PROBLEM - Anthony Lockwood

CHAPTER FOURTY TWO

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xlii

this is like a downward spiral, but without the spiral and only the down

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"BLOODY FUCKING HELL!" Lockwood seethed as they climbed up the steps to 35 Portland Row.

They clattered and swore as they entered the house, dumping their bags and taking off their very muddy shoes and gasping in relief.

Or, in Lockwood's case, anger.

Out of the three of them, both boys looked like they had gone through some version of hell and were both extremely ruffled and messy,

Beside the dried blood on Alice's hands and some mud on her shoes, she looked the same. It appeared that neither boy had ever gone hiking in their entire lives.

"How could you not realise that it was an execution site?!" Lockwood seethed.

"Because you gave me no time for research! Again!" George snapped.

Alice groaned, "I told you it was a Hanging Tree. Why does nobody ever listen to me?"

Lockwood slammed his bag down, "They had time to figure it out! They knew exactly what they were walking into!"

"Because they don't have to actually visit the libraries and churches like I do!" George threw down his rapier angrily.

Alice watched as Lucy walked into the corridor. She ran over to the auburn haired girl and hugged her.

"Hey," Lucy greeted, hesitantly as she observed their frustrated states.

"How are you feeling?" Alice inquired.

"Normal," Lucy replied, "Thanks for letting me sleep in."

"You sure you're okay?" George questioned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How are you guys?" Lucy crossed her arms, "I'm guessing you didn't find that wraith."

Lockwood tore into the kitchen, peeling off his blazer. "Oh, no we did. But then we found twelve fucking others."

Alice stood beside Lucy, watching as Lockwood angrily ran a hand through his hair and began to fill the kettle.

"We didn't have any flares, did we Lockwood!" George yelled.

"How did you get out?" Lucy inquired.

Alice made her way to the sink and began to wash off the dried rabbit blood from her hands.

"We were rescued," George replied.

"We were not 'rescued'!" Lockwood shouted.

Lucy laughed, "Kipps crew?"

"Stuck up mediocrities!"

Alice pursed her lips, laughing slightly as Lockwood dropped a pan and picked it up. She made her way over to the kettle, beginning to make the tea herself.

"They saved our lives, killed the Wraiths and gave Alice a flare to destroy the source," George explained.

Lucy chuckled raising an eyebrow, "Oh, did they share the fee?"

"No, finders keepers," George replied, "But this is not what this is about?"

Lockwood wrenched open the cutlerty drawer so forcefully that it caused the cutlery to rattle and crash loudly. "He wouldn't even aknowledge! He's acting like Combe Carey Hall never happened."

"He must have signed the same NDA we did," Lucy hummed.

Alice grabbed Lockwood's hand as he curled it into a fist, (part of her was finding the fit rather amusing) trying to calm him down as he snapped: "He could let us know that he knows, he lacks respect."

"But you know that he knows," Lucy defended.

"But he won't show he knows," Lockwood hissed.

"It was annoying," George mused, "Especially if you consider we were stuck in the woods with him for 4 hours trying to walk to the nearest motorway."

"I guess, if you take the lie and Kipps' face and put them together-" Alice started.

"You just wanna watch him... die!" Lockwood seethed, clenching his jaw. There was a vein in his temple that looked like it was about to pop. Alice desperately wanted to kiss it.

Alice put a reassuring hand on his arm, and Lockwood sighed, pulling his arm away from her and instead putting it around her shoulders and leaning down on her slightly. "Sorry," Alice quipped to Lucy, "Long night."

"I'm never leaving London again," Lockwood sighed as they two of them entered the kitchen, leaving George and Lucy in the corridor.

10 minutes later, they all had steaming mugs of tea and some toast.

Alice sat next to Lockwood, his left hand in her own as she traced some scars on his palm with her thumb.

They looked like he had inflicted them himself.

Alice traced a heart onto his hand.

"You do realise you slept for 18 hours, right?" George pointed out.

"Did I?" Lucy furrowed her brows, "I don't remember going to bed."

"You didn't," Alice reminded, "We found you unconsious in the basement. George carried you."

"What?" Lucy exclaimed.

"You don't remember anything?" George inquired.

"No, I definitely remember putting the papers away, but that's it," Lucy replied.

"And you're not getting any hallucinations or weird voices..." George asked.

"No," Lucy answered, a little too quickly. She sat back, "Like I said, I'm fine."

Alice looked down into Lockwood's hand, not wanting to meet Lucy's eyes. She'd heard the skull yesterday, heard it say Lucy's name. Meaning that they had spoken.

Meaning Lucy could talk to ghosts.

Alice had no idea if Lucy had remembered it and was lying or did actually forget the incident when she passed out, but she knew that she couldn't risk asking her or hinting it. If the topic of her being able to talk to ghosts came up, Alice knew she'd end up chained in iron and being walked to her very own hanging tree.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Both George and Lockwood stood up. Lockwood squeezed Alice's hand and then let go of her. "We don't have any appointments," Lockwood declared.

"It's probably mad old Mrs. Wick again," George theorised.

The two boys began to make their way to the corridor. "You're just not rude enough to her, George. Watch how it's done," Lockwood replied.

Alice tuned out the sounds of the door opening and people greeting each other as she watched Lucy turn her head slightly towards the basement door, furrowing her brows.

"Strawberry asked about you," Alice mused, causing Lucy to break out of her thoughts.

Lucy blushed, "What did he say?"

"He wondered why you weren't with us. He got all worried about you and stuff," Alice reminisced.

"Aww-" Lucy began.

"He admitted to crushing on you," Alice interjected.

Lucy choked on oxygen, "Excuse you?!" she spluttered.

Alice smirked, "Well, not exactly. But he did seem like he did, and he agreed to make a move on you - I think."

Lucy put her head in her hands, "I hate you."

"I love you, too," Alice quipped.

All of a sudden, the kitchen door swung open again, and Lockwood poked his head inside, grinning. His eyes had lighted up, and Alice was staring at his dimples. He looked straight at Alice, and, for a moment, she felt as if she were floating.

"Come on, we've got a proper client."