Locklyle Fluff

Jealousy

It had been weeks since Lockwood had talked to the skull and now he wouldn't talk to anyone, not unless he had too. Lucy was worried that he had found out she liked him and didn't like her back, she tried to avoid being alone with him to avoid the awkwardness, but avoiding your boss and friend is hard, especially when you're out on a case, which was where they were heading that night.

Their newest client had watched their friend suffer from fatal ghost touch from what seemed to be a Wraith in an abandoned warehouse, the poor girl was hysterical when she came to Lockwood & Co. for help, she and her friend were dared to go to the warehouse and spend the night there but unfortunately her friend was ghost locked and ended up passing away that night. She was only 16 and had seen the apparition before her friend had.

Lockwood agreed that they would deal with it that night, George spent the day looking up the history of the area and Lockwood stocked and packed all the equipment, Lucy helped but spent most of the day practicing with her rapier. It was almost time to eat dinner when Lockwood came down to find Lucy.

"Did you know you hum when you're practicing?" Lucy whipped around.

"What?"

"You hum when you're practicing. Anyway, it's time to eat then we're going to get ready to leave."

"Okay."

They ate and got all ready to leave, they took a cab and were at the warehouse by nine. They did their usual routine, checked the temperature throughout all of the warehouses, noted any disturbances, made a chain link circle and waited for the apparition to appear. The warehouse was as plain as they come, it was mostly empty with the exception of a few crates and random boxes scattered around, Lockwood and George decided it would be best to push all the crates to one side of the warehouse.

"Lockwood, Luce. It's here." George pointed the side of the warehouse with all the crates, and sure enough, there it was, rising from the crates. It was definitely a Wraith. "Yuck, look at that face, or what's left of it."

"Now is not the time George." Lockwood drew his rapier, as did George and Lucy. George, did have a point, this Wraith was rather disgusting, it had once been a man but now it was more of a thin slice of moldy swiss cheese laid over a skeleton, he was rotten to the core, literally. His head dangled from his neck at a grotesque angle, and half the skin on his face was missing, so was his eyes and jaw. It floated above the crates but didn't move.

"Plan of attack?" Lucy asked.

"Its Source is probably in those crates somewhere, George get out a crowbar. Lucy and I will try to coax it away so you can search for the Source. Okay?" Lucy nodded to Lockwood, and they stepped out of the safety of the chains, immediately they could feel a blast of cold hit them in the face, it was so sudden it made Lucy gasp. Now there was a slight pressure on Lucy's inner ears, she could almost hear the Wraith, but whatever it was saying was too distant to make out. Lockwood and Lucy took small careful steps towards the Wraith, it quivered but didn't change much.

"I don't think it's going to attack, seems kind of passive." Lucy whispered.

"Agreed, I think if we just throw some salt and iron filings at it it should disappear long enough for George to try to find the Source." In sync they took small steps closer. The Wraith had also moved closer to them. After a few careful steps, Lockwood and Lucy were able to draw the Wraith out far enough where George could get to the boxes it had appeared near.

"Why isn't it attacking?" Lucy asked as Lockwood and she stood side by side watching the paralyzed Wraith.

"Maybe it's waiting for an opportunity, keep your eyes open." Lockwood replied, and Lucy did. She kept her eyes on the grotesque figure in front of her, this wasn't even the grossest Visitor she'd seen before but its sheer disgust mesmerized her, she couldn't look away. She didn't even realize she was ghost-locked until it was almost too late.

"Lucy, get ready, it's moving," Lockwood whispered as the Wraith began to rise. "Luce?" Lucy could not respond though, she was stuck in a state of wondrous fear, meanwhile, George struggled to open the crate the Wraith came from.

The Wraith rose above Lockwood and Lucy, Lockwood reached for a salt bomb but the Wraith was fast and swooped down towards Lucy, Lockwood cursed and tackled Lucy, they both fell to the side as the Wraith lunged into the ground where they stood moments before, suddenly aware of what was happening Lucy grabbed a salt bomb and chucked it at the rising apparition, it crashed against the floor below it and exploded, the Wraith sizzled and fizzed but stayed intact. Lockwood brushed salt grains from his coat as he stood to his feet and pulled out his rapier.

"Hurry it up George!" Lockwood demanded as he helped Lucy to her feet while George was heaving at a particularly large crate.

"I am trying! I'd like to see you open this thing." George had wedged the crowbar between the top boards and the side boards of the crate, he was sweating trying to make even a little crack.

Lockwood and Lucy battled the Wraith as George struggled with the crate, finally with a heave, he cracked the lid off and threw a silver net over the inside, shortly after, the Wraith disappeared. Gasping and panting Lockwood and Lucy made their way over to George.

"So? What's the Source?" Lucy asked leaning against the crate.

"I was just wondering the same."

"So you didn't even look at it."

"No. I just threw the net down and hoped for the best. Let's take a look." George lifted a corner of the net and they could see the Wraiths missing jaw. George carefully transported it to a silver glass case.

Then they went to the furnaces in Clerkenwell to burn the source, while there they bumped into Sam Saunders, one of the workers at the furnaces, he was almost always the one they went to when they needed something burned. Not much older than the three of them with long ginger hair that often hung over his eyes which were a sparkling green, pale with freckles and a big beautiful smile, not as beaming as Lockwoods smile though. He was a sweet boy, always very nice to Lucy and always disgusted with what they brought in.

"Hello, my favorite agents from my favorite agency." He greeted as they walked up to him.

"We're the only agents in our agency." George retorted.

"Ah yes, but that doesn't mean you three can't be my favorites. Lucy, how are you? I heard you got shot. Are you feeling okay?" He asked as they sat across from him, Lockwood had been quiet the whole ride there but seemed worse in mood now than before.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine now."

"Well thank goodness for that. I'm so glad to see you're okay." He smiled and winked at Lucy, Lockwood shifted next to her. "Now, let's see what you have for me this time." George pulled out the jaw and set it on the table. "Oh god, what happened to this guy?" Sam had to avert his eyes.

"Don't know, don't care. Let's just get it burned." Lockwood mumbled. They did all the necessary things they needed to do, then followed Sam out to the furnace area and watched from a waiting room as he sent it to burn.

"Great. Job over, let's go home." George rubbed his glasses in his sweater in an irritated manner.

"Couldn't agree more," Lockwood replied. They all set off to the door when Sam stopped them, or rather, stopped Lucy.

"Hey, Lucy-Luce." Sam gave her this nickname the first time he had met her after he got confused about which name to call her.

"Now that you're feeling better do you want to get some tea and pastries, whenever it's convenient for you of course." Before Lucy could even answer Lockwood stepped in front of her.

"Actually, Sam. Lucy is a very busy and important agent. Her schedule is much different than that of a Furnace worker, and we have a lot of cases this week so I don't think it will be convenient for her. Now if you would let us go home we had a long case and we are all tired." Sam's smile fell as Lockwood grabbed Lucy's arm and tried to drag her away.

"Lockwood! What is your deal! I can speak for myself, Sam I would love to get tea with you sometime. I'm free this weekend, pick me up Saturday, noon." Lucy then stormed out the door.