Lucy:

The donuts were gone. I had tried to savour the two I ate but I was far too stressed to appreciate them properly. I wasn't the only one. Even Holly had nibbled on one and had gone back to Arif's for a fresh batch.

"What did the blackmail entail," I heard William ask his brother.

Quill sighed heavily. "My life, primarily. I imagine the business is also on the line but apparently some of the scrapes I found myself in were the result of mum being uncooperative. I don't have the courage to imagine exactly how many colleagues I've lost because we went in underequipped or with too small a team. Every time they would tell us that the client underestimated the threat or that we must have made a mistake. To think that they did that on purpose. You have no idea how many nights and days I've spent writing reports and evaluating cases to try to figure out what went wrong."

"You think they tried to kill you?" William asked in a small voice, void of all his previous bravado.

"I know they tried to kill me."

"That spectre," I blurted.

"What spectre?" Quill frowned.

"Do you remember back in December? You were so surprised. You said you had walked there a thousand times and you had researched it and everything. You don't think – do you think it could've been planted there?"

"What spectre?" Lockwood repeated Quill's question.

"Last December, I saw Quill walking home from the furnaces through St James's Church Garden. He was attacked by a spectre but I saved him."

"You walked home alone at night without any Talent?" Lockwood asked Quill with a disapproving eyebrow raised.

Quill rolled his eyes. "My team and I had cleared and secured that entire stretch. I had no reason whatsoever to believe that there would be any issue."

Lockwood gave him a sly smile. "You used Fittes resources for personal gain?"

"I did no such thing," Quill defended. "We did it on a night off. Bobby had practically begged that we do it. He was tired of taking a detour every time they had to take me home. Regardless, St James's is clean. It's even covered by a full grid of iron embedded in the ground."

"But what if the Source was above ground," I argued. "It could have been planted there, like the 'Belle Dame'-case."

Quill shrugged. "I suppose. It would have been suppressed by the iron, but it could have worked. It would have been a risky move though. Anyone could have walked through those gardens. You, being the case in point. Besides, it wasn't like it was common knowledge that I walked home like that."

"Either way, it would be hard to investigate this long after it happened," George pointed out.

Lockwood cleared his throat. "There is something else I'd like to discuss. With you as well, Will."

Lockwood and Quill had a silent conversation that consisted of Quill slightly raising an eyebrow and Lockwood giving a barely perceptible nod.

"We found something," Quill sighed and put an envelope on the table.

Lockwood added a small booklet on top.

Holly's eyes widened "Is that –"

"My parent's will and their last lecture," Lockwood confirmed quietly.

Quill rubbed his face. "They solved the problem. Or at least, they came pretty damn close."

George ripped his glasses off and rubbed them with the hem of his sweater. "What do you –"

"They were murdered. They knew too much, and Marissa had them murdered," Lockwood told us emptily.

Will looked at him with wide eyes. "Aunt Celia and Uncle Don?"

Lockwood nodded. "They were supposed to give their lecture in Manchester but three days before, the Orpheus Society had a preview. Obviously, they couldn't have the general public knowing what was stirring up the ghosts, so they killed them. It wasn't just some stupid accident. They were murdered."

I felt like there was more, but Lockwood and Quill didn't say anything else. I was curious about the will though.

That's when the phone rang. I was closest and went to answer it.

"Hello?"

"Lucy? It's Kate! Thank god, I've been trying to reach Quill for hours,"

"Kate! Are you alright?"

"For now. You need to know that Julius Winkman is out. They're planning something big. They're coming for you. Sir Rupert too."

"What do you mean? When are they coming?"

"Twenty-four hours at best. Be careful! Don't tru -"

The line cut and my blood froze.

I stared dumbly at the receiver in my hand. It mocked me with its drawn out tone signifying that the call had ended.

"Well?"

I turned my head do find the others staring at me expectantly.

"I think Kate's been made,"

William jumped up. "What do you mean 'been made'?"

He looked about as scared as I felt.

"What did you do?" he sneered at his brother.

Quill raised his hands disarmingly. "All I did was give her a choice. And not that I don't appreciate the worry, but since when are you so worried about Kate?"

William grimaced. "I uh – we might have had a thing some time ago,"

Quill looked at him incredulously. "I don't even know why I'm surprised at this point," he grumbled.

Lockwood shifted, looking pale. "We need to find out what to do for her," he choked out.

William shrugged. "It was a long time ago. We're still friends though,"

"She said that Winkman is out," I told them with a shudder. I could feel myself slowly starting to shake.

I felt numb. It was too much. Everything was too much.

I looked around at the others and their grim faces. We had to prepare. I knew that each one of us were running through different scenarios in our heads. Attack plans, defence, protection.

Except for William.

William looked as if he might piss himself at any minute.

I'd forgotten how different it was for other people. We were agents.

We were desensitised to the horrors of the Problem and what it brought with.

Sure, we got scared, but William?

He had gotten to live in relative innocence. He couldn't see the horrors, but now they were catching up to him.

I had to admit though, that it was different now. Because these were people out to kill us.

Ghosts, for people without Talent, were abstract at best. There were even some who didn't believe they existed.

People though? People were a very real, tangible threat. Especially these people.

He was taking deep breaths and Quill leaned over to put a hand on his shoulder.

"You need to go home, William," he murmured.

William frowned. "I don't – I can help," he protested weakly.

Quill gave him a gentle smile. "Go home, William."

"No!" He shook Quill's hand off, now slightly stronger. "No, I'm going to help. You have two problems. I can help. From the sound of it, you'll be under siege here, but there's Kate too! You can't do both. Let me help Kate! She's obviously in danger!"

Lockwood turned away. He was taking shallow shaky breaths. I put a hand on his arm, and he twisted around to look at me with wide eyes.

"I don't –" he gulped. "What do we do, Lucy? What do I do?"

I blinked and looked over at Holly and George who looked just as lost as I felt.

I took a look at William and his determined face.

"Can you fight?" I asked, eyeing his dainty hands that looked like they had never suffered worse than a paper cut.

He stood a little straighter pushed Quill's hand that had found its way to his shoulder again off.

"I can," he stated confidently with a challenging look at his brother.

"William," Quill sighed softly. "This isn't like when we spar. This is real."

"What, and the other fights I get in are imaginative?"

Quill pinched the bridge of his nose. "You're just not – you're not big enough for this," he tried weakly.

William scoffed. "If she's big enough," he pointed at me, "then I'm big enough."

Well, he wasn't wrong. I gently put a hand on Quill's arm, and he sighed.

"In my head you're still seven years old," he said in a small voice.

"I can do this," William assured us firmly.

"But maybe not alone, one of us should go with you. Anything could happen," Holly fretted and stepped forward.

"No can do," George butted in and held her back by the arm. "If he goes, he goes alone. All the rest of us are on their most wanted list. He has a larger chance of success if he goes by himself. He's a new face."

Lockwood ran a hand through his hair and started pacing.

"I don't like it. So much could go wrong," he muttered.

William raised his hands placatingly. "I'll be careful. If I'm not back in twenty-four hours, you can go look for me."

"If we're not all dead by then," George interjected darkly.

"Wow. Is he always like this?"

Lockwood shook his head absently "No, this is George on his best behaviour."

"Right."

"Right," Quill echoed. "Are you absolutely certain you want to do this?"

William rolled his eyes. "You sound like dad."

"That's not such a bad thing." Quill ran a hand over his face. "Right. Go to mum. Tell her Kate is in trouble. She can help you with an alibi or a cover or whatever. She might have an angle. And you can tell her that this shit is about to go down. So, get that brain of yours working and think of a legal defence. It's either us or them now."

William nodded decisively and started towards the door.

"Go out the back," Holly suggested. "Less risk of being spotted."

"Wait," Quill called out before William reached the exit. "Take my key. Some of my old uniforms are in my wardrobe. You might be able to use one to get in. When you get out of there, go to my flat and stay there. Call us here when you're safe. You hear?"

His voice was quaking slightly, and I turned away when he hugged his brother tightly.

As much as Quill was exasperated by his brother, he obviously cared for him deeply.

It felt like another stab at my heart by my own sisters' indifference or even hostility. If they knew that I was in danger like this, would they care more? Would they hug me like that?

I didn't think so.

They certainly hadn't after Wythburn Mill.

It made me slightly jealous of what the brothers in front of me had.

They let each other go and William slipped out with a wave.

He gave a small wink and blew a kiss in my direction.

I rolled my eyes.

We didn't have time for that kind of stupidity. It was time to prepare for the siege.

…

Quill:

What the hell was my life even anymore?

My reality was slowly but steadily spinning out of control.

Nothing I knew made sense.

My mum was apparently with the bad guys.

Jessica lied to all of us.

Tony was supposed to have grown up with us.

And now my baby brother. Well, my other baby brother.

The idiot I always cursed and wished would take things a bit more seriously.

But not this!

He should be serious about his education! Serious about the girls he was taking out.

Not serious about possibly infiltrating an enemy organisation on a solo rescue mission.

I plopped back down in my chair, staring at my empty coffee mug.

Around me, the others started discussing the defence of Portland Row I listened and even contributed but I was distracted and numb.

I went with Tony to get supplies, but I was in a daze. He wasn't much better off. Our world kept being upended. The only reason we got all that we needed was because Holly had made an extensive shopping list.

Nails? Check.

Plywood? Check.

Iron? Check.

Flares? Check.

Everything in so large supplies that we needed it delivered.

For once, Tony didn't complain when I pulled my check book out. Perhaps because he finally realised that the money I had was ours to share.

I hoped so.

I knew for a fact that there was a rather hefty bank account with his name on it that just waited for him to accept it. Maybe the will would give him the final push.

I felt my thoughts constantly straying to the last interactions I had with Jessica.

How she had never given anything away about this large secret.

How great of a liar she had been.

Maybe this would be the final push for me as well.

The push to finally letting go.

…

Lucy:

I had splinters everywhere. Name a body part and I had splinters there.

"Stop giggling, Holly. It's not funny!" I fumed.

"Don't sell yourself so short, Lucy. You're great for comedy relief. People might think I'm the funny one but that's because they underestimate the value of the pure slapstick idiocy you can provide."

"I'm sorry, it's just – there are so many!" she wheezed.

And yes, while I might not have had many fine moments, this was rather low, even for me but in my defence, I had been tired when I sat down on that wooden beam.

"But are you done soon?" I whined.

She chuckled. "Almost there."

"Liar."

Quick footsteps sounded on the stairs "Dinner's almost read – oh!"

The door slammed.

Holly cackled. "I think Quill got an eyeful,"

"Oh god, just let me die now," I groaned. My cheeks felt like I'd put my face directly into a fireplace.

"Well, if you'll just let me of this jar, I'd be happy to help,"

"It is quite the view,"

I didn't need to turn my head to imagine Holly's teasing grin.

"She's right, you know. It makes me regret dying before I could ever eat an orange."

"You can't even see, skull."

We had opened the valve, but I had put it just outside the door so it couldn't see us while Holly worked on ridding my bottom from splinters.

"I have a great memory."

I scoffed. "You can't even remember your own name."

"Well, I remember the important bits. And your derriere happens to be of the essence!"

I buried my face in the pillow, trying to forget the fact that the skull had seen me naked.

"What did the skull say?"

"Nothing worth repeating," I grumbled, not sure if Holly could hear me through the bedding.

"Not true!" the skull gasped. "Everything I say is worth an encore!"

"Well, I am done!" Holly declared dramatically with a flourish of the tweezers. "Wait, no, there's still something there."

I winced as she pinched my skin rather than the splinter before she finally got it right.

"Is it done?" I asked, not caring how pathetic I sounded.

"Yes, we're done."

I hurried to pull my knickers, leggings, and skirt up.

"How are things going with Quill, by the way?"

I sighed. "There's no going anywhere with Quill. Let's just go to dinner."

Holly scoffed. "Not until you elaborate on that statement."

"I don't know what there could be to elaborate on. There's nothing going on."

I shrugged and looked away.

"Why the hell not?" Holly 'eep'd and slapped a hand to her mouth when she realised, she had uttered a bad word.

My own eyes widened as well before I sighed and flopped down on the bed. She had been willing to use profanity. That meant that I had to give her an explanation or else I'd feel guilty for the next two weeks.

"Fine. I just – I don't know. Things are just so complicated," I groaned.

"Complicated, how?"

I sighed, trying to figure out how to explain the big cluster of complex emotions that I found myself in, where a lot of them weren't even my own.

"What Lockwood and Quill has is growing, but it's so fragile. I can't get between that."

Holly rolled her eyes, but I continued.

"Lockwood told me… some things… about losing his parents and his sister. He said that he was worried that Quill would take me away from him."

Holly scoffed. "And are you going to suddenly stop seeing us if you start going out with Quill?"

"Of course not! But I don't think Lockwood is going to see it that way. Lockwood said – he said that I gave him a reason to keep on living. What if he – what if he thinks I'm leaving and turn reckless again?" My voice sounded small. "I couldn't live with myself if he hurt himself like that."

"Lucy…" Holly started gently. "That's not fair. I don't know if that was what he meant, but even if it was, we are many people who care about Lockwood and will take care of him. He is not your responsibility. You do not have to sacrifice your own happiness for his."

"I -"

"Are ye comin' or what? The others won't let me at the bangers till we're all there," Flo hollered up the stairs, saving me from responding.

"We uh – we better get to it." I jumped up and righted my clothes.

Holly gave me a gentle look and wrapped her arms around me.

Something clicked inside me, and I found myself thinking that for all she had irritated me in the beginning and how exasperated I still sometimes got at her incessant cleaning and homemade granola bars, maybe I didn't have to be so jealous at whatever Quill and William had.

Because maybe I had something a bit like it too.

…

It's getting harder and harder to write as we're getting closer to the end.

Please leave a review!