PROBLEM - Anthony Lockwood

CHAPTER EIGHTY

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lxxx

this is fucking brazy

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THE CATAFALQUE THUDDED as it stopped, leaving them alone in an empty, dark tunnel.

The further Alice got, the more she could feel the magic.

Both Bickerstaff's and the Bone Glass'.

The moment they got off of the calafalque, the air was thick with the dangerous buzzing of power which got louder the further they walked into the passage.

"Oh yes! That sound!" the Skull exclaimed, "Bone glass, such sweet esctasy."

"Doesn't sound like ecstasy to me," Lucy countered.

"Your petty mind can't comprehend," the Skull replied.

"Then help me comprehend," Lucy demanded.

"Tell her of the power you feel, Deane. Tell her what it is like for you," the Skull implored.

Alice rolled her eyes, "It's giving me a migrane. Tell me, does every single ghost know my name?"

"We all do, daughter of death. We know your mother more than we know ourselves," the Skull revealed.

Alice cringed, "Moving on from that very unsettling thought about ghost crushes on my dead mother - were you there when the glass was made?"

"Of course," the Skull explained, "From the bones of seven bodies, torturers turned tortured. The power of their torment trapped..."

"Trapped the glass to make a window, but a window to what?" Lucy realised.

"The Eternal," the Skull replied.

"But what does that mean - what did you actually see when you looked?" Lucy queried.

"I never looked, I'm not a fool," the Skull chastised, "The way to look is with someone else's eyes. Someone weak, someone curious, someone vulnerable."

"Oh gods," Alice interrupted, "George."

"Only one person has looked into the Other Side and survived," the Skull declared.

"Who?" Lucy inquired.

Alice turned to Lucy and pursed her lips, "My mother."

"What the fuck?!"

"But you musn't tell Lockwood and George," Alice continued, "She was a bit of an... interesting character."

"Interesting?" the Skull laughed condecendingly.

"Hey," Alice warned, "You'll be breaking Witch Law if you even make a mortal suspect that. If you even try, I'll channel your spirit for the memory wiping spell."

"I don't even want to know," Lucy decided.

"Wise choice."

By the time they had gotten to a large chamber, they were too late. Joplin was tying George to a chair, threatening him. There was a tape ready to record on the side, and the mirror was mounted on a tripod, the next still covering it. Bickerstaff's body lay behind some pillars, trapped in an iron circle but with no net covering it.

And Kipps, quivering in the corner, his hands tied behind his back and a bag over his head.

They crept into the room, hiding behind the pillars as Joplin was busy with George. Lucy darted over to Kipps, shushing him and cutting his bonds.

Alice tore over to the nearest pillar to Bickerstaff's body.

Sensing her, he began to stir.

George's sobs echoed through the dark chamber. "You were right, it's perfect. You don't care about me. You only care about the mirror. You don't need me, just like Lucy, Lockwood and Alice didn't need me."

Lucy found her way beside Alice, and the two girls leaned over the pillar ever so slightly, watching with wide, guilty eyes as George cried.

Tears streamed down his cheeks, his voice quavering, "'Cause I'm the oddball. The third wheel. Dispensible. Always have been, always will be. It makes sense this is how it ends."

Alice turned as George's voice trailed away. Her eyes screwing shut in pain as Bickerstaff began to rise.

No, no, no.

"Deane!" he commanded, magic coming off of him in waves as the shadows and the smoke collected.

"My master!" the Skull gasped. "He is arisen!"

"Submit to me!" Bickerstaff demanded.

Alice threw her hands out, her own magic seeping through her fingertips as she attempted to paralyse the ghost.

"Set him free of those chains! His greatness shoud not be constrained!" the Skull demanded. "Let him bare full witness to this glorious moment!"

"BEHIND YOU!" George yelled.

Alice ducked out of the way, blending into the shadows and crouching out of sight.

She flicked her wrist, reciting an echantment, and the silver net moved to cover Bickerstaff's body, causing the ghost to dissipate.

She watched, hiding behind the ledge, as Joplin held a knife to Lucy's throat.

"It's the little listener, but you didn't hear me coming, did you," Joplin tauned.

Lucy glared at her. "I don't think you're going to kill me, Miss Joplin."

"She will! She killed Jack Carver!" George exclaimed. " You shouldn't have come!"

"No, I had to!" Lucy insisted. Her voice wavering dangerously. "Because you're not a third wheel, or an oddball. Or whatever it is that you think you are." Her voice broke. "You're the best of us. I left my family without looking back. Lockwood and Alice have lost all of theres'. We are not losng you, Georgie."

Joplin moved the knife, "Very moving now bind your hands."

"No," Lucy refused, eyes hardened with her decision. "Because if anyone is looking in that mirror it's me."

"No, no way!" George protested.

"It has to be," Lucy continued, not paying him any heed, "Because this is something else. This is historic. And for that you need the best talent in the room. The best since Marissa Fittes. I can talk with Type Threes, commune with the other side. This is what I'm made for, this is meant for me."

"No, Lucy! I won't let you!" George shrieked.

"George you don't have a choice in this!" Lucy screamed. She turned back to Joplin, "He'll be dead in an instant. Just look how much one glance has screwed him up. Just... let me do this for him. Please."

Realising that Lucy had a plan, Alice tapped into her magic, twisting into Joplin's head and breaking her resolves.

Joplin lowered the knife, "Cross me, and I cut both your throats." She turned, grabbing George and throwing him off of the chair and to the ground, hands still bound.

"Please, Lucy, don't it'll kill you!" George begged.

"Don't you dare look," Lucy pleaded, setting her bag down on the chair, "And whatever happens, this wasn't your fault." She turned to Joplin, "This was my choice."

George turned, spotting Alice behind the pillar, who put her figer to her lips to signify silence and beckoned him towards her. He scrambled back towards the pillars as Joplin took out the tape.

Alice grabbed her knife and cut his bonds.

"Tell me what you see," Joplin ordered, turning on the tape. "What you feel and what you hear. Every detail."

And then she ripped off the silver net from the glass.