A/N. we're in the double digits! I'm amazed by the response I've gotten, we're over 2,000 views and I can't wait to keep going! Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing!
For many months, even years, after our time in France had ended, I often wondered what would have happened if I had done even one thing differently.
What would have happened if I had restocked the iron filings when I should have?
What would have happened if my sword had not broken in the hall of mirrors?
And most of all, I wondered if I had simply hidden the photograph of the ghost children in a drawer of my bedside tables?
Perhaps I would have moved it if I had not been so tired from my trip to silence the Limbless in the park but whatever the oversight, the fact is I did not.
So there sat the picture, in my knapsack waiting for some explorer to search the bag's contents and find it.
Our routine after a case was considerably different from what it had been at Portland Row. It was, most obviously, not our home, making our post case dress code inappropriate at times. We could no longer eat at our leisure. Instead, Holly rounded up the troops for the 10 o'clock breakfast in the dining room our hotel. Then we would repack our kitbags and practice rapier work. Holly insisted the routine would help acclimate our young agents and was significantly healthier for them. I wasn't sure if that was true but I had to admit that we made more progress in our days.
Once the food was in our system, I took Jane and Asha under my wing and we disassembled their kit bags
"Lucy, I'm almost out of silver seals," Jane said, inspecting the contents of her kit with a furrowed brow.
"Wait till you get to the bottom of the bag," I advised, sitting cross-legged on the rug beside her. When I was with Jacobs, it was always the older agents who watched me re-pack my kit bag and it felt complete somehow to offer the same guidance to the girls. "They tend to slip down."
Slowly, she unpacked her bag, laying each item on the floor. Asha was taking her duty with the utmost care. Each tool was gently placed on the rug. Filing packets sorted into neat little piles. Her eyes had kept a haunted glimmer since her return from the hospital. She was quieter than usual, her fingers shook as she withdrew the loops of chains from her duffel.
Holly lounged gracefully in a sofa, watching us lazily. She had gotten comfortable in France, resuming work as out assistant with gusto. If anything, she was more energized than she had been at Portland Row. Holy seemed to flourish under the newfound leadership over our scribes and state-issued scheduling.
"I had a dream last night," she said, suddenly. "We were all at the beach, sprawling in the sand."
"I wouldn't want to be on a beach in France," I replied. "Might be a ghost that takes the guise of hundreds of crabs."
Holly continued, ignoring me. "And I was burying my feet in the sand when-"
"You had a skeletal finger wedged between your toes." I finished.
Jane giggled, even Holly cracked a smile. "It was actually a shell,"
"My ending is better."
"Sure."
"Hey, Lucy," Asha spoke up. "Do you have any filings I could borrow?"
I shrugged. "You're going to give them back?" she stared at me blankly.
"You said borrow, that means you're going to return filings-" I sighed. "It was a joke." she continued to stare, her eyes deep pits with that haunted gleam sending shivers down my spine.
"Yes, in my bag," I said. "Just keep them." she stood and made for my bag that was propped against the far wall. I turned back to Jane, who was now rustling in her bag for her silver seals.
"I still can't find them," she moaned. "And Mr. Lockwood just gave me more!"
"Cheer up, Jane," I said straightening 2-inch chains on the rug so they were perfectly arranged. "We'll have George give you some of his if you can't find them."
Holly frowned, sitting upright on the sofa. "What's taking so long, Asha?"
"Can you not find them?" I asked, turning around to see the little mouse crouched in front of the bag frozen. "Bring it here, I'll look for them."
"Asha? What's wrong?" I ask again. She turns slowly and I see in her hands, glowing in the shadowy corner of the room, the ghost children's jar.
An elevator shaft opened in my chest and my heart plummeted. I couldn't breathe. I could not breathe. I started feeling faint, in blurring vision I saw shock slash across Holly's face as she realized what Asha held.
"Lucy?"
The tone she used broke my heart on impact. It was scared. It was so terribly scared.
" Ms. Carlyle, what's going on? What is that?" Jane stood, swaying on her feet.
"Lucy, what is that?"
Lucy.
What is that?
"MR. LOCKWOOD!" Jane's scream pulled me back up the pit I had fallen in and back to the present. I opened my mouth to explain but it was too late. Anthony burst through the door, Quill, and George close behind. "Why in god's name are you yelling?"
"Look what Ms. Carlyle had in her bag!" Jane declared.
I looked at Lockwood, as he glanced at the ghost jar. He had been practicing rapier work with Seamus on the roof, sweat beaded on his forehead and his hair was disheveled. His eyes, though, hardened to chips of dark ice. I felt my heart plummet once again.
"Lucy," he said slowly, in an attempt to stay calm but I could feel his fury from where I sat. "What the hell is that?"
"It's the Source from St. Lavaline's," I said simply.
The inexplicable scenario I now found myself in was quite astounding. To try and rationalize my actions to Lockwood, who sought only to destroy the visitors, would be early impossible.
"Francis is the real problem here," I said, avoiding Lockwood's eye. "They know him. They can help us. I know you don't believe me-"
"No, Lucy," Lockwood said, is the rage now shaking his voice. "What I can't believe is that you would take a dangerous source and just carry it around, possibly endanger our team?"
"I know my track record isn't great," I conceded.
"Your record doesn't enter it!" Anthony growled. His anger filled the room. Holly, Asha, and Jane now clustered on the couch, eyes wide like owls perching on a branch. Quill and George shrank into the shadows, leaving me and Anthony, just a few feet apart, anger crackling like lightning between us.
"The fact that you would jeopardize our safety once with the skull is horrid enough but when you've done it again." His fists shook with anger. "You have betrayed us, Lucy. You've betrayed our trust."
I couldn't speak. My heart felt like it had been stabbed by a rapier blade. My lips trembled but I refused tears.
"You act as if you are blameless of secrets, Lockwood. But you are as guilty as I."
"Lockwood," George said, now stepping back into the line of fire. "Show me some proof that she has betrayed you. She only did what she thought was right for the company. She was looking to the future."
"More than you do," Kipps muttered under his breath. Lockwood glowered at him but Quill refused to wither under his gaze. "We can stamp out small hauntings for years but it won't do anything. Lucy is after the big picture."
Lockwood looked around at us all. George, Kipps and I standing like a trio of renegades revolting from under his rule. Holly with the girls sat meekly on the sofa, their expressions more frightened than rebellious.
"Holly?" He said, desperately.
"I don't think Lucy would ever have done anything to harm us and if she said it's under control, then it is."
"It is under control." I assured them. "we need another insider, like the skull. And Bridgette and Simon are, if not trustworthy, reliable. They want to help."
Lockwood crossed his arms and glaring left the room, his team now very much independent.
And as I watched him leave, I wished for the first but not the last time, that I had hidden the ghost jar out of sight.
That night, I was woken by a rustling of blankets and a sudden weight on my bed. Slowly, I opened my eyes and in the dim light, I saw dark brown hair and a blue nightgown. Then Asha's face appeared on the pillow beside my head. "Lucy?" She whispered.
I groaned something that resembled nothing in English.
"I can't sleep." She shivered.
I lifted my arm from under the blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders, tucking her in. "Nightmares?"
She nodded.
"It's okay. I have them too."
Asha curled up against my side and I wondered if this was what it was like to have a little sister.
A/N
Late, again. I'm just amazing at this. Maybe I should change it to Spreading Shadows Tuesdays?
as always, thanks for reading! Please Favorite, Follow or review. Check me out on Tumblr and stay tuned for another chapter next Spreading Shadows Sunday! (If I can get my act together)
Also, I have fallen in love with Doodlingraka and Graf fiction artwork on Tumblr. They do some amazing things for the Lockwood and Co fandom and all you skullies should check them out!