On the day of the Twickenham haunting, I fell mysteriously ill.
"Perhaps we should postpone the case." Holly said, concernedly, as she put a hand over mine. I lied, bed-stricken, with a burning fever, while the company was with me.
"No, no," I coughed harshly. "You guys can do it without me. You're a great Agent, Hol. You'll be fine."
She beamed at that.
"This was supposed to be a reunion." George said grumpily. Quill and Lockwood stood just outside of my room.
"Seriously." I said airily. "Have fun. I'd love to go—" At this point my voice broke regretfully. Holly put a hand on my shoulder.
They all filed out of my room, except for George. George had been acting as somber as anyone else, but as soon as Quill had left, parting with a "Feel better, Luce" George's face morphed into one akin to the one he wore when someone had taken his morning muffin without asking.
"Laying it on a bit thick, aren't we?" George said, crossing his hands over his chest.
"I don't know what you're" cough, cough "talking about."
"Okay." George said unblinkingly. "Don't tell me. Just don't do anything dangerous, Lucy. I don't think Lockwood could stand it."
With those ominous words, he left.
I didn't have to worry about Lockwood- I'd be back from the Other Side before they captured their source. Iron and silver chains were by my dresser should I need them.
As soon as their cab left, I got up from bed, and went straight downstairs. In an old leather chest, we kept all of our spirit-capes, including all of the Orpheus's society's stash. I opened it up, and lifted them all out. They shimmered, pooling over my arms. Walking into my own room, I took all of the sources I had encountered. With that, I stuffed the capes into a box, and threw the box behind my bed, but not before I choose the feathery one that was Lockwood's. The feathered one was reliable and probably the best—I knew it wouldn't fail me now.
I threw the cape over my shoulders, along with putting on gloves. This next part was harder—I had to individually smash each source. The ghosts rose up, and a faintly portal teeming with Other-Light, appeared before me.
I took a deep breath, before stepping in.
It was bitterly cold. Small crystals began forming on my cheeks. As soon as I entered the Other Side, my head felt clearer. I blinked, taking in my room, devoid of light and color. And where the charred skull was, on my bedside table, hovered a dark-haired youth. So he was still tied to his source... holding on to it. For what?
I opened my mouth but closed it quickly. The boy was more solid than I had ever seen him. He watched me unfathomably, with emotion.
"Lucy… speechless? I'd have never believed it." The youth said finally.
I said nothing.
"So you came. Took you long enough. Grown tired of Lockwood so soon?"
I merely gazed at him. And suddenly, the skull moved forward, sort of gliding over the wood, before stopping before me. Snowflakes grew on my lashes, but still, I didn't seem to feel the cold. The boy looked keenly at my face, raising an eyebrow.
"Well now, Lucy. What do you want me to say?"
"A thank you would be in order." I said stiffly.
His face broke into a smirk.
"Alright—thank you. It is nice to chat with you again, I've been missing our little conversations. But this time, you've come to me. Here of all places."
I swallowed. "You said my name. In my room, two nights ago. You sounded—"
"In agony? Torture? Like a damsel in distress? Well, that's exactly what I was. Because I couldn't leave without seeing you first."
"Leave?" I croaked.
"You've said it for far too long. I'm a ghost. I don't belong here. I think it's about time to move on, don't you, love?"
"Move on?" I whispered.
"You really don't think this is the Other Side, do you? " He snorted ."This is just a pit stop, before we go Beyond. Before we go to the real Other Side, Heaven or Hell. Whatever it is, this isn't it."
"You don't have to go." I said, my voice cracking. "You always have a place at Lockwood and Co. Stay with us."
"I don't like sharing a house with Cubbins." He quipped, but his face softened. "Goodbye, Lucy."
My throat closed up. I couldn't believe it. I was loosing a type-three ghost, a companion, I was loosing the skull.
"G-goodbye, dear skull." I said softly.
There was a long silence. The skull regarded me with dark eyes. Then his face contorted and he gave out a sudden whoop of outrage. "WHAT?!"
The sudden blast of psychic energy shocked me. I stepped back.
"You're not going to even fight for me? Bend down on one knee? C'mon now, show some remorse, woman!"
I blinked. "Excuse me? You're the one leaving!"
"And you're absolutely devastated that I am! I've seen signposts look sadder than you!"
"Well stay!" I barked back. "I want you to stay. I need you!"
But he was already leaving, walking through the walls, and sinking through floors.
"Wait! Skull, please!" I called frantically. I started running, my joints seizing up from the cold.
I banged around dark Portland Row, I looked in every room. I ran out into the street, desperately calling for the skull. Faint glimmers were on the horizon, and they appeared to be getting closer. I ran in the opposite direction. I glanced up suddenly, sensing his presence, and saw a shape on the rooftop. Cursing, I began climbing up the side of the crumbling building, my shoes scraping against the bricks. My hands were scraped and bloody messes, but I couldn't care less. The Other Side seemed to have sealed up my cuts, but left by skin freezing. Heaving myself over, I crawled up onto the roof, where the skull sat, staring out at the sky, with a broken expression.
"Skull?" I said quietly. He did not turn to face me.
"Skull, I will miss you. I traveled to the other side for you! You mean a lot to me." As he was silent, I continued to ramble. "You're insufferable, you're malevolent, but you're mine, and you've saved my skin more times than I can count. I need you back."
He let out a rancorous snort.
I sighed. At least no one was looking. I bent down on one knee. Tears pricked my eyes. "I want you skull, can't you see that?" I was beginning to get angry. "I've risked my life for you to get you back. Doesn't that mean anything? I'm risking my life now!"
He stared into the empty sky.
"Damn it, skull!" I shouted. "After all we've been together? Do I mean nothing to you?"
"You once asked me what tied me to this world, why I stayed put in my jar. Why I didn't move on, or whatever it is we ghosts do. Well, it was you. You, Lucy, mean everything to me, in all my life- and death. I wasn't afraid of death. I didn't want to leave you. Obviously, the feeling isn't reciprocated."
"What, what do you—" My scowl froze, I left my sentence dangling in shock.
I realized that I didn't want the skull to leave me. We were together, unlikely companions, the severed links between life and death binding us. I picked my jaw back off of the ground.
"I would do it." I said quietly, hating the words I was about to say. "If I could, I would go to the Other Side with you. I know that's what you want me to do, to go Beyond Dark London. And I would. But I have other things that tie me to Earth, my friends, my family—"
"—Lockwood."
"—Lockwood. But you're the one who I'd be with. You've seen me at my best, and you've known me at my worst. Come back with me to Portland Row." I pleaded. "And If I live, longer than everyone else, then I'll go to the Other Side with you." I moved closer to the ghost. "I promise."
The skull stared at me. He struggled, with some other internal emotion, his eyes were dark but had a glimmer of something in them. He looked at me, right at me, with agony, with torture. And then he finally looked away. "I can't."
"What d'you mean? I thought I was all that mattered to you, in life and in death—"
"—In sickness and in heath, too." He smiled bitterly. "But I can't. My source is too damaged, in that fight with Marissa. I'm scarcely tied to it. I could barely whisper your name the other night. Lucy Lucy, Lucy. If I could return back into that skull, I would, Lucy, believe me. As it is, my time here in Dark London is short, and so is yours." He gestured to the ghosts that were floating below the building, waiting for me. "You attract all sorts of the wrong people, don't you?" He chuckled, gazing at me.
The ghost's cheeks suddenly darkened, his other-light dimmed as leaned in, ever so gently pressing his lips against mine. He was translucent- barely there.
Bone-freezing cold reverberated throughout my bones at his touch. I trembled. Why wasn't I being ghost-touched? I wondered wildly as he kissed me. How is this possible? Other thoughts also passed through my mind.
And then he leaned away, the familiar smirk back, but it was melancholic. His finger brushed off the frozen tears on my face, careful not to touch my skin.
"In life and in death, Lucy." He said darkly. "I'll be waiting for you." And with that, he jumped off the building, falling to the street, and gesturing to the ghosts beside him. He turned to give a cheery little wave, but his own face was scrunched up, and he quickly turned away.
I sat on that building, fresh tears falling like morning dew, like twinkling stars. I tried to suppress my sobs, as I climbed down from the building, as I walked into dark Portland Row, as I stepped through the portal, as I stumbled into my freezing room. I finally burst into sobs, collapsing on the floor, the warmth of the room feeling scorching hot against my skin. I threw a nearby silver chain over the broken sources, and the portal disappeared.
I shakily got up and went to walk out of the door, but someone blocked my path. I lifted my heavy eyes.
"Hello." said Lockwood, leaning in the doorframe.
I fainted.