Warning: this is the closing of most plot holes (I think)

It was only a couple of heartbeats, but Lucy became hyper aware of everything in that moment. Aware of the feeling of his lips on hers; aware of every inch of his body touching hers. Then suddenly, she was aware of the closet door being torn open. Pale light flooded in, and Lockwood jumped away.

Rotwell stood in the doorway, looking even more menacing with the knowledge of his doings at the school tonight.

He growled angrily.

"Carlyle, Lockwood...I should have suspected as much."

He dragged them out by the collars of their shirts, and glared at them.

"Detention. For weeks. I don't ever want to see you two out after hours, or it's going to be expulsion for both of you."

He dragged them to their dorms, and gave them some more choice words. For once, Lucy didn't give a sarcastic or witty reply. She was too much in shock with the events of the last couple hours.

Detention.

Rotwell's secret message.

Sneaking out.

The argument with the mystery man.

Lockwood kissing her.

But Lockwood seemed totally calm, even throughout the verbal thrashing they received.

They didn't get a chance to speak until morning, at breakfast.

The messy hall was crammed and noisy with the early morning crowd.

Lucy is always a little late to the party, not being a morning person, especially that morning, with staying up super late.

As she plopped down beside George, the conversation had already began.

"So you didn't recognize the other guy with Rotwell?"

"No. He had no real unique features. Very nondescript, wouldn't you say, Luce?"

"Hm? Yeah for sure."

Holly handed her a mug of perfectly made coffee.

"Oh bless. Thanks."

"You didn't seem fully awake."

You had trouble sleeping didn't you Lucy? Too busy thinking. Not about the case.

The skull cackled.

Lucy didn't bother giving a reply.

"So how do you think we can figure out what they're doing?"

Lockwood forked a bit of kippers thoughtfully.

"I suppose it has everything to do with being in the right place at the right time. We really need to keep our eyes and ears open."

The other three nodded.

Lucy looked at Rotwell eating at the staff table. She wondered what he was hiding; she determined right then and there that that was all that was bothering her about what happened last night. For sure.

The four separated for their various first period classes, and Lucy faced the terrors of teen gossip and rumors alone.

Maybe she had been too tired to see it at breakfast, but as she walked down the hall, people turned to whisper to their neighbor.

"I heard that she and Lockwood..."

"...are they even dating?..."

"detention for a month..."

"I wonder how Angela is going to deal with it..."

What did Angela have to do with it?

Lucy ignored it all, or at least tried to.

She was again stuck at the very front of the room, and listening to the teacher attempt to lecture over the sea of whispers coming from behind Lucy.

Until the spit ball sailed out of nowhere, hitting Lucy in the hair. A malicious whisper came from right behind her.

"Antony Lockwood is a player, Carlyle. Don't think because you hooked up once that he cares about you."

Anger bubbled up inside her.

She shot a quick look over her shoulder at the speaker. It was a girl with makeup caked on by the layer, blouse buttons mostly undone, and a simpering grin on her face. She could take her, wanted to punch her right in her nose. But she shoudn't, or risk expulsion.

As the bell rang, she hurried out of the classroom, fighting the rage building inside of her.

She was the first one out, so consequently she bumped into the person waiting outside.

"- Lockwood?"

He grinned causally at her, and her anger cooled. He sounded excited,

"Holly found our mystery man."

"What? How?"

They moved to the side so the class still leaving the room could pass.

He lowered his voice, but still maintained the causal posture.

"We were walking to the outside classrooms, when a delivery van drove up and parked."

Lucy frowned,

"So...?"

"So...he was the driver!"

Lucy's eyes widened in surprise as he continued,

"Of course we couldn't just let him wander off without us following him."

"You skipped class...without me?"

Lockwood laughed but continued.

"Holly is obviously the best at impromptu conversation, so she pretty much passively interrogated him."

"And what'd she get?"

"Some lie about salt and lavender deliveries."

Lucy sighed exasperatedly, throwing her hands in the air.

"Then what was the point? All we know is that he successfully made his illegal transaction. We don't have proof."

But Lockwood was still grinning.

"You haven't told me everything, have you?"

"Let's just say while our mystery man, a Mr. Jonson, was speaking with Holly, I took a peak into his van."

"Of course you did. And?"

"Sources. He packed them all in with iron, but there are tons of them."

Lucy grimaced in frustration.

"What is Rotwell even planning on doing with them?"

"Looks like we're going to need to do a bit more snooping in Rotwell's office."

The bell rang and they both started.

Lockwood grinned sheepishly.

"I'm guessing that's going to be another detention."

They both rushed their different ways.

Lucy's next clue came in the form of average teenage gossip.

She was largely ignoring the chatter before Sensitivity Tuning, but Ted Daley said something about Rotwell's company and financing.

"Wait what was that?"

"Don't you read the news? Rotwell's company is having to let agents go because of money reasons. Size down and all that. Maybe one of their inventions went really wrong?"

"Maybe..."

But Lucy's mind had jumped somewhere else. Rotwell was going bankrupt, which was as good motive as any for illegal activity.

She had to tell the others, and of course their next class together was Rotwell's fencing class.

She changed in a rush and hurried to find her friends before Rotwell could begin class.

"Guys. Rotwell is bankrupt."

Holly just shrugged, not overly awed.

"Yeah actually my dad told me the other day that some of his coworkers were fired because of budget cuts."

But George groaned and faced palmed.

"Why didn't I think of that before. Its got something to do with his scheme for the Sources."

Lockwood and Holly finally showed some signs of surprise or understanding.

Lockwood spoke grimly.

"That just confirms in my mind what we have to do. Search his office and find proof."

The other three agreed.

Detention was dangerous. Lucy and Lockwood did all they could to keep their heads down and scrub in silence. Rotwell took every opportunity to make it hell.

Nobody else was in the school, save the teachers here and there, and the very rare student.

After what seemed an eternity, he said,

"You're both done."

They signed in relief, and turned to leave, but he called them back.

"If I ever so much see a hair from your head here after hours, you will be expelled."

He got right up in their faces, and growled,

"You two ask too many questions."

All politeness, Lockwood replied curtly,

"Are you implying there's something to ask questions about, sir?"

Rotwell and Lockwood stood there, in the middle of the hall, staring each other down, for a good twenty seconds. Then Rotwell said,

"I know your type kid. You stick your nose in situations that you should stay out of. Too much pride and arrogance. Stay out of my way, or someone could get hurt."

"Is that a threat, sir?"

Lucy gazed switched between them, as she realized that Lockwood wasn't going to back down. She should've guessed.

"Just know that I'm keeping an eye on you two. Get."

With that, Rotwell took his exit. Lockwood turned to Lucy.

"Well we've certainly got him on edge. Let's get the others."

Rotwell's office was exactly the same as it had been the time before, so the first thing Lucy did was check the hidden drawer. The note was still there, but there was another piece of paper in addition to this.

"Look at this".

The others gather around her as she held the paper up.

"It's encrypted."

"George, can you crack it?"

"Probably."

Holly started searching the bookshelf for clues, her flash light swinging randomly to light up the dark room, while Lucy and Lockwood studied the layout of the room.

"There's got to be a place they keep all the Sources...a hidden room maybe?"

Lucy twisted in a circle, pointing her flashlight beam all around.

"If there's one thing I've learned in my months here, it's that this school's architecture is confused. There're probably hidden passages everywhere."

"Then what are we waiting for? You start on that side and we'll work around opposite sides to the middle."

Lucy started by tapping on the walls, listening for the tell-tell hollow sound, then she moved all the picture frames, looking for anything. Her search yielded nothing. Half an hour later, a bright light blinded her for a moment, and Lockwood clicked it off sheepishly.

"Sorry. Find anything?"

"Nope."

"Holly?"

"Negative."

"George?"

He didn't answer right away, and they all looked at him. His brow was crinkled in concentration, his flashlight in his mouth, hand scribbling furiously in a notebook.

"I think...I think I've got something."

The others gathered expectantly around the light of his flash light.

"It's a rather easy code, but ingenuous if you don't know anything about cracking codes. It envolves a sequence of randomly generated numbers, but two or three letters to throw off-"

Lucy cut him off.

"What does it say?"

George grumbled under his breath about appreciation and brains, but answered anyway.

"It's an address. Or rather a series of addresses. Covers a small portion of Chelsea."

They stood for a couple seconds in silence, pondering. Lucy happened to look up.

"I think we've forgotten about one thing."

They turned to her, and she pointed up at the ceiling.

"Most people don't think to look up."

"Luce," breathed Lockwood excitedly ",you're a genius."

George protested, annoyed.

"I just cracked an encryption and she's the genius, sure sure. I see double standards are at work here."

Lucy, dragging the big office chair to the center of the room, missed the looks Holly and George were giving Lockwood.

He just scratched his nose, ignoring them.

Lucy stepped onto it, wobbling slightly on the spinning chair.

"Here I got you."

Holly steadied the chair. Lucy grinned in relief.

"Thanks."

She pushed her hand up, feeling along the top of the ceiling. George and Lockwood shone their lights up as well.

"What's this?"

Lucy reached far out over the chair to grab a thin, short cord.

George shook his head,

"Luce I really wouldn't, if you do-"

Lucy tugged hard on the cord, and a hidden trap door sung open. Already off balance, the force of her pull made her lose her balance. Holly gasped as she fell.

Fortunately for her, Lockwood was right underneath her. Unfortunately for Lockwood, he was unprepared for her fall.

She ended up accidentally full body tackling him.

They both hit the floor noisily.

"-you'll fall."

Holly cringed, asking,

"You two okay?"

Lucy rolled off him quickly, face burning in embarrassment, thanking the heavens she had left the skull in her dorm.

Lockwood recovered his breath, and waved his hand, as if the wave off the concern.

"Fine, fine."

Lucy held out a hand to help him up, and he was up and bouncing toward the trapdoor in a moment.

"Now let's find out what Rotwell is hiding."

He climbed on the chair, with perfect balance, and poked his head into the attic place.

"Someone hand me a flash light. Thanks." He was so wrapped up in the moment of discovery that he didn't hear the office door open. The other three froze in shock. He continued happily,

"This is insane. Hold on you guys have to see this. It all makes sense."

"What could you possibly mean?"

A new voice voice sounded from below.

Lockwood bent his head down to see Rotwell and the other man causally pointing rapiers at his friends throats.

He jumped lightly down, and said in a jaunty way,

"Oh hello Rotwell. Fancy meeting you here."

A vein throbbed in Rotwell's forehead as he thrust his rapier closer to Lucy's throat.

"Didn't I say someone was going to end up hurt? It would be a shame if Lucy Carlyle met her tragic end because you couldn't keep your nose out of other peoples business."

"So what do you want me to do? Come quietly?"

The other man, Mr. Jonson, gestured at the rapier Lockwood had been causally inching towards.

"For starters, if you make another move toward that weapon, one of your friends won't see the light of day."

Lockwood sighed.

"Enough with the threats, we get it. The rapiers to the throat spell it out."

George piped up.

"We know you are buying Sources from relic men."

Rotwell glared around at them, thinking.

"Out. Walk."

The two men forced them to walk, hands out in the open, down the hall.

Lockwood talked while they marched, probably to their deaths, if someone couldn't come up with something.

"Being the sole owner of a company is hard work isn't it? Everything is your work, finances including. Your business hasn't been doing too hot, with budget cuts and Fittes right on your heels. You needed some case that Rotwell could be front cover of. So you planned your own. That's what the Sources are for, and the addresses. Starting an outbreak in Chelsea any time soon?"

Rotwell was caught off guard, so Lucy took the opportunity to spin, and aim a roundhouse kick at his face. It hit full on. Rotwell stumbled back, hands flying to his injured nose and eye.

Lockwood darted in, grabbing the rapier dropped as the bigger man fell.

He was quick enough to parry the blow sent by Jonson.

Lucy called to Holly and George,

"Someone find an adult. Preferably one with some common sense."

Holly nodded and rushed off, dark hair flying behind her.

Lucy backed away from the sparring pair in the direction of the fallen Rotwell, George in the opposite direction.

Lockwood was going to win. Jonson was obviously not the most skilled, and gave way to blow after blow. Lockwood feinted and Jonson flinched, then came in with a disarming move. His opponent's rapier sailed into the air and away from him.

George laughed a little, but stopped as he saw what was happening behind the fight and behind Lucy.

"Lucy look out!"

Rotwell had recovered from the kick reached out a huge hand to pull Lucy off balance. She crashed to the ground, but he grabbed her by the collar and dragged her upright, choking her slightly. She cried out in pain.

His other hand grabbed her arm in a grip she knew could become very painful in an instant.

Lockwood whipped around, but kept his rapier trained on Jonson.

"You are hilarious Anthony Lockwood."

No one was laughing. Rotwell sounded desperate and angry, a dangerous combination.

"You thought you and three other kids could manage to stop what I've been doing for years."

Lucy eyes widened at the confession. Rotwell laughed, a bit crazed, into the silence.

"That's right. Can't have an Agency without The Problem. If it needs a little bit of a push that's fine. Planted Sources will do the trick. If I have to throttle anyone in my way, well, all is fair in war." As he said the word 'war' he moved the other hand to Lucy's neck. All he had to do was tighten his hands and she would begin to suffocate slowly.

Lockwood and George looked at each other, communicating silently.

Then Lockwood unexpectedly swung around and punched Jonson square in the temple. He collapsed like a house of cards.

Then he stepped forward to face Rotwell.

"You got it wrong."

"What?"

Lucy thought to herself that getting Rotwell even more angry in the situation was probably not the best idea.

"It's, all is fair in love and war."

With that, he swiped at Rotwell's legs with his rapier. The other man let go of Lucy's neck to howl in pain and hop, holding his injured leg. As Lucy, stumbled away gasping for air, Lockwood delivered a walloping kick to Rotwell's backside.

That's the moment Holly returned, Miss Fittes in tow.

"What is happening here, Mr. Lockwood?"

Lockwood grinned tiredly around at the scene, at George making sure Jonson was down, at Lucy slumped against the wall, safe and mostly uninjured, at Holly standing, panting slightly, but proud, next to Miss Fittes.

"Actually nothing much, you missed most of it."

All the Fourth years were shuffling, whispering excitedly amongst themselves. They were all graduating today, being presented their Fourth Year certificates and read their Acceptance list.

The Acceptance list was the list of every agency in London that was willing to hire that particular person. Everyone aspired to have Fittes on their list, and everyone feared an empty list.

Lucy whispered to Lockwood, who was standing right next to him,

"Are you going to join Fittes?"

"Hm? Oh...No I don't think I am."

Lucy raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"You don't think you're going to be Accepted?"

"No. I think I want to start my own agency."

He said it so simply, and matter of fact.

Lucy blinked.

The ceremony had begun and they started calling names.

"You're going first out of all of us Luce. Your last name."

They stood in silence for a bit, listening to the polite clapping. Lockwood spoke again.

"Fittes is defiantly going to accept you. Especially after the Rotwell incident."

Lucy looked for a long moment at Lockwood, studying his face. It was unreadable.

"Is the Lockwood Agency accepting anyone?"

His grin dawned, dimming everything else around.

"I don't know about the Lockwood Agency, that sounds a bit conceited, don't you think? Maybe Lockwood and Company?"

"Lucy Carlyle."

Her name was announced and her path to the stage cleared.

She grinned in a fair well of sorts.

"See you on the other side."

Fittes did accept her. But when asked where she wanted to go, Lucy said,

"I am undecided."

The crowd muttered uneasily. No one declined Fittes. But Lucy walked off the stage happy, to wait for the others with the other newly graduated teens.

She was technically an adult now, by culture standards.

Soon everyone was graduated, even poor Greg Zacharius, and they all cheered loudly. That night was going to be a night to celebrate, eat lots of good food, and saying good bye to the Academy and that way of life.

After the dinner was eaten, and tables shoved aside to make room for the dancing new grads.

Lockwood and Lucy watched from the outskirts, leaning against the wall together.

They were telling funny stories of the stupid things they had done, joking that they were adults now. Lucy giggled,

"Remember that time George laughed so hard milk shot out of his nose at Holly. We wouldn't do that now. We're adults."

Lockwood replied, laughing hysterically as well,

"That was last week."

"Exactly."

Lucy added,

"Remember when you kissed me during the Rotwell Incident just to not get caught."

Lockwood only laughed a bit here, and grinned a bit mischievously.

"Yeah it's funny, that's one of the things from my kid years I don't regret at all."

Lucy went red with embarrassment.

He continued,

"Actually I've wanted to kiss you again ever since that, but we always have the most horrible timing." He leaned closer to her, still grinning.

Lucy's face could've been a tomato, but she was smiling too.

"Har har har very funny."

Just then, Holly walked up and said,

"Come on Lucy! Tonight is probably the only night I can get you to dance."

"Okay okay fine Holly."

She grabbed Lucy arm and led her to the dance floor.

Lockwood watched them go, and sighed.

"The most horrible timing..."

THIS IS NOT THE END, RATHER THE END OF THE BEGINNING.

Hello lovelies! This is the end of this "section" because I'm entering it in a contest! AH! MUCH SCARy! Actually not that scary because the people in this fandom are so nice (HAVE I TOLD Y'ALL LATELY HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU?) Locklyle feels omg I hope y'all caught the "love and war" thing coming out of Lockwood's mouth :')

Much love,

Sparkle

NEW AUTHORS NOTE:

HEY HEY HEY LOVELY PEOPLE! I just want to thank the continued support! Just wanted to let you guys know that I actually won the contest ! Wow! :)

Love y'all!