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“I’m worried about Baby,” Zizzy said quietly.
“So am I.” Mercury’s voice broke the tiniest bit. “And I don’t want to be worried about you too.”
“Being attached to me,” Tacey said, “means you would still be with Mercury. We would all still be here. Together.”
“And you would trade me back once we’ve bested the Forever Flame?” Zizzy pressed.
“The very first thing we’ll do,” Mercury told her.
“Do you promise? Both of you?”
“Most sincerely,” Tacey said.
“I give you my word,” Mercury said.
Zizzy gave a small nod of agreement. Relief and grief warred inside Mercury. Zizzy would be safer, but he had to let her go to secure that safety. Not being able to feel Baby Blue’s connection to him was agonizing. Soon, he wouldn’t feel hers either.
Mercury pushed ahead. He couldn’t allow himself the luxury of falling apart. “It will be safest if we don’t tell anyone else that this trade has taken place. Not even the other ghosts. That will significantly reduce the chances of the Forever Flame discovering the change.”
“I won’t talk about it to anyone,” Zizzy said quietly. “I don’t even want to think about it.”
Her countenance heavy, Zizzy wandered among the Scholar’s stacks of books.
Tacey pulled Mercury to the other side of the room. “You’re intending to trade Zizzy for Granny Grey?”
Mercury nodded.
“I think you need to trade her for my Invisible instead.”
The idea hadn’t even occurred to him.
“If you do,” she said, “you will have a spy who can gather and bring you information. It will be invaluable.”
“Are you sure I couldn’t interest you in an Invisible that can’t be seen or heard?” he asked dryly. “He can’t offer any information at all.”
She smiled at him. “I’m afraid I don’t find that at all tempting.” Her eyes darted a bit to the side, and she assumed an expression of listening. “My Invisible says he would agree to the trade.”
Mercury slowly emptied his lungs, hoping to expel some of his tension along with the air. “I really don’t want to trade Zizzy.” The admission emerged as a somewhat agonized whisper. “She’s been with me my whole life. And I’ve already lost Baby Blue.”
Without warning or explanation, Tacey slipped her arms around him. He didn’t hesitate to match the gesture. Somehow she’d known how much he’d needed to hold her and be held in return.
“Thank you for trusting me to keep Zizzy safe,” Tacey said. “And promise me we will keep looking for Baby.”
“I will never stop looking,” Mercury firmly declared. “The Violet Giant wanted to tell me something about Baby Blue, but he was whisked away when the Vanns fled Aventine.”
“Did he seem to know what happened to the little ghost?”
“He didn’t have time to say enough for me to even guess what it was he was about to tell me.”
Tacey looked up into his eyes. “We are going to protect Zizzy. But if you are exhausted for the next few days from facilitating a trade, we will all be in danger.”
“We cannot delay the Transferal. It wouldn’t be safe for Zizzy.”
“That wasn’t what I was proposing,” she said. “I need to be the one who undertakes the Transferal. You’ll have to talk me through it, but I am determined to broker the swap.”
“It will take a tremendous toll on you,” he warned her.
“I know. But I know with even greater conviction that if this is the only ghost trade I ever broker, I will consider my ‘career’ an inarguable success.”
