Lockwood and Co. The see-through girl.

Chapter 5

Kipps. Great. Oh so great.
"Why are you down here?" I asked bluntly.
Kipps smiled at me. "You were taking ages. I came down here to come and see what you were doing."
"Lockwood could have. Or George."
"Oh no, I volunteered." Kipps moved towards me. I stepped back a little. "The girl who can talk to ghosts. Isn't that strange." He was very close now. "Why do you stay in the dark, when you could have the whole country at your disposal. You could be rich, famous!"
"I don't want fame or money, like selfish people like you do." I sneered.
Instead of a snappy retort, Kipps sighed.
"Yes, I am selfish. Fix that and join me. Please Lucy, your too good for Lockwood and Co."
It was like I had ghost-lock. Frozen. But I wouldn't let this happen. I stepped back and punched him, hard, in the face. He crumpled to the floor in pain, groaning. Stepping lightly over him, I raced up the steps with the casebook tight in my hand.

"Hmm. What's this?" Barnes asked.
"That's our latest case, sir." I said, trying to keep my voice calm. The incident with Kipps had startled me. "We're working on it now."
"A mysterious girl who ran straight through the-" Barnes broke off. The casebook wavered slightly in his hand.
"What's wrong sir?" Ned Shaw asked. "Maybe he's just read that Lockwood left Lucy- oh, he did."
"No." Was Barnes' reply. "Get out." He said. "You to, Godwin and Vernon. Get out!" The Fittes group scampered out of the library and left us sat in shock at Barnes' reaction.
"Do you know who this girl was?" He looked at me.
"No sir, I don't." I replied.
Barnes sighed. "A few days ago we had a reporting of a girl who seemingly walked straight through a ghost and survived. We went looking for her. One night, I was attacked by a ghost; I was saved. By the girl. She did not look at me and didn't seem to know I was there. We have many DEPRAC officers looking for her now. You must promise me, tell us if you see her again."
We all nodded and said nothing.
Barnes stood up to leave. He stopped.
"Where's Kipps?" He asked.
"Last time I saw he was in the basement." I said, trying to keep my voice steady. Barnes huffed and shouted down the steps for him to hurry up. There was a quiet response.
"I'll be at Scotland Yard if you need me." With that, the Inspector left, along with the Fittes group. George went upstairs to the loo. That left me with Lockwood.
"Are you ok?" He asked me. "You look pretty shaken."
"Yeah," I said. "I'm fine."
"Good." He leaned forward and kissed me lightly on the lips. Smiling slightly, he went to go upstairs. I grabbed his wrist and pulled him back. I slipped my arms around his waist and pressed myself against him. He stroked my cheek and tucked his fingers behind my ear. There was no room between us now. My stomach jolted slightly as he pressed his lips against mine, firmer now. I let go of his waist and put my hand on the back of his head. I kissed him back. We stood in the kitchen together, alone. We broke apart and he rested his forehead against mine. I saw his smile and I closed my eyes, smiling too.
There was a slight sound and we both looked up to see Kipps staring at us, motionless. He looked me in the eye for half a second and walked out of the room, to the door. As the door slammed shut, I broke away from Lockwood, who tried to grab my wrist but failed.
"I'm going to do some rapier practice." I said and left him in the middle of the kitchen. I closed the door behind me.