Page 28 of Written in Red

“Mr. Jones.” Captain Capitate addressed Mercury by the false name they’d decided on for his persona. “The Brands are a bit peckish, but I can’t find the butler to ask for food to be brought to their room. Have you seen him?”

Mercury assumed his lower-class accent. “I haven’t. If I do, I’ll let him know he’s being asked for.”

Captain Capitate turned to the overawed ghost. “Mr. Jones looks after the estate. Repairs things and such. He’s reliable.”

The other ghost nodded absentmindedly, still riveted by the paintings on the walls, the items on tables, the crown molding.

Mercury continued on his way, but did so by a roundabout path, not wanting to make it obvious that he was on his way to the family wing; that would undermine his disguise. By the time he reached his room, Baby Blue’s eyes were barely staying open.

“Lie down and rest,” Mercury told him gently.

“Are you going to leave to look for Smythe?” Baby Blue asked as he curled up on the bed.

“No. I’ll stay here with you.”

Baby Blue closed his eyes. “Just like you promised.”

12

Mercury sat by the low-burning fire in his room. The night was quiet. The house was still. And Baby Blue was sleeping. Someone looking in from the outside might be excused for thinking that all was well at Aventine Manor.

But they would be wrong.

Mercury didn’t know how to outrun his past. And seeing the toll it was taking on Zizzy and Baby Blue made him all the more anxious about the danger he couldn’t outrun forever. How could he justify continuing to cause them distress? But then, being trapped in prison for the rest of his life was not a better circumstance for them. It certainly wasn’t for him.

How confidently he had told Granny Grey that he had a talent for doing impossible things. That was beginning to feel like as much of a lie as the rest of his life.

In the midst of his unhelpful ponderings, the Violet Giant slipped inside. He looked at Baby Blue. “I know the rumbling when I speak is unpleasant for the little one,” he said quietly. “I’ll speak softly and hope that helps.”

“Thank you,” Mercury said.

The Violet Giant turned to Mercury. The ghost’s brow dipped low, narrowing his eyes. His mouth pulled tight. Misgiving mingled with confusion in his gaze.

A feeling of familiar foreboding tiptoed over Mercury. “I know the look on your face.” Mercury swallowed against a lump of apprehension. “What have you inexplicably remembered?”

“At the moment, I am more baffled by the mystery of how I have remembered this than by what the memory is.” He shook his head. “But you do not seem surprised.”

“You are neither the first nor likely the last ghost to experience this decidedly odd phenomenon lately.”

That seemed explanation enough for the Violet Giant. He moved a little closer, watching Mercury closely. “You were taken.”

“Taken? What do you mean?”

“There were so many ghosts in your home. It drew attention. And you were taken.”

Mercury stood. “I was taken from my home?”

The Violet Giant nodded. “Not orphaned. Not abandoned. You were taken. Abducted. Held.”

All Mercury could do for a moment was stare. “I was kidnapped and taken to Moor Cross?”

Another nod.

“They knew you had multiple ghosts. They stood to make a fortune.”

He forced himself to breathe slowly and focus as everything he thought he knew about his past was entirely overturned. He had been kidnapped, stolen away from his family because of the money that would be made. “I wasn’t actually an orphan.”

“You were stolen.”