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The Winged Monk was there as always. The rooftop was his domain, after all.

“Have you spied any of our prisoners leaving Aventine?” Mercury asked.

“Not yet.” He motioned toward the corner of the house where their soon-to-be-former captives would emerge. “I’ll spot them once they do.”

Mercury kept in the shadows as he too peered over the edge of the roof. The Winged Monk had an excellent view of the grounds.

“Once the Governor and Mrs. Brand lie down for the night,” the Winged Monk said, “I will spend some time stomping on the floor of the room directly above where they are sleeping.”

“Excellent. I’m hopeful Holly Hock will put stinging nettle in their beds.” Mercury’s eyes darted to the Winged Monk and saw a look of glee on the ghost’s face.

“Gary the Green says he can rattle chains,” the Winged Monk said. “It is a touch theatrical, but it is also undeniably annoying.”

But would it be vexatious enough? Mercury suspected at some point he would have to directly confront the invaders in order to get them out of his home, but doing so came with enormous risk. If he were apprehended and dragged to court for his crimes—being an orphan indebted to the governor of his one-time orphanage—all of his ghosts would be dragged there with him. And he couldn’t be certain he wouldn’t be hanged for those crimes.

“Have they left yet?” Zizzy’s quiet voice pulled Mercury around. She watched him with uncertainty.

“Not yet,” he said. “But I have full faith in the ghosts who are leading them out of the tunnels. They’ll be out and gone before long.”

“But some of them will come back,” she said. “And they’ll help the Forever Flame.”

Mercury crossed to her and motioned for her to move with him to the far end of the roof. He needed to talk with her, but wanted to grant her privacy in which to hear what he needed to say. She wouldn’t be happy about it. He only hoped he could make her understand.

“The Governor remembers how important you are to me,” he said. “And he has suggested to the Forever Flame that doing to you what he has done to Baby Blue might be enough to bring me to heel.”

Her eyes pulled wide. Her lips pulled tight. She didn’t say anything, but she also didn’t look away. There was fear in her expression. Fear.

This has to be done. He silently repeated that to himself, hoping he didn’t lose his determination. This has to be done.

“If I lost Baby and you,” he said, “I don’t know that I would have the strength to keep fighting. I think that would break me.” He swallowed against the surge of emotion that admission caused. “I’ve learned that the Forever Flame severs connections by finding them in the person he wishes to punish. He will search me until he finds my connection to you. I don’t know how he does that. I don’t understand what exactly he does to rip a ghost away, but I do know that if he can’t find my connection to you, he can’t take you away.”

“How will you hide it from him?” Zizzy asked. “He found your connection to Baby Blue.”

“I don’t think I can hide it,” he said. “The only way to keep him from finding it is for the connection to not be there.”

He knew the moment she realized the truth underneath that admittedly vague explanation. Her ghostly face fell, assuming a look of hurt and worry and betrayal. That hit him harder than the fear that had been there a moment earlier.

“You’re going to trade me.” Tears clogged her words. “You promised you never would.”

“If I don’t—”

“You promised!” Her words broken and her expression further crumbling, she slipped through the roof beneath their feet.

“Zizzy, please.”

But she was already gone.

Mercury pressed his fingertips to his forehead, rubbing at the tension there, then at his temples. He couldn’t trade Zizzy if she wouldn’t agree to it. But if she remained attached to him, the Forever Flame would be able to tear her away. And Mercury didn’t know what that meant, or what exactly it would do to her. He didn’t know if he could get her back. He didn’t know if he could get Baby Blue back.

He didn’t know if he had just taken on a battle he couldn’t possibly win.

“The prisoners are leaving the house,” the Winged Monk said.

For a moment, Mercury couldn’t manage a response. He couldn’t even force himself to focus on the admittedly crucial piece of information.

But he needed to keep his focus. Hopelessness would overwhelm him otherwise.

“Do they appear to be leaving the grounds?” he asked.