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Mercury slipped his hand into the pocket of his coat and wrapped his hand around the iron key he’d taken with him after running away from Moor Cross Home for Orphans. He held fast to it now, a reminder that he had bested this man once before, and he could do so again.
He placed himself at the foot of the Governor’s bed. He set his shoulders and hitched his chin at a defiant angle. This man had made his life a torment until the day he had escaped. Mercury had been hiding from him ever since. But now the miserable man was in his house.
Just as Mercury had often awoken at Aventine to the feeling of being watched, the Governor awoke, apparently sensing it as well. His eyes fluttered open. Only a moment passed before he spotted Mercury, illuminated by moonlight spilling through the window. He sat up with a jolt, eyes wide.
“I don’t know what you think you will accomplish here,” Mercury said, “but you will not succeed.”
“You always were stubborn, Sidney,” the Governor sneered.
“There is no one here by that name,” Mercury said. “There never has been.”
“We will see what the law has to say about that.”
“You are in my house, so consider this your first and final warning. Leave, and never come back.”
Mercury left the room, pulling the door closed behind him. There was every possibility it was a mere coincidence that the moment he did so, the ghostly haunting noises grew instantly louder and more pointed. Coincidence or not, it punctuated Mercury’s words of warning.
Perfect.
Not a half-dozen steps down the corridor, Mercury came upon Mrs. Brand. He’d intended to confront her as well, but hadn’t yet sorted a way to do that other than barging into a sleeping woman’s bedchamber. She’d solved that trouble for him by stepping out of her room at precisely the right moment.
“I heard your voice,” she said, eyeing him with distaste.
“And you are about to hear it again. I will tell you precisely what I told your comrade: Leave.”
She tipped her head ever so slightly to one side, her mouth twisting in derision. “Or what? You are a fugitive and a criminal. And my ghost exacts painful retribution for lack of cooperation.”
“You and your fellow conspirators intend to take everything away from me.” Mercury took a single, slow step toward her. He kept his gaze locked with hers and his expression one of calm, unwavering warning. “That makes me even more dangerous.”
Her smug smile flattened almost imperceptibly. “Why is that?”
“Because I have nothing to lose and everything to gain by fighting you to the bitter end.” One more step. His still unwavering gaze. “And that is precisely what I will do.”
A hint of uncertainty entered her expression. “The Forever Flame cannot be bested by anyone.”
Mercury allowed his lips to turn up painstakingly slowly. “I am not just ‘anyone’; I am Mercury Raine. And you have been warned.”
She didn’t move or look away. Neither did he.
Her expression didn’t change, but her eyes did. Mrs. Brand was not nearly as smug as she had been. Good.
The sound of crashing furniture pulled her head in the direction of her room.
“You are never alone in this house,” Mercury said. “Remember that.”
Her eyes darted to him before she quickly stepped into her room. Though she was far past the door, it snapped shut behind her. One of the ghosts no doubt.
Down the corridor, the Invisible Rain waved him forward. “Tacey’s gone into the library.”
The library? Why would she be there? She wouldn’t be hidden or safe in such an easily accessible room.
“Are any of the ghosts with her?” Mercury asked as he moved swiftly toward a hidden entrance to the secret passageways.
“I didn’t see any,” the Invisible Rain said.
Mercury didn’t wait even an instant longer. He moved with quick but quiet steps in the direction of the library.
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