Page 9 of Ghost Broker (Mercury Raine #1)

M ercury had lost count of how many ghost Transferals he had undertaken over the years. He almost never found himself distracted or surprised during a Transferal ceremony. Yet, the next day, he was decidedly both.

Distracted by Pearl’s visit the night before and the warning that Granny Grey was the only thing standing between him and apparent disaster.

Surprised by Miss Huddleston entering the library in the moments before the ceremony was set to begin.

“I do not know what is acceptable or even possible,” she said, looking unsure of herself. “If possible, I would like to see how a Transferal is done. If I'm to participate in the same thing, I'd prefer to have some understanding of it.”

It was not only logical and reasonable, but it was also something few people thought of.

She continued to surprise him in precisely that way.

Clearly, Miss Huddleston had thought quite a lot about this and was curious about it all.

He’d not have guessed as much during her first day at Aventine Manor. She had seemed entirely uninterested .

Mercury turned to Lord Garston, who had risen from his chair at the desk when she'd entered. “Do you have any objections to Miss Huddleston observing the Transferal?”

“None whatsoever.”

Mercury waved her inside. Lord Garston welcomed her with a very broad smile.

What was it that had him so interested in Miss Huddleston?

The younger son of a duke could set his sights quite high.

And, while Miss Huddleston seemed a fine person and her family had a significant amount of money, and she was decidedly pretty, she didn't have a title.

As near as Mercury had been able to gather from eavesdropping on Mrs. Huddleston's efforts to ingratiate herself and her daughter to this prospective bridegroom, the Huddlestons didn't have any connections to nobility.

Mercury inwardly shook his head at himself. He had enough of his own difficulties without adding things that were none of his concern.

Miss Huddleston sat in a chair near them, though a bit removed. She looked at Lord Garston, Pearl, Vernon the Vain, and Mercury in turn.

Her gaze lingered longer on Mercury, though. Just as it always did.

He set his attention back on the matter at hand.

Lord Garston returned to his seat and took up the quill he'd been using as he wrote out, according to the template, the agreement between them.

A written and signed agreement was not required for Transferals, but Mercury had long ago decided that he preferred having a very specific and binding record.

He could keep track of which ghost went where, of the terms of his brokerage, and he had clear proof that the swap had been agreed to by everyone.

All of that, of course, was apparent in the fact that a swap had taken place at all.

But he knew from tales told to him by other brokers and some of the ghosts who had come to Aventine Manor that coercion could make a swap possible even when it was not always universally liked.

Requiring people to sign documents helped lower the chances of them doing anything underhanded to instigate it.

While Lord Garston completed his portion of this, Mercury addressed the two entities involved. To Vernon the Vain, he posed the usual question first. “Vernon the Vain, are you pleased with this Transferal and willing to move forward with it?”

Vernon gave a quick and firm nod. “I've not been to London in some time. It'll be good to see what's become of the old place.”

“You know I will not accept that as an answer.” Any ghost who participated in a Transferal that Mercury facilitated was informed in tremendous detail that they had to give a direct yes or no. Language could be a difficult thing, and he never wanted anything to be misinterpreted.

“Yes,” he said with a sniff. “I am pleased and willing to undertake this Transferal.”

“And Pearl”—he turned and looked at her—“are you pleased with this Transferal and willing to move forward with it?”

She smiled. “Yes. I am both pleased and more than willing to do so.”

He couldn't help but smile in return. “It'll be good to have you back at Aventine Manor for however long we're blessed to have you.”

Lord Garston used his signet ring to officially sign the Transferal document. Mercury looked it over, making certain everything was in order.

“Excellent.” Mercury stepped away from the desk and to the open area of the library. “We'll begin, then.”

The ceremony didn't actually require any space; he simply found it easier to focus when he didn't feel closed in.

The brokering part of this job was interesting and intriguing, involving doing his best to match someone with a ghost that most suited their wishes and needs while also looking out for the desires of the ghost. But the Transferal itself was taxing.

He took a breath, then another. With each exhalation he emptied his mind of other thoughts and concerns and focused entirely on his attachment to Vernon the Vain.

A person with multiple attachments could feel on some level where those links were.

It wasn’t physical. It wasn’t even mental.

The connection felt impossible to explain but also impossible to mistake.

Each attachment existed in a different part of that indescribable aspect of himself.

And he had to find the right one in order to transfer it.

The library was very quiet, which was fortunate. He needed to deeply focus, and silence helped tremendously. He'd not needed to tell Miss Huddleston that; she seemed to sense it.

He looked over at her. There was something undeniably adorable about the way her lips twisted in thought as she watched him. She was clearly engrossed. He liked that more than he probably ought.

Mercury shook his head. He’d let thoughts of Miss Huddleston break his concentration. He needed to empty his thoughts again. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had to restart a Transferal. Miss Huddleston was upending him.

He focused again, searching through his attachments until he found Vernon’s.

Each broker he'd discussed this with visualized this part of the process differently.

Some imagined a door opening. Others the turning of a page in a book.

For Mercury, he filled his thoughts with the sight of a butterfly slowly emerging from a cocoon.

It fit the experience better. Both took time.

Both occurred in tiny movements. Both represented a simultaneous end and beginning.

Mercury released a slow, tense breath, bracing himself as a wave of loneliness trickled over him.

That, he knew, was a universal experience for those who facilitated these switches.

But no one described the feeling as intensely as he experienced it.

Whether it was the result of having so many attachments or the product of a childhood filled with the agony of abandonment, he didn't know.

Whatever the cause, it made these undertakings particularly exhausting.

He held his hand out and closed his eyes. He focused fiercely so he wouldn't lose hold of the attachment that was beginning to slip away. Transferal had to be perfectly synchronous.

He'd not needed to explain this part of the process to Pearl; she had undertaken it with him less than a year earlier.

She set her ghostly hand in his—literally in .

That sensation triggered the next part of the process.

Just as he'd searched for the location of his attachment to Vernon, the attachment being created now was looking for its home, and he needed to stay focused until it was found.

Mercury swallowed and breathed and held himself still against the surge of desolation that accompanied this. It would last until the Transferal was complete, a process that took hours.

He didn’t have to keep Pearl’s hand in his for the entirety of those hours, only until he felt the new attachment begin.

And it always began the same way: an instantaneous flicker of pain.

He could no more identify where he felt the pain than he could explain where the ghostly attachments existed. But both were real.

That expected sting of pain snatched at him. He pulled his hand back. He opened his eyes. Breathed tightly.

“You will let me know when the Transferal is complete?” Lord Garston asked.

This was not a question of impatience or dismissal.

They'd done this often enough that he understood that it took some time for the process to solidify.

He also knew, from experience, that it was a tiring thing for Mercury.

Allowing him to have some respite while it completed was a kindness.

“I will,” Mercury said.

Lord Garston bowed to him, then to Miss Huddleston.

“Will I see you at tea?” Lord Garston asked her.

She gave a small nod but didn't answer vocally. Still, it seemed enough. Lord Garston left the room, pleased as could be. Vernon and Pearl followed.

“Why did they leave with him?” Miss Huddleston asked.

Mercury sat in the chair nearest him, feeling tired already, though he had hours remaining.

“At the moment, they are both technically partially attached to him.”

“But attachments don't require ghosts to remain in extreme close proximity,” she said.

“During this portion of a Transferal, it does. It's a fragile connection, and they are tugged with him until it's complete.”

“But they don’t have to stay near you ?”

“You have a tendency to ask me questions no one else thinks to ask,” he said.

Most people, seeing this part of his brokerage services in a similar light to a merchant making a purchase or tying a package up in a neat bit of paper, found the exact mechanics of a Transferal beneath their notice.

They didn’t ask questions because they couldn't be bothered by the “how” of the services they purchased.

He rubbed at his temples, his energy draining already. “The number of attachments a person has remains steady, except during a Transferal. It can change for that brief time. However, a person born with an attachment can never have his or her number of attachments drop below one. ”

“But you, who has more than one, can temporarily lose an attachment?”

“It is, in many ways, a loss, yes.”

“So, at the moment, Lord Garston has two attachments?”

Mercury nodded. “But both are, at the moment, very weakly attached to him. As I slowly exchange my attachment to Vernon and create an attachment to Pearl, his attachment to Vernon strengthens. I have to balance them both because he can’t.”

“And that is why you look so tired already.” She spoke with the tone of one who was very quickly comprehending something but wanted to know more. “You have to manage it all, shifting and adjusting so the balance is always correct.”

“I don't fully understand how it works. I don't think anyone does, but centuries of studying and pondering and various brokers leaving detailed writings have given us a lot more information than we would otherwise have.”

“This is why only those with multiple attachments can facilitate Transferals; because they can release part of an attachment without their total number dropping below one.” She had grasped it easily, which he appreciated.

He was too worn out for deep philosophical discussions or trying to explain mechanisms he himself didn’t fully understand.

He released another tight breath. Gads , he hated this part. Something about it dredged up memories and emotions. The unshakable feeling of being left alone was almost more than he could bear.

“Why did you choose this line of work?” she asked. “Surely there must be less difficult ways of earning a living.”

“I'm certain there is, but this is something I'm able to do. And having a reliable income is not a terrible thing. ”

Miss Huddleston’s eyes narrowed on him a little. “But it is not the whole story of why you choose it?”

“If you tell me why it is that you keep insisting you aren't looking at me when you very clearly seem to be, then perhaps I'd be willing to tell you a little more of why I have done this to myself dozens and dozens of times and intend to continue doing so.”

She shook her head. “I will only say that we're all entitled to our secrets.”

Granny Grey, he hoped, would be willing to share hers. Pearl insisted he was in dire straits otherwise.

“Lord Garston asked you to tell him when the Transferal is complete,” Miss Huddleston said. “Does that mean you will know but he won't?”

“Only the one facilitating the Transferal feels any of this.”

“I don’t know what ‘this’ is,” she said.

“We are all entitled to our secrets.” He repeated her words back to her.

“May I ask another question?” she asked.

“You may ask, though I may not answer.”

“Is a Transferal always difficult for the one with multiple attachments? Or is that something unique to you?”

“Every broker I've spoken to tells a similar story. It's tiring and not always pleasant, but only for the one with more than one ghost.”

That seemed to give her pause. But why?

“If you're concerned that brokering a ghost swap for you will be too miserable for me, I assure you it won't be.” Far from miserable—he would feel relieved.

Granny Grey had to stay at Aventine Manor. His entire future depended on it, as did understanding his past.

Miss Huddleston simply kept watching him. And then, without explanation or warning, she rose, gave him a quick nod and smile, then left.

That was odd indeed.