Page 2
“How is that possible?” the Captain asked. “Ghosts can’t be forcibly taken.”
Mercury looked over at the Scholar, by far the most intellectual and well-read of his ghosts.
“I have never heard of such a thing,” the Scholar said. “All of my studying has revealed no exceptions to the rule that ghosts can be traded only if all are willing, and none are ever simply ripped from the people to whom they are attached.”
“Then where is Baby Blue?” Zizzy’s shaking voice pulled everyone’s attention. She wasn’t as little as Baby, but she was young and fragile. She and Baby had been with Mercury his entire life. They mattered to him. They depended on him.
“I wish I knew,” Mercury said. “But I will find him, and I will get him back. I promise.”
“Mercury keeps his promises,” Tacey said to Zizzy. “You know that about him.”
The young girl ghost nodded, but she still looked worried. Mercury would have to find a way of more fully reassuring her. And himself.
“See to your hauntings, everyone.” He repeated his instructions. “And look out for each other.”
The ghosts floated from the room. Tacey moved to Mercury’s side.
“My Invisible is here,” she said. “He has been spying on our unwanted visitors.”
“What has he learned?”
Tacey’s gaze focused ahead on a seemingly empty space in the room. “The Forever Flame and the Governor were speaking of you, discussing their certainty that you are hiding somewhere at Aventine. They are going to wait for you to grow weary of hiding.”
Mercury had assumed as much.
“The Governor told the Forever Flame that you are also very fond of the ghost who appears to be a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girl, and he suggested that the Forever Flame snatch her away from you next.”
Zizzy.
“He clearly thinks that will bring you to heel,” Tacey said, conveying what her Invisible attachment was telling her.
“What did the Forever Flame say to that?” Mercury did his best to look where he thought the Invisible was likely standing.
“That if motivating you further becomes necessary, he’ll seek out your connection to her and sever it.”
“The Scholar says that severing a ghostly connection isn’t possible,” Mercury said, more to himself than either of them.
“As far as he knows,” Tacey said. “But Baby Blue disappeared, and you cannot feel him any longer. So something has happened that none of us can explain.”
Seek out my connection. Mine.
“It is my connection to my ghosts that the Forever Flame can disrupt.” He was thinking out loud not merely because it helped him but also because he trusted Tacey’s judgment. “Keeping to the hidden corners of Aventine will likely interfere with his ability to sense that connection. These hidden rooms and passageways can’t be sensed by ghosts. People inside of them can’t be either.”
“Except we do not at all understand the Forever Flame’s abilities,” Tacey countered. “We cannot say what limits there might be on his ability to sense your connections to your ghosts.”
“He will be searching for my attachments to find my connection to her. My connection.” The answer very suddenly presented itself with horrible clarity. Mercury’s stomach dropped. “Blast it all.”
Tacey watched him with a heavy and worried expression. “Mercury?”
“I know what I need to do,” he said.
“What is it?”
“Something I swore I never would.” He slowly emptied his lungs, his heart sitting thick in his throat. “Break a promise to Zizzy.”
2
Mercury found himself turned around only once while making his way up to the roof via the labyrinth of hidden passageways and stairwells. He hadn’t explored them much in the last few years, so he thought his ability to navigate was actually quite impressive. If only he knew how to find Zizzy as easily as he’d found the roof.
