“Still with the infant, huh?”
“I heard that,” Rory grumbled.
“You could say thanks. There was lots of nice stuff at your friend’s place. Sure was decent of us not to help ourselves to anything else as interest.” He pointed toward Arthur with the dagger. “Two of you on the big fella, the other takes the kid. Either of them moves, shoot the big one. Try not to breathe in that stench.”
“Don’t—” Rory started.
“It’s all right,” Arthur said through clenched teeth, as he was seized by each arm. “I think I recognize you from Coney Island,” he said, to one of the henchmen. “You went back for more of those two? This river mixes with the ocean tides. She’s controlling it all, moving the entire ship.”
The man just shifted his gun uncomfortably close to Arthur’s head. “I’ve had worse bosses.”
“The hell are you doing?” Rory demanded from Gwen, as the third mobster grabbed him. “Why would you take us out of port?”
“I’ll translate that, shall I?” Gwen pointed at the pomander. “Thank you, Gwen, for taking thisabominationaway from American soil.”
Of course. She could see the relic’s magic. Arthur tensed. “If you’re so keen on being helpful,” he said bitingly, “why not come up and help take care of Hyde?”
“We weretrying,” she said. “We’ve been looking for Zeppler’s paranormals. I was following the pomander’s magic that Hyde kept broadcasting, but he kept sticking it back in its box. Then we finally get aboard this ocean liner and find you’ve charged in like a fool. Really, Arthur, if you’d waited five bloody minutes you wouldn’t have had to face Hyde alone.”
“Rory might not have had five more minutes,” Arthur said. “And if we’re all friends here, why not have your friends let us go?”
She just raised an eyebrow. “So you can take a swing at my husband like you did at Sebastian? I’m fairly certain you’re going to pop Ellis in the face first chance you get, and I’d rather he was still standing, thank you.”
Arthur gritted his teeth. “What did you do with Sebastian?”
“Put him somewhere more comfortable, of course,” she said. “He saved my life once. I like him.”
“You used to like me too,” Arthur said dryly, tugging uselessly at the two men who held his cuffed arms. “How has that worked out for me lately?”
Gwen knelt in front of him. “I still like you,” she said sincerely. “But I can’t trust you to do what needs to be done.”
She reached out toward Rory and grabbed the pomander’s chain where it hung from his suspender.
“Gwen,” Rory said, his voice fraught with fear.
“I’ll be careful,” she promised. “I’m sealing it up.”
She tugged and it came loose. She straightened, careful not to touch the ball at the end of the chain as she crossed to Hyde’s unmoving body. “Now this is unusual,” she said curiously, as she reached into the pocket of Hyde’s coat and withdrew a small black box. “Hyde is trapped.”
“Trapped in what?” said Arthur.
She closed the pomander into the lead box with a snap. The smell vanished an instant later, the last traces carried off by the wind. “Psychometry.”
Arthur shot a glance at Rory, whose jaw was set. “I told him he should’ve left Ace alone.”
“So you sent him to the past? Bound him with history like a boa constrictor?” She raised an eyebrow. “How far back is Hyde?”
“The Inquisition,” Rory said tightly. “And he’s not coming back.”
Christ. Arthur had never been so aware of being surrounded by paranormals with no magic of his own.
Both of Gwen’s eyebrows were up. “How did you pull that off?”
“You’re the one with witch-sight, can’t you tell?” said Rory.
“I can’t tell anything about you right now. Your magic is an absolute mess. I see psychometry, wind, that vile pomander, something else I can’t even place.” She came toward them, kneeling again on the deck. “You’ve got a lot more magic than the last time I saw you, but you’ll need three days of sleep before you’ll be much of a threat. You’ve got nothing left.”
“You try to touch Ace, I’ll find something left,” Rory promised darkly.
