See No Evil (Anthony Lockwood)

chapter 22

The three teenager's were silent as someone led them up through an old wooden lift. They were covered head to toe besides their eyes and looked exactly like any other person who came to bid. But Violet still felt her heart beating rapidly in her chest and had to fight the instinct to grab Lockwood and Lucy and get them out of there. She couldn't even hold Lockwood's hand for comfort now. Violet had to solely rely on the metronome ticks she had long since memorized in order to stay calm.

Lucy looked back as the door behind them was locked, cutting off any possible escape route.

"Hold it together," Lockwood whispered to her.

"You hold it together," Lucy hissed back, still angry.

Violet herself was upset with the whole argument, but she knew how to reel it in. She would express her feelings later when they weren't in life-threatening danger.

They soon came face to face with Mrs. Winkman, who looked them up and down with cold eyes before giving a polite smile, "Welcome, stragglers. Have fun."

Lockwood took the bidding paddle from the woman that had the number 197 printed onto it. And then they were herded into the auction room and they quickly blended into the middle of the crowd. Violet was hit with her senses flaring up.

"We have a plethora of items up for auction tonight, incluing a cigarette case found on the beaches of Dunkirk, permeated with the torment of a fallen son," Winkman said, projecting his voice over the crowd.

Violet almost felt sick with the feelings that seemed to burn into her skin. There was a lot of bad energy in this room. But she couldn't expect much less at an auction for relics.

"The source of one of the nation's most prolific serial murderers, Anne-Marie Nelson."

"We want the mirror!" a woman called out.

"Where is it?!" someone else asked.

It seemed as if everyone tonight had come for the mirror.

Mrs. Winkman held her hands up, "Of course you do. And here she is. That rarity. The piece that has so exercised the hard-working people at DEPRAC these past few days. Recovered, at great cost, from the grave of the visionary genius, Sir Edmund Bickerstaff. We present to you his bone glass."

Winkman unveiled the bone glass, pulling off the silver net that was encasing it. Violet grabbed onto Lockwood's arm as she felt a shock go through her. It felt like she was punched in the gut by the sudden potency of the bone glass. Her eyes shut tight as her dream flashed through her mind yet again and the seven ghosts screamed at her to set them free. The buzzing sound was faint in her ears and she could only imagine how bad it was for Lucy.

Lockwood looked down at Violet. He was unable to see her face, but he could only imagine what kind of pained expression it held as she clutched onto him for support.

Even Lucy was having a difficult time as her breathing picked up and the sound of flies assaulted her ears.

"A truly lethal item. The mirrored surface itself, which has been covered for your protection, exudes a mesmeric attraction more powerful..."

"There's too many people," Lucy whispered, "Let's stay quiet and see who buys it."

Lockwood handed Lucy a few flares from his coat.

"Flares? What am I supposed to do with these?"

"I'm gonna need a distraction to get to the mirror. Look out, i'll give you a signal. Vi, you got my back?"

Violet had to swallow back the acid that threatened to come up her throat and make her vomit, speaking in a shaky voice, "You know I do."

The three of them began to slowly move through the crowd to get closer to the stage.