The Grove of Willows

Chapter 13

The sun had began to fall outside the small window in the room Estelle had lead me to.  George and Lockwood were in the room next door which was connected to mine through a small door beside the closet.  Alban had dropped off the suitcases earlier and I hid in the bathroom, how cowardly of me, I thought.  A small knock at the conjoining door interrupted my train of thought. 

"Luce? Luce it's George and I, may we come in?" Lockwood's voice reverberated through the wooden walls.

I pulled my face up into a smile, I really didn't want the boys to notice anything was wrong. We couldn't afford any strong emotions that the spirit could feed off of tonight.

"Yeah" I started quietly "Yeah come in guys." I finished, raising my voice a bit. Lockwood and George quickly made their way into their way into the room, softly shutting the door behind them. 

"Alright then" George said throwing himself onto the bed "Hey, how come Luce gets a room all to herself?" he continued lifting himself off the bed a little.

"Well, I would assume it's because she's the only girl George" Lockwood said with an exasperated smile.

"Oh please" George started rolling his eyes "it didn't stop you guys the other day." he finished in an airy tone. "Really Luce I thought you were sneakier than this, I know Lockwood's voice when I hear it, even when he's hidden under the bed."

I looked over at Lockwood but he was still as relaxed as ever with a wide grin on his face.

"Good, this act was getting quite exhausting" Lockwood said as he made his way over to me. I took a step backwards.

"Uhmm, Lockwood what are you doing?" I said still leaning back.

"Oh nothing Luce" he said with a small smirk on his face and snaking his arm around my waist and lifting his other hand up under my chin to lift it up. I could feel the blush rising to my cheeks and practically radiating heat.

"Ahem" George coughed. I snapped away from Lockwoods gaze and twisted out of his arms as George continued  "As long as I've been waiting for you absolute dunces to figure out that you both liked each other and get rid of the sexual tension" the heat rose back into my face "we do have a case to discuss."

"Of course" Lockwood said, slightly shifting back into his professional manner and sitting on the edge of the bed beside George. 

"Alright, Estelle said she'd be gone by dusk so" he paused to look down at his watch "we have about a half hour before she and everyone in the house will leave." he paused again to look up at me. He reached out his hand to grab mine and pulled me to sit on the bed next to him. 

"We really should set up chain circles in the attic and salt barriers on all the doors and windows. Also I've been reading on some new techniques. We mix the salt with lavender and leave all the doors open so we can make a quick escape out of the attic if need be." he finished.

"Oh," George began "I've been reading that as well, it's still kind of in the testing phase but it seems pretty solid to me. What do you think Luce?" 

"It sounds fine, but don't you think we should make some safe point barriers around the house incase it doesn't work as well as we hoped?" I asked

"Good thinking Luce" Lockwood said "Estelle was saying that the attic stretches over the top of the whole house so we'll need to split up into different corners to be able to cover it all." George and I nodded in agreement.

"Alright" George spoke up "I'm going to go downstairs to see what this place has in the way of making a cup of tea. Give me your guys' thermos and I'll fill those up too"

"Oh thanks George" Lockwood said, getting up and making his way to the bags to grab our thermos' and passing them to George. George grunted in response as he left the room

Lockwood made his way back to where I was sitting on the bed. He slightly lifted me to him and layed back down on the bed with me in his arms. 

"Alright Luce?" he asked. I nodded my head against his chest and we both began to drift off to sleep before the haunting began.

OK guys I'm back I'm sorry its been like 3 months. Honestly it's not even been writers block, more like writer is a shitty person and didn't feel like writing. IDK sorry, the stories probably terrible anyways.  But if there is still anyone reading this, feel free to contact me with any questions, requests or if you just want someone to talk to! Oh yeah and if there are any issues in spelling or grammar please do tell me.