Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
brETT
After pulling on a comfy gray sweatpants set, Ghost takes my hand and leads me out to the living room, Rupert, and Venom close at my heels. There’s a faint melody in the air, growing louder the closer we get to the room. The sonnet bounces hauntingly against the stone walls, heightening my sense of unease as the tune slows to a solemn crawl.
We step into the massive circular room, and my eyes latch onto the suited stranger sitting at the grand piano. Long, bony fingers dance across the ivory keys, drawing the haunting tones that have a shiver running down my spine. He doesn’t seem to notice we’ve entered as he plays, but when I go to take a step toward him, Ghost shoots an arm out, keeping me in place .
I look up at him, but he just gives me a shake of his head before returning his hand to the clasped position in front of him, waiting dutifully for the song to end. It seems like hours before the last note rings out, and by the time the man lifts his fingers from the keys, another eternity.
The man spins to face us, and I take a gasping breath as that faceless black mask comes into view. A mask just like Ghost’s.
“You—You’re…” I point a shaky finger at the masked man, my mind reeling. “You’re?—”
“A Phantom,” he says, standing from the bench and gliding toward us. The way he moves makes it seem like he’s walking through water, utterly controlled and silent. “Well, a retired one. The Sanctum only allows so many to be active at a time. For security purposes,” he adds, turning his mask onto Ghost. “Is it true? Are you really planning to take them out?”
Ghost nods, his hand flexing slightly. “Yes. I am.”
The man goes utterly still, that black oval pinned on Ghost’s face. Then to my surprise, a boisterous chuckle echoes off the walls.
“I knew you were crazy, but I didn’t think you were actually insane.” The man shakes his head. “I knew there was a reason I liked you. Even when you were an asshole bed-wetter.”
Ghost snarls, taking a menacing step forward. “Will you help me or not?”
He shrugs, seemingly unaffected by the murderous tone in Ghost’s voice. “I would not be here if I wasn’t.”
“Ghost? Who is this?” I whisper, trying to keep my voice as low as possible.
“My name is Maverick,” he says, stepping forward and sticking his hand out to me. Before I can take it, Ghost pulls me back, slapping his hand away quicker than I can blink. “Jesus, Boy. What’s with you?”
“Don’t fucking call me that,” Ghost murmurs, wrapping an arm protectively around my waist. “And don’t touch her.”
Maverick holds his hands up. “Just trying to be friendly, Boy .”
A wave of anger crests in my veins as this stranger mockingly uses Ghost’s old name. Knowing what I do about his childhood, it makes me sick. It makes me furious. It makes me want to hurt ? —
“Ow! What in the heavens was that for?” Maverick chokes out, his palms reaching down to cup his crotch. I look down in surprise at my leg lowering to the floor from where I just kneed him. I didn’t realize I did that…
Before I can respond, Ghost steps in front of me, crouched low with a hand on his dagger. “Don’t even think about?—”
“Relax,” Maverick chokes, straightening slowly. “I won’t retaliate. Just surprised she managed to get one in on me.”
Ghost turns his head to face me. “That’s my fucking girl.”
My cheeks flame as I press my face into Ghost’s back, thankful for the barrier so Maverick can’t see the effect he has on me. Because that would be embarrassing…
Maverick chuckles, seeming to already forget the injury. “Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Jane used to bust my balls, too.”
At the mention of my mother’s name, I freeze. “Wait— you’re Maverick? Like, the Maverick from my mom’s notes?”
Maverick’s shoulders tense, and his face turns to the side. “Yes. I knew your mother well. She was taken from this earth far too soon.”
Ghost steps to the side, feeding his arm around my waist and pushing me forward gently. “I think you two should talk for a while… alone,” he adds at my wide-eyed look. “We can plan the attack later… I know you have questions about your mom, Brett. Maverick is the only one who can answer them for you.”
I swallow hard, giving Ghost a resolute nod before turning my attention to the masked man across from me. “Is that true?”
“Yes,” he murmurs, his hand flexing lightly at his side. Ghost stares hard at the motion, then floats toward the kitchen. I watch his back until he disappears around the corner, the ball of anxiety in my gut growing now that me and the strange masked man are truly alone.
“You have her eyes.”
The tone is his voice is so sad, so full of regret, that it causes my chest to pinch. “I’ve… it’s been a while since I’ve heard that.”
He nods, his hand flexing again. “I imagine so. Jane did not keep company with many people. The ones she did are no longer in this world—unable to make such a connection.”
I pick at a stray thread hanging from my sweatpants, lost for words. Ghost wanted me to talk to Maverick—for closure, probably—but now when I’m faced with the opportunity, all of my words, my feelings seem to have dried up.
Maverick takes a cautious step toward me. “I know it must be hard for you to talk about her. It has been years for me, yet, the memory of her death cuts just as deep as the day it happened. I wish I…” he pauses, his gaze following the light streaming in through the main window. “I wish I could have carved a spot in this world for her.”
“I read some of her journal entries,” I whisper, taking a slow step forward. “It was easy to see you cared for her.”
Almost imperceptibly, Maverick nods, all his earlier bravado vanishing at the mention of her. “I loved her.” I expect him to elaborate, but he says no more about it.
“Did you know about Hudson? Did you know…?” Did you know she loved him, instead?
Another nod. “I was willing to live with it. But when I discovered his treachery… how he sold her out. What they did to her…” He shakes his head, as if to cast away the memory of her lifeless, disfigured body. “I spent the next month tracking down every last bastard involved, saving Hudson for last. He was hiding out, knowing I was going to end him for what he d id to Jane. Without Ghost’s help, I probably would not have found him?—”
“Wait… Ghost helped you?”
Maverick nods tersely. “My apprentice back then. He tracked Hudson to his hideout in the Moriton forest, then held him down for several hours as I…” Maverick clears his throat. “As I enacted the same pain he had caused Jane.”
Maverick steps toward the piano, running his fingers over the keys lovingly. “Jane loved to listen to me play. She would slip off into this expression… this little smile that only ever came out when I played for her. In Hudson’s final moments, when he begged for mercy… it was that smile I saw in my mind. That laugh of hers filled my head.”
He turns to me, dragging his fingers from the keys as if the motion pains him. “And when it was all over, I thought of the piece of her that still remained in this world. I thought of her daughter, of the pain she was feeling—ten-fold whatever I was going through. I knew what would happen to you if you were left alone in this world, in this city that devours any scrap of goodness. I sent my apprentice to do what I could not. I had him watch you—keep you safe. ”
I reel from the information, the knowledge that Ghost has been so closely tied to my life this entire time. He’s been defending me, lurking in the shadows like the guardian angel from hell. I think back to my foster father, at the night he tried to attack me. His failure, and the strange turn of events after that ended in his murder.
I gasp as the puzzle pieces align, at the realization that it was Ghost who saved me that night, who left his mutilated body in the woods for all to see. For me to see.
“All this time… it was him? You?”
Maverick nods, his shoulders slumping ever so slightly. “Jane was not around to protect you from the monsters of the world, so someone had to,” he murmurs, turning to face the window once more, as if the blue of the sky offers him some comfort. “I am sorry you lost her, Brett. Of everything that has happened, I most regret that this world took your mother from you.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” I whisper, reaching a hand up to clutch my chest. “It was the Sanctum?—”
“I worked for the Sanctum,” he interrupts, his voice soft. “I could have… I could have saved her, if only I had opened my eyes. If only I realized…” he looks away again, his chest heaving. “They want to quash every good thing in this world. Every ounce of joy. To profit off the collective misery of the world.” Maverick takes a deep breath, his hand spasming at his side. “They took her from me. From you. From every person she could have helped. They took her, and they butchered her. The most beautiful, delicate flower, crushed to sludge under the Sanctum’s golden boot.”
Maverick’s body trembles with the memory of the horrors the organization has exacted. At what they will continue to do if left unchecked. “These reasons and more are why I’ve agreed to help Ghost. I may be older—slower—than I was in my prime, but I will use my last breath to avenge what they’ve destroyed. To protect what is left. I must .”
I take a shaking breath, unable to believe what he’s telling me. This man—this Phantom —loved my mother so much, he’s willing to give his life for the mere memory of her. It seems too preposterous to believe, yet… here I am. In love with one, myself. I shake the thought away. I’m not in love with Ghost. That would be… well, that would be crazy. I care for him, of course, but I’m not in love with him. I can’t be. Can I?
“I want to help. In any way I can,” I say, a wave of resolve coursing through my veins. “I’m a quick shot, and I’m not afraid to do what needs to be done to these fuckers. Plus, it seems like you two could use the extra body.”
Maverick tenses at the proposition. “I do not want you anywhere near the Sanctum. If your mother knew what you were doing she’d?—”
“Probably be damned proud of me,” I interrupt, pulling my shoulders back. “She gave her life trying to expose them. As much as you want to avenge her, I want her death to mean something. It means nothing if I sit back and let her legacy—her story—die.”
“I would never let that happen, Brett,” Maverick says, his hand outstretched toward my shoulder. Just before he makes contact, he yanks it back to his chest. Clears his throat. “Her legacy is you. This entire thing is happening to keep you safe. ”
I shake my head, a wave of bitterness cresting. “I don’t need to be kept safe. I need to do something.”
Maverick pauses for a moment that seems to stretch into eternity. Then, he shakes his head, a sad little chuckle accompanying the movement. “So much like your mother.”
He looses a breath, angling his body toward the kitchen. “I have to go speak with Ghost, now. It was… it was a true pleasure speaking with you, Brett.” Sparing one last glance my way, he turns and fl oats toward the kitchen, effectively ending our conversation. Leaving me alone with this growing pit of anxiety. Alone with my thoughts. Alone with the knowledge that I have no idea what’s going to happen next.
And I think that’s the most terrifying thing of all.