PROBLEM - Anthony Lockwood

CHAPTER SIXTY SIX

~

lxvi

if you think about it, if sixty six is fine then so is onety one

~

"YOU GUYS OKAY if Alice and I dive into Bickertaff's papers?" George inquired.

"Go for it," Lucy assured. "I need to put the Skull away."

"Can I borrow her for a moment," Lockwood inquired.

George nodded, going upstairs.

Alice watched as Lucy made her way to the basement. She turned to Lockwood. "I'm sorry."

Lockwood tucked a curl behind her ear, gritting his teeth, "You walked straight into the middle of a fire, Ally. You can't..." he paused unsure how to address his concerns, "You can't keep doing dangerous things."

Alice leaned into his touch, looking into his eyes. "I'll be careful from now on."

That was a lie.

He knew it.

Lockwood sighed and let Alice wrap her arms around his neck pulling him down to hug her and pressing his body against hers.

His hands danced at her waist, and her breath hitched.

He smelled of musk and sandlewood.

It was all too soon when she pulled away from the hug.

"Don't worry about me, Anthony," Alice quipped as she made her way up the stairs, "I'm a survivor."

By the time she and George had gone through Bickerstaff's grimoire, Alice was once again realising why it had been a terrible idea to join an agency.

"He was murdering his own patients to make sources?" Lockwood inquired after George had explained it.

George shook his head, "No, that would be too hit and miss. If you kill someone, their body isn't necessarily going to become a source."

"He found some of the most vile witch hunters he could get his hands on, and he tortured them in the worst ways he could, taking parts of them while they were still alive and demanding they surrender their souls to the Fiend." Alice stood, grabbing a piece of paper with seven spirits on it, curled around a drawing of a mirror. "He used that hate, rage, and pain to take their bones as sources and bind their spirits to a mirror. This is a recipe for a bone glass, love."

Lockwood surveyed the page, "Seven, just like Carver said."

George turned to Lucy, "Do you think the skull would know what language these are in?"

Lucy shifted uncomfortably, "Oh, uh. We're not really on talking terms right now." She sat on the edge of George's bed.

Lockwood turned to Alice, "You can't translate it?"

Alice shrugged, looking over the papers, "I..."

She understood every word.

She couldn't let them find out the truth of the Problem.

"No, I can't," she lied.

The three humans exchanged a look.

"Joplin would know," George suggested.

"We can't let her in on this," Lockwood advised.

"No, we can trust her," George assured, "I got to know her better at the archives yesterday. We had dinner."