Betrayal

Betrayal Part 3

It was stupid, so bloody stupid, Lucy thought later.

She didn't remember making a noise but she must have, because Lockwood and the girl had broken apart. The irritated, mean look on his face was seared into her brain.

She also didn't remember pushing past Kipps or running out of the DEPRAC building, but she must have done that too.

She eventually stopped running when the footpath became so uneven that she risked breaking an ankle in the stupid high heels Holly had loaned her.

Her eyes blurry with tears, it took a minute to get her bearings.

"Shit,'' she muttered under her breath. She was maybe three miles from home, which wouldn't have bothered her usually. But night had definitely fallen, and without her rapier or a cab in sight, she realised she would be completely defenceless if a Visitor decided to appear.

Then again, with the way she felt, that might be a blessing in disguise.

She choked back another sob as she kicked off the heels, picked them up, and started making her way down the road barefoot.

If she had eaten anything that night, she would have thrown it up by now. The waves of nausea gripping her were worse than any caused by a ghost.

Every time she thought about Lockwood's fingers on the other girl's skin, a new wave of despair threatened to overtake her.

What on earth had she been thinking, letting herself believe he really cared for her? She had thought his reluctance to progress their relationship had been chivalry and romance, but obviously he had never planned to at all.

She had misread the signs, read too much into every smile, every embrace. And now what would she do?

She could feel the panic rising as she contemplated what would come next. She couldn't possibly stay at Portland Row, not after this. How could she face him every day? How could she face the pitying stares of the others, or worse, the possibility of bumping into the red-headed girl over the breakfast table, or emerging from Lockwood's room?

She couldn't even imagine working together any more. Once, the trust she had in Lockwood was the one constant in a constantly shifting world. The one thing she had to cling onto in the darkness.

Now, that had been shattered.

With that, she crouched down beside a faded red phone box, giving in to the dry-heaving.

"Oi! Do you have a death wish or something?''

Lucy jumped up, nearly toppling over as she stood on the hem of her dress. A figure emerged from the shadows of an alleyway across the road.

After a moment, Lucy realised with a sense of dull relief that it was not an unusually chatty Visitor, but it was, in fact, Flo Bones.

She hadn't seen a lot of Flo since the Fittes episode, although she knew she and George seemed to have developed some kind of understanding. He kept disappearing at strange hours, leaving with bags of licorice and returning covered in mud and smelling of the Thames.

It was sweet, if you didn't stop and think too much about it.

As she came to stop underneath a pale ghost lamp, Lucy saw Flo's disapproving scowl morph into a concerned frown as she took her in.

"What the hell is going on?'' Flo asked. The girl glanced around, although Lucy couldn't tell if she was searching for their friends or for any approaching Visitors.

Lucy tried to answer her, but to her shame all that came out was a pathetic, strangled sort of sob.

Flo's expression softened.