Chapter 12
Aventine Manor had descended into a temporary state of pandemonium.
Word had spread to all the ghosts that they were bound for London the very moment everything and everyone was ready to depart.
Mercury himself had informed those ghosts who never interacted with the others, who weren’t even necessarily known by the others.
Not a single ghost had hesitated or bemoaned their removal. No one was willing to abandon Tacey.
Mercury sat in his carriage rushing in the direction of London, telling himself that they would find Tacey despite the overwhelming size of the metropolis, that she would be fine and whole, and that they would manage to escape whatever trap the Vanns were setting for him.
All would be well, he silently insisted. He had to believe that. He had to.
In the carriage with him were his remaining Originary ghosts, perhaps including the Reluctant Recluse.
Smythe, Baby Blue, and Zizzy had been with him when he’d fled the orphanage, when he’d last been in London, when he’d first laid down roots at Aventine Manor.
They were now accompanying him into undefinable danger.
“The last time we were in London,” Smythe said, “someone thought they recognized you. We had to flee in quite a hurry.”
“I remember all too well.” Mercury took a slow breath. “We’ll have to be particularly careful.”
“But we’ll still look for Tacey?” Zizzy hadn’t stopped crying since they’d discovered Tacey gone.
“We will not stop until we find her,” Mercury vowed.
“What happens to us if someone in London knows who you really are?” Baby Blue asked. Sometimes Mercury forgot that his Originary ghosts absolutely knew what he was running from. They understood the danger and kept the secret.
“I’m not certain what would happen,” Mercury admitted. “I would be in trouble with the law, but I don’t know all of the consequences of that.” He knew enough of them to be very concerned about what awaited them all in the capital city.
“You said we will always be together,” Baby Blue reminded him, pleadingly. “You promised.”
Mercury looked at them all in turn. “I don’t intend to break that promise. All of us, including Tacey, will be together. And we will stay together.”
He would fight to the very end to save them all.