The Living Ghost

New Member

DEPRAC arrived sooner than expected; it turned out Jake had heard the cacophony of explosions and gunfire from his cab and contacted them. They had brought ambulances with them, and paramedics were now tending to Holly's arm and Kipps, who had managed to rip some of his stitches.

"You lot just can't keep out of trouble, can you?" said Barnes, grumpily.

"You know us, Inspector!" Lockwood said, cheerfully.

Barnes gave an illegible grumble, then raised an eyebrow at Skull who was slouching in the seat on my left. Barnes looked him up and down and grimaced. I could understand his disgust; aside from Skull's ragged clothes and bare feet, he was covered in grime and his hair seemed to be spiked with mud and grease, obscuring its natural colour. "New member?" he asked.

"Yes!" Lockwood announced. "This is..."

"Jim!" George supplied, and I felt Skull tense up beside me.

Barnes nodded with a sigh. "Good luck, Jim," he said, before moving off to deal with the arrests.

I turned to George. "Jim?"

"Oh! Didn't I tell you?" said George, shooting a grin at the Skull who glowered in return. "I did some research into Bickerstaff's associates after we found out what our good friend really looked like. He matched the description of a serving boy named Jim Walker. Sound familiar, Jim?"

'Jim' crossed his arms and muttered something that was most likely death threats.

"'Jim'," I repeated, laughing; I had a feeling he'd never really forgotten his name.

"What's wrong with 'Jim'?" Skull demanded.

"Nothing," I said, still snickering. "I just figured you'd have a cool name, like 'Dexter' or 'Sebastian' or something."

"Your taste in names is questionable," he told me. "And what about Jim Moriarty?!"

"Pretty sure he went by 'James'," I replied. "Plus, he had a cool surname. Yours is kind of common. Just 'Walker'."

"Jimothy Walker," said Lockwood, grinning gleefully.

"Jimbobs Walker," George added, snorting.

"I could kill you both in a second," Skull reminded them, shortly. They shut up pretty quick after that.

Holly wandered over to us, her arm now bandaged and in a sling, and took a seat next to George. "They've taken Quill to hospital," she informed us, "and I have to check in tomorrow, but I've managed to get away for now."

There was suddenly a shout from across the room. "Holly! What have they done to you?!"

A girl in a DEPRAC uniform and a midnight blue Hijab ran over and flung herself down next to Holly, gently taking her hands.

Holly laughed. "I'm fine, babe. Nothing to worry about." She turned to the rest of us. "Hey, I'd like you to meet my girlfriend, Rani. Rani, these are my colleagues from Lockwood & Co."

"I've heard all about you!" said Rani, smiling broadly at us. "Lockwood, Lucy and George, right? And... uh..."

"This is Jim," I said, patting Skull's leg as he gave me a dirty look. "He's new."

"Lovely to meet you, Jim," Rani said, oblivious to the death glare Skull was shooting her way. "Anyway –" She turned back to Holly – "I've got to go, babe. You've caused such a mess."

"Hey!" Holly protested. "That wasn't all my fault!"

"Sure," said Rani, tusking jokily as she got up to leave. "But just so you know, if you get into any more fights, I'm gonna have to divorce you."