We’d arrived at a very unpleasant looking abandoned building. Could abandoned buildings look pleasant in any way? Not in my experience.
The gist of why the local people had hired Lockwood and Co to clear this unpleasant building of its ghost was that someone apparently wanted to turn it into apartments. I say that demolishing it would be easier, but then again I don’t think I would live here even if the rent was free.
Holly, George, Lockwood and I now faced a horrid looking building that sat just across from the North Shore of the Thames. I adjusted my backpack, which contained the skull in its jar.
“I wouldn’t go in there Lucy,” it whispered in a voice only I could hear. “Looks really nasty and this is just the outside!”
“Well, the skull advises against going in here,” I told the others. “But we never listen to him anyway.”
“Luce, I personally would like to listen to the skull more,” George said from beside me. “I want to know its theories on death.”
“Trust me George, he’s clueless on every matter relating to death.”
“What we need,” Lockwood said to both of us, “is a way to narrow down where the haunting is. Luce, see if the skull has any ideas.”
I turned to ask the skull, but before I could we heard a voice behind us.
“Locky? What are you doing here?” A misshapen figure wearing a blue puffy coat absolutely covered in streaks of mud and a floppy straw hat looked between the four of us and the building we had been about to enter. “Ah, I see they hired you lot to try to take care of that spectre in there.”
“Flo! Yes, I was doing some research this afternoon to try to get some ideas, but there isn’t much history on this place.” George pushed his glasses up his nose and then looked up at the building. “Hey, this seems like it’s kinda in your area. Do you have any ideas?”
Flo scratched her head beneath her hat. “Sure I do. I’ve seen the ghost runnin around in there, creating all sorts of mayhem. But, do you have anything for me if I help you?”
“We’ll get you some fancy liquorice right after the haunting is dealt with,” Lockwood promised. “And I’ll let George out to spend some time with you as well.” Both Flo and George blushed slightly pink in their ears at this, but Flo smiled.
“All right, deal. Follow me, I know the area. Believe it or not, the Source isn’t actually in the building there. It’s over here somewhere, and the ghost is just confused about where it should be haunting I guess.” She lead us away from the building and down towards the Thames.
“Ah I see you’ve all finally listened to me at last!” the skull whispered from inside my bag. “I was beginning to think you were all hopeless.”
“We’re actually taking Flo’s advice on this. Can you sense anything? Help us narrow down where the Source is? She says it’s down here somewhere.”
From the corner of my eye, I could see the jar flare green light, and the face was pouting. Or at least, I assume it was pouting. I could only see a little bit of the face, and the eyes definitely looked like they were pouting. “What’s the point of bringing an all powerful and knowing spirit if you just resort to asking a smelly, dirty girl for help instead?”
I snorted. “The point is so that we can find Sources. Now make yourself useful.” I could feel its psychic searching, and after a few minutes it gave an answer.
“Yeah. The source is somewhere in those busted barrels under the stairs here. You would have never found it going into that dumpy looking building.” I relayed this message to the others, and they began searching at once. Flo glanced at George, blushed again, and then made an announcement.
“Right, so I’d best be going along now. Can’t be seen hanging with the likes of you lot for too long, got a reputation to protect. Locky, you can just send the liquorice with George the next time you let him out for a while.” She winked, and then with a bare trace of smell left behind, left us.
A few minutes later, George had found a shriveled up hand in one of the barrels, and we sealed it up after confirming the psychic presence. Then we all packed up to go home to Portland Row. Really it was the cleanest case we’d been on, and we didn’t have to set foot in that unpleasant building once.
