Page 84 of Black Ledger

Mirko’s face blanched.

I tried to stifle a scoff. They knew who “we” were. They weren’t clueless. They just didn’t want to admit that the ghost was targeting them for their Order crimes.

“Who is we?” Severin repeated.

“I can’t tell you. They’ll kill me.”

“Who will kill you?”

“I can’t.” Mirko sobbed. Apparently, he was as afraid of the Order as he was of me.

Severin sighed. “Fine, tell us about the girl.”

Mirko’s fingernails dug into the wooden armrest of the chair. “She is a spirit. She’s dead.”

Well, that wasn’t ideal. Hopefully, they didn’t believe that.

“That’s impossible,” Ilya said.

“It’s not,” Mirko whined. “She died and came back from the grave to haunt us. She appears as an apparition, with white hair like a banshee’s. She is evil. She is death.”

No one in the room seemed to know how to respond to that. It did sound absolutely batshit crazy. Which, in fairness, I did love making my victims question their own sanity.

Severin let out a long, suffering sigh, clearly not believing any of the words Mirko said. “Tell us more about your gifts. How often does she visit you? What is it like?”

Mirko got quiet for a long time. He shook violently, and his eyes were clouded with terror. But eventually, he said, “She comes to me every third Thursday, as I did.”

“Like you did?”

But Mirko never answered that question; he just rocked back and forth and stared vacantly into the distance, as if remembering his torment.

After a long while, Severin spoke again. “Where does she come?”

“The docks.” Mirko’s voice was weak and dripping with terror.

Severin continued to ask questions, but Mirko was too far gone. He barely heard anything anyone said. He was trapped inside his memories.

It was beautiful to watch.

“Fine, then you’re going to help us find the ghost and trap her.” Severin slid his hands into his pockets. “Next time she comes to visit you, we’re going to be waiting for her.”

He went over more details with his team, planning how he would lure his vigilante into his trap. I listened to it all. It was very helpful to hold all the pieces on the board. Usually, Severin was several moves ahead of his opponent, but not this time.

This time he was broadcasting his entire plan to his enemy, and he didn’t even know it.

Perfect.

Severin’s trap was set. Now I just had to decide whether to let him catch me.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Xeniya Morozova

Age 20

Fifteen Years Ago

His footfalls sounded after me, but he let me get to the center of campus before he caught up, and as he did, I whipped around and slapped him in the face.