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Lucy and Lockwood ran for their lives. The cold pressed on the outsides of their spirit cloaks and fatigue weighed down their legs, but they ran. Lucy glanced over her shoulder and through the trees she saw the dead of Aldbury Castle chasing them. They burst out of the trees onto Gunner’s Top and she saw the black sky, yawning like a great open mouth above her. The Other light glistened on the frost covered grass and mist tried to crawl up the hill toward them.
Lockwood pulled at her arm and she tried to run with him but her legs seized up and she fell, tumbling down the hill. She lay on her back, gazing at the blackness above her. Her eyes prickled with tears at the loss of the stars. She tried to roll, to sit up, to move at all but it was like ghost-lock had overtaken her and she could barely turn her head.
“Lockwood…” It came out as a bare whisper of breath through her lips. She wanted to cry, to scream, but no sound would come out and her body refused all commands. She was going to die here. They both were.
Lucy came awake all at once, sitting up in bed so fast she nearly cracked her nose on her own knee. She gasped for air, crying, shaking. After a moment she threw back the covers and stumbled to the window. She needed to see the stars, to know that she was home and not in that twisted black realm.
There were no stars tonight. The lights of London reflected off the clouds so that it looked like a sea of mist high up in the sky. She focused instead on the ghost-light down the street. After a minute it came on, bright and harsh, then went out again, leaving after images on her eyes.
Lucy pulled on a sweater and slippers and padded down the dark stairs. She paused on the landing to see if light shone under Lockwood’s door. He was notoriously insomniatic. But all was dark and quiet in the house. Well, quiet save for George’s snoring.
Lucy continued down the stairs to the kitchen where she poured herself a glass of water from the tap. The clock on the wall said it was 3:30 am. She sighed. She didn’t think she would be able to go back to sleep any time soon but she’d only had two hours of sleep. She needed to rest. They had jobs to do and a heist to plan.
“Sod it,” she muttered to herself and started filling the kettle with water for tea.
“Hello...” Lockwood’s voice made her jump a foot in the air, sloshing water out of the kettle onto the counter. She spun and saw him at the kitchen door. She hadn’t heard it open over the sound of the tap. He wore pajamas and a robe, or “dressing gown” as he liked to call it.
“Jesus, Lockwood!” Lucy breathed.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” He smiled apologetically and Lucy inwardly sighed at how that faint smile would make her forgive him almost anything. She grabbed a tea towel to mop up the water on the counter and then set the kettle to boil.
Lockwood crossed the kitchen behind her and leaned against the counter, a few feet from Lucy. “I heard you on the stairs. Couldn’t sleep?” Lucy shook her head.
“Tea?” She asked, already knowing what the answer would be.
“Always,” he grinned. She smiled back and grabbed two mugs from the cupboard, two tea bags from the canister.
“Is everything okay?” He asked, a note of polite concern in his voice.
“Yes. No… I don’t know” Lucy was never certain of how much she could open up to Lockwood. He rarely opened up to her and yet she felt she could easily pour her heart out to him given half a chance.
Lockwood waited, still leaning against the counter as nonchalantly as you please. Lucy didn’t want to open the dam of feelings that had been churning inside her since they came back from Aldbury Castle. She didn’t know where that would lead. But after several long seconds of silence she couldn’t keep it in any longer.
“I keep having these dreams,” she said. “About the Other side. They feel so real. We’re running from the spirits, through the woods, but I fall and I can’t get up again. I’m so tired and my legs won’t work and I’m just lying there. And I see you running and I want to call out to you but I can’t.” She tried to bite back the tears that she could feel forming.
“Lucy,” Lockwood reached a hand out and placed it on her shoulder. “You know I could never leave you behind.”
“I know. But Lockwood,” she said, looking up at him, “In the dream you aren’t running from the ghosts. You’re running toward them.”
She felt a tear escape her lashes and slide down one cheek. Something passed over Lockwood’s face, interrupting the politely sympathetic expression. Guilt? Shame? She wasn’t sure. Lockwood swallowed and looked down at his feet. When he looked back at her there was real pain in his eyes, the pain he nearly always kept masked.
“Lucy, I’m sorry,” he said simply and pulled her into a warm, comforting hug. She hadn’t been expecting that. She buried her face in his chest and let the tears fall, arms tight around his waist.
Lucy would have gladly held on to Lockwood for the rest of the night. But the old kettle finally boiled and she regretfully pulled away to tend to the tea.
“What about you?” She asked as she poured the water. “Bad dreams?”
“I just can’t stop turning things over in my mind,” he said. “Marissa, Penelope, the Orpheus Society, You.“
She looked up at him, surprised. “Me?”
“Of course. Ever since that first day you walked through our door with your extraordinary talent and complete inability to take orders,” he said.
“I’m not completely incapable of taking orders, you know,” she said.
“How many times did you steal Annabel Ward’s source?” he asked, teasing.
“And aren’t you glad I did?” she looked directly up at him, challenging, a faint smile tugging at her lips.
“Very,” he said, smiling down at her. “The point is, I’ve never been able to stop thinking about you.“
He was so close and warm. She wanted to reach out and hold him again. To be held. Her hand drifted up of its own accord but she hesitated. Lockwood didn’t hesitate. He reached his hand up to push a stray lock of hair off her forehead. She closed her eyes at the gentle caress of his fingers. When she opened them again he was looking at her with a softness and a vulnerability she had never seen there before. It was like he was completely open to her for the first time, and for the first time she knew precisely what he wanted.
Lucy rose up on her tiptoes and kissed him. His lips were soft, warm, welcoming. He wrapped his arms around her and in his embrace she felt safe for the first time since going to the Other side.