thief - lw&co [anthony lockwood]

24.

Edited : 25/08/24
First-person (Erin)

"What happened to the window?" Lockwood asked as he inspected the shattered glass of the kitchen windows.

"Oh... a bird flew into it," George mumbled. "I should catch you guys up on my Bickerstaff research." He said while sipping his tea.

Lockwood gave the window another quick look before sitting down.

He sat at his usual spot at the end of the table, George on his left and me and his right. He glanced at me and I gave him a soft smile.

I was scared things would be awkward between us, after what happened last night.

"So it turns out he was a highly respected clinician, psychiatrist, a pioneer of new techniques." George continued about Bickerstaff staff. "He held secret gatherings in his house in Hampstead, and they would have remained secret, too, if it wasn't for Mary Dulac."

"Who's Mary Dulac?" Lockwood questioned.

"She's a guest that went missing. Just vanished into thin air after attending one of his meetings." Lucy explained.

"But here's the weirdest thing. She turned up again ten years later out of the blue, but she'd gone completely mad."

"Because of the bone glass?" Lockwood assumed.

"That would make sense, wouldn't it? But why does everyone want it so badly? What can it do?"

"Apart from drive you mad and kill you?" Lucy huffed.

"I think it's more than just a dangerous relic. I think it's something completely unique." George smiled.

Suddenly Lucy turned her head sharply towards the corner of the room. I followed her gaze and my eyes were set on the skull.

"Lucy, what's the matter?" George asked.

"Is the skull speaking?" I asked.

"Yeah, it is." She said faintly. "What do you mean "waking up"?" She asked as she got up and walked closer to the jar.

"Lucy, what's going on?"

"It's talking to her," Lockwood said as we all got up and stood behind Lucy.

"If you know so much why don't you help us," Lucy questioned again. "Your master? That's what you meant. You know Bickerstaff!" She said baffled.

"This is weird," I mumbled, and Lockwood pressed his hand on the small of my back.

"What is the bone glass? What does it do?" Lucy huffed. "Take you where?" She frowned. "Why? What will we find there?" Lucy finally stopped talking to it and turned to us.

"It can help us with Bickerstaff, but... it wants something in return." We all shared a look of concern. "It wants to be set free..."

"Right..." I said sceptical.

"Well, we can think about that when we're getting ready." Lockwood smiled and rushed down to the basement, we followed.

Once in the basement, we scattered all the other place. Each packing our kit bags.

"I knew there was something special when I stole that skull. After I started my experiments, it was only a matter of time before it did something amazing. Well done me." George said proudly.

"Yeah, thank god for you, George." Lockwood chuckled.

"You realise we're making history here?"

"You're not allowed to tell anyone." Lucy mocked.