[ Glow ] ~ Anthony Lockwood x OC

XVIII - Drip Drop

"Six degrees and falling." 

"Whatever's here, it's getting closer." Lockwood murmured, his tone hushed. Daniel walked over to step just in front of Anthony, on the outskirts of the chain. She shook her head, a slow frown playing at her lips. 

"It's too strong, it feels like it's everywhere." 

The thermometer beeped again. "There's no sign of any sources yet though. Strange." Lockwood said as he looked around the room. "George, didn't you say you suspect there's hidden rooms?" He turned, looking past Daniel to ask the curly haired boy.

"From the plans, it's highly likely." He agreed.

"We'll look for evidence." He turned between Lucy and Daniel. "You stay here, watch our backs." That sentence was pointed at George as his thermometer beeped again. "Look for cavities, false walls. Anything that could be concealing sources." The three walked around the room, trailing the walls to try and find any nook or cranny that might open up into a passageway or opening. Daniel found herself on her knees with her hands on the floor, looking for things that might press in to reveal a hole in the ground. 

"So do we think it's in here? The source of the primary haunting?" George questioned the group, though his eyes were trained on Daniel as she had her eyes closed and trailed along the room. She wasn't looking for nooks anymore, instead she was feeling for the familiar pull of a source. 

"No." Her tone was definite. It wasn't in there. "There's no source in here, none at all." Daniel denied with a shake of her head. 

"None? But-" Lockwood started, cutting himself off when he saw the finality in Daniel's expression. 

Lockwood banged his fist against a strange part of wallpaper, getting Daniel's attention as she found her way walking toward him. It sounded. . .hollow. 

"Temperature, five degrees." George read out as the thermometer beeped again.

"Wait." Lucy said. She had also found a weird patch of wallpaper. But that wasn't what got Daniel's attention, her mind was drawn to the weird noise. It reminded her of a leaky faucet or a tennis ball being repeatedly thrown into a wall. It started to get louder, faster.

"What's that?" Daniel questioned, spinning around to try and find the source of the sound. 

"Uh- Shh! Stop tapping. I need to listen." Lucy complained.

"I'm not tapping." Lockwood responded, George's thermometer started to beep faster. 

"What's that sound?" Daniel repeated, her tone quicker and more urgent. Her skin felt like it was on fire, the still healing ghost touch on her chest flaring as the pain engulfed her body. The only thing she could compare it to was the icy tendrils of death reaching out, encompassing her and pulling her down. It scared her.

"Get back to the circle now!" George yelled out to his team, staring at his thermometer. "Something strange is happening." 

The words processed in Daniel's head fast but she couldn't bring herself to move. It was like she was stuck in place. Condemned to her own mind as she yelled at her body to move and it denied her. Lockwood started running, grabbing Daniel by the upper arm and dragging her back with him. She was dead weight, but her size made her easy to pull. Lucy stopped in the center of the circle, her and Lockwood drawing their rapiers. Daniel still couldn't move, her eyes felt glossed as her body felt cold and hot at the same time. She snapped herself out of it, her entire self burning in pain but she pulled her rapier out nonetheless and angled it outside of the chains in a shaky stance. 

"What's making that sound?" Lockwood asked, repeating what Daniel had been saying for the past five minutes. 

Lucy froze, her eyes and flashlight trained on the ceiling before she murmured, with fear in her voice, "Blood." She let out a light gasp, everyone's eyes moving to the roof. Red seemed to be seeping through the white fabric of the ceiling and dripping down to the floor. But that made no sense, where was it coming from?