Page 13 of Written in Red

Tacey’s focus was on Mercury’s other side. “He says I don’t need to repeat your request; he heard it all. And he says he is honored to be of service.”

Mercury set his focus where hers was. “Thank you.” He hoped he was doing a relatively good job looking at the ghost he could not see.

They turned the corner to the back of the house then stepped through the door. Now out of sight of anyone who might be watching, would Tacey let go of his hand? He held his breath, waiting, wanting her to not pull away, worried she would.

She didn’t.

He needed to be certain she fully understood the implications of what they were about to do. “If you help us imprison the Vanns, you’ll be complicit. I don’t know that any judge would be supportive of our cause.”

Tacey wove her fingers through his and turned with him toward the stairs. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”

Lightness and teasing in the midst of danger and heaviness. He needed that.

“I would have left you in London if I’d wanted to be rid of you,” he said.

They began descending the stairs.

“Regretting your rescue of me, are you?” She looked up at him with one of her heart-tugging smiles.

The respite she offered him. The way she steadied him in the midst of the storm. What a wonder she was. “I think I’ll keep you.”

“Because otherwise you’d lose your invisible messenger?”

He shook his head and sighed. “You’ve seen right through me.”

As they reached the dungeon, she sputtered. “Invisible. See through you. Excellent wordplay. I almost missed it.”

He raised her hand to his lips, pressing a kiss to it. An odd impulse for someone who was usually very reclusive, but he chose not to resist it.

Oh, yes. He definitely wanted to keep her with him. Always. Which required him to keep a few steps ahead of the enemies who were beginning to arrive on his doorstep.

6

Mercury and Tacey reached the mouth of the main tunnel. Enough torches had been lit in the tunnels beyond for a person to see where he was going without having a clear view of what lay ahead. The Vanns needed to think they were following Mercury, not ghosts carrying his clothing. And when either the Somber Shadow or La Bougie flitted across the tunnel, the Vanns needed to not be entirely sure of what they were seeing.

Just inside the tunnel was a small, shadowed alcove. Tacey would wait there until the Vanns passed, then she would close the wall. The Vanns wouldn’t be able to escape, but neither would Mercury. They had discovered that, though ghosts couldn’t sense the presence of the tunnels, they could pass in and out of the false wall separating the tunnels from the dungeon. Ghosts could escape with the wall closed; people could not.

“Are you ready?” Mercury asked Tacey, more uncertainty in his voice than he wished were there.

“I’m ready,” she said. “Be careful.”

“You as well.”

She nodded.

He squeezed her hand before releasing it and stepping into the tunnels.

At the point where the very first side tunnel branched off of the main one, the ghosts were huddled together, watching for him.

“Everyone to their places,” Mercury said. “The Vanns will be here soon enough.”

The ghosts all scattered. Mercury made his way down the main tunnel, his focus firmly in place and his resolve unshaken. It would have been a lie to say he wasn’t nervous. Only those who didn’t understand the enormity of an undertaking never grew nervous. He was well aware. But uncertainty and danger had never stopped him before; it certainly wasn’t going to now.

Mercury assumed his place in the shadows and listened. Somewhere in the dark labyrinth, Weeping William was weeping. It was one of the reasons Mercury had suggested he be in the tunnels. Voices and noises would either draw the Vanns in or send them in the opposite direction. The ghosts would adjust as needed.

Mercury slipped his hand into his coat pocket and wrapped his fingers around the iron key inside. It wasn’t as reassuring as holding Tacey’s hand, but it helped.

A whisper sounded somewhere up ahead, one loud enough to carry but not be clearly heard. Perfect. Let the Vanns wonder if it was Mercury’s voice or Tacey’s. They’d follow either one.