Chapter 13
Mercury’s ghosts were in a comparatively good mood.
He was met with smiles and excitement as he climbed the stairs, aiming for his room.
They were all still crammed into a much smaller house than they were accustomed to, and they all knew that Mercury was in some kind of danger, but having Tacey back with them had infused the London house with hope.
He could wait until morning to pull them all back into the dangerous and difficult task of discovering who had placed the bounty on Mercury’s head and doing his utmost to stay out of prison. They all deserved one night of relative peace.
He stopped just outside the door to his bedchamber.
He was exhausted enough to drop on his bed and be asleep in an instant.
But Tacey’s voice from just down the corridor pulled him in that direction.
He hadn’t yet made certain she was comfortable and had everything she needed. And he hadn’t bid her good night.
It was all an excuse to see her again for a few more minutes; he knew that. He was willing to admit his growing attachment to her. Admit to himself. He wasn’t at all certain he was ready to confess the entirety of his feelings for her to her.
Her door was open. She stood inside with Granny Grey. It really was good having Tacey back with them—with him. He’d missed her smile and her laughter. He’d missed talking with her and having her nearby.
Though Mercury hadn’t made any noise, Tacey turned toward him quite suddenly, and quite obviously knowing she would see him there. Her Invisible had likely told her.
“I hope you don’t mind that Baby Blue assigned me this bedchamber,” Tacey said.
“There are only three in the house,” he said. “And one of them is belowstairs. This is your best option.”
“I would happily sleep in the servants’ quarters,” she said, “if that’s what it took to remain.”
Hope bubbled in his heart at the declaration, though his far less romantic mind insisted it was simply that his home was an improvement over her captivity.
“I would happily sleep in the servants’ quarters if it meant you would remain,” he replied.
The soft smile he received in return was more than payment enough for the rare moment of sentimentality from him.
Hers was not an expression of mere gratitude.
She appeared genuinely happy not only to be staying but to hear that he wanted her to.
There had to be more to her remaining than mere convenience.
There had to be. And, though it was likely unwise, he let himself dwell in that moment of possibility.
Granny Grey, who hadn’t seemed uncomfortable around him in weeks, appeared a bit on edge. She watched him with a ponderous and concerned expression.
He pulled the door closed behind him and moved a little closer to the hesitant ghost. “I’m sorry for the ordeal you must have endured these past few days. We found you as quickly as we possibly could.”
“That is not what is weighing on me,” Granny said.
“Then what is?”
“Are we truly staying here?”
“I know it is a little cramped,” he said.
But she was already shaking her head. “That isn’t my worry. The memories are spreading.” Though she didn’t speak loudly, that declaration seemed to echo around him. “They are spreading because you are here.”
He pushed out a tense breath. “One of my ghosts has gained a memory.”
“Others will as well,” Granny warned.
“But not if we return to Aventine?”
Granny Grey didn’t answer immediately, which wasn’t reassuring. “It will slow.”
Mercury turned away, trying to resist the need to pace, but not entirely winning.
“You and the Cream Canary have been telling me for weeks that ghosts who know and remember pieces of my past will find me. Returning to Aventine Manor won’t stop that.
But if I do go back, the Vanns and others who are eager to claim the bounty on my head will track me there. ”
Granny followed him as he paced, keeping a few feet behind him. “If you do not distance yourself from London, the building storm will break before you are ready.”
He looked back at her. “The Cream Canary said Aventine Manor isn’t the eye of this storm; I am. It will break regardless of where I am.”
“The when matters, Mercury Raine,” Granny Grey said. “If you are not prepared for it, it will destroy you.”
It was more than the ghosts with memories, then. “Your warnings have always been that I needed to gather together the ‘knowing’ ghosts in order to keep my past hidden. Did I change that by coming to London?”
She didn’t answer.
Either he had worsened his situation, or she hadn’t told him the entirety of it until then.
His eyes happened on Tacey. The focus and confusion in her expression filled in yet another blank for him: this aspect of the situation was a new revelation for her.
“I didn’t include the Phantomic memories in my earlier confession, did I?”
She shook her head. “Or that Granny Grey has known about this all along.”
Mercury had fully expected her to denounce his continued secrecy or change her mind about continuing to be tied to him. He ought to have known better.
Tacey shrugged a little. “You will simply have to spend the ride back to Aventine Manor offering up the bits and pieces you’ve not yet told me.”
“Then you, too, think we should go back? The Vanns, and likely a great many others equally as dangerous, will know to look for us there.” He stepped closer to her. “You’ll be in danger. I cannot like that.”
“You’ve warned me of that already. And I gave you my answer already. I haven’t changed my mind.”
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the folded page of the newspaper. “Staying in London would mean I could return to the Forever Flame and sort out who is behind this. We would have some ability to identify them. I might be able to get ahead of the threat that way.”
He unfolded the page, his eyes scanning the advertisement again.
Inquire of the Forever Flame.
The reward had been raised, likely would be again. This was dangerous, and he wasn’t sure that returning to Aventine Manor would lessen that threat. He didn’t have the first idea what to be on the lookout for.
The paper in his hand suddenly twitched, though his hand hadn’t moved and there was no draft. It was the Reluctant Recluse, no doubt. His Invisible attachment had been trying to communicate something about that page once already that night.
Mercury scanned the advertisement again. Reading it. Studying.
Inquire of the Forever Flame.
Of.
That word jumped out.
Of.
His pulse picked up yet again. “The instructions”—he held up the paper, turning it to face Tacey and Granny—“say ‘Inquire of the Forever Flame.’ Not at the Forever Flame. Of.”
“It isn’t talking about the pub.” Realization rendered Tacey’s voice a little quiet, a little airy.
“The Forever Flame is a ghost. I’m certain of it.
” His nervousness about the danger closing in on them all hadn’t truly dissipated, but a strategy was beginning to form.
“If we return to Aventine Manor and resume the brokering business, at some point the Forever Flame will arrive with their person, likely under the guise of making a trade.”
“There likely will be many who come to Aventine first, all looking to collect the reward for your capture,” Granny warned. “There will be danger.”
“But there is danger in staying here as well.” Tacey was undaunted.
“Going back to Aventine would slow the spread of these memories that are such a threat to you. But it also means that those who are looking for you will have to do so in a place that you know far better than they do, and where you can see them coming.”
That was decidedly a point in favor of leaving London.
“Can Aventine Manor be fortified against the onslaught?” Granny asked.
Mercury’s lips pulled in a slow smile. “I didn’t purchase it simply for the space.”
Tacey smiled back at him. “Sounds as though the home is as mysterious as its owner.”
Mercury gave a firm, determined nod. “The house and I have both existed for years behind a veneer of gentility. And that facade is about to crack.”
Five days after Aventine Manor went silent, it roared to life once more. Mercury Raine and his bevy of ghosts had returned. Each retreated to their usual corners to undertake their usual pursuits. Miss Tacey Wilde took up residence within Aventine’s protective walls.
All seemed as it had ever been, provided one didn’t look too closely. For if one truly listened and watched and felt, one could not deny that something was rumbling beneath the surface.
A battle was coming to Aventine, and when it did, they would be ready for it.