Betrayal

Betrayal Part 9

The first thing Lucy noticed when she opened her eyes was that her head was pounding like someone was hammering her skull.

"Ow,'' she moaned, her eyes trying to adjust to the light.

"Welcome back,'' a relieved voice said from beside her. She sat up quickly and immediately regretted it. When her vision stopped swimming, she realised she was in her bed in the attic.

Kipps was sitting beside her, looking pleased but exhausted.

"What happened? Where's Lockwood?'' Lucy started to climb out of the bed but he held her back gently.

"Whoa, calm down, it's okay. Better than okay, actually. Tony's fine. Well, going to be fine. We're pretty sure.''

"Kipps, that was not very reassuring,'' George said, entering the room carrying a glass of water. He handed it to Lucy, who suddenly realised she was parched and chugged it down immediately.

"I'll ask again, where's Lockwood?'' She said when she finished drinking.

"He's in his room,'' George replied, taking the glass back from her. "Which, by the way, Holly and Edith have restored to its former pristine condition. He woke up this morning. He's still pretty groggy, but he seems to be on the mend. I think the longest lasting injury will be that black eye Kipps gave him.''

Kipps scowled.

"How long have I been out?" Lucy asked, sagging back against her pillows with relief.

George and Kipps exchanged glances.

"Two days,'' George said. "We were...a bit worried about you, to be honest. Flo and I arrived upstairs just as Holly found the cufflinks. The dickhead had sewn them into the bottom of Lockwood's mattress. Anyway, Kipps chucked a silver net on them, and then there was this huge blast in the basement. We ran back down and found Lockwood unconscious in the chair, and you unconscious on the ground with a big gash on the back of your head.''

Lucy reached around to touch the back of her head and found it covered in bandages. She pressed it gently and winced as pain shot through her skull.

"We brought you up here, Tony to his room, and we've been playing nursemaids ever since,'' Kipps added.

"Please tell me nobody gave me mouth to mouth,'' Lucy muttered, and the boys grinned.

As she was contemplating that horror, the door opened again. This time, to her surprise, Inspector Barnes came through it.

"How's the head, Carlyle?'' He asked gruffly.

"Still attached to my neck, which is the main thing,'' she shrugged. "What are you doing here?''

"Well when Edith turned up on my doorstep in the early hours of the morning looking like she'd run a marathon, I assumed it had something to do with you lot,'' he said. "After she told me what insane scheme you'd dreamed up, I got a team of agents together and came over here to talk some sense into you. By the time we got here, you and Lockwood were both away with the fairies and your friends here were blubbering wrecks.''

"That's a bit of a stretch,'' George muttered, while Kipps suddenly found the floor incredibly interesting and impossible to look away from.

"What happens now?'' Lucy asked, masking a grin.

Barnes scowled, although it didn't look like his heart was in it. "Well you broke about a hundred laws, but what's new. Taking action against the heroes who brought down Marissa Fittes would be a very bad look though, and seeing as the source is destroyed....I think that head wound is probably punishment enough for now.''