4
There was a very real possibility that the Vanns had been seen in the Marylebone area of London. It made the most sense to begin there.
The next morning, Mercury donned clothes that would mark him as a servant. A person of the lowest classes would draw notice for not belonging in the area. A person who appeared to be of the ton would draw notice for seeming to be important. A servant would disappear into the landscape.
Mercury stepped outside, closing the door behind him. Baby Blue floated through it.
“You’re meant to follow at a distance, keeping hidden if you can,” Mercury reminded him.
“I don’t like being away from you.” His little ghostly voice was heartbreakingly pleading. “I won’t cause trouble. I promise.”
“There is a risk of you being recognized as one of my ghosts, which could give away my identity.”
His face fell. The disappointment and misery in his expression tore at Mercury. “Could I stay close if I don’t stay right next to you? I’ll feel better if I can see you and you can see me.”
“Even if I can’t see you, I can feel your connection to me.”
Baby Blue’s eyes lowered. “I can’t feel it.”
It was the first time he’d heard a ghost speak of how they experienced attachments. Was it that Baby simply hadn’t searched out the thread that connected them? Not all people did, after all. Or did ghosts not ever feel it?
“Please, may I stay nearby?” Baby asked in a quiet voice.
Mercury offered a quick smile and a small nod. “We’ll just make certain to be very alert.”
The relief that immediately swept over the ghostly child brought a wave of guilt to Mercury’s conscience. The past few days had been hard on the entire household, and Mercury was the reason for all of it. His past and his secrets were impacting them all.
Upon reaching Marylebone, Baby keeping within sight as he’d requested, Mercury made certain to walk with an air of humble purpose.
He didn’t meet the eyes of anyone he passed, but neither did he make a show of avoiding doing so.
He’d lived on the streets of London beginning at the age of thirteen.
Learning the best strategy and disguise for every situation had kept him alive.
It was a skill he was grateful he still possessed.
Mercury tucked himself against an iron fence as a large delivery wagon passed by.
He took advantage of the moment to scan the area.
The Winged Monk was perched atop a house on the other side of the street.
The Quiet Queen was visible for just a moment passing behind some trees down the road a bit.
He didn’t see any of his other ghosts, except for Baby Blue.
And he saw absolutely no sign of the Vanns.
What “sign,” precisely, he was looking for, he couldn’t say.
Once the wagon passed, he resumed his unobtrusive meander.
Any time he reached a gap in a wall, he peeked subtly through, searching the back gardens and side alleyways of the various homes.
He found no sheds or outbuildings where a nefarious couple might hide a kidnapped lady.
He also didn’t see any placards declaring “The Vanns live here!”
How confidently he’d told his ghosts that he would find Tacey. It was, if he were being fully honest, a monumental task he wasn’t actually certain could be managed.
Fortunately for them all, Mercury had never been intimidated by the impossible.
He slipped his hand into his coat pocket and wrapped his fingers around the old iron key inside.
Escaping the orphanage where he’d grown up had been no small feat.
But he’d managed it at only thirteen years old, taking with him the key to the room where he’d been held prisoner as a reminder of his first “impossible” accomplishment.
There’d been dozens in the many years since. He refused to abandon all hope.
The area would grow busier as the morning progressed. That would allow him to blend in more, but it also meant more eyes potentially recognizing him or realizing what he was endeavoring to do. Mercury tucked himself fully into his persona, knowing it was his best chance at going unnoticed.
The Winged Monk was being far less subtle. Mercury spotted him, atop yet another building, waving his arms in an obvious attempt to get Mercury’s attention. Blast it, being clandestine was difficult when one had a bevy of specters.
Mercury met the Winged Monk’s eye with a questioning gaze. The far-too-fond-of-heights ghost pointed earnestly to the street immediately to his left and on the other side of the square from Mercury. It seemed he’d found something.
As much as Mercury wanted to rush over, doing so would draw notice. He maintained his slow but purposeful pace. Had the Winged Monk spotted the Vanns? The Violet Giant? Mercury didn’t dare let himself hope that he had seen Tacey.
He’d very nearly reached the corner of the street the Winged Monk had directed him to when Baby Blue spoke in a surprised whisper.
“I can hear him.”
Mercury glanced over at his little companion. “Who can you hear?”
“The Violet Giant. His voice is rumbling in me.”
That had happened at Aventine Manor; Baby could feel the ghost’s deep voice even when he was too far away to be heard.
“We’re getting close, then.” Mercury was instantly even more vigilant. Their chances of finding Tacey had just grown, but so had the risk of being seen and recognized.
They turned down the street. Nothing about any of the houses on either side drew the least notice. A carriage rolled down the cobblestones. A tradesman hurried down the steps on the side of a house.
To Baby Blue, Mercury whispered, “Tell me if his voice gets louder.”
Only one house further down, Baby did precisely that. “He’s in there.” Baby looked at the house. “I’m sure of it.”
If the Violet Giant was inside, Mr. Vann most likely was as well. If this was the Vanns’ London residence, the chances were good that Tacey was inside somewhere.
Mercury needed to think of a strategy. He could hardly walk up to the front door and ask if any kidnapped ladies were being held inside. Doing so at the servants’ entrance was likely to be every bit as ineffective.
There was a gap between this house and the next, no doubt leading around to the back of both homes. He could slip back there and, should anyone approach, could pretend to be a servant at the neighboring house. He might even get a bit of information from any servants he ran into.
He’d not yet reached the back when the sound of a window opening near his feet caught his attention. He paused, listening.
A voice floated up from the other side of the window in the accent of lower-class London. “What’re you doing, girl?”
“I am not permitted to go outside. Surely you will not begrudge me trying to see the sun.”
Tacey. Mercury’s breath caught. He moved quickly and silently, pressing himself against the house directly to the side of the low window. He was unlikely to be seen there but could still overhear.
“Just don’t you try anything slippery,” the man, apparently also inside, said.
From his vantage point, Mercury caught sight of Tacey looking out the window. Her eyes darted to him for just a moment. She saw him. And she didn’t look surprised. But how had she known—
He realized in an instant. Tacey had an Invisible attachment.
Like most people—everyone other than him, in fact—she could both see and hear her Invisible, but no one else could.
Tacey, clever as she was, had thought to send her Invisible out to gather information and bring back whatever information he found.
She was quick-witted, intelligent, and an excellent strategizer. Her mother had severely underestimated her daughter. She certainly hadn’t valued Tacey as she ought.
“I want to go in and see her,” Baby whispered.
Mercury shook his head. He kept his voice to a hushed whisper. “She isn’t alone. You’ll give us away.”
He could talk with Tacey by whispering almost silently to her Invisible, who he was absolutely certain was acting as a go-between. But he couldn’t do so with Baby Blue keeping watch. Invisibles were very closely guarded secrets, and Baby didn’t know about Tacey’s.
To the little ghost, he whispered, “Find as many of the other ghosts as you can and warn them to take extra care not to divulge our location.”
Nothing short of Baby Blue’s deep love for Tacey would likely have convinced the boy to leave Mercury’s side. But he nodded earnestly and floated quickly away.
How Mercury hoped Tacey’s Invisible understood what he was about to attempt.
In a whisper that made almost no noise, he asked, “Are you locked in?”
He watched Tacey. A moment passed without any acknowledgment. She didn’t look at him. He had learned patience over the years, a lesson that served him well in that moment. He didn’t move or try again. He simply waited.
And then she nodded the tiniest bit.
It was working.
“Are you under constant guard?”
Another delay. Then another almost imperceptible nod.
“Can you send Granny Grey out to talk with me?” Granny Grey was Tacey’s known ghostly attachment.
After a moment, she shook her head. He didn’t know why Granny had to remain, but he trusted Tacey’s judgment.
She moved a little and he could no longer see her face. But he could hear her. “Have you been told if I am still being moved in a few days’ time?”
Being moved?
“Depends, don’t it?” the man answered with a sneer. “Won’t know what the head man wants until they’ve a chance to talk with him.”
She was getting Mercury information without being obvious about it.
“It must not be very urgent or they wouldn’t be going to the theater tonight,” Tacey said.
“Ain’t none of your nevermind what they choose to do.” Then, with a laugh, the man added, “Could be they’re getting instructions rather’n going to Drury Lane strictly for their own amusement.”
“I suspect you may be correct.” She turned once more, and Mercury could only just make out her face. Her eyes darted to him with the smallest flicker of a knowing and pointed look.
She couldn’t escape, and he couldn’t go in to try to get her.
The Vanns were taking orders from someone and were going to move her soon.
And they would be receiving more information at the theater that night.
She’d even managed to let him know which theater.
That would allow him to be there that night and do some eavesdropping.
He could, he hoped, learn something that would allow him to get her free.
“You are brilliant, Tacey Wilde.”
One corner of her mouth twitched the tiniest bit. His heart flipped about at the sight of it, both because the expression was a little beguiling and because he was worried about her.
“I’ll learn what I can at the theater tonight. You stay as safe as you can.”
A nod.
He didn’t want to leave. Indeed, it was proving difficult to force himself to do so. But every moment he remained increased the danger for both of them.
“I will be back for you. And we will sort out a way to set you free.”
Plenty of people had broken promises to him in his life. But he kept his word. And this was one vow he absolutely would not break.