Lockwood & Co. Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Square Skull
"Death's in Life and Life's in Death, and what was fixed is fluid."
Warning: This page contains content which spoils plot points from material not adapted by the Netflix TV series.
The Skull advises caution for those who have not read past The Whispering Skull.

"Step over here, and I'll show you exactly how feisty I am."
-- Lucy Carlyle to George Cubbins, The Screaming Staircase and the TV premiere, "This Will Be Us"

Lucy Joan Carlyle is an agent with an amazing Talent for Listening, interconnected with Touch. She went to London in search of a notable career, instead she found herself joining the smallest agency in the city, Lockwood & Co. Despite this, she would soon find herself in events that would help to unravel the deepest mysteries of the Problem of ghosts plaguing the United Kingdom.

On the Lockwood & Co. TV series, Lucy is portrayed by Ruby Stokes.

Biography

Before the series

Early life

Lucy Joan Carlyle was born during the fourth official decade of the Problem, in a rural north England town. She was born into a family of nine: her mother, father, and her six sisters. Her father was a porter at the railway station in the town and an alcoholic. He died when Lucy was five years old, after an accident that caused him to fall under a train. Her mother is a launderer who washed laundry at the town's two small hotels, and a distant figure; what active maternal affection she possessed had largely been eroded by work and weariness, and she had little energy to spare for her brood of girls, of whom Lucy was the seventh and the last, so Lucy was left to her own devices and her sisters' care.[1]

Lucy knew from the start she had a Talent. Though Talent runs in her family's blood, none of the other family members were agency material. Lucy's mother could see ghosts in her youth, while two of her sisters worked in the night watch in the city of Newcastle. However, Lucy was noticeably special; with unusual sensitivity for matters relating to the Problem. The earliest incident known where Lucy used her talent is The Murton Colliery Horror when she was five, in which she observed some of the Visitors passing by her house. Another incident happened a year later while she was playing in the meadows with her sister, Mary. They were late going home and Lucy saw and heard a Visitor calling and coming toward them, a heartbroken woman by the name of Penny Nolan who had killed herself some years back.

When Lucy was eight, her mother promptly sent her off to apprentice with Jacobs, a former Fittes agent. By the age of eleven, she had passed the Third Grade, and a few years later, at fourteen, she was involved in the Wythburn Mill Incident.[1]

Training

Jacobs & Co

Lucy receiving her first rapier and copy of the Fittes Manual

Jacobs was a tall, cadaverous gentleman who had run his local operation for more than twenty years. Over the ensuing months Lucy learned how to mix salt and magnesium in correct proportions, and how to scatter iron according to the likely power of the ghost. She became adept at packing bags and checking torches, filling lamps and testing chains. Jacob soon discovered that while her Talent allowed her to see Visitors well enough, she heard them better than everyone. The agent rewarded Lucy with swift advancement. She passed her First and Second Grades in double-quick time, and on her eleventh birthday gained her Third, as well as her first rapier and the Fittes Manual for Ghost-hunters.

Wythburn Mill Incident

Lucy along with several other agents went to the Wythburn Mill. A local logging firm was interested in using it as a regional office, but wanted them to make it safe first. Lucy and her colleagues used their Talents and made their reports. Lucy felt uneasy and tried to convince Jacobs to order the others to pull back, but he refused. It was a long while before they caught sight of something; a little glowing shape crouching far off at the end of a passage that led deeper into the mill. The apparition turned out to be a Changer, a dangerous Type Two ghost strong enough to alter its appearance during a manifestation. Everyone except Lucy and Agent Jacobs was killed.

When Lucy gave evidence, she tried to describe the original unease she felt but was forced to admit that she detected nothing concrete, so the incident was declared to be a classic case of Death By Misadventure. Lucy waited three days to regain her strength. On the fourth morning while her mother and sister slept, she left the cottage without a backward glance, heading for London.

Throughout the series

The new applicant and the Sheen Road case

Main article: Annabel Ward Case
Lucy & Lockwood Burning House

Lucy and Lockwood escaping the burning Sheen Road

Lucy, who is desperate for money, applies for position with Lockwood & Co., a rather small paranormal investigating agency run by a boy named Anthony Lockwood. His only other employee is George, whose expertise is research, rather than fieldwork. Lucy passes her interview with flying colors, which leaves George and Lockwood very impressed. During the interview, she correctly identifies the provenance of a couple of psychically charged objects, remains unrattled in the presence of a Skull in a jar, and unlike a number of other applicants, does not lie regarding a particular object that actually has no psychic charge.

George: "Can be a risky business being a Listener. There was that girl working for Epstein and Hawkes last year. Good ears, incredibly sensitive insight. But she got so freaked out by all the voices she heard, she ended up jumping in the Thames."
Lucy: "Marissa Fittes had my kind of Talent too. She didn't jump anywhere."
George Cubbins and Lucy Carlyle on being a Sensitive and Listener.[src]

Lucy and Lockwood investigate a house in which Mr. Hope died three months ago when he fell down the stairs. His wife is convinced a ghost did it. As night approaches, Lucy begins to hear knocking in the house.

Lockwood, excited to have an actual ghost to hunt, left the agency without making sure their packs contained all their equipment. Lucy initially wants to return to the office, as they do not have the iron chains necessary if they find a powerful evil spirit. Ghosts cannot cross iron, and so chains give investigators the best protection. Lockwood insists they can manage with the tools they have. 

We stood there, arms folded, glowering at each other across the darkened landing of a haunted house. Then, like the sun coming out, Lockwood’s glare softened to a grin.
‘So . . .’ he said. ‘How’s your anger management going, Luce?’
I snorted. ‘I admit I’m annoyed, but now I’m annoyed with you. That’s different.’
--Lucy and Lockwood bickering, while at the Hopes' house

They create a circle of iron filings to keep the ghost at bay. Unfortunately, when they discover a decomposed body in a chimney, they are stunned and accidentally break the circle. The ghost crosses the barrier and reaches for Lockwood. Being touched by a spirit can cause great harm to a human, even killing them. Desperate to save him, Lucy throws a canister of Greek fire at the ghost.

Filled with magnesium, iron and salt, (substances harmful to ghosts,) it causes the entity to disappear. The resulting flames catch the papers and books in the study on fire. Lucy and Lockwood must jump from the second story window in order to escape. Lockwood leaves Lucy with the medics to tend to her minor wounds.

The ghost of Annabel Ward

Main article: Annabel Ward Case
Lucy and Annabel Ward Ghost

Once mended, Lucy returns to the London townhome that serves as both office and house for the agents of Lockwood & Co. George shows her what he has discovered. Mrs. Hope’s house was once the home of Annabel Ward, a young woman who disappeared almost 50 years before. It was her body hidden in the chimney. Lockwood returns after being interrogated by the police about the incident. He was also treated for a ghost touch as Annabel’s spirit had grabbed his hand, leaving it numb.

In the morning, the three agents are discussing the case when an agent of the Department of Psychic Research and Control, or DEPRAC, arrives to question them. Mrs. Hope is suing Lockwood & Co. for damages to her house. They have five weeks to pay the family £60,000 pounds or the agency will be closed and the house seized for the fine.

That night, a ghost accosts Lucy in her bedroom because she took a necklace off Annabel’s body. The woman’s spirit was bound to the locket, which is now at the agency. George and Lockwood manage to dispel the apparition, but are furious to learn that Lucy disobeyed protocol and took an artifact from a haunting without telling them, or securing it with iron to keep the spirit locked inside. 

Lockwood:: "Why Lucy? I just don’t understand! You know an agent has to report any artifact she finds. Particularly one so intimately connected with a Visitor. They must be properly contained,"
Lucy:: "I know that."
—Lockwood, furious at Lucy, for not reporting the Source.

To make matters even worse, the newspapers print the story of the fire; what few jobs Lockwood had are canceled, leaving them without any income. Lockwood decides that their best course of action will be to solve the case of Annabel’s murder. 

The Fairfax proposal

Main article: Annabel Ward Case
Relaxed Fairfax

Mr. Fairfax has a proposal...

The children discover a mysterious inscription on the locket — Latin words translated as “My torment, my bliss.” Lockwood goes to both the police and the newspapers with the information and is thrilled when the paper runs a glowing article about the agency’s sleuthing work.

Returning home after being interviewed by the police, the young agents discover someone has ransacked the agency and released several spirits from what were locked objects. The agents must subdue the spirits. The intruder appears to have been after Annabel’s locket, which Lucy had again taken with her without telling the others, causing George and Lockwood to be furious once more. 

Lockets are made to hold objects. This one holds another inscription — the letters A and W, separated by two crosses. Below that are the letter H and a series of numbers. The children believe the A and W are for Annie Ward and that the H stands for Hugo, her boyfriend and prime suspect in her murder. 

The following morning, Mr. John William Fairfax, the heir to the Fairfax Iron Company, hires them to investigate an extremely dangerous mansion he owns in the country. (Iron manufacturers became wealthy when iron became one of the few substances that could trap or harm ghosts.) 

Fairfax is willing to pay the agency’s fine up front, just for staying the night and investigating the hauntings in The Red Room and the Screaming Staircase. If they are able to locate the Source of the disturbances, he will pay the agency double their normal fee. Fairfax’s other stipulations are that they must come out to the property within two days, which means George will not have much time to research the house’s past; and they will not bring any explosives with them. They must try to secure the entities with iron only. Much to Lucy’s and George’s displeasure, Lockwood immediately agrees to investigate.

Combe Carey Hall

Main article: Annabel Ward Case
Combe Carey Hall

Lockwood & Co. approaching Combe Carey Hall

While the boys prepare for the trip, Lucy decides to experiment. She creates a circle of iron chains. She then places the locket inside it and releases the spirit from the necklace. Lucy shows it a picture from a society page in which Annabel is seen in a crowd with several of her friends, including Hugo. The ghost screams violently, knocking Lucy down. 

George and Lockwood arrive home in time to see Lucy release a salt bomb to dissipate the ghost, but they are furious she attempted such an experiment on her own. Lucy tells them how Annabel became violent when shown the picture of Hugo. Lockwood studies the picture further and then praises Lucy for her work. He says she has uncovered a key piece of evidence in solving the case, but they will wait to go to the police until after they investigate the Fairfax Mansion.

The children hire a taxi to go to the mansion, and after they arrive, Lockwood pays the driver a substantial amount of money to deliver a package. They are given a tour, complete with sordid details of the building’s past, from the caretaker, Mr. Starkins. Their bags are searched to ensure they do not contain any incendiary devices.

Mr. Fairfax meets them at the house to complete the tour, as the caretaker will not go near the haunted Red Room. As they pass a wall of photographs, Lockwood notices one of Fairfax in a production of Hamlet. Fairfax leads the children upstairs to the door of the Red Room and gives Lockwood the key. He tells the children that they do not need to go into the room, but that is where the source of the hauntings probably resides. Fairfax and Starkins leave the children in the house before sunset, as that is when the spirits become active.

Dangers ghostly and living

Ghost-Locked Lucy Carlyle

Lucy, ghost locked by the horror of Combe Carey Hall

When night approaches, the children enter the Red Room, propping the door open so they can make a quick escape should things get too dangerous. Unfortunately, Fairfax unbeknownst to the three agents, locks them inside. Spirits torment them. Plasm, which will harm them like a Ghost Touch, drips from the ceiling and begins to spread across the floor. They flee from the safety of their iron circle, hoping to find a secret passage that George discovered in an old floor plan. 

Lucy barely finds it in time, and the three find themselves shut up in a narrow passageway behind the wall of the Red Room. A staircase heads downward, and the children soon hear the shrieks and see the shadow spirits of monks who were forced into the cellar of the house and drowned in a well. The children use everything they have against the evil spirits, even the incendiary bombs Lockwood managed to sneak in, but to no avail. The rage of the monks is too strong.

Finally, as Lucy is drawn toward the well to kill herself, Lockwood realizes the source must be down inside it. The children throw the last of their weapons down the well, including all their iron chains and bombs. The well explodes and the spirits dissipate. 

The children leave the secret passage, only to be confronted by Fairfax and Grebe, his chauffeur, who holds them at gunpoint. Lockwood is not surprised. He had deduced that Fairfax was Annabel’s killer. The two had performed together in Hamlet; the locket’s inscription was a reference to a scene from the play. They were secret lovers because Fairfax’s family did not approve of Annabel’s lower-class status. 

Fairfax, jealous of her relationship with Hugo, killed her in a fit of rage and hid her body. Lucy releases Annabel’s ghost from the locket. It immediately attacks Fairfax, killing him with its Ghost Touch. The police arrive, having been alerted to Lockwood’s theory by the package he had asked the taxi driver to deliver. They take the chauffeur into custody, and their paranormal agents secure the rest of the house.

Ruminations

Lucy, Lockwood and George return to London as heroes. Fairfax had indeed wired the money into their account so they could pay their fine, and the good publicity gives them more job prospects. Although they must keep Fairfax’s role in Annabel’s murder a secret so that it does not tarnish his company’s reputation, they are thrilled with all they’ve accomplished and celebrate with a party.

During the party, the three consider the previous case and the upcoming state of affairs. Lucy considers a request from the Chelsea Ladies College promising. Lucy tells Lockwood that she's sorry that Barnes made him like about Fairfax and he agrees, but notes that there would have been terrible repercussions for London, given how powerful the Fairfax family was, and this being something that DEPRAC could not consider with the Problem worsening daily. Lucy rages that it isn't really justice, but Lockwood tells her that what she did was important, that Annabel Ward got her justice.

Lockwood asks Lucy how she knew that the ghost of Annabel Ward wasn't going to kill them all. She tells Lockwood that it wasn't something that Ward's ghost really told her, that it was more that she sensed it, a quirk of her Talent. She asks if he's accusing her of being controlled by the ghost and he tells her that sometimes he just doesn't understand her. When George returns with a carton of ginger ale, he realizes he forgot the donuts from the basement and Lucy declares that she'll get them.

In the basement, Lucy unwittingly jostles the valve on the jar containing the Skull that she first encountered in her interview. To her surprise, she hears a voice calling her name. The voice tells her that it's been watching her, suggesting that they have a chat. She tells it there's no chance, but it tells her it's not like George Cubbins, who has subjected it to cruel experiments. As Lucy reaches for the valve to close the line of communication, it tells her that "Death is coming" and that "Death's Life and Life's in Death, and what was fixed is fluid," saying that she'll never be able to turn the tide. Unmoved, Lucy shuts off the valve and returns to her friends upstairs, desperate for human contact.

Building an agency and the bet

Over the coming seven months, Lucy, Lockwood an George work tirelessly, building up their company. The publicity from the Combe Carey Hall case has attracted a steady run of prominent new cases, including a Dark Specter in a forest and a tomb investigation that results in them being short-listed for "Agency of the Month" in True Hauntings for the second time. Throughout this time, they also face the continued issue of Quill Kipps and his team of the Fittes Agency. They repeatedly barge into Lockwood & Co.'s cases, often taking over and taking the credit.

Things come to a head during the affair of the Wimbledon Wraiths. Following a critical research failure, Lockwood & Co. finds themselves on the ropes. Kipps and his team save their lives, but also take full credit for the case. Annoyed, George declares that Lockwood & Co. could beat them on fair footing. Lockwood agrees and proposes a bet: that if they ever work together on a shared case, the team that loses must take out a newspaper ad admitting defeat and declaring the other team infinitely superior.

The Skull issue and the Bickerstaff case

In the seven months since the Skull spoke to Lucy in the basement, it has said nothing. She reported its communication to Lockwood and George and George has tried a variety of experiments upon it, but with no results. Lucy reflected on their reactions, that Lockwood was excited for the publicity that having a Type Three would bring to the agency, while George's fascination was more academic. Nevertheless, the skull remained stubbornly silent.

Forced to put aside the Skull situation for the time being, Lockwood & Co. turns its attention to affairs of the living. They receive an invitation to a party at the Fittes House to celebrate that agency's 50th year anniversary. They also receive a visit from a pair of new clients: Paul Saunders and Albert Joplin. The two represent Sweet Dreams Excavation and Clearance, a company that has been hired to investigate Kensal Green Cemetery as part of DEPRAC's new policy on proactively dealing with Active Remains. They explain that they have discovered an unexpected grave not marked on their maps: that of Edmund Bickerstaff, a Victorian doctor with reported ties to the occult. Though Lockwood is dubious at first, after hearing more details, he happily accepts the case.

Activities at Kensal Green

The three proceed to Kensal Green Cemetery. Lockwood describes it as being a simple case, but Lucy points out that coffin-opening is never easy. Lockwood is forced to glad-handle some Sensitives at work on the site, Lucy noting that her own personal reaction would have been to slap and boot a whining girl.

As the three get down to work, Lucy senses an initial faint vibration. This quickly becomes a loud buzzing, like that of flies. She and Lockwood cover for George as he opens the coffin. Lucy seems to hear strange voice demanding "Look, look!" Nevertheless, she casts a silver net, successfully sealing the source, Edmund Bickerstaff's body.

Afterwards, the three accept congratulations from Saunders. They also discuss a strange object they all saw in the coffin, which seemed like a sort of mirror. Lockwood warns Saunders that the source is powerful and he needs to contact DEPRAC straightaway. Saunders asks Lockwood to return to his office to sign some papers. Lockwood does so, but Joplin expresses concern that the coffin should be moved into the chapel due to the danger of relic-men thieves. Saunders decides to deal with it after the paperwork, him and Lockwood warning for the coffin to be left alone in the meantime

However, a workman named Norris alerts Lucy that George seems to be heading toward the coffin. Indeed, Lucy looks and sees George with Joplin, unexpectedly opening the coffin, then a third figure with them, that of Bickerstaff's ghost. She hears the voice in her head again, telling her to look and stating "I give you your heart's desire." She forces herself to move, drawing her rapier, but finds herself too far away. Desperate, she tosses the rapier sending it through the ghost, dematerialising it and allowing the coffin to be resealed.

The theft

Lockwood is furious at George's actions, wondering how he could have possibly disregarded standard procedure by returning to the coffin and allowing a nonagent to get near. For her part, Lucy isn't really surprised at George's actions, knowing his fascination with the Problem. After George goes to get cocoa, Lockwood compliments Lucy on her sword-work, though she admits that it was blind luck that she actually hit the ghost. Lockwood tells her it was nevertheless impressive that she was the only one who acted in time. She expresses curiosity as to the nature of Bickerstaff's ghost, wondering how it rose up so high unlike any ghost they had ever seen.

Tired by recent affairs, Lucy prepares herself for bed, only to hear a soft voice asking her "Feeling rough?" and telling her "Because you sure as hell look it." Lucy realizes the voice is not that of Lockwood or George, but one that she has heard once before: that of the Skull. She quickly moves to head for the door, but the Skull suggests that she not bring Lockwood and George into things. Given that it's been seven months, she decides to humor it at first. She asks it what it is and why it's talking to her. It tells her that it's exactly what she sees, that this fate awaits her too. It tells her that she didn't heed its warning, that "Death's in Life and Life's in Death." When she says that this means nothing to her, it tells her to use her intelligence, that she's on her own.

Lucy tells the Skull that she's not on her own, that she has Lockwood and George. It, however, is dismissive of this, telling her that George is fat and Lockwood deceitful. When she asks what it means about Lockwood being deceitful, it tells reminds her of something. When she first came to 35 Portland Row, Lockwood indicated a particular door on a landing in the house and told her to never enter, that it was private. The Skull tells her that there are other things to her in the house besides it. At this, Lucy shouts for Lockwood and George. She tells them that the ghost has been talking, even though it has gone silent upon their arrival.

Lucy is annoyed, but as they go to get a drink, Lockwood tells her that they believe her. When, however, they ask her just what it was that it said, she is evasive at first. George asks if it revealed to her secrets of the Other Side, saying that Joplin goes to scholars' conventions about it. She tells him that it told her he was fat and he is aggravated and annoyed. Lockwood shifts the conversation to what it said about him, promising not to get annoyed when Lucy hedges, but is clearly annoyed when she reveals the Skull's words. Before they can properly continue the conversation, however, they are interrupted by a phone call. Lockwood wonders just who this could be at 4:30 A.M. It turns out to Saunders with news: the mysterious mirror found in the coffin has been stolen.

The competition and the contact

Saunders's phone call is soon followed up by Inspector Barnes of DEPRAC summoning the group to an urgent meeting. They are annoyed by the presence of Kipps and is team, but Barnes tells them that he needs more than one set of agents at hand. He explains that Bickerstaff's coffin was ransacked and the contents stolen, a night-watch child having been assaulted. He declares that he wants the mirror found and informs Lockwood & Co. that he is hiring them to handle the situation and to work together with Kipps and his team. Lockwood, however, has another idea. After Barnes is gone, he and Kipps agree that this is what they've been waiting for and whichever of their teams solves the case will win the bet.

With this, the two teams set to work solving the case. After going home to get some rest, the members of Lockwood & Co. return to the cemetery that afternoon. As they investigate, they discover a member of Kipps's team, Ned Shaw, picking on a night watch boy and send him on his way. They learn two names from him, Duane Neddles and Jack Carver. Using this information and searching around, they discover the body of one of men, Neddles.

Following this, Lucy finds herself taken for an unexpected trip to meet somebody that Lockwood describes only as being a "contact." Pressed for further information, Lockwood names the contact as Flo Bones, the only known female relic-man. Lucy is dubious as she has been taught, as an agent, that relic-men are the opposite of everything that agents stand for. Nevertheless, she travels with Lockwood to the banks of the river Thames. There, they meet with Flo, but Lucy is not impressed. When Flo seems reluctant to provide any information, Lucy flares up, suggesting that Flo people like her avoid danger. They get into a spat which finally ends when Flo declares that she'll help them to find Jack Carver if they help 'her with something first. They therefore aid her in fighting off a ghost and securing a relic before finally retiring to a dockside cafe.

At the cafe, Lucy is annoyed when it turns out that Flo actually knows very little about Jack Carver, only how to get a message to him. She informs them of a message board in the cafe, telling them to address the note to the Graveyard Fellowship. Lucy says it's no good and asks Flo where it is that Carver unloads his relics. She tells her and Lockwood that this is Julius Winkman of the Bloomsbury Antiques Emporium, who typically sells such relics at secret, late-night auctions. She warns the two against going anyone near either Carver or Winkman, telling them that they are dangerous, violent men.

George's revelations

Based on Flo's information, and ignoring her warning, Lockwood and Lucy decided to pay an undercover visit to Winkman's, posing as tourists. They discovered little of interest and were found out as agents and tossed out of the shop bodily. They returned home in disgrace to meet with George, who had made much better progress, researching the Bickerstaff case. However, they first have to deal with George's continued experiments regarding the Skull, riling Lockwood up. Lucy tries to play peacemaker, but it largely fails, and it is only later on that everyone finally calms down. With this, they are finally able to get George's report from the National Archives.

George relates a story of one of Bickerstaff's associates being eaten by rats. He also reveals that he discovered two more names: Simon Wilberforce and Mary Dulac. He explains that they, along with Bickerstaff, all vanished in 1877 under mysterious circumstances, only for Dulac to reappear ten years later, captured and committed to an insane asylum after being discovered living wild in a forest. He explains that there's more to the story, a book that Dulac wrote called The Confessions of Mary Dulac that he hasn't been able to find. They all decide to turn in for the night, only to hear a strange tapping noise. Upon investigation, they discover that it's someone at the door. They carefully unlatch and find it to be Jack Carver. He falls down face-forward, a curved dagger deep in his back.

Jack and the Skull

As Carver lies on the floor of 35 Portland Row, he mutters phrases, which Lockwood shouts urgently for George to write down. These include "Bone glass," "Seven from it, seven not one" and "You see such things. Such terrible things..." Lucy also hears "Please come with me," though neither of the other two hear this. A DEPRAC team pays Lockwood & Co. a visit, Barnes included, and Kipps's team as well. Carver's death lends a new urgency to the case and Barnes warned that he expected cooperation between the two teams and results.

After DEPRAC clears out, the three agents discuss Carver's words. Lucy says that whatever is in the Bone Glass is so bad that you die of sight if you see it properly, like Neddles did. She says that she thinks Bickerstaff looked too and whatever he saw made him went mad and shoot himself. "No, that wasn't the way it happened," comes a voice. At first, Lucy cannot place and thinks that there may be a dangerous ghost in the house. As it turns out, there is and has been: the Skull. Hearing the voice again, Lucy goes to the oven where George has been experimenting on the Skull and opens the door. She asks it how can know this. It tells her that it was there.

Lucy informs Lockwood and George of these revelations. Lockwood calls it impossible and it states snidely for Lucy to relate that he's not the only one who has secrets. As they ponder what to do next, George calls Lucy remarkable, her being the first known agent to communicate with a Type Three since the celebrated Marissa Fittes. Lucy tells them that they have to be on their guard, that the Skull is likely to try to manipulate them. They get down to business, Lucy keeping in mind the words of Marissa Fittes as recorded in history, to be polite and calm, for spirits were deceitful and dangerous and did not have people's best interests at heart. She tries this, but quickly finds that there is no use in being polite, for the spirit is rude and foul-mouthed.

Dropping the facade, Lucy demands to know what the Skull knows of the Bickerstaff affair. She learns that Bickerstaff was its master, but when she asks if it is either Simon Wilberforce or Mary Dulac, the two names that George discovered, it tells her that it was "neither of those fools." When Lockwood refers to Bickerstaff as a grave-robber, the Skull states that Bickerstaff was no grave-robber, but a great man, a visionary who came to a sad end. It tells her that it saw the Bone Glass, but never saw it used, and that it wept for it was a wonderful thing. It tells her it was tempted, but never looked, that Bickerstaff's legacy is still with them today. With that, it fades away, going silent.

The papers

The Skull's revelations provide much for Lockwood & Co. to consider, but little in the way of solid information that they can use for their case. Nevertheless, it does provide them with one solid lead to go on: that Bickerstaff stashed secret papers under the floorboards of his study. Lockwood, saying that Lucy has a sense of the Skull's personality, asks why it is that she thinks it's suddenly started speaking. She admits that she doesn't quite know, but thinks that there's something about the Bickerstaff case that attracts it. He also asks her if George seems distracted to her and she agrees that he does, but that this is hardly something new.

With this, the three proceed to Hampstead Hill, the site of the Bickerstaff mansion. Lucy is astonished when she learns that George has brought the Skull along with them, but he explains that he thought it could help since they don't know exactly where the papers are. She is even more bothered when she learns that it was actually Lockwood's idea. She complains that they're taking her for granted, but they nevertheless continue on.

The affair turns out to be a harrowing one. Using her sense of Touch, Lucy experiences a terrible memory regarding the Bone Glass and Simon Wilberforce being made to look at it. To make things worse, they encounter Kipps and his team skulking about, having tracked them. Prompted by a single word from the Skull, they head upstairs and search. They find the papers, but also end in a battle with Kipps's team and then a terrible Specter, that of Wilberforce, his body consumed by rats, which seem to come from the body itself.

Lucy, furious that the Skull would lead them into such danger, is ready to take it immediately to the Fittes furnaces of Clerkenwell to be burned. Lockwood and George, however, are less sure about this, given that it did lead them to the papers. Lockwood laments they're no closer to actually knowing anything that could actually help them solve the case and they decide to study the papers for clues. They find that most of it is written in Latin and unreadable for the moment, but they also discover a set that are pictures. From these, they discover that Bickerstaff was robbing graves and using them to try to create a window to the Other Side.

The Fittes party and the Black Library

The discussion of the Bickerstaff papers is interrupted by a tapping on the window. Though at first they wonder it could be a ghostly visitor, they realize that this cannot be the case, as it is mid-morning. They discover that their guest is, in fact, Flo Bones. She reports that Julius Winkman is planning to hold his auction the night after. Lucy remembers that the Fitte party is that night as well and Lockwood declares that they can do both.

For Lucy, perhaps the most horrifying part of the evening is not the planned infiltration of a dangerous auction, but realizing that she has nothing to wear to the party. She goes off on a quick shopping trip, returning with a dress and shoes that Lockwood declares delightful, despite the horrifying faces being pulled by the Skull. She, Lockwood and George head off for the party. Once there, they are surprised to be greeted personally by Penelope Fittes, head of the Fittes Agency and esteemed daughter of the late Marissa Fittes. She thanks them all for having rescued her friend who had died in a previous attempt to tackle the Combe Carey Hall haunting and shows off the agency's collection of famous, contained Sources.

Lockwood is pleased with the attention, while Lucy is a bit less enamored and points out that Fittes didn't seem to recognize George. Lockwood decides, based on a tip from George, that they should visit the Black Library in the hope of finding Mary Dulac's Confessions book. They manage to sneak in and find the book in question, but are forced to hide when Penelope Fittes herself unexpectedly enters with a man that she addresses as "Gabriel." During this, Lucy is forced to perform some quick moves, which Lockwood compliments her on, when her hiding place is very nearly discovered.

The auction

With the book secured, the group makes to leave, but has unfortunate encounter with Montagu Barnes and Kipps's team. They manage to succeed in shaking them off and arrive at the banks of the Thames for their meeting with Flo Bones. While Lucy and Lockwood head on to the auction, George is left behind in order to serve as a backup in case trouble arises.

Lucy and Lockwood make their way on, enduring a harrowing climb via a sewer pipe. As they make their way through an abandoned office, Lucy tells Lockwood that he needs to have a word with George, that he's feeling left out of the action. They don ski masks and enter the auction, which proceeds apace, with the interested parties demanding the auction of the item they've heard so much about. Lucy, for her part, verifies the presence of the Bone Glass by tuning into the strange buzzing sound of flies that it emits. She nudges Lockwood to confirm this and he gives her a nod.

At the insistence of the crowd, Winkman allows a group of child assistants up to make an inspection of the Bone Glass. Lucy and Lockwood wait for a signal, which eventually comes with a bright light blooming beyond a window. As Winkman calls for the first bids, George sends a magnesium flare through the window, then two more. In the calamity, and sending flares of their own, Lucy and Lockwood seize the Bone Glass, sealing it in a lavender bag. They are accosted by Winkman, but escape by Lucy releasing Sources as ghost bombs. As they make their way to the roof, Lockwood tosses the bag to George, shouting that it's Plan H.

Lucy and Lockwood flee, but are cornered on the roof by a blonde man who showed interest in bidding on the Bone Glass. The man demands the glass from Lockwood in exchange for letting both him and Lucy go, but Lockwood tells him that they don't have it, that they tossed it into the Thames. As Lockwood has lost his rapier, Lucy offers to fight the man, but Lockwood points out they'd still be in the same position. He tells Lucy they must jump. Reluctant, she nevertheless agrees, but warns Lockwood that this has to be the last time for this sort of thing, referring to when they both jumped from the burning house.

Someone's missing

Lucy and Lockwood return to 35 Portland Row, tired and sopping wet, but alive. They are quickly revived by showers and the promise the food that they are cooking. They decide to delve into the Confessions book. Lockwood tells Lucy that most of it is nonsense about forbidden nonsense and seeking the mysteries of creation. There is, however, one very important detail: it was Mary Dulac who killed Bickerstaff, her having shot him in the head after he tried to force her to look into the Bone Glass.

As Lockwood summarizes the state of affairs, noting how alike George and Albert Joplin in their fascination with the glass, Lucy stares in horror at something she's spotted on the Thinking Cloth. She points out a note to Lockwood: "Gone to see a friend about the mirror. Back soon. G." She and Lockwood realize that George has gone to see Joplin, and that more, that the Skull knows, that the jar containing it has been sitting there there the whole time.

Lucy twists the lever on the jar that allows psychic communication, demanding to know just what the ghost knows. The Skull mocks Lucy and Lockwood for taking so long to figure things out and refuses to provide any real information, stating instead only that it thinks George is off to do something stupid. Lockwood warns it that if it doesn't talk, they'll take it to the Fittes furnaces of Clerkenwell and burn it. It asks mockingly how they know that this isn't exactly what it wants and when Lucy relates this to Lockwood, he can only open and close his mouth stupidly. Lucy, however, in a sudden flash of insight, realizes that she knows exactly what it is that is driving the ghost.

Lucy tells the Skull that it might like keeping secrets, but that despite this, she knows enough to know what makes it tick. It was afraid of death, and desperate to know that it wouldn't be alone after this, and this was why it was so obsessed with the potential secrets shown by the Bone Glass. It acts bored by this, but she tells it that this is why it's so keen for communication with her now. She warns it that if it doesn't cooperate, then they won't take it to the furnaces. Instead, they'll shut the jar's lever, put it in a bag, and bury it somewhere so deep that it'll never be found and will be on its own forever.

The Skull tries to call Lucy's bluff, but it quickly becomes clear to it that she's not bluffing. It then relates the facts: that George beat her and Lockwood back home by almost an hour. Not long after this, Joplin showed up. The two of them went off together after a brief discussion. Before they left, however, George seemed to have second thoughts and turned back to leave the note on the Thinking Cloth. From this, the Skull realizes that while Joplin was fully under the thrall of his master Bickerstaff, George was still fighting his influence.

Lucy and Lockwood lament how they'd noticed that George seemed ensnared by the mirror, but didn't realize just how fully it had affected him. Lockwood wonders where it is that Joplin lives and Lucy points out that he spends most of his time in Kensal Green Cemetery. With this, he and Lucy prepare to set off. As they wait for the cab, they realize that the dagger which killed Jack Carver came from a cemetery where Joplin said he had also worked and that this must mean that he killed Carver. This leads them to believe that George is in more trouble than they thought. As the cab arrives, the Skull tells them to give its regards to George, or whatever's left of him. Lockwood, however, grabs backpack, stuffing it over the jar. "You needn't look so smug. You're coming too," he tells it.

Return to Kensal Green

As Lucy and Lockwood arrive at Kensal Green, the Skull tells Lucy that they're too late, that George won't have been able to resist looking at the Bone Glass. She tells it that it'd better hope this isn't the case or it knows what they'll do to it. Lucy and Lockwood enter the chapel on the grounds of the cemetery, finding it empty, but a heater still warm, as if someone had been there recently. The Skull states that its master is near and they realize that George and Joplin must be in the underground catacombs. They wonder how to get there, mocked by the Skull, until Lucy remembers there being a catafalque.

As the two struggle to search for a way to lower the catafalque, once more mocked by the Skull, they end up going outside. There, to their shock, they discover the members of Kipps's team, sans Kipps himself. Kat Godwin demands to know where Kipps is and Lockwood tells her that they don't have time for this, that George is in trouble. Kat, adjusting quickly, tells him that they think that Kipps is too, Bobby Vernon explaining that they had gotten a call from Kipps an hour ago and that he had been following George. Lockwood discusses with Vernon how to lower the catafalque, but before the conversation can get very far, he realizes that there is another group of people approaching and that there are thugs sent by Winkman.

Lockwood orders Lucy to go into the chapel, find the lever for the catafalque and rescue George while he and the others remain and fight. She tries to argue, but he replies in a voice that brooks no argument. Spurred on from a hint by a mocking hint from the Skull, Lucy finds the lever. She pulls it and starts descending down into the catacombs, the Skull telling her not to worry, that she's not alone because she has it.

Confrontation in the catacombs

As Lucy traverses the catacombs, the Skull begins a tuneless humming and whistling that Lucy warns it to knock off if it doesn't want to be buried. She closes her eyes, tunes in her senses, and tracks the psychic signal of the Bone Glass. The Skull tells her that the ghosts of the catacomb can hear her, as she hears them. Determined to get something useful out of it, she asks it how many bones Bickerstaff used and it tells it was seven. She asks what you see if you look, but it tells her it was never stupid to look, saying that she's wasting time. It warns her that Bickerstaff is near. As she arrives at the chamber containing George, she lays witness to a terrible sight.

The Bone Glass in a circle of iron chains. Within the circle also are the seven forms of the ghosts and in front of it is George, tied to a chair, and across from it another containing Quill Kipps. She cannot see Joplin anywhere, but the Skull shouts that its master is there. Lucy tells the Skull its staying put and leaves the jar behind, ignoring its objections. She goes to George, but Kipps shouts out her that he's out cold and to free him instead. She does so and he tells her that Joplin went off to investigate a noise, but will be back soon. She hears the Skull's voice warning her to watch out, but as a sharp point pokes her in the neck, the Skull chuckles that it may have waited a bit too long to warn her.

Joplin tells Lucy to keep off her belt and rapier, warning her to do it quickly as he gets jumpy when crossed and his hand slips. He makes her tie herself up next to George, whom Lucy is horrified to see looks terrible, with a bruise under his chin and dark and sunken eyes. He slaps George around the face, telling him it's time to proceed with their experiment as agreed. Kipps tells Lucy this wasn't how it was at all, that he interrupted a ridiculous fight between Joplin and George and got tied up for his trouble.

Lucy tells Joplin that he's not thinking straight, that the experiment will never work. Joplin, however, tells her that he will finally have his heart's desire. Lucy asks George just what he thought he was doing and he tells her that he can't explain it, that he had to look again. Lucy tells Joplin that he'll die if he looks in the mirror, that he'd know this if he read Mary Dulac's Confessions. He tells her that he already has read them and that he's going to have George look for him. He unveils the Bone Glass and George shuts his eyes tight. Joplin demands that he look, telling him that he'll kill Lucy and Kipps if he doesn't. George tells him that he well and Lucy pleads with him not to, but he tells her that it's no good, that he can't help himself anyhow. He tells her to tell Lockwood that he's sorry. He opens his eyes. Joplin demands to know what he sees and he tells him that he sees beautiful things. He then goes slack and slumps, Lucy horrified as he lets out a rattling sigh then falls still.

A surprise combatant

Joplin laments that George could have said something more useful before dying, but Lucy is in a state of disbelief shock. She shouts at George to wake up, but Kipps tells her that it's no good. She tells him that George is always like this, just a bit sleepy, but George just hangs there limp. Joplin suggests that they could have another try, making for Lucy. He demands that she walk to the other chair, and she tells him that he's making a mistake, that she talks to ghosts. His is disbelieving and she tells him that she has a Type Three with her right now, but he refuses to believe it, saying that if she has a relic with her, he'll examine it later.

Joplin pushes Lucy forward and she has to ignore an urge to look at the mirror. He warns her to not try anything, saying that she's to pull out George's body and sit in the chair. She tells him that she won't, that she's going to collect her rapier for where she dropped it, then kill him. Urged on by the Bickerstaff ghost, Joplin moves to try to attack her, but at that moment, George unexpectedly rises from the chair. Lucy screams and in his surprise, Joplin drops the knife. George surges forward, pushing both Joplin and the mirror to the ground.

Lucy attacks the Bickerstaff ghost, succeeding in driving it back to the point where it won't reform for a while. Kipps asks her to set him free again, but she tells him there's one more thing that needs doing. As it turns out, however, George has largely succeeded in driving back Joplin Joplin, however, is still determined to get at the Bone Glass. Lucy decides that it's time to end things. She reaches the mirror and hears the voices of the spirits, asking her to give them back their bones. She tells them she'll see what she can do. She shouts at the Skull, asking how to destroy it and free the spirits. It asks her why she should even care about them and she demands that it answer, lest she bury it. Then, however, she accidentally catches a glimpse of the mirror's surface.

She is immediately enthralled. As she begins to give in, the Skull calls her stupid, telling her that she's a fool like the others. It says that she can't look away when all she has to do is smash the glass. Driving forward with the one piece of her mind left to her, she takes a mallet and smashes the glass. The spirits are freed, vanishing from sight with relief. Horrified, Joplin shouts at her that the mirror was hers. He pulls out a gun, only to be interrupted by the sudden appearance of Lockwood. Lockwood calmly declares the gun useless, stating that it's an old model that needed to be kept dry, not in a wet catacomb. Joplin tries to fire, but as Lockwood predicted, nothing happens. He stumbles across the room, straight into the circle containing Bickerstaff's body. The ghost reforms and he is immediately Ghost-Touched and killed.

Discussions and keeping quiet

In the aftermath, Kipps is untied and everyone makes their way out of the catacombs, meeting a team from DEPRAC headed by Inspector Barnes. The remains of the shattered Bone Glass are handed over to Barnes. Lucy thanks Kipps for supporting her, telling him that he surprised her, given his behavior at the Bickerstaff house with the rat ghost. He tells her that she doesn't understand what it's like when your Talent starts to fade, that you sense ghosts, but can no longer properly see or hear them, and sometimes you lose your nerve. Lockwood releases Kipps from the bet and Lucy calls it a nice gesture and the right thing to do, but notes that Kipps clearly has mixed feelings about it at best from his expression.

Lockwood apologizes to George, telling him that he hasn't properly taken into account his contributions and that he knows his actions were due to being influenced by Bickerstaff's ghost. George is dead on his feet and can barely appreciate the praise, ready to nod off at any moment. For her part, though, Lucy wants to know from him how it was that he looked directly into the Bone Glass and survived. He shows her and Lockwood his spectacles, explaining that they were knocked off during his confrontation with Joplin and Joplin never noticed. Without them, he's totally blind at that distance and saw nothing when he looked.

Three days following these events, the members of Lockwood & Co. are back at home at 35 Portland Row, enjoying the newspaper publicity of the case and the fact that their check from DEPRAC, personally signed by Barnes, has cleared. Lucy, however, notes that the articles mention neither the Bone Glass, nor the true nature of Joplin's activities, and Lockwood explains that Barnes forced him to keep quiet. Lucy says that the real question is what the truth is about the mirror and Lockwood states that it's a paradox for the only way to know this is to look into the mirror and this tends to kill you.

Lucy asks just what it is they're going to do about the Skull, the spirit of which has stubbornly refused to materialise in the three days since the Kensal Green affair. Lockwood declares that it's up to Lucy as to what to do with it, as she's the one with the connection to it. She tells him that she wants them to continue to keep it quiet for now, but that she doesn't think that they should destroy it, that she's getting better at understanding her Talent and it may be properly useful to them one day.

Lockwood tells her and George that he's been thinking about everything that's happened and that he feels that secrets cause nothing but trouble. He tells them that he wants to show them something and if they're not doing anything, he could now. He gets up and they follow him, up to the landing containing the secret door. He tells them to just open the handle and walk right in. Lucy tells him that things go both ways and if he's not comfortable, he really doesn't have to. He tells her that it's okay, that it's something he'd been thinking about doing for a long time and when the Skull started making insinuations, he knew it was time. He opens the door and they follow him in. At first, Lucy can't see much, but then she sees something which causes it to feel as if the floor pitched under her. "Your parents," she asks. He tells her that she's close. "My sister."

Lavender Lodge Case

A few months after learning about the fate of Lockwood's sister, Jessica, Lockwood and Co. worked with DEPRAC to investigated disappearances at the Lavender Lodge. The elderly couple running the lodge trapped them upstairs, where a number of ghosts were active, mostly of victims killed by the initial ghost. As the night grew, the number of Visitors increased, and the agents were forced to retreat to the attic, where the primary ghost and its source was located. The team struggled against the ghost but eventually were able to seal the source. After, they broke out of the attic, confronted and incapacited the owners, ending the deaths and hauntings.

Honing her Talent

Lockwood and Co. were beginning to be overbooked with cases, as many other agencies were occupied with handling the Chelsea outbreak. Lockwood even mentioned hiring someone else to keep things organized at their headquarters while they handled cases. Lucy desired to practice her Listening abilities, beyond simply speaking with the Skull. She soon tried her ability on Type Two ghosts. The first case she tried, she spoke with the ghost of a deceased woman who lead Lucy to a safe. The second time, Lucy handled a case, solo, where the grandfather's ghost seemed to be haunting his family. Rather than taking the proper precautions, Lucy spoke with the old man's ghost, and he directed her to a location of money he left for his family.

Lucy left London to visit her family, and when she returned, she found Lockwood had hired Holly Monroe to join the team in an administrative capacity. Lucy was put off by the new member, but tried to accept this new change. Soon, they were hired by Fiona Wintergarden to investigate her home haunted by bloody footprints. The first night investigating, Lockwood, Lucy, and George were there to observe the footprints and the figures that manifested. They came to the conclusion that the spirit might be the victim of murder, which Lucy had expressed pity towards, though Lockwood did not share her empathy for the ghost. When Lucy went to the Archives with George to research the townhouse history, she found a short article of Jessica Lockwood's death, which implied that not only have Anthony Lockwood found his sister dead from a ghost, but he actually witnessed it. A fact he did not share. Later, while George was still researching, Lockwood, Lucy, and Holly went back to the residence to find the source of the haunting. Lucy eventually tried speaking with the ghost, to find out what it wanted and hoped to put it to rest peacefully, but George arrived, shouting the ghost was actually the killer, not the victim, and it tried attacking Lucy. Lockwood got injured trying to protect her from the Visitor, and Holly and George saved her from falling over the banister of the stairway. They saw the ghost retreat and located the source, sealing it.

The incident caused a rift between her and Lockwood, who thought she was getting too close to such dangerous entities, in her attempt to understand them. However, the case got them enough notice for DEPRAC to put them on the Chelsea outbreaks. They learned that no one seemed to be aware of the location of the initial haunting, or the reason so many Visitors had been stirred.

The agents were invited to a carnival, being thrown by Rotwell, as a way to boost morale for the general public, and provide a distraction of the outbreak that does not seem to end. During the carnival, Lucy and George were confronted by Leopold Winkman, who seemed confident his father would be set free from prison sooner than expected. He struck Lucy and ran off. Lucy and her associates joined Steve Rotwell and Penelope Fittes, and they met Rupert Gale, who recognized them as the two who distrupted the Winkman auction and stole the Bone Glass. Soon as the parade began, assailants attacked, throwing "ghost bombs" into the crowd, trying to assassinate Fittes. Lockwood and the team prevented the assassination, and Lucy and Lockwood chased one of the attackers until he escaped.

Though Lucy felt that familiar sense of comradery with Lockwood again during the attack, he seemed to pull back again the next day, and she was driven to find at least one thing real about Lockwood, so she secretly went into Jessica's room. Lucy found a few photos of Lockwood during his childhood years, but as she began to leave, she stumbled and touched Jessica's bed, causing Lucy to experience the vision of Lockwood witnessing his sister's death. Shaken by what she'd seen and done, Lucy left the room, and on her way back down stairs, she ran into George, who told her he discovered the origin of the Chelsea outbreak.

Aickmere and Brothers investigation

George told them, that based on the locations of hauntings, and key factories and Thames locations, that the origin of the haunts is not where the cluster was gathering, but at Aickmere and Brothers Department Store, which was built over an ancient King's Prison. Without receiving any help from DEPRAC, Lucy insisted on Lockwood to accept Quill Kipps and his team to join them in hunting the Source. Lockwood and Co., Quill Kipps' team, and Flo Bones all gathered at the store, and split into teams to go to each level, looking for any signs to point them to the Source. Lucy was teamed with Holly, and she was again annoyed by the girl, this time as it seemed Holly was more scared than an agent should be when hunting a ghost. The Skull Lucy took with her warned her that there was a ghost who was hunting her as well, and Lucy saw a creature go by, unsettling her and calling to her, though Holly did not hear it. The teams regrouped, but one member, Bobby Vernon, disappeared, chasing after, who he believed, was his departed team member, Ned Shaw. The teams believed they may be dealing with a Fetch: a ghost that takes on the appearance of other people, and they split up again to find Vernon.

Lucy and Holly found the Fittes agent, alive but injured, having been tricked into falling down an elevator shaft. They helped him out and started carrying him though the store. But on the way, the two ladies started arguing, unairing the frustrations that were growing since Lucy returned from vacation. But they soon realized their error, finding they were in the presence of a poltergeist, who had been feeding of their negative emotions and gaining power from them. They made their way through the store, as the poltergeist began attacking them, which had enough strength to expand further in the structure. As they made their way towards the exit, the poltergeist ripped the ground apart, and Lucy was attacked and fell down the hole.

Confronting the hollow boy

Lucy survived the fall, and found herself in the King's Prison, which was haunted by the spirits of the prisoners and patients who perished when the place was destroyed. She tried speaking with them, assuring them she could put them to rest without defiling their bones. She also noticed that the bones were aligned in a pattern, and saw a cigarette bud, implying someone from present day had caused the disruption of Visitors. Though she tried to keep them calm, they tried to close in on her, until another, more powerful Visitor drove them away. She found herself, with what she believed to be the ghost of Anthony Lockwood, telling her he died trying to save her. She at first believed him to be real, but realized it was the Fetch, taking his form, but speaking words she believed. Particularly that Lockwood would someday die to protect her. The spirit was shortly driven away by the real, very alive, Lockwood. As she and Lockwood made their way out of the ruins, she admitted to him she was in Jessica's room and the vision she saw there. As they made there way out, they rejoined their friends, and Holly returned Lucy's rutsack with the Skull, keeping it safe when Lucy fell.

Shaken by what she had seen, and truly believing her Talents were becoming a hinderance and would lead to Lockwood's death, Lucy decided to resign from Lockwood and Co.

As a freelance consultant

Over four months after leaving Lockwood and Co., Lucy began acting freelance, being hired by other agencies in a consulting capacity. She had taken the Skull with her, who was the only frequent being for conversation, and the Skull assisted her on her jobs. In one job, she found a spirit of a woman who practiced dark magics, and located the Source, a mummified head, which she also had to see officially destroyed, so she could get paid. Despite seeing it destroyed, she became suspicious when Flo Bones told her a mummified head was recently put onto the black market.

The following morning, Anthony Lockwood went to see Lucy at her new office/residence, asking for her to help Lockwood and Co. on a case, which Penelope Fittes had commissioned. After months of feeling off without a proper team of friends, Lucy accepted, what she was told was, a "one-off". Fittes told the team of the ghost of a cannibal haunting their former residence, and the team spent the night trying to locate the Source as the ghost toyed with them. Finally, they decided to lure the ghost out by destroying his kitchen, and as the Visitor made its way to the kitchen, Lockwood jumped into the fray, attacking the intimidating spirit alone while the others searched for the Source. Noticing Lockwood's actions, Lucy spoke with George who told her that since she left, Lockwood became more reckless over the months.

Theft of the Skull

The next day, after Lucy left her place, she returned to find the Skull had been stolen. Thinking about those who knew of the Skull, who would steal it, she remembered Harold Mailer, a furnace worker, who likely saw the Skull when she went to get the mummified head incinerated. She confronted Mailer, who told her of his role in a larger scheme to steal Sources and sell them. He said he didn't take the Skull, but knew who would, and at Lucy's "request" set up a meeting at night. Lucy went to the meeting spot at the time, where she found Mailer already there, but became suspicious when he appeared to be relaxed. Her concerns were confirmed when the new spirit of Harold Mailer appeared before her, exclaiming she is the reason he died, as well as stating "it is at the place of blood", before the spirit vanished. Lucy was ambushed by a few men and she made a run for it. After escaping them, she knew her home would not be secure, so she went back to 35 Portland Row, where Lockwood and George provided her shelter as she told them of her predicament.

The next day, she joined Lockwood and Co. as they met a client, Danny Skinner, who told them his town, Aldbury Castle, where many ghosts seemed to have suddenly been stirred, resulting in the deaths of many adults. He told them his town was relatively quiet of Visitors until three months ago. On top of that, and unidentifiable entity, only named the "Creeping Shadow" also appeared, which seemed to draw the attention of the ghosts. Lockwood and Co. doubted his story, and after he left, they refocused their plans to get back the stolen Skull.

Vauxhall Station

In order to get the Skull back from the Wickmans, they knew they needed pretty strong Sources to reinforce the cover of them acting as relic-men, so Lockwood took them to Jessica's room, where there were unopened boxes from his parents years ago, one of the boxes had two spirit-capes, items used to safely approach spirits. They soon found useful Sources and prepared to go find the Skull. Flo lead Lucy and Lockwood, now in disguise, to the Vauxhall Underground, where relic-men gathered with their Sources to sell. It was there, Lucy heard the Skull calling her, telling her it was in the 'place of blood' and the collector of Sources was in the room with it. As Lockwood made a distraction, Lucy went into the room to reclaim it. She found the Skull, and saw that the 'collector' was a higher up who worked at Rotwell. She tried to lie and say the Skull was useless and she tried taking it but was stopped by Leopold Winkman, who quickly recognized her through the disguise. Lucy grabbed the Skull, and with its help, escaped the room. As Lucy made her escape with Lockwood, Leopold caught up to her and wrestled the jar from her, taking the Skull. With all the commotion building, and their covers blown, the two had no choice but to flee without it. They soon found themselves being hunted by both the Wickmans and a nasty ghost that haunted the tunnel. Thinking fast, Lockwood took out the spirit-capes and placed it on both of them, causing the spirit to stop pursuing them. However, they found trapping their path, an abandoned train filled with ghosts. With Wickman at their heels, the two took the chance and got on the carriage in hopes the capes could protect them from the Visitors. As before, the capes seemed to keep the Visitors at bay, and Lucy and Lockwood were able to escape.

After returning, despite Lockwood feeling great from what they learned at Vauxhall, Lucy was still feeling down about not being able to retrieve the Skull. She, George, and Lockwood received an invitation from Penelope Fittes who offered to merge their companies, but Lockwood declined her offer. When they returned, to all their surprise, Lockwood declared they would go to Aldbury Castle, seeing that the location is also near a Rotwell Institute facility, leading him to suspect a connection between it and the sudden cluster and the enigmatic "Creeping Shadow".

Albury Castle hauntings

Arriving at the village, Lockwood and Co., along with Lucy and Kipps, worked the first night ridding the inn of its ghost. The following day, they began investigating the town and the spots of the hauntings. Lucy and Lockwood took a look at the Rotwell facility, built on the location of an ancient Viking battlefield. Later, Steve Rotwell made an appearance at the inn and tried to warn off Lockwood from investigating, only reinforcing Lockwood's desire to further dig into Rotwell's project. The night, the team first dealt with a number of spirits, but soon, Lucy and Lockwood saw the legendary Creeping Shadow. Neither knew what to make of it as it indeed seem to stir ghosts from their resting place, where ever it stepped. Meeting the others at the inn, they all decided that the facility needed to be investigated that very night.

Mystery of the creeping shadow

They broke into the facility, first finding a lab with various inventions and devices. Amongst these were the ghost bombs used at the carnival a few months ago, leading to the conclusion that Steve Rotwell was behind the assassination attempt of Penelope Fittes. Lockwood, needing to see what the facility was focusing on, split from the group to go to the main building, and Lucy followed behind him. They saw the employees, along with Steve Rotwell, observing a circle, filled with many Sources, creating a sort of glow. From the circle, the two saw as the creeping shadow emerge, revealed to be a man in iron armor. While the building was cleared out, Lockwood and Lucy went to investigate, and Lucy discovered the Skull, set aside instead of in the pile of Sources, due to the workers unable to open the jar and use the Skull. Hearing people returning to the building, Lockwood and Lucy put on their spirit-capes, and went into the circle, trusting the capes to protect them from the ghosts. In it, Lucy admitted why she left Lockwood and Co., and this time accepting his offer to return to the agency. Seeing a chance of escape, the two made a run for the exit. Leaving the site, they found the environment to suddenly be freezing cold and grey, with the landscape seemingly changed. Upon returning to Albury Castle, it appeared that the village had all but been abandoned, until they saw some people. They realized the "people" were actually spirits of the departed, and the two concluded that they had crossed over to the Other Side, and made a run back to the facility, as the ghosts pursued them, drawn to their life as they were drawn by the creeping shadow. Lucy's spirit-cape was destroyed while they fled, exposing her to the freezing environment, and Lockwood shared his cape with her, as they continued on. When they reached the structure, they were unable to find the post to the chain to lead them out, until another spirit appear to Lucy, directing her to the post, and they made their way out of the Other Side, only to find themselves in the middle of a battle.

The Rotwell Incident

Lucy and Lockwood found their friends had been using various weapons on the Rotwell crew, after they saw the two step into the circle, thinking they may have been killed. Lucy learned from Holly that all of the conflict took place when they crossed over, only ten minutes (where as Lockwood and Lucy were on the Other Side for longer). Lucy also reclaimed the Skull once more. While most of the crew abandoned the facility, Steve Rotwell stayed to confront the intruders. He and Lockwood dueled, but Rotwell got the upper hand. Before he could deliver a fatal blow, Lucy kicked Rotwell into the circle, where he was unprotected and overwhelmed by its nature and pulled in, effectively dying. Seeing the spirits of the Sources trying to break free, Lucy advised using the biggest explosive they had, and they demolished the building, along with the Sources powering the gate. The five agents stayed in town, cleaning up some stray ghosts, while DEPRAC investigated the facility, not linking Lockwood and Co. to the actual events taking place there.

A few days later, Penelope Fittes visited Portland Row, warning the agents to cease investigating anything related to what they learned at the Rotwell facility, but this just inspired them to dig further into Fittes' activities. The Skull, have now seen Penelope, told Lucy that the woman was not actually the granddaughter of Marissa Fittes, but actually Marissa Fittes, herself.

Characteristics

Personality

Lucy is brave and, at some times, reckless; doing things before thinking it through. She is stubborn and tends to be judgmental towards strangers; though her loyalty to her friends is unwavering. She tends to be cranky due to lack of sleep, and like George, she tends to be snappy when talking; which is the reason why they leave all the talking to Lockwood.

Though being an agent makes her feel more confident and dignified, she seems to have qualms about her physical appearance, and at times feels out of place compared to other females. She also hates being on the spotlight, refusing to talk to journalists and appear on papers or TV and prefers to keep a low profile.

One of Lucy's most prominent traits, despite her slightly prejudiced nature, is her empathy; which is either an undertone of her personality or a drawback from her Talent. During the events of The Screaming Staircase, she formed an unusual connection with the ghost of Annabel Ward. After experiencing what it was like to be Annabel Ward upon her death through the ability of Touch, Lucy felt a rush of pity and insisted on giving the dead girl the justice she deserved.

While George tends to base his decisions on research and logic, Lucy follows her inner instincts, which are nearly always right. She is a good artist, often using drawing as a distraction. Lucy also tends to be easily flustered every time Lockwood compliments her, and is frustrated at her friend's secretive nature.

Lucy was the only survivor of the Wythburn Mill disaster (all her fellow agents died horribly at the hands of a powerful Type 2 - a Changer that deceived the agents by at first appearing to be a minor Type 1 apparition); this experience has hardened her to the rigours of ghost hunting, but sometimes makes her doubt herself.

Physical appearance

"You look terrific, Luce. You might have been born to this."
--Lockwood to Lucy in The Whispering Skull

Lucy mentioned that she was growing into a tall girl with strong features--thicker set than she liked.[2] She had large eyes, heavy eyebrows, an over-long nose and sulky lips. Her dark hair was cut into a muti purpose, ectoplasm avoiding bob. She believed herself to be not pretty though, like her mother said, prettiness wasn't her profession.

Lucy wore a dark blue, knee-length dress with a scooped neck to Penelope Fittes's party, along with a diamond necklace, given to her by Lockwood. She thought it made her arms look fat and her feet to big, and she wasn't convinced about the way it clung to her stomach, but other than that she thought it was perfect. Lockwood told her that she looked delightful.[3]

Abilities

Lucy has extremely powerful Hearing, which is often interconnected with her Touch. She has passable Sight, but Hearing and Touch are her strong side. Lucy is the only person aside from Marissa Fittes who has been able to fully converse with a Type Three. Not only that, Lucy is capable of communicating with all Types of Visitors, empathising with them and seeking to find their motivation to returning to this world. She has intense emotional connections with them, a connection ground-breaking but risky. Lucy's power is so great it attracts Visitors, and they focus their attention on her whenever encountering the agents. This is extremely dangerous, because Lucy is a highly emotional teen who often has bursts of anger, frustration or sadness, which makes the Visitor stronger.

Lucy's Talents her superb Listening and her lesser ability in Touch. Unusually, she also seems to be able to empathise with Visitors, and his often manifests itself as the ability to pick up emotional content with her Talents. In extreme cases, this has led to her forming a psychic link with particular ghosts. Such a link with the spirit of Annie Ward, lies at the heart of the story The Screaming Staircase. I'm going to term this "psychic hyper-sensitivity", although its not called anything like that in the books, which only mention that she is highly attuned.

Lucy is definitely special, as she is the only known person since Marissa Fittes herself, to converse with a Type Three Visitor.

Trivia

  • Lucy appears to have a short temper.
  • Lucy tends to not have many female friends.
  • Lucy's last name, Carlyle, is often misspelled as 'Carlisle'
  • She does not like orange juice, because the pulp gets stuck between her teeth.
  • Thanks to Lucy's narration we know that she has gone to the Other Side after the events in The Empty Grave. She describes the sensation of exiting it as feeling very sick and very disoriented due to the lack of light or stimulus.[4]
  • George Cubbins refers to her as sour but sweet.
  • She has a fear of heights.
  • Lucy is the narrator of the series.
  • It appears that Lucy narrates the story, after it happens, not as it occurs, for she knows what happened a year later, in the first book.
  • Lockwood and Lucy's ship name is "Lucewood" or "Locklyle".
  • Jonathan Stroud envisioned Lucy being 14 years old when she first ventured to London.[5]
  • Whereas in the novels Lucy has six siblings, in the Netflix television series she is implied to be an only child, as her home life is shown, but no siblings are depicted. Furthermore, she has a much less cordial relationship with her mother.
  • The Skull mocks Lucy for being out of shape and suggests she loses the weight on her hips that Lockwood's "always going on about."

Behind the scenes

In the Netflix Lockwood & Co. television series, several changes are made to Lucy's character and circumstances, both for time and to fit the nature of the television medium.

  • As the series is not locked into Lucy's first-person narration, events are occasionally shown from other characters' perspectives. In "Let Go Of Me," Lockwood is shown being personally taken to task by Barnes at the DEPRAC offices for the Sheen Road burning. A number of scenes from "Mesmerised" are shown from George's perspective, including scenes on the boat with Flo Bones and later him with Flo Bones preparing to drop off the Bone Glass to DEPRAC, but instead taking off after Flo has left and phoning Joplin. In "Not The Eternal," Lockwood is shown fighting off Winkman and his thugs with the members of Kipps's team.
  • In the TV series, Lucy is forced become an agent by her mother, despite being scared and not wanting to take the job. In the original The Screaming Staircase novel, her mother is described as being cold and distant, but there is no indication that she forces her into work.
  • Whereas Lucy's past is described only briefly in the novels, it is expanded upon for the TV series. In particular, she is shown forming a deep friendship with the girl Norrie White, whom in the novel is mentioned only once in passing regarding the Wythburn Mill Incident without being given a last name. In the novel, Lucy is the only survivor of this incident, whereas in the TV series Norrie survives as well, but in a perpetually ghost-locked state. Afterwards, Lucy is shown recording occasional letters for her, even though it is likely she will never be able to listen to them.
  • In the television series, it is stated that it is illegal for Lockwood to have hired Lucy without her having her Grade Four certificate. Furthermore, Inspector Barnes tries to get Lockwood to fire her on this basis. In the novel it is indicated that it is unusual for Lockwood have hired her without this, but there is nothing to suggest that it is in any way illegal.
  • In the television series, Lucy is shown communing with Annabel Ward's ghost in a sort of watery psychic realm. Furthermore, she is shown doing so with the necklace in a bathtub, this being the case because in Hamlet Ophelia drowned with daisies, something which Lucy is also shown collecting.
  • In the TV series, following Lockwood going to the press with the Annabel Ward story, he refers to Lucy as an "asset." She confronts him on thinking of her as this, and later, after being made to try to identify Hugo Blake, very nearly quits the company. Lockwood manages to talk her out of it, telling her that she is more to them than simply an asset and they need her.
  • In the TV series, Lucy is depicted as passing out following the Skull speaking to her for the first time and waking up with no memory of this having happened. There is no seven month gap between this and the events of the Bone Glass case and, as such, she is shown having her memory of the conversation with the Skull triggered by the events of the case. When she later reports the Skull speaking to her to Lockwood and George, they do not seem to believe her at first, though Lockwood later admits that this is because he has trouble with the idea of sharing the spotlight with someone else.
  • In the TV series, the Skull insists on Lucy personally entering the Bickerstaff house alone with it in order to find the papers. Lockwood and George later come in after her, but there is no encounter with Kipps's team.
  • In the TV series, George chooses not to attend the party at Fittes House and thus only Lockwood and Lucy attend and later visit the Black Library. Lucy has a personal encounter with Penelope Fittes at the party, in which Penelope tells her that she has seen to it that Agent Jacobs will never work in the industry again.
  • In the TV series, instead of being forced to take George's place for the Bone Glass experiment instead, Lucy volunteers to take his place. As such, George never has to pretend to look into the Glass. When Joplin (Pamela Joplin in the TV series) unveils the Bone Glass, Lucy holds up the jar containing the Skull and energy seems to channel towards it, the Skull shouting that what it sees is "Not the eternal!"

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Screaming Staircase, II: Before, Ch. 5
  2. The Screaming Staircase, chapter needed specified
  3. The Whispering Skull, chapter needed specified
  4. The Empty Grave, Chapter 23 (Audiobook Timestamp: 10:12:15)
  5. Q&A with Jonathan Stroud on Goodreads
Advertisement