In the aftermath of the carnival attack, the group came together once again to share what they knew about the what happened when they had all split up. Remarkably, only one person had incontrovertibly lost his life: the assailant killed at Mr. Rotwell's hand. The body of the other, who Lockwood and Lucy had chased after, despite police and relic-men combing the Thames shoreline the next day, was never found.
As annoying as it was, it was very possible he had managed to escape from them.
That next week was spent combing through every piece of information they had compiled on the Chelsea case, the two Fittes agents hopping from house to house whenever they found anything worth of sharing. Their workload increased tenfold and they were feeling under more pressure to discover what had caused this outbreak.
When the time for Aaliyah to visit her parents came around, she said her goodbyes and Sabrina grabbed her things and headed to Lockwood and Co, Piper in one hand and her bag resting on her shoulder. She knew that at some point she would need to return home as her mother had called, claiming that she was going to come round and visit on Sunday, which in other words meant Sabrina needed to deep clean her entire house.
Lockwood had thankfully agreed to go with her, as usually, Aaliyah was the one to assist her during the cleaning of the house. Their house was never dirty, even when they were stressed they kept on top of the cleaning and organisation. However, Sabrina's mother always saw a fault in whatever she did.
Once Sabrina arrived at thirty five Portland Row, she was greeted by Holly Munro, who held a cherry bakewell in her hand and a smile on her face. With a grateful thank you, they made their way into the living room with the others. Sabrina noticed that the fire was on and for once the curtains were drawn closed. All around the group there were scattered papers, some crumpled newspapers.
While Holly moved to take her prior seat, Sabrina smiled at the group and took the vacant seat on the floor beside Lockwood. Once she sat down, she called Piper over to her and unclasped the lead around her collar and watched in annoyance as the dog jumped straight onto Lockwood's lap. The boy merely chuckled, talking quietly to her as he ran his fingers along her fur, a content smile on his lips.
Opening the casebook once again, the ebony haired girl propped it open and onto her knee as she flicked through it. "We've had so much interest since last night." Holly announced in an exasperated tone, although there was a hint of excitement in her words. "Requests for interviews, and many possible cases. All of them thanks to you."
"Thanks to all of us." George corrected, smiling at his associates.
"You know, it shouldn't be just me in the picture," Lockwood commented reflectively, looking up from Piper. The tiny dog seemed annoyed that his attention had been lifted from her. "It should be the whole team. Though I guess the shot wouldn't be quite so dynamic. We all did so well."
The paper, Sabrina had seen and it showed Anthony, detailing his honorific save of Penelope Fittes. She had laughed upon seeing it, shaking her head as she dropped the paper back on her sofa. It was odd seeing him pictured in the paper, his overly large coat that he insisted on wearing everywhere. Times like this made her realise how natural he was in all of this, how he just easily managed to go about life.
An exclamation made her eyes dart to the opposite sofa where Lucy was glaring at the Skull, that had been perched on the shelf. "Will you just..." Lucy paused when she noticed that everyone had turned to look at her. Clearing her throat, she grimaced, realising that she could not explain who she had been talking to in front of Holly. "Will you all just raise a glass, to our success? To Lockwood and Co! To the team!"
Sabrina chuckled, mouthing 'nice save' at the girl as she accepted a poured glass of orange juice from George. She, along with the others, drank to her words. When she finished her drink, she propped the glass onto the table in front of her and dug through her bags to get the papers she needed. Whilst the others discussed who was behind the attack, she organised the papers and put them into two tidey piles before grabbing her cherry bakewell.
Immediately, Piper hopped off Lockwood's lap and settled on the carpeted floor beside Sabrina, glancing at her expectingly. Sabrina frowned, squinting at the dog as Lockwood stifled a laugh at the two.
"Could be ghost-cults." Lockwood had suggested the idea and Sabrina grimaced as she flicked through the papers. "Some of the crankier ones actively resent all agents. They think we're blocking messages from the beyond. But their usual tack is angry leafleting, or making speeches at Hyde Park Corner on a Sunday. It's quite a step up for them to try to assassinate Fittes and Rotwell."
As Sabrina took a bite of her treat, George passed another piece of paper to her. "Well, Fittes, anyway." He commented, with a slight shake of his head. "No one fired at Rotwell."
"That's because he'd already jumped down to tackle the ghosts, hadn't he?" Lockwood replied quizzically. "To be fair to Rotwell, he reacted quickly, much better than the other adults - except our friend Sir Rupert, of course. The way Rotwell killed the terrorist was...Well, you clearly don't mess with him."
Recalling the sight made Sabrina take a hurried bite of her cherry bakewell, her mind flashing with the sight of the sword piercing through the man. It was odd to her, agents do not hesitate when it comes to ghosts, but people? There is usually a moment of hesitation, contemplation whether this is the only answer.
Rotwell did not hesitate, did not stop and think before slicing his sword through the man. That was the scariest part in Sabrina's opinion, how he did not seek out alternatives, his immediate resolution was murder.
Snapping her out of the memory, Lucy spoke up. "Just another thought, could it have been Winkman? When George and I met him just before, he threatened some kind of attack."
This new information made Sabrina glance at Anthony, a small glint of worry flashing briefly in her eyes. "Winkman was there?" She asked the group, her mouth drying slightly as she recollected speaking to the youngest Winkman, before she was knocked unconscious.
George nodded at the blonde. "He threatened an attack against us, not everybody." He corrected his associate while also answering Sabrina's question. "No, this was way too upscale for Leopold. For starters, whoever it was had the capability of creating those 'ghost-bombs.' The dead man had one of the unexploded bulbs on him, Barnes was telling me. They're quite sophisticated. Someone had to constrain those ghosts, fix their Sources in the glass. It's not amateur work."
"Might have been bought." Lucy insisted, adamant this was an option for explanation.
"Black market stuff." Sabrina chimed in, finishing the cherry bakewell and putting the tin foil onto the table, reminding herself to put it into the bin before they left the room.
"Yeah, but staging the attack." George continued to disprove her theory. "Think of the organization required."
Sighing, Anthony was greeted by the sight of Piper, who had returned to him as soon as Sabrina had stopped eating. "We just don't know." He announced, running a hand along Piper's fur as he frowned at their lack of resolution. "That's the long and short of it. No one's been able to identify the body yet. When that happens, we may get an idea. The good thing is that Penelope Fittes's life was saved, and few people were seriously hurt. True, Miss Wintergarden broke her leg in her fall, but she hardly counts, I feel. And we've flushed one of our mysteries out into the open: we know a bit more about Sir Rupert Gale than we did before."
Holly, who had been making neat little notes in the casebook, spoke up with a frown. "He comes from a very rich and powerful family. If what you say about him is true-"
"It is true." Lucy interrupted, her tone defensive as she frowned at the ebony haired girl.
"Then he's not to be taken lightly." Holly continued, her tone harsher, as she shook her head.
This was one of the first times that Sabrina had actually witnessed their 'arguments' in person, usually when they happened she was in another room or she was not paying attention as much to their conversation. It was uncomfortable, watching them both attempt to be the 'right' person in every situation. With Lucy, she noted, she took everything Holly said as a threat, immediately getting standoffish from a mere disagreement. With Holly, she just mimicked the attitude that Lucy gave her.
Sabrina surmised it was because she felt her place in the company had become threatened, as if she did not belong in it anymore. That was only proved further when Lockwood opened his mouth to congratulate one of his associates.
"Maybe not, but if he'd wanted to act against us underhandedly, he'd have done it long before now. He's someone who waits for the sporting chance. We'll settle accounts one day. Now," Lockwood sat straighter and grabbed his glass, "I'd just like to make a final toast. We've all done well, but there's one person who I feel should be thanked for their very special contribution."
Across the sofa, Lucy and Sabrina briefly made eye contact and the blonde noticed the hope shining in her friend's eyes as she heard his words. Maybe Lockwood had finally taken Sabrina's advice and decided to be less harsh with Lucy, maybe this was him redeeming himself and making all of his associates feel equally welcomed.
However, his next words dropped all amusement from the room. "Holly," Lockwood went on, smiling at the ebony haired girl, "if it wasn't for you making the initial contact with Miss Wintergarden, we would not have been there at all last night. You gave us the opportunity to be in the right place at the right time. Thank you, on behalf of all of us, for what you're bringing to Lockwood and Co. You've done wonders in the office. I think one day you'll do wonders in the field."
As he raised his glass, Sabrina gave the girl a polite smile but she reminded herself to berate Lockwood's choices later. Holly looked embarrassed at the attention, but Lucy's smile had dropped as she glared at her boss. George had clapped Holly on the back just as she was about to take a sip, making her cough slightly.
Upon recovering, she paused and looked around the room. "Oh, I didn't do anything." Holly began her response. "You're the agents. I'm just the backroom player....But, as I say, we have had some interesting requests this morning, if you want to see?"
While the two boys moved to go and look in the book, Lucy suddenly stood up. "I'm going upstairs for a bit," she announced to the group, "just need a rest."
Lockwood merely raised his hand. "Don't blame you, Luce. You're a star. See you later." He replied and Sabrina's jaw dropped at his obliviousness.
"Yeah. See you." Lucy mumbled, leaving the room quickly.
Sabrina rose from the floor and moved to follow her. The thing with Lucy was she got jealous easily, she was not jealous that Holly got the praise because as much as she hated to say it, the girl had helped them out. It just was not fair because in her eyes, she had done so much more and felt like someone needed to appreciate that, but nobody ever did as their eyes were too focused on Holly Munro.
Noticing she was heading to the door, Lockwood excuse himself. "Hey, Sab, where are you going?" Lockwood asked as he followed her out into the hallway, the living room door shutting behind him.
As she turned around, she shot him an unimpressed look. "You know, you can congratulate your associates without bringing the others down. They all contributed to the success in their own way and they could have done well with their own little segment of approval."
"Without Holly we never would have got the case-." Anthony began with a furrowed brow but the girl quickly cut him off.
"Anthony, you could have easily said that while also mentioning how George and Lucy helped out. Without George, all of us would have been ghost locked and without Lucy, you would have never made it as far as you did. You're pushing both of them away because you refuse to acknowledge anything but their faults. Remember what happened last time you did that?" Sabrina questioned, her tone harsher than she intended it to be.
It was a low blow, recalling what had happened with George, but she knew there was no other dire comparison she could make to highlight the situation.
She winced slightly as she finished, noticing that Lockwood had clenched his jaw, his eyes briefly flashing with irritation. "Why is it so bad that I gave someone approval, if I constantly gave everyone approval it would become meaningless. What Holly did surpassed what everyone else contributed, that is why she was congratulated." He replied as she rolled her eyes, why was he not seeing her point? "Why are you even bringing this up, you're not even in this company, as far as I'm aware, this does not affect you?"
As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted them and Sabrina scowled. "I'm bringing this up because they are my friends and you're treating them like shit. I'm bringing this up because I'm sick of constantly hearing the back and forth between you all when you feel left out and underappreciated. You all drag me into this when you want advice but when I give you some I'm not to be involved?" She exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air as she let out an over exaggerated sigh. "When you push them all away, do not come crying to me, Anthony."
With that, she made her way up the stairs to follow after Lucy, wondering if she was potentially too harsh with the boy. They both said things they did not intend because neither of them liked to be questioned on their choices.
As far as Sabrina was concerned, she did not say anything too out of line, except her final comment, which had come out as an act of anger, annoyed that he could even insinuate that it was not her place to speak up.
She had noticed the mistreatment of the associates, how tense the atmosphere was at Portland Row, and yet when she spoke up she was shut down. It made her annoyed, all those conversations she had with the workers of Lockwood and Co, how they all seemed to use her as their therapist whenever they needed a rant. The only person who had not used her to rant had been George, the boy treating her like he usually did, as his friend.
Why did they go to her for advice if they never actually wanted any?
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Words~2593.
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