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He pulled off his coat and set it around her shoulders. He met Zizzy’s eye, and she nodded in return.

Mercury moved swiftly and carefully along the path. He came upon a sight he could not have predicted, and yet it matched precisely what Tacey had been describing: a rock, impossible to miss, unique, and cleft directly down the middle. The rock was made of several bands of differently colored rock. A silver vein ran through it.

The rock was large enough that several people could have stood on top of it with ample room. And the break in it was deep enough that, from his position on the outer edges of it, it appeared to split the rock in two.

If this was, indeed, the legendary Rending Rock, and he was certain it was, what was he meant to do? The millennia-old theft had to be made right. But that was impossible. So what did he do?

Mercury took a single step onto the rock. A steady, illuminating glow like sunlight peeking through rain clouds or a pane of glass emanated from the rock beneath his feet. The bands of color emanated light that matched the bands themselves: gray, purple, yellow, two shades of green. There was a section that was blue in color, but it remained dark.

A sudden cold blast of wind threatened to knock him over. And his eyes darted to the sky above. Black, ominous clouds gathered in a swiftly swirling mass. The glow of the rock grew ever more pointed as the world around Mercury grew darker.

Into the disconcerting scene two silhouettes began to form again: Baby Blue and the Reluctant Recluse.

It was a sign that he was on the right path. Yet he didn’t know what the next step on that path was.

One by one, his ghosts began trickling into the space, watching him with varying expressions. Some were confused. Some afraid. Some hopeful. But all of them looked at him with the clear expectation that he knew what came next.

These ghosts were family to him. Tacey was everything to him. They all depended on him, and he hadn’t the first idea what to do. He could see Zizzy, standing near where he’d left her and Tacey.

Zizzy often looked distressed, but he didn’t know that he’d ever seen her weep. Until now. Had something happened to Tacey?

He rushed off the rock. The moment he did, the vaguely formed silhouettes of Baby Blue and the Reluctant Recluse disappeared. The clouds overhead retreated. He had to be on the rock. He had to be there to heal this, to fix this. He stepped back on it. The two hidden ghosts reformed. The clouds swirled angry over his head.

The Violet Giant arrived, meaning the Vanns were only five hundred feet away. Mercury was running out of time.

“You are the eye of this storm,” Granny Grey said. “And it is about to break.”

Granny had first spoken of the gathering storm when warning him of Phantomic memories, of ghosts who knew things about him and were being drawn to him. Every one of those ghosts was here now, watching him as a storm broke overhead: Granny Grey, the Cream Canary, Gary the Green—

All thoughts fled for the length of a single breath. The split rock he stood on contained bands of color. Gray. Yellow. Green. Colors connected to those three ghosts. Holly Hock had gained memories as well. Holly. There was another band of green in the rock, a darker one. Like the color of holly leaves.

There was also purple in the rock. The Violet Giant was the only ghost he knew of with purple in his name. But the Violet Giant hadn’t gained any Phantomic memories. But he had revealed to Mercury many things about his past. He had been part of the secrets that had come to light. The purple, Mercury felt certain, was for him.

There was a vein of silver in the rock, metallic and shimmering, running beside a band of blue. They were the only two colors not glowing.

Blue and silver.

Blue.

Mercury spun around, facing the increasingly distinguishable form of Baby Blue. He could see the tiny ghost again . . . almost. But what was he supposed to do? This must have been part of healing the rift here. But how?

“You’ve told me that there are things about our past together you don’t remember, but should. Do you remember any of them now? Any of them?”

He could only just make out Baby’s mouth moving but could hear nothing. He was still tucked behind the barrier that the Forever Flame put between ghosts and the people they were attached to. Mercury looked to the Violet Giant, hoping he could hear what Mercury couldn’t.

“I can’t hear him, either,” the Violet Giant said. “Likely another of the things they are prevented from speaking.”

The Reluctant Recluse attempted to say things and couldn’t. Even the Invisible Rain had, though he was a true Invisible, not a hidden one. And now, Baby.

A bolt of angry lightning flashed overhead. Followed by the ominous roar of thunder. And in that exact moment, the Forever Flame arrived among them.

The storm was breaking with the arrival of this dangerous and feared ghost. Of course, he was connected to all of this.

Mercury returned his gaze to Baby Blue. “Please try.”

“My power holds permanently,” the Forever Flame said. “It has from the very beginning, and there’s nothing you can do.”

Mercury held his hand out to Baby, urging him to join him on the rock. A lifetime spent together, keeping his promises, protecting the little ghost, had built trust between them. Enough that Baby Blue didn’t hesitate, but stepped onto what must have been a terrifying surface for the frightened little boy. The moment he joined Mercury, he was fully formed once more. Something about him shimmered as if he wasn’t entirely there, not permanently, not completely. But Mercury could see him again. The barrier was breaking.