3
“The tunnels are ready,” Mercury said. “So it’s time to set our strategy in place.”
He stood in front of the open wall in the dungeon, addressing twelve of his ghosts, as well as Granny Grey, Tacey, and likely both her Invisible attachment and the Reluctant Recluse.
Two of the ghosts present were so insistent on hermitry that they were entirely unknown to the rest of the household.
They drew repeated glances from the other ghosts.
“The Winged Monk will watch from the rooftops for new arrivals or people sniffing around,” Mercury said. “Smythe will stand watch at the door to redirect inquisitive visitors. Baby Blue and Zizzy have requested to not return to the tunnels, so they will remain in the house.”
Looks of empathetic understanding answered that. They all loved the youngest Aventine ghosts. Everyone did.
“There are others here at Aventine for whom isolation is too deep a need to leave their reclusion. I will not force them to participate.”
That brought nods of understanding.
“I’ve asked Snaffle to do what he can to redirect any horses that make their way onto the property, whether being ridden or pulling a carriage.”
“Who is Snaffle?” Tacey asked.
The question was silently echoed in many of the faces around her.
“One of our isolated ghosts,” Mercury told them all. “Most of you will not have met him. He very seldom leaves the stable.”
A few of them glanced at the lesser-known specters standing among them.
“Snaffle is in the stables currently,” Mercury told them all. “Smythe, Baby, and Zizzy are discussing with Rum Nicky, Pearl, and the Quiet Queen what they can do to nudge in this direction anyone dangerous who comes inside the house.”
“What if someone is sniffing around the grounds?” Gary the Green asked.
“You, Holly Hock, Mawky, and the Cream Canary will oversee that. Create a strategy among yourselves for getting people to the southeast corner of the house, through the door, and down the stairs leading here.”
“What happens once they’re in the dungeon?” Wallaby asked, not moving his mouth as usual.
“The dungeon is your domain. Whatever you think will convince people to step into the tunnels, you do it.”
“I’ll think of something.” Wallaby floated into a distant, shadowy corner.
“The rest of us will be in the tunnels,” Mercury said. “Those of you who can move physical objects will be given clothing of mine to take down the various offshoots and into different rooms. We want to convince people to follow you, thinking they are chasing me.”
He was, after all, what the bounty hunters were after.
“Everyone else, make noise in various parts of the tunnels: whispers, shouts, laughter. I suspect if we can keep people a little discombobulated, they will be easier to nudge where we need them to be.” He turned to Tacey.
“Once the people we are dealing with are inside the tunnels, I need you to close the wall so they can’t get back out. ”
Aventine Manor would soon be taking prisoners.
“You’ll have to show me how,” she said.
“I will.” To the group as a whole once more, he said, “Our outdoors group, strategize among yourselves how best to coordinate your efforts. Our tunnel-based group, do the same.”
They began breaking off, talking with each other. Those assigned the outside duties headed out of the dungeon. Those assigned to the tunnels went that way. Mercury motioned the two lesser-known ghosts—the Somber Shadow and La Bougie—over to the side.
“Thank you both for being willing to join in the effort. I know leaving your isolation is not preferred by either of you.”
Neither answered aloud, which wasn’t surprising. He’d only heard perhaps a dozen words from either of them in the years since they’d come to Aventine.
“Your unique abilities could prove incredibly useful in our efforts.” To the Somber Shadow in particular, he said, “Set yourself in the tunnels that we don’t want our captives taking.” He turned to La Bougie. “Draw them toward and down the tunnels we do need them to take.”
They nodded their agreement and floated silently away.
“What is it they can do?” Tacey asked when they were alone.
“La Bougie glows.”
“She what?” Her eyes pulled wide.
“She emits a soft light when she chooses to, like the glow of a distant candle.”
“Hence her name.” Tacey, apparently, knew enough French to have translated ‘la bougie’ to ‘candle.’ “I’ve never heard of a ghost that glows.”
“It is uncommon,” he acknowledged. “I have personally come across four who could, and I’ve heard of a very small handful of others. They don’t all emit light in the same color or brightness.”
“What is the other ghost’s unique ability?” Tacey asked.
“The Somber Shadow is, in many ways, a foil to La Bougie. He turns dim. Not entirely dark. Not the pitch black of night. But, when seen out of the corner of one’s eye, he appears to be a shadow moving freely.
It is quite disconcerting and the reason the person to whom he was previously attached wished to trade him. ”
Tacey glanced into the tunnel. Voices echoed in the darkness. A door slammed shut. What sounded like chair legs scraped against the stone floor.
Mercury cupped a hand beside his mouth and called out to them. “You are meant to lure them in, not scare them away.” He looked over at Tacey. “It’s a fine line; I’ll grant them that.”
“I have full faith they will sort it out.” She motioned to the opening in the wall. “Show me how to close it?”
He stepped over to the side of the opening where the moving bit of the wall sat inside the real wall. “These two stones here that are the same size—?” He looked over to make sure she spotted it.
She nodded.
“Just behind them is the latch that releases the moving wall. Shift the latch upward and in, and you’ll feel the wall shift. Then it’s a matter of pulling it back in place.”
“Is it heavy?” She bent a little around him to eye the wall inside the wall.
“A little, but I don’t think you’ll struggle.”
He moved aside, and she took his place. She focused as her small, delicate hands searched for the latch. He’d never paid much heed to ladies’ hands before. But hers he found fascinating.
After a moment, her brows lifted and she smiled a little. Then she pulled the wall into place.
“There is a stone that sticks out a bit on the false wall,” Mercury said. “Push that in. That will lock it.”
She did so. “I remember how you opened it yesterday. I think I can do that.”
And she did. Several times. The ghosts continued making noise in the tunnels. Mercury didn’t doubt that the other groups of specters were taking their assignments just as seriously.
This was going to work. Mercury would make certain of it.