Lockwood & Co. The Secret Of Penelope Fittes

Chapter Nineteen

Unlike the others, Lockwood looked at the forming fog with a mixture of skepticism and slight anger. The fog whirled faster and faster... until he finally formed a picture abruptly.
I took in the air.
It was the first scenery I recognized. The entrance area of the Aickmere department store. Or at least what was left of it. The area was a mess. This was due to the storm, or rather to the poltergeist that had devastated the department store at the time.
But with the best will in the world, I couldn't figure out why that would be Lockwoods worst experience.
Suddenly the picture began to move. Three figures appeared at the edge and snapped towards the ever-increasing crack in the ground. It was Lockwood, Holly and me.
I looked to Holly, who had also recognized the experience, and then to Lockwood, who now watched everything with horror.
I approached him inconspicuously. We had now reached the crack and Lockwood grabbed Holly without hesitation and threw her precisely on the other side. Then it was my turn... or at least that's what I thought at that time. Reality was different: I was caught by a gust of wind and hurled violently through the room.
Holy cereal bars! This looked worse than it actually was.
The ghost lockwood watched me with sheer horror until his feet were torn off the floor. But unlike me, he was able to hold on to a pole in time while I was being pulled straight into the crack.
Now I could clearly see how the backpack with the ghost glass was torn from my back. When there was nothing more of me to seen, the storm stopped abruptly. Lockwood landed on the ground with a hard impact, but he straightened up immediately and ran towards the spot where I had disappeared:
"Lucy? LUCY!"
In the background George and Flo also approached. George gently tapped Lockwood on the shoulder.
"Leave it, Lockwood. You saw her get down there."
"Of course I saw it!" Lockwood hissed back. George took a step back, scared. That was the second time I've seen Lockwood lose all of his composure. The first time was also because of me...
The real Lockwood cramped next to me and had his jaw pressed together. I reached for his hand again.
"And it doesn't change the fact that she's down there and we have to get her up!"
"Lockwood, the rift is far too deep. How are you gonna get down there?"
"By jumping!" Lockwood hissed, "There's no way I'm leaving Lucy down there!"
And right after that, he jumped after me. The fog faded.
I stared at Lockwood, speechless, and said, "You risked your life for me?"
He didn't answer right away.
"I've told you before that I couldn't live without you. It was the same back then!"
Oh.
Nevertheless I saw that the thing took him hard, because the fog had not completely disappeared, but slowly circled us. Since I knew exactly that talking didn't help any more here, I did the only sensible thing that just shot through my head.
I pulled Lockwood down to me and kissed him. Behind me was once again quite a lot of air inhaled from the room. When I broke away from him, it was Lockwood who looked at me speechless:
"Why?"
I grinned at him: "Distraction!"
And indeed, the fog had evaporated.
Only now did I register the other three people in the room again. Promptly, the blush shot me in the face. Kipps stared at us with his mouth slightly open and Holly nodded proudly at me. Okay? That was slightly creepy...
Only George looked at Lockwood with a slight surprise: "Your worst experience has changed."
Lockwood looked at me for a second and then looked at George without batting an eyelid .
"I know."

..........*****..........

Now it was my turn.
I swallowed and turned to the fog. Since I could not grasp a clear thought at that moment, I could not even say what would await me now.
The fog was stirring up again.
I knew I'd regret it, but I looked at the vortex with curiosity. As with Lockwood, it also came to an abrupt halt...and showed me the worst part of my life. The place I hoped I'd never have to see again: The meeting with the chimera, who had portrayed Lockwood's death.
I jerked away and stumbled back until I promptly bumped against Lockwood chest, staring rigidly at my own self. I knew the Lockwood chimera would show up any moment now. It was only a matter of time left...
And actually, seconds later, I saw myself turning around fast. Two steps from me stood the blood-drenched Lockwood. Behind me pulled, once again, I think it was Holly, horrified the breath in. But it looked really bad!
Just now my ghost-me saw Lockwood. I swallowed when I approached him relieved, until my ghost-me saw that something was wrong...
"Lockwood? What's the matter with you? And how did you get here?"
"Nothing could have stopped me from finding you... Nothing in life and nothing in death."
"What...? What do you mean?"
I just didn't want to understand it then, just as I didn't want to believe it now. But at that time I had felt no trouble or anything like that... it was sheer horror and grief that showed up in my tears running down my cheeks like a single waterfall. Slowly my ghost ego sank to his knees.
"You don't have to be afraid. I can't hurt you."
"You're really scaring me now, Lockwood! Shut up!"
Now I noticed the light shining through Lockwood. Of course I was also transparent, because this event was shown by a ghost. But since I had experienced the encounter with the chimera several times in dreams, I knew what would happen next.
"Oh, no! No! No! No! Lockwood..."
"Don't be sad... It's not your fault."
The ghost Lucy slapped her hands in front of her face and left her there. I would have liked to have done the same, but I couldn't move. I was frozen.
"Lucy, I didn't come here to hurt you, I came to say goodbye."
"What happened?"
"I fell. I'm dead. Isn't that enough?"
"Oh, God..."
"It had to come to this at some point. But I'm glad you're doing so well, Lucy. So good you barely got a scratch." The voice sounded dry.
My ghost ego sobbed up loudly: "I wish it was the other way around!"
"I know... Lucy, I have to go now. I've been here too long!"
"Wait! I need to see you again!"
"That's not a good idea, you'd just suffer unnecessarily."
"Please, Lockwood!"
He stepped into the light and you could immediately see the big bloody wound that gaped in the middle of his chest. Something had hit him with full force, the right and left of him hanging down the shredded remains of his coat, which were still becoming more and more blurred at the bottom, just like the rest of the appearance.
Slowly I couldn't see much. The tears were running down my face too.
But suddenly my ghost ego became suspicious when it saw the threads that went out from the chimera.
"Wait a minute, Lockwood... these threads... YOU'RE NOT REAL! You're not him!"
"I am what will be."
"You're a cheater, a chimera!"
"I reveal the future. Look what you've done!"
"You're lying!"
"Not everything that shows your talent is in the past. Sometimes you see what's going to happen!"
A light smile followed, then the fake ghost-Lockwood was split by a blade. Behind it was the real Lockwood. Tattered and scarred, but alive.
"Hello, Lucy."
The fog evaporated, my worst nightmare was over.
Oh, yeah... Raziel was right: This was my worst experience. The fact that I could be responsible for his death, Lockwood's death. Just like my ghost ego, my feet failed me and I sank to my knees. Or at least I would be if Lockwood hadn't caught me in time.
"Lucy! You know that would never have happened and will never happen! That's what I told you then, and that's what I'm telling you now!"
He was trying to keep a calm tone and that's exactly why I was grateful to him at the moment. I stared at him. The tears were still streaming and as I was unable to find an answer, I just nodded.
We looked into each other's eyes for a while until Lockwood finally tensed his muscles and pulled me back on my feet. A look over my shoulder showed me that the fog had disappeared.
I exhaled with relief. Lockwood followed my eyes and immediately turned back to the others.
"Okay, guys. We're not going to talk about what just happened, we're going to see how to get out of here before..."
"Before Raziel rises again?"
A roaring laughter sounded: "Already happening! How unlucky for you..."
The dark blue smoke swirled around in front of us until it finally split up and shot into all four corners of the room.
"That you all have good friends to help you with all your problems won't help you if I attack you directly! You may have survived my first attack, but you must not forget that I am a ghost like any other. That means that with one touch Ill bring death upon you..."
The voice faded and the smoke sloshed towards us. At the same time a dome formed above us from the deadly fog, which slowly sank on us.The tiny seed of hope that I had after my encounter with Raziel faded immediately. This time there was really no way out. Lockwood, George, Holly and Kipps, the four agents with whom I entered the mausoleum for the first time two weeks ago, that evening when it all began, and me, all five of us, were now standing back to back in the tightest of spaces.
But I didn't give up yet:
"Lockwood, any idea how we're gonna get out?"
Lockwood always had some crazy emergency ideas that, although they often sounded impossible, always worked. He had to have one.
He sighed, "I'm sorry, Luce. But I don't know what to do here either."
Okay, Carlyle. Don't panic. It is not as if the one who rescued us from every hopeless situation did not know what to do any more. I took a deep breath once.
"George?"
But he also shook his head.
"Kipps? Holly?"
They both looked at me lost.
All right, then. Then nobody in this room had any idea how we could survive here.
I knew that somebody would have an idea. The one I had of course hastily forgotten about at home, because I thought I would return home tonight anyway. The one who knew all the spirits as well as his own underpants... because he himself was one: the skull.
At that moment, I probably could have hit my head against the stone floor. But since that wouldn't help us much now, I tried desperately to remain calm and to find a loophole in the fog that was getting denser and closer.
Just when my eyes found something that could have been a rescue for us, I heard a high cry behind me. At first I thought it was Kipps, but then I saw Holly sink to the ground with her eyes twisted. The ghost-fog had reached us...
Holly was touched on the leg and Kipps could jump to the side at the last moment.
Our lives would now come to an end.
Lovely. Absolutely lovely.
I was about to start my farewell speech when I heard a familiar voice behind me that had been annoying pretty much every day, but at that moment sounded like a dream come true.
"I leave you alone for a few hours and you're about to die! Tsk, Lucy, honey, I expected more from you"
The skull.
He was here! Far from his glass and his source.
He was free.
What about me? I could just stare at him right now.
He was standing here: A slim boy our age with lanky jeans and a torn shirt. The way he died. 170 years ago.
The boy grinned at me crookedly until he finally turned to Raziel.
"Raziel! Lovely to meet you again. And like the last time, you almost killed my friends. You almost made it. But only almost..."
"Don't underestimate my strength! And just because you did it with extreme luck back than doesn't mean you'll win today."
Immediately the smoke withdrew from us and shot at the skull.
Okay, the I left the fact that the skull just called George his friend without any comment at the moment. More importantly, he and Raziel knew each other, and he got out of the damn glass! How the hell did he do that?
I turned to the others and saw that they were also very confused. Even Lockwood seemed more than surprised.
I turned to the fight again: it was very complicated to describe, because although it looked like the two were fighting, you couldn't see any blood. Only the groaning and swearing indicated that the two were injured.
Suddenly a loud crackling sounded and Raziel's smoke froze. Immediately a white fog went out from the skull, which kept the dark blue at a distance. This formed a corridor. And this corridor ended at a door: the door through which Penelope had walked with Sir Rupert.
"Quick! Hurry up and don't stare at the door, cross it! You don't have time forever!"
I blinked twice until I understood the words, grabbed Lockwood and George by the sleeve and stumbled onto the door, assuming Kipps would drag Holly along. I fought my way to the last few yards to the door and flew through it more than I walked. When I turned around, I was horrified to find that Kipps was still in the same place with Holly where we had left her.
Lockwood turned around, too: "Kipps! What are you doing?"
But Kipps just smiled: "Don't worry. I'll take care of Holly. Make sure you kick Penelope's ass!"
"There's no way we're leaving you here, Kipps!" I was about to step over the threshold when suddenly a violent wind grabbed me and hurled me back. The door slammed shut and a white smoke shot through the crack at the last moment.
There were four of us: The skull, Lockwood, George and me.
Kipps and Holly were in the other room.
Together with Raziel.