“Don’t thank me yet.”
I try to sound tough even as a bit of my icy heart melts. I can’t help but feel a sense of protectiveness over this small girl—as if she were my own daughter. And truly, I’ve never had any family besides Seven, who I view as a son—so Grace is basically like my daughter-in-law.
“I’ll do what I can to help,” I promise, tentatively hugging her back.
She pulls away, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. “You may look scary, but you’re just a big teddy bear, aren’t you?”
I don’t know how to respond to that, so I just say, “I’ll be in contact. Okay?”
She nods. “Okay.”
With a wave goodbye to Saffron, I walk out the door, closing it softly behind me. I really hope I can find a way to help Seven for real, and that I’m not just full of empty promises.
I make my way downstairs to where my motorcycle is parked, going through every possibility I can think of. Thinking back, I remember there was an ex-phantom who successfully evaded the police and the Sanctum.Ghost, I think…
I wonder what Ghost is up to. If I can get in contact with him somehow.
If anyone knows what to do, it will be Ghost.
Thumbing through my phone, I pull up Ghost's contact and press call. I half expect it to drop, but to my surprise, it still goes through. And on the third ring, he picks up.
“Viktor,” Ghost says. “I didn’t expect to hear from you.”
“And I didn’t expect you to pick up.”
There’s a loud rustling noise, followed by a dog barking in the background, paired with the laughter of a little girl.
“Sloane! Get down from there!” His voice is muffled like he’s holding his hand over the speaker. “I don’t care. It’sdangerous.Get down, now. You too, Rupert.”
Ghost sighs, his voice clearing. “Sorry about that. My daughter is trying to give me a heart attack.”
I laugh under my breath. “Little girls will do that. How’s the wife?”
“More beautiful by the day,” he responds without a beat. “But you didn’t call to ask me about Brett, did you Viktor?”
“Not exactly…”
He hums. “What’s wrong?”
“You remember that Disposer kid I trained years ago?”
“Vaguely… The one with a nasty temper and a strange name. One of the forgotten ones.”
I sigh. “Yup. That’s Seven.”
“What did he do?”
I scrub a hand over my face. “Got himself arrested.”
“The Sanctum should be able to handle that with no problem. Just ask Seraphina, and she’ll help right away.”
“I… can’t exactly do that.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. Because the Sanctum wants to lock Seven up, too.”
Ghost lets out a rare, full-bellied laugh. “Really? He must have pissed them offbad.”
