy Hollow Halloween Festival, though in this moment H could say, without a shadow of a doubt, he’d rather it had rained last night. If only because it would’ve avoided all of his current problems quite nicely. Even though, without that reminder to others as to who he was, he would be somewhat surrendering his image to, well, crowds of strangers. That movie studio, Disney, they’d already taken their crack at it, and apparently there was going to be some new movie coming out later this year. Not to mention the B-grade “schlock flicks”, as Big would call them, that were really only attached to H in name only.

            Even though he had no real face, H could feel a tenser frown twisting at itself from somewhere inside him, though the sensation was sent scattering as a fresh reverberation of pain rolled through his body, hanging around the sternum like heartburn but twanging sourly up and down his limbs. The Horseman was able to keep a troubled groan locked tightly in his ribcage, though he couldn’t help the hand that moved to knead at his breastbone again. It honestly felt like he’d crumpled up his body and decided to break it in again after a hundred or so years. The sensation wasn’t…totally unfamiliar, but unless that drinking contest with the Jersey Devil however many years back had really fouled something up he didn’t think he should be feeling like this…

            But he hadn’t been drinking. Or had he?

            Still, it did seem like it was getting better, he’d been entirely sore and stiff when he’d woken up this morning—

            “Horseman, that’s the second time you’ve done that. Are you feeling alright?” Missus Edith spoke up, H stiffening for a moment with his hand frozen against his chest before he hurriedly lowered it to sign.

            I feel a little sore, it’s clearing up. I will be alright.

            “Hmm.” A frown furrowed the elderly woman’s brow, before she threw out another question. “Do you happen to remember what you did last night?”

            His hands lowered for a moment, the Hessian mulling over what to say before deciding to just let loose with the truth. At this point it couldn’t hurt and the damage had been done.

            No. Nothing that would explain this. The most I remember is being at the festival, I saw one last family, and I had gotten your message and was coming back. This was, around ten, I think?

            “Okay…” Big murmured, eyes creasing somewhat at both the story H was telling, as well as the logistics that it was conjuring.

            “So…” A somewhat new voice spoke up, not that anyone was surprised. Though Crow was hardly an ordinary bird, he often picked and chose his moments of interjecting with his own perspective. His voice was also somewhat odd too, with an accent hard to pin down and faintly reverberating with a sort of airy, lackadaisical tone, though by this point the rest of the family was very much used to it. “…That leaves about an hour where something could have happened.”

            “Or likely did happen. If you were that out of it the whole way home, I could see why it took you so long to come back.” Big ruminated aloud, somewhat forgetting that there was a younger audience present until Brian spoke up.

            “Whatddya mean, out of it?”

            “He, ah…” Big stalled, a somewhat rare thing though he managed to quickly recover, remembering a particular anecdote to make the situation make more sense, hopefully without compromising H’s reputation in the process. “…You remember how you and Harriet were when you both had fevers last year?”

            “Yeah—oh.” The boy replied, incomprehension turning to dawning realization as he turned to his Hessian uncle. “So, wait, did you get sick?”

             “Did someone make you sick?” Harriet spoke up at the same time, H now facing the prospect of pacifying both children at once through sign language.

            I—hold on—I don’t think so. At the very least, I don’t remember being attacked, or anyone doing anything to me. I barely remember getting home.

            “Yeah, but the rest of us do.” Frez ‘helpfully’ pointed out from his end of the table, Big lightly jostling him in a rebuke. H, for his part, gave his best impression of an utterly dry look while not having an actual face, snappily signing out,

            …Yes, I know that. Thank you, Frez.

            Though, as they were talking, Harriet quietly absorbed what was happening and turned to her partially eaten cereal. While there was a part of her that was still smarting over Uncle H missing her birthday, this seemed…a bit more serious than him simply being held up or forgetting. If anything, this seemed like someone might’ve intentionally hurt him, which immediately rankled the girl’s sense of duty to her adoptive uncle.

            Even still, he’d promised to spend the day with her, right? So, if he stayed with her, keeping his word, she could make sure that he would be left alone.

            Heck with it, she was almost done with her cereal anyway.

            Shoveling the last of her breakfast into her mouth, Harriet quickly got up and ran her bowl and spoon over to the sink. Her sudden exit had H jumping, the others at the table similarly startled though Missus Edith hardly balked, instead calling out to the girl.

            “Harriet, make sure your dishes go into the dishwasher.”

            “Okay!” She called back, quickly rinsing her silverware and bowl. Probably not as thorough as some might like, but, well, good enough for her. Hurrying back to the table, she quickly grabbed H’s arm, all but pulling him out of his seat.

            “Alright, let’s go look in the driveway.” The girl said, looking back at the Horseman’s surprised noise. “What? I wanna see this present, and you probably wanna find your phone. So, let’s go.”

            Though the Hessian stood just over six feet, he wasn’t much of a match for the sheer determination of the eleven-year-old Harriet. Or, at the very least, he couldn’t stay fully upright in his seat without outright brushing her off, and he wasn’t so keen on that. So, he got up, Brian shrugging and following along, even as Moth hurried to get his coat.

***

            Well, at least it hadn’t rained. H couldn’t help feeling slightly relieved by that, even as he was more than a little unsure by everything else that was going on here. For example, Harriet was already down the steps, poking around near the path that led out to the slightly cracked asphalt driveway.

            Though admittedly what caught H’s attention a lot more was the fact that the small stable he’d personally built in the backyard was open, the noise drawing out his steed, Jaeger. The dark horse hardly did more than let out a tense snort, H able to see the flicking ears and upraised head. Checking out the racket, and likely more than a little nervous given that he’d had to put himself in his stable.

            “Didn’t close the door?” Brian asked, head tilting at the unusual sight. Not that H blamed him, he was usually very fastidious about making sure Jaeger was properly taken care of.

            No, think I—was a bit too unwell last night. I’ll get him settled, let him rest for today. Holler if any of you spot my phone, or a keychain?

            “Alright. You came up the driveway, right?” The twelve-year-old boy answered, glancing back in the direction of the somewhat cracked asphalt that made up said driveway. Harriet hadn’t quite made it there; she was still meandering on the path leading down to it. But it was true, so H gave the question a thumbs-up.

            “You see anything yet?” Brian called, Harriet looking up at the holler and shaking her head.

            The Headless Horseman, for his part, turned his attention more to the still-antsy Jaeger, who was actively pawing at the ground as the Hessian approached. Though as his rider came within range, the towering black horse began to nose at his upper body, puffs of air whuffing the Hessian’s clothes.

            In fact, the mount almost seemed nervous about the Horseman, a thought that had the Hessian reaching out to the perturbed mount, softly humming as his fingers carefully brushed over the horse’s head and neck. It took a moment or two of attention, but eventually Jaeger’s bristled nerves grew calm, the horse leaving his head pressed against H’s chest.

            And, for a brief instant, all was right with the world. The Horseman and his Horse had known each other since their very beginnings. However, before H could grow too complacent, a faint, fading twinge zinged through his body, radiating out from his chest. It wasn’t strong enough for him to immediately try to massage it away, but it was present enough for him to notice, especially given how calm he’d been just a moment ago…

            Well, at least it did seem to be fading, though it did draw the Hessian’s mind back to the issue at hand. Particularly so since Jaeger would’ve been present when this whole sordid ordeal happened. But, between the fact that Jaeger was a horse, and the Horseman was currently sans a way of verbally communicating, any attempt at conversation wasn’t likely to get far. Even so, words beat at the inside of his deadened throat, the Horseman fighting a sigh as he had the frustrating, familiar feeling of knowing precisely what he wanted to say, but not how to get it across.

            Do you remember what happened? Because I don’t, and it’s definitely bothering me.

            Even if he couldn’t give voice to his thoughts, H still tried his best to convey them in the gentle hand running over Jaeger’s nose and head, the horse’s dark eyes turning quiet and calm as he nosed back at his Hessian rider’s chest. It almost seemed like Jaeger was checking him over just as much as H was trying to calm him, the thought more instinctual and likely born from a long partnership with the formidable beast. But H couldn’t bring himself to entirely discount it.

            Especially since…he had no memory of what had happened beyond the meeting with the young Connor and his family. He knew he’d sent off a message to the others, but somewhere between doing that and arriving home something must’ve gone wrong. Had he been attacked? Possible, but the person would’ve potentially had to pull him off his horse, not an easy thing to do. Especially when the Horseman and his horse were in motion, that would’ve required more planning…

            Perhaps somehow he’d been cajoled into stopping? Or perhaps they would’ve gotten to him before he’d mounted and started for home, though the instant H had the thought he couldn’t help discounting it. If someone had tried to jump him in the middle of the street that invited a whole host of risks, not to mention Jaeger might’ve kicked whoever it was. Which, presented a somewhat more worrying element, that somehow the horse and rider had been separated just enough that Jaeger didn’t react or couldn’t get to H when he’d been robbed.

            But if that was the case, how did they even arrive home together? H was grateful for it, it would’ve been even more harrowing to wake up in the village sans head and feeling like he’d been brought back from the dead yet again, but, again, more questions than answers…

            And unfortunately it didn’t seem like standing here with his horse was going to give him much by way of concrete answers. Not that the interaction hadn’t done its job; both he and Jaeger were feeling much more calm, though H could faintly hear Harriet and Brian saying something, their voices a dull hum as they’d moved further down the driveway.

            Ach, he should catch up to them though, shouldn’t he? Wasn’t fair for the children to be looking for his missing items, H giving a softer, echoey hum as he gently rubbed the side of Jaeger’s face with a thumb before letting go.