Vic retrieved an ice pack from the fridge to cool Matt's worst bruises, and Lou decided coffee or tea for everyone was now in order. I didn't decline—a cup of tea might restore part of my energy.

Matt had a nasty bruise beneath his left eye, but at least the swelling didn't affect his sight he pressed the ice pack against his cheek. "Do you know of a way to un-posses Paul?"

I stirred my cup of Earl Grey. "It's called exorcism, not my speciality. But I guess if we could make Marius finish his business in this world, he'd disappear and Paul would be rid of him."

Sir Guillaume, excluded from our tea party, walked up and down through the office. "If the curse is holding him and Cinna back, you'll have to break it."

"True. But how? I doubt the museum will allow us to destroy the original defixio."

Vic almost jumped at my suggestion. "Are you crazy? This is a unique piece and is kept in the museums safe. The only way to gain access is by an application for a research project or as a loan for an exhibition. As we can't claim either, we won't be allowed to touch it, much less manipulate it."

"I'm not even sure destroying the thing would achieve our goal." While the curse probably was anchored by this object, I had no possibility to know if there weren't other carriers involved in the original ritual. I sighed and emptied my cup. "Let's call it a night. I'll have to put in some curse-breaking research."

With the promise to share helpful ideas, we split and wished each other a good night. On the drive home, Sir Guillaume harrumphed. I turned my head to check on him and met the intense gaze of his glowing eyes. "What's bothering you?"

"Nothing, my lady, but I wondered if you couldn't work a simple counter curse."

"I'm not a witch, and I don't do curses, as you should have gathered by now." It was true my late Caribbean grandmother Elise had owned a reputation as a wise woman, but I'd never learned her ways and doubted my talent went much further than communicating with ghosts.

"I'm sure you are downplaying your potential, my lady. Still, I'm not talking about a curse but about the countermeasures. Call it a blessing if you want to avoid the word curse. We both know you have the gift, so I suggest you use it." The knight's gaze seemed to penetrate all my carefully maintained mental barriers and bore straight into my troubled soul.

I turned away and stared out of the window at the moonlit landscape, mulling over his suggestion. Was l ready to take my involvement in spiritual affairs a step further? Lou, who had listened in silence to our interaction, placed a hand on my knee. "Whatever we do, we won't pressure you to go against your conviction."

"Thanks. I guess I'll sleep over it. Perhaps there is another way."

Sir Guillaume coughed. "I didn't want to push you, my lady. But I suggest you trust your feelings."

Right now, my feelings told me I needed sleep—a considerable amount. But I appreciated the support of both the past and present owner of Corbières castle.

We parked the car and retreated to our rooms, where Lou suggested to Sir Guillaume to place his chamber pot on the bookshelf in the living room. I didn't tell him that this came close to inviting the ghost to live with us, as he already did this, anyway.

Sir Guillaume seemed surprised, though, and knew of the significance of this step. "That's very kind of you, Master Louis." He placed his precious piece next to a marble sculpture of a jumping dolphin and admired the weird combination for a moment before he bowed and floated through the wall into whatever parts of the castle he dwelled in.

I didn't waste time and went to bed, snuggling up to Lou, his warm presence calming me and helping me to order my thoughts. Somehow, in his arms, the problems didn't seem as unsolvable as before.

The next thing I realised was his soft voice and the clinking of dishes as he brought me a cup of coffee to the bedside on Saturday morning. "Morning, darling. Did you get some sleep and come up with a solution?"

I inhaled the delicious smell wafting from the cup and smiled. "What options do I have? Exorcism is not a skill on my list, and I doubt there's a manual on it in the castle's library. So, following Sir Guillaume's advice and fighting the curse with a blessing might be the safest way to tackle the situation."

"That's the spirit. I like blessings better than curses, anyway. How can I help?"

His genuine support sent a wave of warmth through my tense body. I'd hidden my gifts all my life, afraid people would shun me—or worse. How did I earn a partner like him?

After breakfast, I called Matt and Vic. They both joined us in the library after lunch to review the situation. Vic, who visited Corbières for the first time, studied the room's stucco decorations and the treasures filling the wooden bookshelves in wide-eyed wonder before she stepped to the window to enjoy the view over the garden and the lake. "What a beautiful place. You two are so lucky to live here."

Lou joined her at the window. "Thanks, I know. My grandfather bought the castle back in the sixties, and I grew up here. The building is near impossible to keep in shape, though, and the annual maintenance costs a fortune. That's why I try running it as a backpacker's hostel. Even like this, I'm not sure I can keep the business rolling. We're lucky Sir Guillaume and the rumours about his spooking have kicked things into gear. A haunted castle attracts visitors from all over the world."

Matt sat down on the creaking leather sofa. "Lou, you're one of the rare people I met who embrace a ghost's haunting, even if it's for financial reasons."

"To be honest, the old chap is growing on me. To think I spent decades in this castle without meeting him is a kind of sad. My lonely childhood could have been far more exciting."

I tried to imagine a young Lou ganging up with Sir Guillaume to work mischief. Perhaps it was good this never happened.

Matt snorted. "Or you might have ended up a weird loner like me. With a residual ghost in my bedroom that no one else could hear or see, almost everyone declared me nuts."

"So sorry, Matt." Vic sat down beside him and touched his arm. "If I'd known that your ghost was real..." she trailed off with lowered eyes, but then looked straight at him. "No, I just should have believed you. I knew you weren't a liar, but somehow, this poltergeist story of yours seemed so impossible. Please accept my apology."

"It's fine, Vicky. I already accepted yesterday. Besides, you were not the only one. And at least you didn't shun me like most others." He pressed her arm. "Forget about it. We had a good time anyway, and I learned how to deal with the living and with ghosts at the same time."

Vic shrugged. "Good for you, but I still feel bad about my behaviour."

Matt pulled her into a hug. "Don't worry, it's in the past. We better find out how to help these other ghosts. Any new ideas, San?"
I grinned. "Sir Guillaume gave me a hint of how we might free Marius and Cinna and help Paul in one go."

Matt released Vic, and Lou joined us at the low table. Vic's smile was brighter than I had seen it in a while. I only hoped my wild plan would work. "The solution might be a counter curse, or, as Guillaume puts it, a blessing to override the curse. I'll need help, though, with the Latin wording and also with finding something to serve as a tablet for the ritual itself."

"A lead tablet? We could make one from old balance weights." Matt's unbeatable practical sense was already coming up with solutions.

Vic frowned. "The author of the defixio article suggested gold or silver for blessings, though. That's harder to come by than lead."

"Near impossible in the quantity to make a tablet, at least gold." Matt ran his hands through his hair. "Are there other options? Some modern material?"

"Oh, we might have some old silverware in the workshop." The smug grin on Lou's lips sent my heartbeat soaring. "Do you remember the castle was owned by artists before grandpa bought it? Well, one of the temporary residents was a sculptor who liked to experiment. Matt and I can rummage through his leftover supplies while you girls come up with the text." He was already halfway to the door. "Come on, Matt, I'll need your help with shifting some furniture to get at the stacks."

My partner shrugged and followed Lou. Vic stared after them, her eyes wide in bewilderment. "Your friend is not someone who likes to theorise, right?"

I chuckled. No, Lou certainly was more the maker, and that suited me fine. With Matt and Lou, my life had become a whirlwind of fast decisions and interesting approaches to problems I'd ignored so far. "I'm sure they'll find something that works as a blessing tablet. Shall we try to create a message for it?"

"Sure, although I can't remember what the typical wording for those would be."

"Lets go by the curse. It was rather short and worked fine. I believe the tablet is just the token to anchor the ritual. To get that one right will be the greater challenge."

The frown was back. "I won't be able to help you there. My specialty is field archaeology. I know little to nothing about the spiritual world of the Romans or any other ancient population."

"I feared as much and did some research on my own this morning." Several hours spent searching the internet allowed me to complement my patchy knowledge of voodoo magic with popular facts about Roman and Greek beliefs. I hoped the ancient gods would forgive the cultural mix. At least I found a few structural basics the rituals in most religions had in common. "Lets begin with the blessing. We can worry about the rest later."