After arriving at my old house, I had intended to sleep, a lot. The day had been exhausting. After Mam passed away, there had been a frenzy of activity. None of us wanted to stay idle, so we got a move on and started with the preparations for the funeral. Judith called in a nurse so a medical certificate could be made, and Mary decided she'd go register Mam's passing at the local registry office immediately when it was done.
At the end of the afternoon, I joined Rebecca in her Mini and we drove back to the cottage in silence. Rebecca fled upstairs immediately, but my friends were waiting for me in the small living room. They offered tea and sympathy and Holly pulled me into a hug that lasted well over a minute. I couldn't be bothered to pull away.
After a quick meal (courtesy of George) and a discussion about who would sleep in which room when Judith came back from setting up an appointment with Mam's solicitor, I'd gone up to the room I used to share with Mary. I collapsed into my old bed, and fell asleep within moments.
It didn't last long though. My sleep was plagued with nightmares about Ghost Touch and hospital rooms that woke me up multiple times. The last nightmare I had was about the incident at the Wythburn Mill, and I woke up from it with a violent start. As I opened my eyes, soft sunlight already shone through the faded curtains that hung in front of the window. For a moment I was completely disoriented, and it felt like the Mill had been just yesterday.
Yawning, I got out of bed and walked to the old wardrobe I shared with Mary. I was convinced I needed to get ready to go face Agent Jacobs. But when I pulled the wardrobe open, I discovered it was mostly empty. Some of Mary's clothes were still there, and I spotted a few shirts and jumpers I had long since grown out of, but the only other things that filled the space were tiny dust bunnies.
I let the doors fall shut again and spun around, trying to make sense of my surroundings. My eyes fell on the two overnight bags shoved against the little shared desk. Were those mine? How had I not noticed them earlier? I nearly tripped over a black skirt lying on the ground and the curse that escaped me woke up my roommate.
"Lucy?" The girl who sat up in bed and used the back of her hand to rub sleep out of her eye, was most definitely not my sister. Her hair was a beautiful dark colour that didn't match any of us Carlyle girls, and her skin tone was darker than any of us could even hope to achieve, no matter how much we tanned. I blinked, once, twice, to clear my mind.
It took me a moment, but slowly yesterday's events came back to me. "Sorry, Holly," I mumbled. "For a moment I just-" I cut myself off, unable to explain I'd been convinced I was that young girl who planned to run away from home again. I was back in Whitton on Dean because Mam had passed away yesterday. The funeral would take place tomorrow, and I was sleeping in my old room with Holly, a colleague from Lockwood and co. Perhaps even a friend.
"Never mind, I'm sorry for waking you up, Hol. Let's go back to sleep for a while…" I climbed back into bed and turned my back to her, staring at the beige wallpaper. It was starting to peel a little along the edges. Holly sighed deeply, but didn't speak up. I could hear her shift under the covers, and soon her breathing evened out. Despite trying, I couldn't fall back asleep myself. I changed positions a couple times, watched the intensity of the sunlight pouring through the curtains grow stronger, and listened to the psychic static of the skull in the jar. I had pushed the thing beneath the bed as far as it would go so it would be out of our way. We couldn't leave it sitting out in the open with my sisters staying here too, but Holly didn't want to have it ogle us. And who could blame her?
Eventually I decided to get up and get dressed. Sleep wouldn't come again and staring at wall was not going to make me feel any more rested. I moved quietly this time, as not to wake up Holly again. I snuck out of my room and walked across the landing, past the doors to the bathroom and the twins' old bedroom. Lockwood, George and Kipps were probably fast asleep in there. Rebecca and Judith had dug an old air mattress from the tiny storage area in the attic, so that all boys had a comfortable place to rest. We didn't want a repeat of the Old Sun Inn incident.
If it were up to me, I would have let them sleep in the attic. It used to be an open floor, but had been divided into a few small sections with plasterboards some time before I was born. There were three semi-private sleeping areas, and a small washbasin with a mirror. The rest of the space was used as a storeroom for Mam to dump old furniture and other unused items in. Lockwood, George and Quill would've had more privacy up there, but Judith had insisted on sleeping in her own bed, as she had shared the attic with Margaret and Alice when she still lived at home. Rebecca decided to take Alice's old bed so that none of the boys would have to share with Holly and me.
Rebecca was already in the kitchen when I came downstairs, putting slices of bread into the ancient toaster on the laminate countertop.
"Morning Lucy," she greeted me when I walked into the kitchen. Her voice was hoarse and thick, and when she turned around, my gaze was drawn to her red-rimmed eyes and messy hair. Obviously her day hadn't started out great either.
"Hey Rebecca," I returned the greeting. "Do you want help? I'm not sure when the others will be down, but they'd all appreciate breakfast." She gave a quick nod, wiping the strand of hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear.
"Could you set the table?" She asked. The strand of hair slid from her ear again, and with an agitated movement she pulled out the hairband and redid the ponytail.
I nodded in reply to her question and got to work. It felt nice to be busy. Recalling the locations of the plates and cutlery allowed me to focus on something besides the heavy atmosphere in the house and my sister's sadness. The kitchen was bigger than the one at Portland Row, but somehow it felt more crowded. I spent a lot of time trying to avoid colliding with Rebecca as she bustled around while fixing the toast. I placed jam and marmalade on the table while Rebecca loaded the toaster again. Every now and then my sister let out a deep sigh.
After about 15 minutes Judith joined us, already immaculately dressed up. Her blouse was pristine and she had her hair pulled up into a tight bun. She greeted us both with a short nod and started buttering a slice of toast for herself. Another 10 minutes later Holly came downstairs as well, and Rebecca and I decided to sit down and eat something too. We ate our breakfast in silence.
"When do we need to be at the solicitor?" I asked when I had nearly finished my toast with jam.
"Half past 8," was Judith's short reply. She got up and walked to the fridge, frowned at the limited selection of dairy before selecting the half empty carton of whole milk and pouring herself a glass. "Where are your friends?"
I gave a small shrug. "Still asleep, I suppose." Holly nodded in agreement.
"What? It's a quarter to 8!" Judith sounded scandalised that anybody would even consider sleeping in past seven in the morning, and for a moment I expected her to march upstairs and wake them up herself.
"Well, they don't need to come along, do they?" I remarked. The comment earned me a glare, but I was good at ignoring those.
Lockwood, Kipps and George stumbled into the kitchen around 8, when Holly and I were clearing up. Luckily, all of them were fully dressed. I doubt my sisters would've appreciated a glimpse of George in his baggy pyjamas anymore than I did. I waited until they too had eaten something (while my sisters threw agitated glances at the clock that was steadily ticking away the time remaining before we had o leave) and then cleared my throat. "I want to go to the station tonight."
My friends simply nodded, although George and Lockwood did give me a somewhat worried look. My sisters however, reacted like I just told them I was going to steal the crown jewels. Apparently Mary hadn't consulted our other sisters before deciding to ask me to look into the case in our professional capacity.
"You can't!" Rebecca gasped while Judith glowered at me. "It's way too dangerous!" The glass she held was shaking slightly, and she quickly put it into the dishwasher so she couldn't drop it by accident.
"Just let Jacobs' kids handle this," Judith agreed with her.
"Mary asked us to investigate this," I protested, crossing my arms in front of my chest. I wouldn't let them question my decision. "What did you think the equipmentis for? And besides, if agent Jacobs were to handle this, we'd probably have more deaths on our hands." Both Rebecca and Judith flinched at that, but neither opened their mouths to argue. They knew I wouldn't change my opinion on Jacobs any time soon.
"And what if it really is dad?" Rebecca asked after a moment of silence. I shrugged, trying not to pay my friends - who were watching us as if they were spectators at a tennis match – any attention. They had wisely decided not to get mixed up in this particular conversation. George was still eating his toast, chewing speculatively as his eyes flicked from me to my sisters.
"I was barely five when he passed away, Becca," I pointed out. Kipps eyes widened with this new titbit of information, but I pointedly ignored his questioning look. "I barely remember him in the first place-" and what I did remember wasn't pleasant "-so I doubt it will be an issue."
"We don't have time to argue about this, we need to go if we want to be at the solicitor on time," Judith interrupted. "You go on your dumb little expedition tonight, but don't come crying to us when things inevitably go wrong." With that she got up and walked out of the kitchen. After a moment of hesitation, Rebecca followed.
A/N: This is a little bit of a filler chapter, but the chapter that it was originally a part of got a lot longer than I expected, so I decided to split it up. I'll try to get the next part up soon, before Uni takes over my time again. I hope you enjoyed reading, let me know what you think!