“Brodiganmust have been a change fromGiovacchini.”
“Giving up my mom’s name was hard,” Rory admitted. “So was believing the crazy scheme would work. But you knew you could trust Miss Lorna.”
“You said Mrs. Brodigan’s sister really could see the future?” He made it a question, hoping Rory would keep talking.
“Not so clear cut.” Rory took a sip of coffee, then passed the thermos back to Arthur. “Miss Lorna could see an object’s possible futures, all on top of each other. She said it was like a deck of tarot cards. She could shuffle through the possibilities in her mind and see how to make a future come about.” He bit his lip. “Or how to stop it.”
A sense of foreboding crept up Arthur’s spine. “Why do I think she saw something bad coming for you?”
Rory’s jaw tightened. “Because she saw the asylum was going to have me lobotomized.”
“What?” Arthur hadn’t uncovered that when he’d done his digging on Rory. “But surely your father—”
“It was his idea.” Rory kept his gaze very carefully on the distant ocean. “You had it when you guessed the powers started when I lived at his church. He had an antique brass snuffer on the church altar. I picked it up to clean it, same as always, and got stuck in a vision.”
“Your father found you in the vision?”
“I couldn’t exactly hide it—I was stuck in there for three weeks.”
Threeweeks?
Rory sighed and settled back against the beam, still touching Arthur’s side. “My dad thought I was mad at best, possessed at worst. And when beating me didn’t bring me back, he had me locked in the asylum with explicit instructions on how to fix me.”
His own father. “How did you get out of the past?”
“Miss Lorna.” Rory’s face softened, turning wistful. “She knew what was really wrong and found a way to reach me. She taught me everything she could about controlling my magic. But she was sick. She only made it a couple more months.”
Another puzzle piece slotted into place. “Rory Brodiganwas her idea?”
Rory nodded. “The hospital had sent for a special doctor, all the way from Europe. She saw the doctor was going to take me away, and she saw that her sister was going to be penniless and alone, and she saw that we could change each other’s futures instead.” Wonder of wonders, there was a small smile on Rory’s lips. “But I doubt even Miss Lorna could’ve seen you coming.”
Arthur huffed, smiling despite himself. “Did she say anything else?”
“Not to trust the stock market.” At Arthur’s furrowed brow, Rory shrugged. “I dunno. You asked.”
“Well then.” Arthur made a mental note to meet with his family’s financial advisers. “Good to know.”
Rory sighed. “She was the only one like me I ever met, until Jade and Zhang.”
“You can meet the Ivanovs any time you like,” Arthur said casually. “Of course, you’d have to visit my brother Harry’s estate in Hyde Park.”
Rory didn’t retort right away. Instead, he fiddled with a hole in the knee of his trousers. “Would your brother even buy a story that I’m there to help the nannies? If he’s that gullible, I oughta be selling him a bridge.”
Arthur straightened. That wasn’t an outrightgo to hell. “Harry’s the softest of all of us. He gives work to as many as he can, especially in winter. And if you want an actual job, he’s also got plenty of antiques in his estate. You know, in case Mrs. Brodigan fancied a business trip to the countryside with you.”
Rory groaned. “That’s so unfair—”
“I will try any trick in the book to get you out of town,” Arthur said. “Luther Mansfield is throwing a gala for the mayor’s inauguration tomorrow night and I’m on the guest list. But I don’t know how I’m going to steal the deadly magical relic threatening Manhattan straight from under his nose when I’m so worried about what might happen to you.”
Rory bit his lip. “You shouldn’t bother worrying ’bout me—”
“Too late,” said Arthur. “You could be on a train leaving Grand Central in the morning. Let me send you and Mrs. Brodigan somewhere safe while I steal the relic, please.Per favore, Teddy.”
There was a long moment of silence. Then Rory took a breath. “I’ll think about it.”
Arthur’s heart leapt. “You will?”
“I said I would, didn’t I?” Rory said gruffly. “Geez, you’re impossible, mixing pretty words and the old language with a view like this. How’d you even learn to saypleasein Italian anyway?” He leaned over Arthur’s legs again, farther this time.
