6
Mercury sat on his bed as the hours ticked by, unable to sleep.
The Forever Flame.
He had until sunset tomorrow to discover what and where that was.
He likely couldn’t manage it without help, but he didn’t dare make it too obvious to the Vanns and their associates that he was nearby.
And this wasn’t the sort of favor the prince could truly help him with; he had shown himself a bit too self-focused to take note of people or places who couldn’t directly benefit him.
But Tacey was going to be moved after the Vanns received their marching orders.
During that relocation, she wouldn’t be locked in a house with likely multiple doors and corridors to pass through just to reach her.
He might be able to slip her from her captors during that move.
The only way to know when she would be out of the house and for how long was to listen in on the conversation at the Forever Flame.
Everything hinged on finding this mysterious place. And he had only about eighteen hours in which to do so.
Testy Tolver floated into the room, expression haughty as always. “You’re awake. How fortuitous.”
“Is it?” Mercury muttered, mostly to himself.
“Am I ever going to be permitted to drive the carriage while we are in London? It really is unfair that I have not been allowed to do so.”
“Unless ghosts suddenly gain the ability to change their appearance, I am afraid we cannot risk it.”
Testy Tolver didn’t look appeased, but he did seem to begrudgingly accept the explanation.
Mercury made the mistake of thinking that would be the end of his ghostly difficulties for the night. Captain Capitate arrived in the next instant, head under his arm, to prove Mercury wrong.
“Would it be possible, while we are in Town, to take up residence in a larger place? I have passed through and been passed through by the other ghosts more times than I care to recall just tonight.” He gave Mercury a pointed look, an odd experience when coming from a head being carried.
“It can be a very unpleasant sensation, I assure you.”
“We will not be in London long,” Mercury said. “The moment we have Tacey, we will return to Aventine Manor.”
Testy Tolver and the Captain exchanged looks that spoke of recalling a previous conversation that apparently undermined Mercury’s declaration.
“Is there something either of you would care to share?”
“The Vanns and whoever they are working for know to find you there,” Testy Tolver explained. “Unless you can sort out who is behind it all and why, returning home seems like an even greater risk than remaining in Town.”
There was a great deal of truth in that, blast it.
Mawky joined the gathering and immediately swooned onto and a bit through the chaise longue at the foot of his bed. “I do hope we can have Tacey with us again soon. I miss her ever so much.”
“So do I,” Zizzy said as she too floated inside. “Do you think anyone is being kind to her?”
“I learned from the Vanns’ coachman tonight that the staff at the Vanns’ house are not overly fond of the couple. I think that makes them less likely to cause Tacey misery on the Vanns’ behalf.”
Weeping William’s sobs of relief echoed through one of the walls. He was, apparently, near enough to be listening in. Mercury could not remember the last time so many of his ghosts had gathered around him in the middle of the night.
Smythe arrived as well. “Rum Nicky wishes me to ask if he should”—Smythe assumed the tone of one repeating words more or less verbatim that had been spoken to him—“bother preparing an evening meal for you tomorrow since you have not been here for said meal even once since our removal to London.”
Mercury rubbed at his face. “I am afraid rescue missions do not generally respect established mealtimes.”
“I did attempt to tell him that,” Smythe said.
“Tell who what?” Baby Blue asked as he slipped inside.
Just how many of Mercury’s ghosts were going to crowd into the not overly large room?
“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” he asked as the little ghost “sat” on the bed beside him. Baby was the only ghost Mercury had ever heard of who slept. He seemed to need to, though Mercury didn’t know why.
“I tried to—” Baby Blue’s gaze fell on Captain Capitate’s displaced head. “Don’t do that. I don’t like when you do that.”
“There is no place in this entire house where I can decapitate without the likelihood that Baby Blue will be somewhere nearby to object.” The Captain set his head in place once more, though he didn’t look overly pleased to be doing so.
“I am sorry it is crowded,” Mercury said to them all. “It feels especially so since we are all accustomed to the expansiveness of Aventine Manor. I wouldn’t ask it of you all if it weren’t so crucial that our whereabouts not be known.”
“Because it will put Tacey in more danger?” Zizzy asked, sitting next to Baby.
“And because I am in very real danger.” It was more than he’d intended to admit to them, but he was feeling a little guilty that they were all so frustrated and upended and didn’t even know the full reason why.
His admission had the effect of immediately quieting the room and bringing all their ghostly eyes in his direction.
“Do any of you know of a place called the Forever Flame?” he asked them. “I don’t know if it is a home, a shop, a pub, a . . . tavern. Whatever it is, the Vanns are supposed to meet someone there at sunset tomorrow, someone who is connected to their kidnapping of Tacey.”
They all shook their heads, made noises of denial, or outright said they didn’t. Mercury hardly had time to register his disappointment before the Quiet Queen spoke.
“There was an alehouse in the time of Elizabeth called the Forever Flame. A mysterious place. The subject of a lot of whispers and conjecture.”
“It was here in London?” Mercury asked.
The Quiet Queen dipped her head in confirmation.
“Where in London was it?”
“Bishopsgate Without,” she said.
“That area of London survived the Great Fire,” Mawky said, still draped martyr-like on the chaise. “The pub could still be there.”
It was promising.
“Could you take me to where the pub is—or was?” he asked the Quiet Queen.
“Will it help you and Tacey escape the danger you are in?”
He nodded.
“And will you allow us to assist you more than you thus far have been willing to permit?” There was a bit of scolding in her tone.
“If you are in danger,” Testy Tolver said, “we would very much like to help you, but we can’t if you don’t ever tell us how.”
“I learned very young to be fiercely independent,” he said. “I do not trust easily.”
“You trust me,” Baby Blue said, his earnest expression tugging at Mercury.
“Of course I do.” He looked out at the others. “I trust all of you, in my own way.”
“That is a beginning.” The Quiet Queen’s regal declaration felt, somehow, like a promise. A promise of help and support and patience.
Smythe took charge of the situation and insisted the ghosts leave Mercury to his rest. And, a moment later, he was alone again.
Though there were still a great many complications and no guarantee that they were on the right track, he had a plan. A vague and entirely incomplete one, but Mercury had navigated more danger with far less information in the past.
His thoughts didn’t seem able to remain on his rescue mission or his ghosts for any length of time, but rather jumped from one to the other.
His ghosts had proven themselves eager to help.
And he did think that they cared about him.
But telling them too much would actually increase the danger, not lessen it.
And there was now the added risk of spreading information that could trigger such an outbreak.
With that in mind, ought he to don a thorough disguise and go inside the Forever Flame himself—assuming the pub was still there—or ought he to send in spectral spies again?
And how was Tacey enduring this all? If the Vanns had hurt her . . .
“Mercury?” Zizzy’s uncertain little voice broke through his spinning thoughts. She was hovering beside his bed. “I have been thinking about your plan to go to that pub.”
“Are you worried about me?”
“I’m always a little worried about you. I’m always a little worried about everything.”
It was one of her Integral traits, after all.
“What is worrying you in particular about my journey to the Forever Flame?”
“Mr. and Mrs. Vann are going to be there?”
“I believe so. They’ll be receiving instructions on where they will be taking Tacey next, and we need to overhear those instructions.”
Her translucent brow pulled low in thought. “Tacey is at the Vanns’ house. But you now know that the Vanns won’t be there tonight.”
A flicker of realization lit in Mercury’s mind.
“The Vanns’ staff dislikes them,” Zizzy added. “They’re unlikely to show any loyalty to them.”
Mercury sat up straight as understanding fully formed. “Instead of following them to the Forever Flame in the hope of hearing something useful, we could take advantage of their absence to get Tacey back.”
“Baby Blue said there was someone in the room guarding her when you saw her,” Zizzy said.
“Yes, but that’s only one person to contend with, and I do think the staff there would help us.” It was the perfect opportunity. Mercury didn’t squander opportunities. Ever. “Brilliant, Zizzy.”
She smiled shyly, as she generally always did when paid a compliment. “She’ll be safe with us again. I’m certain of it.”
“None of us will stop until she is.”
Zizzy’s bashful expression turned a little teasing. “Especially you.”
“Are you implying something, Zizzy?” he asked with a smile.
She shrugged a shoulder. “That, of everyone in this house, you are, at this moment, the most transparent.”
He found he could laugh a little, and that felt good.