A/N: I honestly can't believe I pushed out 2,500 words. It felt impossible, to be honest. I was almost scared of getting back to writing.

But I did it! And while this chapter may be a bit boring I'm glad I at least managed to finish it. I wrote half of this in school yesterday on crappy notebook paper, can you believe?
Anyway, so here's the much awaited Chapter 25! Hope you enjoy!

Thanks so much for all your support!

24

I was not surprised when the house was silent for the next three days; even though the quiet was unnerving. I was not surprised when we talked to each other in short, choppy sentences the first day. I was not surprised when Lockwood shut himself in his room on the second day, refusing to come out, not even to eat. We were greeted by silence when we knocked. If I hadn't known better, I'd have thought he were dead.

I said it wasn't surprising. I didn't say it wasn't worrisome.

During these three days, I felt no contact from the Other Side, either. I'd held the papers. I'd strayed into Esperanza's room of death. I'd stayed up late at night speaking into air, hoping for the first time that some dratted apparition would pop up and try to kill me (or deliver a message). But I could, to my frustration, detect nothing. My dreams were black and empty. The dust in the forbidden room made me sneeze.

It was almost as though the Visitors were too shocked to speak, too.

I knew Lockwood's anger wasn't directed at us, and his rage was reasonable. He felt betrayed. We all felt betrayed. But we were so close. We just needed to narrow down the list among Penelope's search party and we'd find the killer.

(That would make probably make it a lot easier for me, too, since everything was connected, apparently, and ghosts are so bloody vague)

The problem was, we didn't know where to start.

We'd guessed that Penelope wouldn't take too kindly to us demanding a list of her employees who frisked our house. I could almost imagine her raised eyebrows and pout as she queried, "What on earth for?" No. We'd be walking towards our own doom.

So as three days of silence passed, I grew less and less patient, and more and more desperate. Floating Joe was hacked to death by my rapier. On snapping myself out of trances, I found that I'd been staring at the cloth that used to cover the Ghost Jar. I overslept in the hopes that I'd see something in my dreams.

I just didn't know what to do.

On the fourth day, Lockwood came out of his room.

He was deathly pale. His eyes were sunken, He looked fragile, like he could be blown away by the wind. But his eyes were black pits of hot tar, and his insidious gaze gave off the impression that he was ready to kill a man.

Of course, this threatening appearance had no effect on George and I whatsoever, as we manhandled him into a chair and forced food down his throat.

"I understand you want to appear all angst-filled and enigmatic," George chided, disdain dripping from his voice, "but maybe you could do that without falling into self-destructive tendencies."

Lockwood made an indignant noise behind the cream bun stuffed into his mouth.

Once we were all sitting around the table with mugs of tea in our hands, Lockwood considerably nourished back to health, he spoke.

"We're close," he said. "Let's end this blasted mess once and for all. I've been thinking-"

"And I'd have never thought you could do it," George applauded. Congratulations on your coherence, Lockwood-"

Lockwood shot him a glare that properly shut him up.

"Anyway," he continued. "Fittes must keep records of whatever they do. All companies must, right?"

We nodded. I had a bad feeling in my gut, hoping he wasn't thinking what I suspected he was thinking.

"So they've got to have stuffed away the report of our house somewhere with the files. And since they're pretty recent, they must be in the filing cabinets on the bottom floor."

"So you're saying…" George enunciated slowly.

"I'm saying we can break in. One of us makes a distraction, the others find the file. It must have the list of inspectors who checked the house- it's practical. We'll nick it, do our own research on the agents and narrow it down from there."

He paused, and there was a quiet tension hanging in the air. It broke as we all started talking at once.

"We'll get caught, definitely-" I began.

"Fittes security is extremely tight-" George interrupted.

"Please don't leave me alone in this!" Lockwood shouted.

We all fell silent.

I knew how much this meant to Lockwood, but it seemed virtually impossible. There was a slim, slim chance we'd find the files without getting caught, and an even smaller one that we'd make it back alive (or without being incarcerated).

But this was Lockwood.

He'd do the same for us in an instant. That was just… him. Decisions first. Plans later. He just did.

So I took a deep breath. How bad could it go? (Pretty bad.) We could make it out. (Probably not.) I had the Other Place on my side. (They weren't talking to me.)

"Okay," I said. "We'll stick by you. I'm in."

Lockwood grabbed my arm and squeezed. He didn't speak, but that gesture, and his eyes, conveyed more than words could say.

"Me too," George chimed in. "Without me, you lot would be dead." He paused. "But what if we get caught?."

"We won't." Lockwood flashed us his signature 1000-megawatt smile. "I'm not planning to."

We were going to get caught.

It was around one a.m. and I was very quickly losing my faith in Lockwood's 'plan'. We'd had less than fourteen hours of preparation, Fittes was vast and labyrinthic, and we were going to be running around the corridors like headless chickens being chased by a hungry fox.

Of course we weren't going to back down, though. Not now.

We were dressed in uniforms- Fittes-style uniforms, all formal and posh. We looked like workers, accountants maybe. Lockwood wore a hat, huge glasses and a slightly less tight coat. George had ironed his clothes (a rare event).

I had one bag. I wore heels and a blue coat with my best leggings. The coat wasn't mine.

"Take this," Lockwood had said earlier that day, tossing me something a gorgeous peacock blue. "It was my mother's. One of her favourites. It'll suit you for this operation, I should think."

"Are you sure about this?" I had asked worriedly, looking it up and down. I wasn't the best when it came to the maintenance of one's clothing.

"I'm sure. Go ahead, try it on! Let me help you." He took it from me and held it up as I slid my arms into the sleeves and shrugged it on half-reluctantly.

I turned and gave a small smile. "Well…"

Lockwood was grinning, his cheeks slightly pink. "You should wear blue more," he said. "You look great."

I could feel my ears burning.

"Thanks," I mumbled.

"Oi, lovebirds!" George called from the next room. "You done yet? We need a plan or we're bloody screwed!"

"Most of the doors inside Fittes are locked with keycard scanners," Lockwood said, pulling his hat down low. "The files aren't very important unless they're top-secret, which I don't think matches our case. We'll be able to get through the doors easily- but nobody recognizes us as workers. We've been here before plenty. And Lockwood and Co. Is rather… infamous at Fittes after all these past events, to put it 're bound to suspect something."

"How do we know the files are here, though?" I asked. "They could just as easily be at DEPRAC. They insinuated the investigation, after all."

"But the party was headed by Penelope Fittes," Lockwood replied. "She wouldn't come out for such inspections unless they held some certain degree of importance to her agency. Ergo, they're here. So this is what we're going to do."

He stood still for a minute, then pointed. "He's a worker," he told us, signaling to a man in a suit with a briefcase exiting the building complex. "Wait here."

He waited for the man to walk a bit closer, then set off at a brisk pace, headed straight in his direction. He took three long strides and rammed into the man sideways, sending them both down. Lockwood straightened first.

"So sorry, sir, so sorry," he said in a thick voice, hat covering his forehead, glasses askew. "I'm so clumsy, let me help you up-"

The man scrambled to his feet, scowling. "Watch where you're going," he snapped, turning away, picking up his briefcase and stalking off.

Lockwood waited till he was out of sight, then walked to us.

"Got it," he said.

"Got what?" George asked.

Lockwood extracted a rectangular object from his pocket. I strained my eyes to look at it.

It was a Fittes keycard.

My mouth fell open. "Lockwood, you pickpocket?"

"Keep your voice down!" he hissed, but his eyes shone. "It's not that hard. And you can't exactly put it past me," he joked, slipping it back into his coat.

Don't trust him, Sybil's voice sang in my head.

Shut up, I told it.

We headed straight for the gleaming building. Fittes is always active, especially late at night, the time when the power of Visitors is at its pinnacle. Much needs to be done. The crowd's always huge, and we were using it to our advantage that day.

We stepped through the doors, swallowed by the sudden flurry of people. Nobody looked at us twice. Nobody saw Lockwood and Co. They just saw three boring agents.

Lockwood handed me the keycard.

"Go," he said. "I'll meet you outside in approximately-" he glanced at his watch, "-six minutes. Be quick. Riot's starting now." He left us, pushing through the crowd to make his way to the other side of the room.

George and I hurried away. "Here," George pointed to our left at a corridor leading to a set of double doors. "When I worked here, I always saw accountants with files heading this way."

We made our way down the hall, then stopped. The doors were guarded by two agents with gleaming rapiers and hard eyes.

I was about to speak when I heard a shrill scream behind me. "He's getting away!"

We spun around to see a tall, gangly figure in a hat hurrying in the opposite direction with a bunch of notes in his hand, probably stolen directly from the front desk. "Those are Grade-A classified files! Get him!" The woman behind the desk screeched.

"Hurry, now," George grabbed my arm as the agents by the double doors left their positions and made a beeline for Lockwood. I could see swarms of guards leaving their posts just to get to Lockwood. Alarms started off suddenly, blaring in our ears, causing me to cringe and nearly stop running to clasp my hands over my ears. The noise, and my pulse, pounded away at my skull. We sprinted down the corridor, squeezing through the doors and entering another room. I debated how to lock the door behind me, then braced myself, stepping back, and rammed my elbow into the keycard scanner. It smashed with a crisp clinking sound, sparking a little bit, and I marveled at how I hadn't gotten an electric shock. I hadn't a clue how we'd leave the room, since our only exit was now disabled, but we'd cross that bridge when we got to it. Besides, now nobody could enter, either. I rubbed my stinging elbow, then glanced around the room. We were already here. I could see files upon files stacked in neat rows, some thrown haphazardly on desks and trolleys. Ours had to be in here somewhere.

"We have around five minutes," I said. "Let's get to this!"

George took one side of the room and I took the other. I could hear yells outside the door, ensued probably from all the workers, and I wildly hoped they'd not caught Lockwood yet. My fingers, trembling from the adrenaline, raked past the A, B, C, D slots. No good. I scanned the shelves till I found L.

"Got anything?" George yelled.

"Not sure. Keep looking!" I called back.

My eyes darted across the letters, the words flying through my brain like a horrible mish-mash of written screams. I searched again and again through the pile, looking but not really seeing, trying to find a Lockwood, Anthony somewhere in there.

"There's a separate stack for inspections over here!" George hollered. "Help me out!"

I dashed towards him, abandoning my search. Three minutes, probably. It had got to be in here, it had to. I wasn't going to entertain the thought of what would happen to us if it wasn't. I wasn't going to entertain the thought of us getting caught.

Together we desperately looked through the enormous bundle, fingers prying at the edges, hair disheveled, noises whirling around us, muffled by the walls.

We were so, so close.

Had Lockwood been captured yet?

George gave a triumphant laugh. "Got it!" he cried. "Lockwood, Anthony, 35 Portland Row. This is dated just a little while back. This is it!"

He handed it to me and I flipped through it. Through my panic, my eyes could bleakly make out the headings agents and findings, and names listed down in neat print. This was it. I stuffed it into my bag, breathing hard. We'd done it, without any interruptions. It was too good to be true.

Somebody began to bang on the doors, trying the doorknob in vain. They couldn't enter. The scanner was smashed."Who's in there? Come out now! You've all been caught!"

George and I stared at each other in horror. Then I noticed something behind him.

"Back door!" I whisper-shouted. He turned and we stared at the glorious rectangle of light a few feet ahead of us. I'd never loved a door more in my life than at that moment. We ran for it, throwing it open and sprinting down the hallway.

"I know this route, it's slightly familiar!" George panted. "The exit should be- this way!" we turned left at a fork, kept sprinting.

I could see the main lobby of Fittes straight ahead of us. It was in chaos. People were ruffled, yelling, pointing fingers. It would be risky to just head through there, but we had no other options.

Lucy…

I stopped dead, nearly tripping over my own feet. I turned in circles. There was only one blasted creature on earth that spoke like that, that made my skin crawl.

"Skull! Where are you!"

In the room to your right. Come quickly, I'm dying of boredom.

"George, keep going! The skull's here. I heard it! I'll meet you outside!"

"Are you barking mad? We don't have time-"

I didn't wait for him to finish. My eyes fell on a room to my right a little way ahead. I barreled into it and the first thing I spotted was the skull, right on the table, in the center, like an opera singer in a huge stadium, waiting to be watched. The sight made me shiver. My arms reached out for it.

Careful, you'll burn-

My palms shrieked with agony as they touched the silver-glass and white-hot pain spread through my fingertips all the way till my shoulderblades, numbing me all round. I almost dropped the jar, but I clung on, sparks igniting at every point of my skin. I ignored the pain, my pulse throbbing in my temples, and shoved the jar in my bag.

"Lucy! Hurry!"

I made for George again and he grabbed my burnt fingers. I resisted a yelp of pain and forced my legs to keep moving as we pushed through the crowd, people all around us. The commotion was too loud, and I was tired, and confused, and the struggle seemed neverending-

-We burst into the fresh air of the open night, gasping for breath. I fell to my knees, squeezing my eyes shut at the stitch in my side and the hurt in my hands. Lockwood was nowhere to be seen.

"Lockwood," I groaned, "Where's… Lockwood…"

We looked back to the building and there came a sudden awful crash, a splintering of glass, as one of the windows on the first floor shattered. A dark figure came tumbling through, landing harshly on the ground with a crack. People burst through the main doors of the building as it got to its feet painfully.

Lockwood stared at us, his face contorted. He stumbled. The fall from the window must have ached.

The guards were getting closer.

"Run," he said.

We didn't need telling twice.

Together we ran.

arael205ar: ahhh thank you! Hopefully I'm going to be back longer haha

Locklyle2000: That's great to hear ahah it's probably going to come as a surprise :^)

ligersrcool: thanks! I hope you're doing good!

BlackCat: I want to be an author! It's doubtful I'll do very well in the industry, though. And I will, I'm not giving up yet. Thanks so much!

Cynadred: ahhh thank you so much that's really nice of you. Your reviews make me feel a lot better. I'm trying to slowly get back on track, I'll be okay. Have a great weekend! :)

FairyPirate: thanks! :D

BeautifulBookworm218 (Meep): Thank you so much! I'll be sure to read your fics if you post any aha. I'm glad you're finding it interesting! Stay awesome whoooo

RandomCat: thanks awww! And yesss I made George find out first because I really really adore their friendship ahah. And thanks again, I will.

Guest(1): I will! I'm not going to abandon it, ever. :)

Guest(2): Thanks! You're amazing too!

LunaMei: Thank you so much! I love reading your comments, you always have something nice to say. I hope your finals went great! Have an awesome weekend. (And I'm kind of dreading writing that part too)

Cassi0peia: That's so nice of you! That made me a lot more confident about my writing tbh. I'm very glad my style is similar because even though I write vastly different sometimes I try to keep my fics as canon as possible. :) I hope you're doing great!

PermanentPurple: I'm glad you're enjoying! Thanks so much for the review, it means a lot! And good luck with your fanfic!

elaima20158: that means a lot to me, thanks so much!

Mjcooke: thank you! Stay awesome!

Gryffinpuff: Ahhh aw yes, I'm still alive. More like surviving. Thanks so much for commenting, it was the main reason I was jolted back into writing. Have a great day! :)

Guest(3): I will! You have a great 2017 too, I hope good things come your way! Thank YOU for being awesome.

LeopardShadow of Iceclan: whoooo I updated! Thanks for your review!

BlueSuedeShoes23: No, thank you! It does make me feel better 'cause I feel less lonely ahaha. Thanks so much, have a great day :)

PennTheWriter: Ahhhh you're so nice thanks so much! I hope you have a great 2017 too! Stay awesome. :)

HunterofArtemis: Thank you SO MUCH! That makes me really elated tbh. I didn't know my story was that interesting, it gives me this huge confidence boost. I hope you and your friend are doing well, and that you're having a good 2017 xx

Also, guys, it would be great if you could join the Lockwood and Co. forum started by ligersrcool. (The fandom's really tiny hahaha).

Have a good weekend, I hope this chapter was up to par.

As for the next update, can't promise anything for next week, but I WILL definitely update by the 14th of February (Valentine's day whooo). Keep an eye out for Saturdays.

-Artemis