Page 14 of Written in Red

The distant and overlapping noises of his ghosts were joined by a sound he remembered all too well and recognized in an instant: The Violet Giant’s rumbling voice.

“There’s something down there, for certain.” His words bounced off the walls, multiplying and weaving into themselves.

On the day Mercury and his ghosts had rescued Tacey, with the Violet Giant’s invaluable help, the enormous specter had said, “We will meet again, Mercury Raine. When we do, remember this moment.”

Remembering that moment was the reason for this one. The Violet Giant had sided with him over the Vanns. The Violet Giant had chosen to help instead of hurt. So Mercury was choosing to trust him, which was a rare and risky thing.

One of the ghosts flitted past Mercury with a jacket hovering as if being worn. That would help pull the Vanns down this main tunnel.

Mercury could hear footsteps slowly and cautiously approaching. They were being lured but seemed wary of the bait. He inched his way through the shadows toward the next tunnel.

More faint footsteps.

“I saw something up ahead.” Mr. Vann’s voice.

“Likely a ghost,” Mrs. Vann said. “Aventine is crawling with them.”

During their previous visit, she’d given the impression of guilelessness. The pretense had been dropped now. There was nothing but blunt calculation in her voice.

Another ghost with a jacket floated past Mercury.

Among the ghostly voices, laughter, crying, and furniture moving, Mercury heard the faint but unmistakable sound of the wall sliding back into place. Tacey had trapped the Vanns—and Mercury—in the tunnels.

“There are too many sounds and moving things,” Mr. Vann said. “I don’t like it.”

“Neither do I,” his wife said. “Let’s double back.”

Mrs. Vann’s instructions were followed by the sound of retreating footfall.

Tacey had closed the wall. The Vanns wouldn’t get far. They had had the upper hand the last time he’d brangled with them. Mercury had all the advantage now. He meant to use every inch of that to neutralize the threat they posed.

He slipped farther down the tunnel, toward the third branch. He passed through a section that wasn’t as shadowed as the rest. The Vanns might very well see him, but so much the better. They wouldn’t catch up to him quickly, and they would be making their way closer to the trap he’d laid for them.

“I saw him,” Mrs. Vann said. “I swear to you; I saw him up ahead.”

Mercury passed La Bougie as he turned down the third tunnel. He met her eye with a quick nod and received one in return. He stopped just outside the door to the room they needed the Vanns to step into. A lantern was already lit inside. He looked back toward the main tunnel.

Into the darkness came the tiniest flicker of a glow. La Bougie.

“No ghost needs light,” Mrs. Vann declared triumphantly. “That’ll be him.”

Mercury slipped inside the room and tucked himself just behind the door where he wouldn’t be seen. His pulse beat a steady, confident rhythm.

La Bougie’s glow drew slowly nearer.

More sounds echoed through the dungeon, increasingly loud and chaotic. That was perfect. It would keep the Vanns distracted enough to be even less likely to notice him waiting or to be thinking clearly enough to realize this was a trap.

“We know you are down here, Mercury Raine.” Mr. Vann’s voice held more than a note of derision. “Hiding will do you no good.”

One of the ghosts shouted indiscernibly down a distant side tunnel. Chair legs scraped down another.

“We are not above absconding with Miss Wilde again,” Mrs. Vann said. “This time, we won’t make her so easy to find.”

This time? There was no “this time.” Mercury was making absolutely certain of that.

The Vanns were near enough that he could distinguish each individual footstep. He could hear the swish of Mrs. Vann’s dress. He held his breath, not wishing to give himself away. The glow from La Bougie had extinguished. Mercury was certain they would follow the lantern light and step inside the room he waited in.

The Violet Giant had warned him not to underestimate the Vanns. They had kidnapped Tacey and used her as bait. They were hunting him for the bounty on his head.