Betrayal

Betrayal Part One

Note: of course, all characters etc belong to the wonderful Jonathan Stroud.

For the first time in a long time - maybe ever - Lucy Carlyle smiled as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

She had never been one of those girls who worried about her appearance, aside from a cursory brush through her tangled bob and trying to wear sweaters without too many holes.

There generally wasn't much time for vanity when trying to dodge the unquiet undead on a daily basis.

But tonight was different.

The envelope had arrived the previous morning, addressed to Lockwood and Co. Holly had read it out at the breakfast table, where they were blearily munching on toast following a particularly busy night.

It had only been a couple of weeks since they had put an end to the schemes of Marissa Fittes, and while it was hoped the Problem would start to ease now the living weren't trespassing where they shouldn't, for now things were still just as busy as ever.

The night before they had been tasked with getting rid of a nasty Type 2 from a rundown building in Shepherd's Bush. Once a (fairly seedy, by all accounts) gentlemen's club, it was due to be bowled and replaced with an apartment block.

Of course, the site needed to be made safe before that could happen. Enter Lockwood and Co.

It had been a bit of a hairy job at times, even with the assistance of Kipps who had joined them because, in his words, he couldn't find anything better to do that night.

There had been several near misses with the vengeful spirit. According to George's research, Tommy Lister had been gunned down by a scorned girlfriend who had caught him with another woman.

As might be expected, that made for a fairly angry afterlife.

After splitting up and searching the dilapidated building from top to bottom, Lockwood had finally found and covered the source, a silver hip flask, in the basement.

Needless to say more than one of them nearly jumped out of their chair when Holly let out an excited squeal at the breakfast table the next morning.

"Holly, don't DO that!" Kipps had exclaimed, handing a paper towel to George who had sloshed half his cup of tea down the front of his t-shirt.

"Sorry, sorry! It's just - oh, this will be so much fun!" Holly waved a small piece of expensive looking cardboard gleefully.

Lucy glanced at Lockwood across the table, expecting him to reach out and grab the card, but he was staring into the distance like his mind was a million miles away.

He had been quiet ever since they had got home, but Lucy chalked it up to exhaustion. Even Lockwood, who seemed to be a boundless ball of energy, had to get tired sometimes.

She plucked the card from Holly's fingers instead.

"Dear members of Lockwood and Co,'' she read out loud.

"You are invited to celebrate the recent heroic efforts of DEPRAC with a midsummer ball, to be held in the portrait hall at DEPRAC headquarters. Formal dress required.''

George snorted in disbelief. "Heroic efforts of DEPRAC? They should be throwing that ball for us instead. The bloody cheek!''

Lucy agreed, and Kipps was nodding vigorously. But Holly snatched the invitation back, a blush colouring her cheeks.

"I know it's a bit on the nose, but think how fun it will be! How often do we get to dress up and let our hair down?''

Lucy chewed on her lip thoughtfully. A night away from near-death experiences admittedly was appealing, but she didn't have the first idea about how she would prepare for a ball, let alone one that was due to be held the following night.