Phantom or Friend ; Lockwood & Co. pt 4

pt 3

Emotion was difficult. Breathing was difficult. Everything was difficult. Lockwood sits in his armchair, feeling like he may never move again. The night had been uneventful from a professional aspect. Him and George had contained a ghost without wasting a single canister of Greek fire, or spilling their fillings. The ghost had barely been engaged and the source located swiftly and efficiently. 

Personally, the night had been the worst of his career. He’d had to watch the face of a girl he used to work side by side with flicker in and out of existence; her only thought to kill them if she could. He couldn’t even tell what her reason for return could be. That had been her specialty. He and George had just assumed that her unexpected death was cause enough.

The reason for her haunting wasn’t what filled his thoughts now, in the early hours of the morning. Instead he was more concerned for her source. Her necklace was in his hands, still safely encased, and he finally let himself feel what he had been pushing aside all night. Her source wasn’t her bones, or her rapier or anything he would ever have thought. Instead it was a necklace that he had given her.

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Phantom or Friend ; Lockwood & Co. pt 3

pt 2

Lockwood didn’t know where he should be looking. Three options presented themselves to him. First, and perhaps most obvious, he could look at Lucy. The ghost, he corrected himself furiously, it wasn’t Lucy anymore—not really. Lucy Joan Carlyle was dead and here was the inarguable proof of that. Lockwood could also look at George, not too see if his reaction was as troubled as his own but to see if his friend was still there. George had very successfully stopped breathing upon Lucy’s arrival. Lockwood knew the feeling.

His last option was looking at the landscape behind him as he ran as fast and as far from this bridge as humanly possible. He wouldn’t of course. There was still a ghost that needed to be dealt with. But every molecule in his body was saying I can’t do this.

“I never wished so much that I had been wrong,” George mutters, breaking the spell that had come over Lockwood. Not ghost lock, something much different.

“I tend to agree.” Lockwood eases a hand on and off his rapier, sorting through his thoughts and pushing away every emotion he can until this night was over. “No point panicking just yet. It’s still early on, the ghost won’t be fully active until later.” The rudimentary of ghost lore that anyone would know, including George, but Lockwood didn’t want to let long silences stretch.

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Phantom or Friend ; Lockwood & Co. pt 2

| pt 1

George struggled to keep up with Lockwood’s long strides as he moved in the direction of the bridge, his ridiculous coat flapping behind him. “Nice evening, isn’t it?”

George scoffs. Sure, it was nice, but he wasn’t in the mood for pretending that everything was alright. Lockwood’s attempts at levity would have to be a solo task. “You’re awfully quiet tonight George.” It would seem Lockwood was determined.

“And you know why,” George mutters, and Lockwood’s steps falter. He sighs as George catches up to him, glancing at him. “I’m trying not to think about this too much.”

“See, that’s the problem. You don’t think about the case and then next thing you know something’s on fire and we’ve all been ghost touched,” George huffs, and then he falls quiet as well.

Right in front of them was the bridge. They had both been here many times, far more than George cared to admit. He knew exactly how many paces from the shoreline the nearest ghost lamp was, the rocks that tended to be loose underfoot, and how far from her chains Lucy had been found. Lockwood sighs again and squares his shoulders.

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