PROBLEM - Anthony Lockwood

CHAPTER FIFTY SIX

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lvi

this is actually crazy wth

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FLO SAT DOWN opposite them. "Poor Cloughy. He asked me out once, been drinking obviously."

Lockwood shook his head, "It's not obviously."

"It is obviously," Flo countered. "He was always drinking, and that would be how they got to him."

"Who?" Lockwood inquired.

"Parasites, scum," Flo scowled.

Confused at how agencies worked, Alice furrowed her brows, "Why didn't Tendy's help him? He must've worked for them for years."

"Tendy's doesn't give a shit. He was on his way out - talent fading. Expendible," Flo hissed in reply.

Alice sighed, considering this for a moment. Despite living with mortals, Alice usually forgot about how 'mortal' they could be. Their talents faded. One day, they wouldn't be able to see ghosts or feel the supernatural. They'd lose their connection with the Other Side.

Alice let her eyes stray to Lockwood for a moment.

He would lose it too. One day, he'd be blind to magic, just like the rest of them. One day he'd age, grow old, die.

Alice would have to watch it all.

'You'll come back,' Tommy assured. He'd said it so confidently, almost arrogant. Alice hated that but she didn't doubt him. It was selfish of her, she knew, but she already knew she couldn't stand to see Lockwood wither away and die.

He was mortal. He was fragile.

There was no point in being angry with him.

She was a young witch, she knew that she percieved herself to have all the time in the world. But Alice wasn't dumb, she listened to her elders. She knew that her time with Lockwood would disappear in the blink of a witch eye.

Witches weren't immortal, but they lived for much, much longer than mortals did.

Her own mother was hundreds of years old when she had been killed. Tommy appeared to be in his early twenties, but in reality he was almost 200.

Alice was a baby, in the eyes of most witches. Her eyes flickered to Lockwood again. She wondered if she'd look exactly the same as she did now by the time he would die.

The thought was almost too much to bear.

Your anger at him is pointless.

Alice reached under the table, and squeezed his knee with her hand.

Lockwood's eyes flickered to her, his gaze softening as he realised she'd accepted his apology. He turned back to Flo, "We need to find Danny's partner, the one who left him for dead."

"That'll be Jack Carver," Flo replied, "But you do not want to find him, trust me."

"We have to," Lockwood countered, face plastered with urgency, "This is important, Flo. Please."

Flo sighed, surveying Lockwood. "Leave a message on that board and he might come and find you. It'll have to be the right kind of message, though. One he can't ignore," she advised.

Alice leaned over to Lockwood, watching as he wrote a note on a scrap peice of paper. "'We know about the mirror...' and our address. That's a suicide note, love."

Lockwood looked up at her, tilting his head slightly. "Well we need to make sure he shows up. He's our only hope."

For an all too brief moment, they simply stared at each other. Lockwood's eyes flickered to her lips.

Flo cleared her throat.

Lockwood shifted, turning away and standing. Alice looked hard at the table, avoiding Flo's gaze as Lockwood pinned the note to the wall and then sat back down. "Tell me about their network," he inquired, "How do they move their goods?"

"They're in business with Julius Winkman - antiques dealer in Bermondsey who works with his wife," Flo shook her head, "But I'm warning you, do not poke that nest."

Alice tilted her head, "What do you mean?"

Flo turned to her, "Let me put it more plainly for you, darling. If Carver doesn't kill you, they will."

Not if I kill them first, Alice wanted to say.

"Thanks, Flo." Lockwood smiled. He took something out of his pocket, "Here. Something to remember Danny by - the way he was."

The Tendy's Badge.

Flo turned the badge between her fingers, eyes flitting up to Lockwood. When she spoke next, her voice was soft and eyes were full of emotion. "I'm always surprised when you turn up to see me, Locky. I thought you'd be dead by now."

Lockwood frowned and turned to Alice.

...

"Shouldn't we get a cab home?"

"It's such a lovely evening for a stroll."

"Said no one ever." Alice quickened her pace to match with Lockwood's as he walked through the dark streets. "So, how'd you meet Flo?"

"Can't remember, it was ages ago," Lockwood replied, looking forwards.

"Has she always been like that?" Alice inquired.

"Yeah. Bless her."

Alice surveyed him, "She cares about you," she realised, "Doesn't she?"

"Yeah, she's a worrier, that's all," Lockwood agreed. He kept walking, but slowed down slightly, his gaze flickering to Alice. "Listen, she... she didn't mean all that stuff she said."

"Oh did she?" Alice tore her gaze away, "Because I thought she was quite nice until she decided to slut-shame me like I'm apparently fucking my way through the agency."

"Ally." Lockwood clenched his jaw, he grabbed her hand, gently rubbing his thumb on the back of her hand. She let him hold her, but she didn't actively reciprocate it. "I'm sorry. It's messed up and just said in the heat of the moment, I promise. I'll talk to her about it later."

Alice looked up at him, there was a frown on his face and his eyes were full of emotion.

She tore her hand away from his. There was a lump in her throat and she was desperately trying not to cry. "We're running out of time. I know you're planning to go to the Winkman's anyway, so let's get on with this suicide mission."

Lockwood curled his hand into a fist, his nails cutting into his palms as he followed her. "You heard Barnes, that thing is lethal. Who knows whose hands it could end up in tomorrow?"

Alice gave a harsh laugh, "Believe me, if anyone knows how lethal that thing is, it's me."

Lockwood nodded, overtaking her, "Plus, it's easier to break in and steal things at night - and it's on our way."

Alice surveyed Lockwood biting her lip.

Mortals had always been labelled the weaker species.

"She said they'd kill us, Anthony," Alice sighed.

He looked down at her, "Yeah, but Flo's a worrier. And I'm not worried. Are you?"

Very.