PROBLEM - Anthony Lockwood

CHAPTER SIXTY FIVE

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lxv

perhaps we should have thought this through

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"I FEEL DEATH," Alice declared, grabbing the door handle of what the skull had said was the dining room.

"Like an aura?" Lucy inquired.

Alice shook her head, but opened the door, walking in anyway.

"That's not a dining table," Lucy gasped. "It's an operating table!"

Alice shook her head in horror as she came further into the room, hearing the shrieks of the dead and feeling their pain. She was choking on their blood.

Choking on the power.

This room was bleeding magic.

Alice trailed her fingers across the table, letting the magic fill her body.

"Can you feel the power, Deane? Can you feel the magic of my master?" the Skull demanded.

Alice nodded, "I haven't felt power this volatile since..." she trailed off.

"Since what?" Lucy inquired.

"Since my mother was alive."

Alice walked further into the room.

"My master was a genius. A visionary."

"Your master was a killer," Alice hissed.

She could feel the skull rolling its non-existent eyes, "The daughter of Delilah Deane is accusing?"

"At least she succeeded," Alice snapped.

"In what?" Lucy inquired.

"It's nothing important," Alice dismissed.

"And I'm a cabbage," the skull interrupted.

"I will throw you into the Thames," Alice warned, causing the bone to shut up.

"Let's just get what we came for and get out of here," Lucy declared.

"Let me out, and I'll show you," the skull bartered.

"Show me, and I'll let you out," Lucy replied. "You need us alive, remember. So start talking, now."

"Look closer," the skull advised, "Three spouts are for blood, the other is..."

"A switch," Alice realised. She and Lucy turned back to the operating table and began to fiddle with the spouts.

Lucy's turned, and with a switch, a trap door suddenly opened by the hearth.

...

"A couple of hours ago, I thought this was the best thing to ever happen to us," George hissed, pacing back and forth. "Now I'm worried it could be the worst."

"I know what you mean," Lockwood moped, sitting down.

"She's talking about it like they're a team!" George exclaimed, "It's still technically mine, you know."

"It was never yours, technically," Lockwood countered.

There were a few moments of silence.

Lockwood sighed. "Do you think she likes me?"

George rolled his eyes. "Alice? I think she despises you."

Lockwood looked down, "Really?"

George slapped the back of Lockwood's head, "No, you idiot. She's head over heels for you. She and Lucy are constantly talking and laughing about you. You're the fruit boy?"