[ Glow ] ~ Anthony Lockwood x OC

XLVIII - A Roach and Two Bunnies Walk Down the Street

Up in George's room, papers were taped to the walls from a bunch of different old books. "These are ancient depictions of spirits being tied to their sources." 

"Ancient?" 

George nodded excitedly at Daniel's query. "Bickerstaff must have come across these illustrations and decided to test that theory. That's why his basement was such a horror show."

"He was murdering his own patients to make sources?" Lockwood asked, holding up the end of one of the research papers. 

"No, that would be too hit-and- miss. If you kill someone, their body isn't necessarily gonna become a source. Unless. . .you make sure of it." 

"So he was taking parts of them whilst they were still alive?" Lucy breathed out her question. 

"The trauma from that incident would tie that to be their source. . ." Daniel muttered in disgust. What an awful man. 

"And- And look." George grabbed a separate parchment from his desk, one that hadn't been hung up like the rest. He tapped it gently. "Seven ghosts. Daniel stood on her toes, looking over George's shoulder as Lockwood smushed in beside her.

"Oh, it's like Carver said." Anthony's brows drew together in confusion and curiosity.

"This, my friends, is a recipe for a bone glass." George nodded. "Do you think the skull would know what language these are in?" The curly haired boy turned to look at Lucy. 

"Uh, we're not really on. . .talking terms right now." She walked away from the group to sit down on George's bed. 

"Maybe Latin." Daniel tilted her head. 

"Why Latin? Do you know Latin?" George turned to the shorter girl hopefully. 

"Uhm. . .no. . .But a lot of old documents are Latin and this guy seems annoyingly aristocratic and proper. He'd probably get his rocks off just from knowing a language nobody else does, right?" 

"I guess. . ."George trailed off. "Joplin would know."

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

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

"Ew. . ." Daniel muttered, her nose scrunching up. "Isn't she like. . .thirty?" 

"What's that to do with anything-" 

"You had dinner with Joplin?" Lucy mocked with a smile. 

"In her flat, leftovers." He shrugged. "And she was very nice. And there's something else. Mary Dulac wrote a book."

"What? That crazy lady? It's just gonna be mad ramblings." Lockwood looked between Lucy and Daniel before turning his head back to George. 

"No, it's her confessions, which could be the key to all of this. But hardly any were printed. And the only copy I could find is in the Black Library at Fittes." George shrugged. 

"We'll have trouble enough getting into the Fittes building right now, let alone the Black Library." 

"Actually. . ." Daniel trailed off with a sigh. She really didn't want to go, but. . . "There's a ball. The Fittes at 50 ball. They'll probably send a card, a formal invitation to you, Locks. I've already got one. I wasn't planning on going but-" 

"This is great. When?" 

"Tonight."

"Okay!" Lockwood smiled, hitting George gently in the chest as he walked past. "Good. No, it's- it's excellent. It means we're back in the game." The brunet paced slightly. "Okay. Here's the plan. Let's get these papers translated, find out how the bone glass was made. Go to the party, find Mary Dulac's book and figure out exactly what that thing did to her. And then. . .we go and get it."