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askullinajar · 6 years

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The Shattered Frame (Part 4/7)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

Fic info: this is a sequel to my previous fic, The Living Ghost so go read that or this won’t make sense. Rating: General. Pairings: Lucy/Lockwood, Holly/Rani. Ao3 link: here.

A cluster of hauntings in a decrepit manor and the dripping spectre of a woman dressed all in black hits a little too close to home for Lockwood & Co’s newest member.

Part 4 – Redwood Manor

Mr Taylor turned out to be a timid shadow of a man in his late thirties, with eyes that darted back and forth like prey on the lookout for its predator. According to George, he’d been quite the formidable agent in his youth, but the fading of his Talent had left him jittery, terrified of being killed by the ghosts he could no longer see.

He guided us around the manor with the air of someone who would rather be in a cage with several lions who hadn’t eaten in weeks, because at least then he could see them. His stuttering commentary accompanied us from the vast foyer, through the living room with its musty armchairs and wide fireplace, upstairs through the dusty bedrooms, and downstairs to the basement that used to be the servants’ quarters, but was now used to store old furniture draped in moth-eaten sheets.

He refused to enter any of the bathrooms or the kitchen, informing us that many had been found drowned there, and he stayed on the porch when he took us to the back garden where the swimming pool was situated.

“Th-that’s where they found Lady Moore,” he stammered, gesturing weakly to the empty pool.

I walked up to the edge and peered in. Thick slime and dirt obscured the tiles, and puddles of old rainwater had formed in cracks at the bottom.

“Wouldn’t want to drown in there,” I said, grimacing.

Lockwood patted Mr Taylor on the shoulder. “Well, Ms Moore won’t be bothering you for much longer. How about you head off home before it gets dark and we’ll set up?”

Mr Taylor wasted absolutely no time in leaving us alone in the garden.

“See any death glows yet?” I asked Lockwood.

He hummed. “There’s one in the middle of the pool, quite bright already. I suppose it’ll only get brighter.” He pulled out his spare pair of sunglasses from his coat pocket and handed them to Skully for later.

I’d never been on a case with the living, breathing Skully before. None of us had. He tended to lounge around at home while we went out and risked our lives. I didn’t question it much; I just guessed he’d had enough of death. It was a shame, though; with his connection to the Other Side, Skully’s Talent was the strongest out of all of us. He had Sight as sensitive as Lockwood’s and Listening on par with mine. That, combined with his supernatural powers, meant clearing this manor of Visitors shouldn’t be too much trouble, as long as he actually cooperated.

Kipps put on his goggles. As a group, we scouted out the manor again, this time putting our combined talents to use and checking the temperature as we went along.

We set up our first iron chain in the living room in front of the fireplace, dumping all our spare equipment in it, then we set up smaller chains outside the bathrooms, kitchen, the back porch, and, finally, the basement, which was a few degrees colder than was natural.

The temperature steadily dropped as the sun gradually dipped below the horizon, colder near the water sources; dozens of death glows appeared, forcing Skully and Lockwood to don their sunglasses; shadowy figures began to drift through the hallways, but they seemed harmless for now, and I caught faint gurgling sounds coming from the kitchen sink.

As we were circling the perimeter of the house near the pool, Skully let out a yell.

“LOOK OUT!”

I nearly jumped out of my skin, Holly shrieked, Kipps squealed and clutched my arm, George leapt several feet into the air and his glasses went flying, Lockwood stumbled and fell flat on his face.

“Oh,” said Skully. “Never mind. Just a shadow.”

I slapped his arm.

“Ow!” he yelped. “What was that for?!”

“You know exactly what that was for!”

“Is this what you had to put up with on cases, Luce?” said Kipps, glowering at Skully who grinned evilly back at him.

“You have no idea,” I replied.

“No more of that,” said Lockwood, pushing himself to his feet and wiping mud off his sunglasses. “I think it’s time to form a plan.” He turned to face us as George retrieved his glasses off the ground and fumbled to put them on while glaring daggers at Skully. “Right, so I reckon we should split up to cover more ground. That way there’s more chance of one of us stumbling across a source. If you see Elizabeth Moore… Skully, are you listening?”

“What?” said Skully, abruptly. “Oh. No, I was just looking at this cloud over there. Looks just like Barnes on a moped.”

“Oh my god, it does,” I said as the others hummed in agreement.

Lockwood pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, as much as that cloud looks like Barnes on a moped, and it really looks like Barnes on a moped, we have some sources to find. Skully?”

“Yes?”

Lockwood spoke slowly, maintaining eye contact with the inattentive ex-ghost. “We’re going to split up…”

“Yes.”

“And if we see Elizabeth Moore…”

“Yes.”

“We… You’re not listening, are you?”

“Yes. Wait. What? No, I zoned out again.”

I slapped my palm against my forehead.

“Okay, new plan,” said Lockwood. “We split into twos. Whoever’s with Skully, make sure he doesn’t break anything and/or kill anyone. I’ll go with Lucy–”

“Shocker.”

“Shut up, George. We’ll take the garden. Quill and George, take the top two floors. Skully and Hol, take the ground floor and basement. If any of you see Elizabeth Moore, scream, and the rest of us will come running. Got it?”

We nodded, all except Skully, who was pulling at a loose thread in his coat. Holly had to tug on his sleeve to get him to follow her.

“She better come back in one piece!” I called after them.

“Of course,” Skully called back. “She promised me cake. Enjoy your moonlit walk, lovebirds.”

I stuck my tongue out at him as he disappeared into the house with the others.

I walked the grounds with Lockwood’s familiar presence at my side. A few wispy shapes had formed near the pool.

“Make out any details, Lockwood?” I asked.

“They’re not fully formed yet, but they look like kids to me,” he replied. “Agents who met a bad end, possibly.” He paused for a moment, then said, “You can call me Anthony, you know?”

I looked up at him. “What?”

“It’s just…” His brow furrowed as if he was thinking over his next words. “We’re together now, right? It seems weird for my girlfriend to call me by my surname.”

I blushed at the term ‘girlfriend’, still not used to it. “Anthony,” I said, rolling the word on my tongue, trying it out. I smirked at him. “What if I wanna call you ‘big A’.”

“Then I’m dumping you,” he monotoned.

I stuck my bottom lip out. “That’s just mean.”

He laughed at my expression and nudged my side as we continued walking past the pool. “Just kidding. I’d never let you go, Luce. Even if you called me ‘big A’.” He stuck out his tongue in disgust.

“And what about ‘A.J’,” I said, casually.

Lockwood’s brow furrowed, and he looked at the ground. “Jessica called me that, sometimes.”

I glanced over at him. “You didn’t seem to mind when Skully said it.”

He shrugged. “It’s… I don’t know. It seemed normal when he said it. Guess he’s growing on me.”

I smiled slightly. “Well, my best friend and my boyfriend need to get along…”

I stopped walking. Lockwood looked over at me and raised his eyebrows questioningly. “I hear water,” I said. It was getting colder, too. My breath puffed out in front of me.

Lockwood frowned. “Wait, I hear it too.”

I looked up at him, confused; his Listening was usually terrible. If he could hear it, then…

I turned back towards the pool. I watched as water gushed into it from an unknown source, rapidly filling it all the way up to the brim.

“Lucy!” Lockwood shouted. I whipped back around to see he had his rapier drawn and was facing down a Visitor who hovered a few feet in front of him.

She was dressed all in black, and the fabric rippled and flowed around her form as if weightless. Thick tendrils of dark hair swirled around her pale face and dark, hollow eyes stared towards us. It was as if she was eternally floating underwater.

And, around her, more Visitors gathered, getting more defined as they drew closer, as if gaining strength from the psychic energy she radiated, until I could clearly see every hair plastered to their foreheads, their clothes dark and weighed down, the water dripping from their locks, down their noses, their sleeves, their legs, pooling beneath them on the grass below.

My ears buzzed with psychic humming; words I couldn’t quite make out.

“Elizabeth?” I addressed the ghost. Lockwood glanced over at me but didn’t attempt to stop me.

Faint words. “…gone…can’t…”

“What is it you want?” I said. “We can help you.”

“…can’t find him… gone… need to find him…”

“Your brother?” I said. “Can you tell me his name?”

The ghost snapped her necked up and stared right at me, her face contorted into a hideous expression before she let out a spectral shriek. “GONE!”

I stumbled backwards from shock. Lockwood unclipped a salt canister from his belt and hurled it at the ghosts’ feet. It exploded, sending grains of salt everywhere and making ectoplasm hiss and sputter. The Visitors flickered out, but Elizabeth reappeared only a few feet back and raised a huge gust of freezing wind that smacked into us with full force and sent us staggering backwards towards the pool. It kept blowing, whipping our hair back from our faces, forcing us ever closer to the water.

With great effort, I grabbed a magnesium flare and, squinting against the harsh wind, threw it in the general direction of Elizabeth’s ghost.

There was a flash of Greek fire, and Elizabeth momentarily flickered out again, giving us a brief respite from the spectral wind, but it didn’t last long.

She reappeared even closer and sent another blast of air our way. My feet teetered on the edge of the pool, the icy water lapped at my ankles. It only took one more gust of wind to knock me over.

I just had time to scream, and to hear Lockwood shout my name, before I was enveloped by the frosty water.

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