Cool fingers caressed my burning cheek while my vision cleared and I came to, gasping for air with searing lungs. The first thing I saw was the blurry figure of Matt standing with raised hands between Paul and Vic. As the scene regained detail, I made out the strained expression of the former and how the latter pressed Cinna's lamp against her chest like a precious treasure.

"San, are you okay?" Lou's voice turned my gaze straight up and into his worried grey eyes. He knelt beside me, his face pale and a deep fold between his brows.

"I'm fine. Just bruised by—" I jerked up when Paul tried to get around Matt with catlike grace, reaching for the artefact. "Matt, don't let him get near that lamp."

The conservator sneered at my business partner like a rabid dog. This wasn't good. Supported by Lou, I sat up and cleared my throat. "Stop it, Paul. Let's talk like reasonable adults."

He ignored me, sidestepped Matt and launched himself at Vic—or the Roman lamp she clutched. Matt couldn't react fast enough, but Vic saved herself by jumping over the desk. Several books, a stack of folders, and a pencil holder crashed to the floor. Hampered by the table, Paul reached for his victim. Vic's gaze darted left and right, searching for a non-existing escape route.

Before Paul reached her, Matt tackled him from behind. Seconds later, they both struggled for dominance on the ground amidst pencils and loose sheets from a burst document folder.

Petrified, I watched the fight, still struggling to get my wits together despite my throbbing headache. It became obvious soon that Matt, searching for a way to immobilise his adversary without hurting him, was at a disadvantage. Void of such qualms, Paul showered my friend with hard blows. I strived to stand up and intervene, but Lou pressed my arm in a reassuring gesture before he pushed me back and rushed to Matt's aid.

The two adversaries rolled back and forth, not allowing Lou to break the fight. He stepped around the combatants, searching for an opening in vain, until he found it when Paul came on top and raised his fist to hit Matt square in the face. Lou tackled him from behind, snaking an arm around his neck and pulling him back hard. "Stop it, mate. What do you think you're doing here?"

Paul lashed backwards, but Lou was prepared. He tightened his grip and caught Paul's left arm, turning it behind his back and up. His victim winced.

Matt clambered to his feet, rubbing his left side and glaring at his former friend. "Are you totally off the rocker, Paul?"

"He's not." I struggled to get up, holding onto a swivel chair, still shaken. The bright light made me blink, not helping my headache at all. "Not crazy. Not in the sense you imply, at least. Lou, please hold tight and don't let him go. We can't risk anything, and I have a few urgent questions I would like to ask this man."

I shaded my eyes with my palm. "But first, would you mind dimming the lights, Vic? They give me a terrible headache, and I'm sure Sir Guillaume doesn't enjoy the glare either."

While Vic walked to the entrance and switched off most of the ceiling lights, I walked around the office chair I was holding onto and settled down. My body still hadn't absorbed the brunt of my encounter with Paul. "Is this better, Sir Guillaume?"

"Thank you, my lady, much better." The ghost left the corner he'd retreated to, pressing his precious chamber pot against his mail-clad tummy. "Why did this unpleasant gentleman chase the nice young ghost lady away?"

"That's the million Euro question here. And perhaps you'll be able to help us provide a plausible answer, Sir Guillaume. Are you fit for some more Latin communication?"

"Sure, but the ghost of Cinna is gone." The knight shrugged, his disappointment obvious.

Lou adjusted his grip on his prisoner, turning him to face Sir Guillaume and me. The ghost's brows arched like two mating caterpillars. "Wait, you want me to talk to this man? But he is alive."

Matt rubbed his side. "Very much so, and he has a mean blow, I assure you."

"Matt, did you feel anything special when he hit you? Or you, Lou?" They both looked at me as if I'd lost it, which was as good as an answer. "Ah, you're both not sensitive enough for this kind of spiritual contact. For me, Paul's touch equalled something like a lightning stroke, a sure sign his human energy field overlaps with a far more powerful one."

Matt frowned and rubbed an elbow. His left eye showed the traces of an encounter with Paul's fist. The man must have hurt him more than he let on. "And that means?"

"Our friend Paul is possessed."

"Possessed? By some kind of demon?" Vic stepped forward, her move sending Lou's prisoner into another snarling fit. She retreated with a few hasty steps, hiding Cinna's lamp behind her back, while my partner tightened his grip.

"Isn't it obvious? A ghost shares his body, someone who feels a powerful attraction to this lamp. It can't be Cinna, so I believe it is her murderer or Marius. If they are not the same person."

Lou spent me a quick glance but didn't loosen his grip on Paul. "But why?"

"I'm not sure." I rubbed my temples and closed my eyes to clear my thoughts. "The ghost might have found something in Paul that resonated with his essence and possessed him instead of drifting bodiless through the world of the living. This allows him to touch things, for example. As Sir Guillaume might testify, owning a body has its perks."

"Not owning one does, too." Sir Guillaume seemed more relaxed now, knowing we were dealing with another ghost. He stepped close enough to breathe down Paul's face—literally speaking, since the knight had taken his last breath several centuries in the past. "What do you want to know from this imposter, my lady?"

"Who he is, or has been, for once. But before we start the interview, can you remove the loose shard from the lamp, Vic? It might help cool Paul's spirits."

The archaeologist nodded and tilted the lamp to shake out the triangular fragment. She closed her fist around the isolated piece. "Better now?"

"Just hold on a second." As I'd hoped, the fight left Paul, and he slumped in Lou's grip with half-closed eyes. I stood up to be closer to eye level with him. "Paul? Can you hear me?" No reaction. "Marius? Is this you?" For a moment, I believed I saw a glint in his dull eyes, but it winked out and I lost his attention again.

Guillaume placed his pot on Vic's empty desk with a metallic clank before he planted himself beside me, hooked his thumbs into his broad belt and put a stern look on his bearded face. "Marius ibi es?"

A bit of colour returned to Paul's features as he locked his gaze with Guillaume's and muttered an incomprehensible answer. The medieval knight snorted. "This man's accent is even thicker than the girl's."

"Can you understand what he says?" Right now, I wasn't interested in the linguistic details.

The knight shrugged. "Something about vindicta—revenge. And I believe you might be right that he is Marius." He added a string of Latin words I didn't get the gist of.

Paul answered in the same language, spitting out the words like venom, red spots glowing on his pale cheeks.

"This is certainly one troubled spirit." Sir Guillaume crossed his hands behind his back and paced the floor. "I must admit, I don't understand half of what he throws at me. But if I get him right, he killed someone. Or someone else killed someone. He used homicida and occisio a lot, which means killing. His speech is interspersed with some colourful curses. Was the man a soldier?"

"Maybe a legionary. Who knows? You are the only one who can ask him. Perhaps he'll calm down a bit if he gets to talk about anything else than murder."

The next sequence of the interview remained unintelligible to anyone except Guillaume, and perhaps even to him in parts. After minutes of heated back-and-forth, the knight turned to me.

"You were right about the legion. I gather Marius joined the army when her uncle married off his sweetheart Cinna to some important person. Then, I believe he heard of her murder and took revenge. What I don't get is why he still hangs around here. I mean, all this doesn't sound like unfinished business to me."

Guillaume had a point. I wondered what to ask next when Matt interrupted me. "What about the curse? Did Marius mention cursing the girl? And if he did, why then change his mind and seek revenge for something he brought on her himself?"

I clapped my hands. "You're a genius, Matt. This must be the reason. The curse might have been unjustified, but he probably realised it far too late. And if he followed the old magical rules and did the cursing right, it's possible the curse still stands between him, Cinna, and their quiet afterlife."

"Poor Cinna." Vic placed the artefact on the desk and ran a finger over the pictured lion. "I bet she was innocent, but got caught in her apparent lover's curse."

"They both did, but only she was innocent. Sir Guillaume, can you find out if it was Marius in the body of Paul who broke into the depot?"

"Aye, my lady."

The eager gleam in his eyes showed how much Guillaume enjoyed his new role. His recap of another complicated interaction confirmed my suspicion. "You were correct, my lady. It seems Marius was drawn by Cinna's ghost—or perhaps by the lamp—to this place."

"So Paul was the culprit all along. I'm glad I don't have to explain this to the police." Vic, still palming the shard, slumped down in a chair.

I shrugged. "The guys in blue are our least problem. To free the poor girl, we must break the curse and somehow evict Marius from Paul's body."

Until now, Paul had remained calm and ignored our discussion, but my last remark triggered a reaction. He slammed the elbow of his free arm into his captivator's stomach, ducked and broke free. Lou doubled up and groaned, while Matt sprinted after Paul. The conservator reached the door several steps ahead, slipped out, and slammed it in Matt's face.

"Hold, Matt, let him go."

My friend hesitated a second before he followed my order, looking back over his shoulder while he joined us. "Are you sure we should let him escape?"

I sighed. "We don't need Paul and Marius right now. First, we must find out how to break the curse. That's another thing I'm not an expert at. I'm sure our possessed friend will turn up fast enough when we reassemble the lamp."