PROBLEM - Anthony Lockwood

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

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xviii

if you could fuck off and let me die then that would greately preferable

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"JUST CALM DOWN," Barnes tried to reassure.

Barned and Wade had entered again to find Alice panicking and hyperventilating.

"Let me go!" Alice shrieked. "Let me out of here!" She grabbed her knife, "Let me go or I swear I'll shove this into your throat!"

"Miss Deane, we don't want to hurt you!" Barnes yelled, attempting to calm her down.

"You locked me in an iron room!"

"Every door is made of iron in this building," Wade reasoned.

"That's worse!" Alice retorted.

"You need to leave Lockwood and Co.," Barnes told her, he handed her a peice of paper, an application to apply for talented status under DEPRAC, "If you apply, we'll give you proper training."

Alice scoffed, "I'll take my chances."

"Listen to me," Barnes demanded, "Lockwood cuts corners and puts lives at risk. He saw a vulnerable sensitive without the right qualifications or training, alone in the big city and took advantage of her. Let us help you."

Alice looked down, letting her hand fall to her side and lowering her knife. She glanced at the application, "You're not going to kill me?"

Barnes sighed. "Make the application, Miss Deane. It's for your own good."

They led her out of the room and back down into the waiting room, where Lockwood still sat. "Where's Lucy?" Alice inquired.

"She's gone home," Wade told her, "We called her a taxi."

Alice nodded watching as Lockwood stood up when he saw her.

10 minutes later, she sat in the back of a taxi with him, peering at the gloomy, wet streets of London as they drove by. Night had fallen. She wondered how long she'd spent arguing with Barnes and Wade.

The application was folded in her pocket.

"God, they always make the most boring, unimaginative moves possible, don't they," Lockwood ranted, "Trying to use your talents to extract evidence? That just proves they've got nothing. You were brilliant, Ally, by the way. Really."

Alice felt a shift as they drove, a dark energy.

Wherever they were passing now was crawling with spirits.

She preffered them to Lockwood right now.

"Can you stop the car, please?" Alice declared, and the driver slowed to a stop.

"What are you doing?" Lockwood inquired as she got up and reached for the door.

"Leaving," Alice hissed, "I quit."

"I- what- uh- Ally?!"

Alice left the car and marched through some cobbled streets into what looked like a park.

Lockwood jumped out of the taxi, which simply drove off without them. He followed her frantically, calling after her. "Ally! Alice, can we please do this in the car? It's dangerous out here!"

"There's nothing to talk about!" Alice shouted back, continuing to walk, "You wanted me fired anyway. You only kept me on because I'm an asset. Because I can make you some fucking money."

"What? No. No - that's not true, there's clearly been a misunderstanding!" Lockwood blanched.

Alice scoffed, turning on her heel to face him, "You don't understand a thing about me!" She was terrified and angry now. Everything was falling apart. Her hands were shaking. She could feel her eyes burning with tears and her vision blurring. There was a lump in her throat. It felt like the entire world was closing in on her again.

Like she was trapped.

The pit...

That terror carved out her heart like the knife he stabbed into her back.

"You haven't got a clue what I'm going through and you couldn't care less as long as it gets you on fucking TV," Alice sobbed, shaking her head in disgust.

"Ally please, I said I was sorry!" Lockwood begged.

"No, you havent!"

"I'm sorry!"

Alice screamed through her teeth, shaking her head and backing away, the tears were streaming down her face now but she made no effort to hide them. "I told you to leave me out of it!" she yelled, voice breaking and shaky, "They're going to come after me again now!"

"Who are?" Lockwood stepped forward, eyes wide, "Ally, I'll protect you from whoever you think-"

"You can't!" Alice screamed, "No one can!" She shook her head, breathing heavily and staring up at the moon. The thought of the Orpheus society finding her again, of using her blood for experiments, using her for their gain, of locking her in that pit....  "You know..... sometimes I- I think I'd be better off dead. Death is better..."

She should've stayed in Sheen Road. Burned herself to death until she was nothing but ash.

They couldn't capture ashes.

"I understand that," Lockwood declared, his voice low. There was something heavy in his eyes as he said it. "And it's not true, Alice. We need you. I..." he trailed off for a moment, eyes flitting away before flickering back to her, "I need you. Not because you're an asset. Not because you're talented."

"Why?" Alice inquired, eyes wide and glassy.

"Because you're Alice Deane," Lockwood replied, sincerity etched into his features like a scar, "We can't let you go."

Alice shook her head, the tears flowing again. "You have to. Barnes knows I'm illegal and they'll come after me and kill everyone in their way." She shook her head again, a sob racking through her body, "I can't go through that again. Please don't make me go through that again."

Lockwood strode forwards, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to his chest. "I'm so sorry, Ally," he whispered into her hair. "I went on TV so that Barnes couldn't shut you and Lucy down. They bend the rules all the time, why shouldn't we?"

Alice screwed her eyes shut, leaning her head against against his chest. "We're nothing. We're powerless."

"No," Lockwood disagreed, he entanged a hand into her hair, "We're Lockwood and Co. You, me, Lucy and George." He closed his eyes as Alice wrapped her arms around him back. "I'm sorry, Alice. Please stay."

That's touching came the voice of a spirit.

Fuck off, Alice thought back, tapping into her magic to repell the incoming shades and lurkers.

She listened to the reassuring beat of his heart, her tears drying. "Don't do anything like that again. Swear it." She pulled away from the hug, looking up at him and searching his face for a response.

Lockwood nodded, "I swear."

His hand was still in her hair.