Lockwood and Co: Before the Company

Chapter Ten: What I Wish I Had Said

I wish I could say I was ready for what came next; that I had thought of everything. I wish I could tie this story up in a neat little bow of happily ever afters, but I'm afraid we all know how this story ends.

I could feel the wrongness of it all the moment those silver doors opened. The psychic wave hit me like a bus. I felt a little relief when I saw the elegantly dressed, dark haired woman seated at her desk. There was a man standing beside her. He had a green suit on and a blonde mustache. I figured that this must be Sir Rupert Gale from the letter. I thought I could also see Tom's head peeking out over the top of the chair across from her. I recognized the woman from her photos. She was Penelope Fittes.

"Don't be shy, dear," she beckoned to me. Her voice was lower than I had expected. "Have a seat." I approached cautiously. Maybe I felt better after seeing that she was here as she said she would be, but the pressure in the room hadn't let up. Also, Tom hadn't turned. He hadn't said anything. My hand migrated to the hilt of my rapier. "Oh, you won't be needing that," she laughed, "I just have to talk to you for a moment." I didn't move my hand.

"Tom?" I called out. No response.

"Please, would you just have a seat?" Penelope Fittes said with more impatience in her voice this time.

"It's fine," I heard a man's voice coming from somewhere in the room. Gale's mouth had not moved. I figured it must have been Tom. Still, something unsettled me about the way he said it. "Just sit down, Evelyn."

I had finally come only a few feet from where Ms. Fittes sat. Something came over me. I whipped out my rapier and used the tip to spin Tom's chair around.

I went cold.

Tom sat there, in his usual silver jacket, motionless. His hands were bound and his skin was blue and swollen. There was no sparkle in his eyes.

I almost threw up. I almost screamed. I almost did a lot of things, but any reaction was stifled when Sir Rupert Gale came up behind me and covered my mouth.

"We told you to sit down." His voice was gravely and soft when he said this in my ear. I felt about to cry, but I couldn't let them see that. He guided me into the empty chair, the one beside Tom's, and bound my hands. Before returning to his place beside Penelope, he returned Tom's chair to the same orientation it had been before. His head lolled toward me. It was like he was looking at me, but his eyes were cold and glassy.

My rapier lay abandoned a couple of feet from me. The ropes weren't too tight. I could probably slip them. Penelope and her associate didn't seem heavily armed. If I played my cards right, I might have been able to make it out.

"Ms. Price," Penelope began speaking. I looked up, fire in my eyes. "I recently heard from your friend beside you that you found something that you never should have seen a few days ago. I need you to tell me the truth right now, and maybe we will spare you-"

"Rubbish!" I cut her off. "You would never have let me see Tom like this if you had any intention of letting me go."

"You know, you're too clever for your own good." She sighed. "Very well, if you give me the truth right now, I may just spare Lockwood." I froze. How could I respond to that? She was Penelope Fittes after all. She was definitely powerful enough. "I can make a quick call right now, and a nurse will pay your friend a visit. She won't be giving him medicine, though."

That's it. I had to kill her.

"In fact, if I don't make the call in the next hour, she'll do it anyways."

Damn.

"Alright," I reluctantly obliged.

Ms. fittes grinned. "Tell me, girl," she started, "did anyone else on your team see that room? Did you tell anyone else?"

"No."

"Are you absolutely certain?"

"Yes."

"Alright," she continued, "I have an offer to make you." I glared up at her. What could she possibly offer me right now. She already threatened to kill Lockwood, and basically confirmed she was going to kill me. "You're a very Talented young agent, Evelyn. In many ways, you're very similar to me." A bright, golden glow started to move from behind me and began crossing behind the desk to join Penelope at her side. I could feel it. It wasn't like any ordinary spirit. It had intelligence. "This is my partner, Ezekiel."

"He's a ghost?" I questioned.

"Not just any ghost, girl," Ezekiel said, "Like you aren't just any girl." I immediately knew that it was his voice I had mistaken for Tom's earlier. I had never encountered such a spirit, but I knew that this spirit was a bona fide Type Three. That's why it could speak to me. Suddenly, my position was that much more critical.

"Regardless, Evelyn," Penelope continued to explain, "Ezekiel has disclosed with me a way to defy death itself. Would you be interested in such an arrangement?"

"No," I said firmly, "I really wouldn't be."

She seemed taken aback. Did she actually think I would say yes to such a thing? "What of Lockwood, darling? Don't you want to see him again? He needs you."

"He doesn't need me like that." I was furious that she dared say such a thing. I would rather die than face Lockwood after making a deal with the wicked woman ahead of me. Nothing mattered anymore at that point. I slipped the restraints, whipped around and picked up my rapier. There was no going back. Civility was no longer an option. "Call off your nurse!" I yelled at her. "Call it off now!"

"Or I could just have her kill Lockwood," Penelope hissed, "You can't stop me."

"You're right, I can't," I said desperately, "but if you have any honor, any integrity at all, you will honor your word and spare Lockwood." There were tears in my eyes. I was pleading with a horrid, evil woman. My pride was gone. I didn't care about anything except that Lockwood would live. "I never told you a lie," I rested my stance. My arms now rested at my side. I kept going, "If you're going to kill me, kill me, I don't care. Just call it off." My voice was cracking.

Maybe there was some pity in her cold, black heart because, after Sir Rupert Gale had seized me once more and tossed my weapon aside, she picked up the phone and called off her nurse. I half expected her to do the opposite, but I couldn't have done anything to stop her either way.

"They will find you and your boyfriend tomorrow, ghost-touched and stone dead on the side of the road," Gale said from behind me, "Lockwood will wake up to the news of your death, but at least he'll wake up." His words shivered down my neck. My heart broke at the thought, but I had to be confident that I did everything I could to protect him.

As Ezekiel approached me, I knew what was coming, but I wasn't afraid. I had done my job. For the past several years of my life, I dedicated my life to training Lockwood. I would never have hesitated to die for him. He had years of life ahead of him, and part of that was because of me. He could start his agency, and part of that was because of me.

As the chill of Ezekiel's touch rushed through my body, I thought about the words I wrote on the tag of the gift box I left in his hospital room. I was so relieved I had that chance to say that to him one last time. The words I wish I had said everyday for as long as I had known him.

"I love you, Lock."