[ Glow ] ~ Anthony Lockwood x OC

XIX - Scream

"Oh God." George breathed out, his thermometer beeping in his hand. "Temperature just got lower." 

Daniel sighed, running a hand through her hair and untangling a couple knots. "Means the Red Room isn't the original haunting." She grumbled, shining her torch down the hall they were in. 

"It's just the secondary." George agreed, his words directed at Lockwood. A thump sounded down the hall, the entire group's attention snapping that way. "There's something else out there."

Low humming started up in Daniel's ears, a slight breath sound making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Daniel shook her hands out, her right hand resting on her rapier and her left holding her torch out in front of her. They walked further down the corridor, finding webs stretching from each wall to the roof and back. "Why is it always spiders?" Daniel scrunched her nose up, muttering the words under her breath. She knew why. Spiders and spirits went hand in hand, it meant they were getting closer to the source. Which she could tell anyways, the spiders weren't the only sign. Daniel could feel the pull on her entire body spread into a burning sensation, dragging her in closer to the source and pouring pins and needles across her whole self. 

"What if there's no way out?" Lucy worried.

"Well then, we're dead." George whispered back, his voice leveled despite the weight behind his words.

"You'll be fine." Daniel said with a tone of finality.

Lockwood brought his rapier up, slicing away the upper part of one of the cobwebs before slicing back through it to tear it down. The end of his sword was now coated in the sticky web, but he didn't seem to mind too much. Lucy stepped forward slightly to push at one of the webs with her arm, moving it out of the way so they could get past. "Why do spiders love ghosts so much?" Lucy complained with a waver to her voice. 

"Who cares? They're excellent warnings." Lockwood shook her off. 

"Mhm." Daniel gave a curt nod, her brows were pressed together as she stalked just behind her employer. She was on edge, something wasn't right. Something bad was coming up and it made an uneasy weight settle in the pit of her stomach. 

"Case in point." Lockwood switched his torch off, not that they needed it anymore. Just a few paces in front of them was a boy who glowed blue, whispers flooding their ears as they stared him down. He seemed to be waiting for them. Though the boy wasn't the thing weighing Daniel down, he wasn't there to hurt them, she could tell. Maybe he was a sign, a warning. Maybe just a type one, idly there for no real purpose. Or maybe he was there to guide them. But he wasn't the bad that Daniel was feeling, not even close. 

"Oh shit." Lucy huffed.

"Sam Pandey." George murmured, his words barely reached the team's ears over the whispers that only seemed to get louder. 

Sam turned, walking down the hall in stiff motions that reminded Daniel of a robot. As soon as he stepped out of the light the window beside him provided, the apparition faded into darkness and the whispering slowed. 

"Probably wanted to warn us not to go down there." George decided, tilting his head into his words. Without a word, Lockwood took in a light breath, turned his torch back on and started down the hall anyway. The other three were close behind, George furthest in the back as he voiced his distaste for the idea of continuing. "And now we're going down there." His thermometer beeped just as they stopped at the top of a flight of stairs. Suddenly, the pang in Daniel's head burst into an overwhelming blindness and her vision faded to black. She stumbled, grabbing onto Lockwood's shoulder for stability as a piercing ringing started up in the back of her skull. It took a moment before Daniel regained her composure, using deep breaths to bring her vision back to normal. Though the pain didn't subside, nor did the ringing, if anything they got worse.