Chapter Text
Somewhere on the streets of London, a carriage rode across the cobblestone in steady strides. Of course, this was not an unusual sight. But, the sight of this carriage was unusual, considering the identities of the passengers: a woman who preferred to stay home to compose music in peace and a man who would never come into work this early. And yet, Everly Solanki and her exhausted husband sat there in the carriage across from each other as the sun began to rise over the horizon.
"…and now that heathen is dragging me place to place in search of this dastardly necklace," Robert Lanyon, the exhausted husband who dreamt of millions of tiny spiders crawling all over his skin as a mammoth-sized viridescent spider pinned him to the bed, groaned miserably.
He buried his face into his hands and silently begged to wake up from this awful dream for the millionth time this week, but, alas, being wide awake made that impossible.
Robert planted his face onto the table as his crossed arms muffled his agony, "To make matters worse, Henry is looking for that damn thing, and I have no idea where he is."
"Is Brokenshire still searching for him?" Everly asked.
"Yes, and there's been no sight of him," Robert bit back a sarcastic remark. Despite how tempting it was to mock Scotland Yard for their incompetency, he knew that Everly wouldn't appreciate it, especially since he woke her up early to do this with him.
He continued, "Brokenshire said he'll call once Scotland Yard finds Henry, but I don't have high hopes. Nothing with Jekyll is that simple."
From his place on the table, Lanyon heard Everly give a small chuckle at that, "That man certainly does make things take an interesting turn. I still don't how he managed to get half of my piano into the Thames."
Warm fingers rubbed one of his crossed arms, "I'm sure he'll turn up soon. Despite the unique situations Henry gets himself into, he always manages to get out of them eventually."
Lanyon peered over his arms at her. "Not like your piano, hm?" he half-heartedly quipped.
Everly snorted before quickly stifling the noise, "If we keep mentioning my piano, Henry's never going to stop apologising for it. I can barely stand seeing him give guilty looks at my new one every time he comes over."
"I'm sure he'll continue apologising for it even if you suddenly got amnesia and remembered nothing." Robert sighed, "He never seems to stop worrying about everyone else. That's how he got into this entire mess in the first place. Hiring Hyde and now chasing after this cursed necklace, that man is going to be the death of himself."
At that thought, Robert jolted up in his seat, causing Everly to flinch her arm back, "That necklace! It corrupts people's souls! And Henry hasn't been seen in days!"
Robert ran his fingers through his hair roughly as his breath began to pick up, "Oh God, what if the thief caught Henry, and now he's possessed by some etiquette-deprived parasite and getting his soul dev-"
"Robert?"
"Then we'll find him when it's too late, and he'll-"
"Robert."
Through panicked eyes, he looked at Everly, who looked back at him with calm but firm eyes.
"Breathe with me," she instructed.
Robert breathed with her for a few moments, letting his mind drift off and find calmer thoughts. The one he landed on was about how unusual it was that Everly was doing this for him when he was the one who usually did this for Henry.
Lanyon shook his head to clear his thoughts, "Sorry, Everly. I'm just worried."
Everly smiled softly at him, "I know, but Henry can take care of himself and-"
Despite himself, Robert snorted, "Ha! I wouldn't describe it like that."
She rolled her eyes, "You're right. It's more like he's too stubborn to give up on something that he's put his mind to, and that stubbornness can take care of itself."
She gave him a small smile, "He'll be fine."
"I know," Robert sighed. He turned to look out the window at the rising sun as he rested his head against his hand, "I'm just not used to not knowing about what's going on with him."
He frowned at the window, trying to avoid Everly's eyes as his reflection mirrored the anxiety that he's felt all night, "We always go through things like this together. I don't know how to feel about him doing this by himself while I'm stuck with Hyde."
From the corner of his eye, Robert saw Everly tilt her head slightly, "How does Hyde feel about this?"
He scoffed, "How would I know? That entire man's personality flips like a coin, and he's as inattentive as a dog with a squirrel, always dragging us into the next dangerous thing without pause."
"Since we're 'best friends' now," Lanyon made sure she saw his air quotes as he turned to face her, "I thought that I would find out more about him, but he's even more confusing in person."
Everly hummed thoughtfully, "Well, maybe you'll learn more about him today. Do you still want me to come with you to see him?"
Lanyon turned to watch the buildings pass them as they drew closer to the Society of Arcane Sciences, thinking for a moment. Now that they were almost at the Society, it…sounded a little silly to have Everly come with him just to see Hyde.
"No, I'll be fine," he sighed. This awful day had barely even started, and he had already wasted Everly's time. It was just going to get worse from here. "I supposed you could've just stayed home."
Everly waved her hand dismissively, "I was thinking of taking a small break from work anyways. Besides, it's been a while since I've visited the Society. I'm sure there's a lot of events I'm behind on knowing about."
She turned to follow Robert's gaze, "Besides, I'm sure Henry would appreciate it if someone kept tabs on what's happening while you two go searching for that necklace."
She paused for a moment as the carriage came to a stop, "…Wait, who's going to keep an eye on the Society while you two are gone?"
However, apparently hearing the carriage from a mile away, a flood of Lodgers surrounded them at the entrance to the Society before Robert could answer. Strangely, they were all silent and standing orderly.
Oh, hell. They were planning something. Lanyon, remembering the last time the Lodgers plotted against him, almost yelled to his coachman to get them out of there, but Everly had already stepped out of the carriage. He reluctantly followed.
"Dr. Lanyon," greeted a woman that he recognised as the woman who spoke to him yesterday. The junior alchemist stood in the center of the Lodgers. It seemed like they had collectively selected her to speak.
He raised an eyebrow at her, "Hello. Pray tell why the entire Society has decided to be my welcoming party. I wasn't under the impression that I was well-liked."
The woman crossed her arms. "Yes, some of us-" she gave a pointed look to some of the Lodgers, "-like to jump to conclusions."
Lanyon glanced at those Lodgers; some sheepishly avoided his eyes while others still glared at him with distrust. Where were they going with this?
"But," the woman continued, cueing Robert to look back at her, "some of us would like to help you."
Quite a few of the Lodgers grumbled in disappointment at this, but whatever for Lanyon had absolutely no idea as he had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. He looked over at Everly as if she would know, but she only shrugged in response.
He narrowed his eyes at the woman, "Help with what exactly?"
The woman clasped her hands together, "Well, as you need to run the Society while Jekyll's gone, some of us can go search for that necklace."
They were…offering to help find the-?
Wait a second.
"Don't you mean 'search for Jekyll'?"
The woman blinked owlishly, "Oh, yes. Him, too, obviously."
Robert was tempted to glare at her, but instead he turned his attention to the Lodgers closest to her, the ones were supposedly wanted to help. He kept note of the flamethrowers, giant metal gloves, and…was that a bomb?!
Unnervingly, with their array of weapons, they all smiled eagerly at him. The redheaded man in the green jumper walked up to him and grabbed his hand. Robert stiffened as the man shook it, but he forced an admittedly feeble smile onto his face to be polite.
Grinning brightly, the jumper-wearing man took no notice of his discomfort (but then again, no one ever did) as he introduced himself, "The name's Sinnett! Don't worry, we'll find him soon, Dr. Lanyon!"
Robert hoped his sigh of relief as the man let go of his hand wasn't obvious. But, that sigh of relief came far too early, for Mr. Sinnett gestured his flamethrower towards Lanyon, "That thief won't know what hit him!"
Hahahaha.
No.
"I am perfectly capable of finding Jekyll myself," Lanyon heard himself say before his mind caught up to his mouth.
Sinnett raised an eyebrow at him, or tried but managed to raise both instead, "Are you sure? No offense but…you don't seem to handle danger well. What are you going to do when you encounter the thief?"
Lanyon felt indignation rise in him as several judgemental eyes stared back at him, "I've been in dangerous situations before."
Sinnett looked doubtful.
"Well, and-" Robert paused, regret already pooling in his stomach as he mumbled, "-Hyde is going to be there, too."
Almost immediately, the man's eyes lit up, "Ah! Nevermind, then." He clapped Lanyon's stiffening shoulder, "You're clearly in good hands."
Lanyon gave him a bewildered stare as the tension in his shoulders dissipated. Good hands? Good hands?! The bloody maniac with a stabbed wound and kept almost passing out was "good hands"?!
And yet, the rest of the Lodgers nodded sagely, apparently agreeing with the jumper-wearing man.
Lanyon's eye twitched as he imagined Hyde passing out right as some dangerous beast loomed from behind them, and he gritted through his teeth, "Yes, excellent hands."
"Hold on," the junior alchemist interjected, realisation brimming in her eyes.
Oh, finally, someone with common sense.
Wait, actually, he shouldn't want her to point out the flaws of this plan. He couldn't let the Lodgers do this instead. He did not want to be responsible for bombings across London.
"And besides," Lanyon continued on as if she hadn't spoken, "this should give you all plenty of time to prepare your projects for the exhibition. Wouldn't want to spend most of your prep time searching for someone with only a few hours to complete them, hm?"
And with that, an eruption of whispers filled the entire street as the Lodgers began to discuss among themselves what projects they were working on, how long they thought they were going to take, and if it was possible to still have time to find Jekyll.
The woman looked over at the mini-conversations happening around her and seemed to accept his point. However, she still had something to say.
"So, if you're gone and searching for a missing Jekyll, who's in charge?"
There was a moment of silence as everyone processed her words. Then:
"Oooh~ Maybe Bird! He's good at making people feel comfortable like Jekyll!"
"I'm flattered, but I've got to keep an eye on the plants. Wouldn't want anyone to lose a hand!"
"Well, then, how about Maijabi? The ghosts won't mind him leaving their lab."
"Ha! Have you seen the chaos you lot get into? While I'm pretty nimble on my feet, my old bones might not be able to juggle all of that."
"How about Vir-"
"Busy."
"I vote Griffin!"
"What?! Absolutely the hell not! Did you hit your head?!"
"No, I just think it'd be funny to watch you try to run the Society."
"Oh, fuck off, Helsby!"
The Lodgers grew louder and louder. Lanyon barely resisted the urge to cover his ears at the cacophony and winced as some passerby began to glare at them. At this rate, they were going to wake up the entire street!
"Everly will be running the Society!"
At that, everything became silent.
The words had left his mouth before he could stop them, but they kept going, "She will be standing in while Hyde and I search for Jekyll, right?"
He casted a glance in Everly's direction and regretted it before he even did it. Guilt burned his insides as he saw her shocked face.
But, before he could even try to take back his words, the Lodgers stepped forward and began introducing themselves to her. The noise started back up again as they peppered her with questions, pushing closer and closer. Before he knew it, he was right next to the entrance with Everly surrounded right in front of the carriage.
At the sight, Robert felt second-hand stress and resentment at the Lodgers who seemed to know no boundaries. He tried to check if Everly was okay, but, with the chaos, it was impossible to see her.
Lanyon knew he needed to get back to her, but he didn't think he would be able to get through the crowd. But, he also knew that Everly could handle herself and that she knew what her boundaries were. So, not letting himself backtrack on his decision, he turned to the Society's doors and slipped through them, hoping that fact would be enough for her to deal with the Lodgers on her own.
He began to make his way to his office. With the Lodgers distracted, this was the perfect time to meet up with Hyde. However, it was still early morning. There was no telling if he would even be there. Though, something in Robert told him that Hyde would be.
In no time at all, he reached his office. He grimaced as he noticed that the bloodstains were still on the door. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the door knob the same way he had before but found himself hesitating. Anxiety churned in his stomach as he realised he had no idea what to expect. As soon as he opened the door, he would be caught up in some sort of "adventure" with little control of what would happen. He was almost tempted not to open it, leave it closed forever, never see Hyde again, and go on with his life.
But, then, he might never find Henry…
Accepting his fate, he twisted the door knob and pushed the door open. Almost immediately, he was hit with déjà vu. Edward Hyde sat on the desk with his legs crossed as dust motes floated around him in the dimly lit room. Though, unlike last time, Lanyon could tell he was awake immediately. Hyde's glowing green eyes went back and forth as he looked at something held loosely in his hands. The lantern at the end of the desk glowed brightly but not bright enough for him to see Hyde's features.
Robert was about to announce his presence but stopped as he realised that Hyde was saying something.
"The necklace of Augustine lures the most vulnerable to its jewel and the necklace of Augustine lures the most vulnerable to its jewel and the necklace of Augustine lures the most vulnerable-"
Uh, what. Lanyon cautiously stepped forward, barely avoiding the fallen boxes from yesterday, "Hyde?"
"-the necklace of Augustine lures the most vulnerable to its jewel and-"
"Hyde!"
At the shout, Hyde jolted, and there was a snap as if he had closed something quickly. Then, before he knew what was happening, Lanyon yelped as something hit the wall right next to him with a loud thud!
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?!" Lanyon screamed before he could stop himself.
From his place on the desk, Hyde tilted his head as he stared at him.
Then: "Oh. It's just you."
Lanyon stared at him in offended bewilderedment, "'Just me'? Were you expecting someone else?"
There was a flash of movement from Hyde, and Lanyon had the feeling that he was crossing his arms.
"You came in suddenly. How was I supposed to know that it was you?" he sniffed pointedly.
"I was in here for a full minute before you attacked me."
Hyde blinked, "You were?"
Hyde considered him for a moment before spluttering indignantly, "Wait, you were watching me for an entire minute?! Why didn't you say anything?!"
"You were just repeating the same sentence over and over again! I didn't know what to do!"
"I was not repeating any sentence!"
Lanyon gaped at him, "Yes, you were."
"Was not!"
"Were too!"
"Was not!"
"Were-"
A yawn interrupted him.
…Wait, did Hyde not sleep like he told him to? If he passed out-
"Is the stuffy gentleman boring you? Do you want me to get rid of him?"
What? Hyde was speaking, but it didn't sound like he was speaking to him.
"Um, who are you talking to?" Robert asked a bit hesitantly.
Hyde's eyes snapped back to him (Robert hadn't noticed that they were looking elsewhere), "Who does it look like I'm talking to?"
"Well, we're the only ones in the room right now, so-"
"Uh, what?" Hyde squinted at him, "There's three of us."
"What? Where?!" Lanyon frantically looked around the room, trying to see this mysterious somebody. He did not like the idea of someone being around him without him even knowing where they were!
Hyde rolled his eyes at him, "Oi! Stop panicking!"
Easy for him to say! He knew where the mystery person was!
"Pardon me for being worried about some stranger-"
"'Stranger'? What are you on about?" Hyde shook his head, "Why are getting so freaked out about a dog?"
…
A what.
Slowly, Lanyon reached behind him and felt around the wall to find the light switch. Once he found it, the room flickered to life. Now illuminated in the yellow light of the lamps, Robert could see Hyde sitting criss-crossed with a very happy church grim in his lap, the dog wagging his tail with so much force that Lanyon was surprised it was still on. Zosimos, the church grim, yipped happily as Robert finally found the mysterious "stranger".
Lanyon felt his cheeks flush, "Oh."
Hyde rolled his eyes at him, "Yeesh, I knew you were of weak constitution, but I didn't think it was this bad."
Lanyon spluttered indignantly before turning his head away, "Unlike you, I don't have demonic eyes that see in the dark. I had no idea Zosi was there."
Hyde, holding his hands to the side of his eyes to prevent the sudden light from overwhelming him, blinked in the sudden light, "I didn't realise that the lights were off. It's not my fault that my eyes are just better than yours."
"Whatever," Lanyon didn't want to get into another argument over whose eyes were better. "Why is Zosi with you, anyway?"
Weren't dogs supposed to be able to sense when someone was a bad person? So, why was he cuddling up to Hyde as if he was his absolute favourite person in the entire world? Lanyon knew that couldn't be the case because Jekyll took that role. Maybe Hyde bribed him with all the sugary sweets he liked. (…And Zosi was probably used to deranged people with the whole being-a-church-grim thing, so his bad-person meter had probably been long since corrupted.)
Hyde turned his attention to the church grim in question and began to scratch behind his ears, "Oh, he found me. Whined until I picked him up. The little scamp's refused to leave me alone ever since."
Lanyon raised an eyebrow, "Really? That's odd."
Zosi didn't usually act like that. Sure, he was as addicted to affection as an alcoholic with their drink, but he wasn't usually this desperate for it.
The confusion continued to rack his brain until he noticed Zosi quietly whimpering and softly poking Hyde's side. His left side. The side with the stab wound.
Oh.
"Does he still seem upset?" Lanyon asked, wondering if Hyde noticed.
Hyde nodded, "Yeah, he keeps whining randomly. So, I was reading to him to calm him down. Usually, I read him Treasure Island, but, since we've been busy trying to find that necklace, I decided to read that book Mr. McStabberson showed us instead."
Lanyon paused at that. Was that what the talking-to-thin-air thing was about? He was just reading aloud to Zosi?
…It was reasonable, but something felt a bit off with that explanation. It didn't explain why Hyde was repeating the same thing over and over again.
Lanyon took a closer look at Hyde, trying to figure this out, when he noticed another problem with his explanation: there was no book.
…Wait a second…
Lanyon looked at where he remembered the loud thud coming from and directed his gaze at the ground. There, pages bent and folded, lied The Encyclopedia of Cursed Artifacts with its opened pages getting read by the carpet below.
"You threw a book at me?!"
Hyde scoffed, "First off, it's an encyclopedia, and, secondly, I didn't know it was you."
Lanyon narrowed his eyes at him, but he supposed that he had startled Hyde. So, he couldn't blame him for this transgression. With that, Lanyon turned his attention back to the book. It would be a shame to leave it in that condition.
He bent down to pick it up, fingers hooking themselves gently underneath the pages as to not cause further damage.
"Though, I would've still thrown it if I had known," a whisper from in front of him muttered.
Lanyon's head snapped up, and he glared at Hyde with as much ferocity as he could channel. Hyde smiled back innocently.
"Let me make something clear," Lanyon nearly growled as he stood back up with the book in his hands, "if we both want to find Jekyll and this damned necklace, then we need to work together."
The bastard sitting on his desk, by the way, rolled his eyes, "We have been working together. Did you forget all about yesterday?"
"Oh, I remember yesterday very well," He didn't think he would ever be able to forget that day as long as he lived and after that. "But, there were several times where we weren't working together. Several times including, but not limited to, someone pushing me down the stairs."
Lanyon glared daggers at Hyde as he processed this. (Unfortunately, metaphorical daggers. Floyd Llwelleyn beat him to the literal ones.)
"…Wait, someone else pushed you down the stairs, too?"
"What? No! I meant y-" Robert suddenly noticed the dark shadows underneath Hyde's eyes as he stared at Lanyon, confused, "-you."
Oh, Jekyll's disappearance must've been hitting him hard just like it was with Robert.
Not noticing the way Lanyon lamely finished his sentence, Hyde scoffed, "Why didn't you just say so? I swear, all you uppity gentleman always have to make things sound more difficult than what they are."
Lanyon thought about mentioning it for a moment but decided against it. Since they were both clearly struggling to sleep, as long as Hyde didn't mention Lanyon's exhaustion, Lanyon wouldn't mention Hyde's.
"Uh, hello, princey? You there?" Hyde snapped his fingers, and the sound shook Robert out of his thoughts.
"Oh, yes, I'm-" Lanyon paused for a second, noticing the nickname but decided to ignore it for now, "-fine."
Lanyon cleared his throat, "As I was saying, we'll never find Jekyll if we keep trying to kill each other."
Hyde, placing Zosi in his arms, swung his legs back and forth, "That makes it sound as if you're trying to kill me, too. Trust me, you'll never be able to." He grinned wickedly, "You'd die trying."
Robert decided to ignore that, "So, today can't be like yesterday."
"Why not? I thought yesterday went swimmingly~" Hyde's grin broadened, most likely remembering him pushing Lanyon down the stairs.
"Oh, yes, yesterday went amazingly. I just loved feeling like my companion was going to strangle me at any moment. Really added to the whole experience," Lanyon snarked back.
Hyde narrowed his eyes at him, "So, what? You want us to become buddies? Go frolicking all through London, searching for the necklace with our arms linked together?"
"Ew, no," Lanyon frowned, sharing the same look of disgust on Hyde's face. "I'm just suggesting a truce. No bonding, friendly banter, nor nicknames needed."
Hyde looked slightly disappointed when he mentioned no nicknames. He did seem to be the type to enjoy giving nicknames to people. Lanyon honestly didn't really mind it; he just didn't want Hyde to be too comfortable calling him whatever.
Choosing to ignore his disappointed face, Lanyon held out his hand for Hyde to shake, "Just no violence towards each other nor purposefully trying to sabotage the other."
Lanyon waited a moment as he watched Hyde examine his hand. Wait a second, last time, Hyde tried to bite his hand! He shouldn't have-!
And, to Lanyon's great surprise, Hyde shook his hand, for some reason choosing not to bite nor ignore it.
"There. Truce," Hyde simply let go of his hand.
Lanyon just stared at the accepted unbitten hand in shock.
As Hyde rolled his eyes at him, Zosi, misunderstanding why Lanyon had his hand held out, nudged his head underneath the hand. Hesitantly, Robert began to scratch the top of Zosi's head. He tried to ignore the feeling of the dead flesh while Hyde raised an eyebrow at him.
"So, we're going to be working in cooperation from now on?" Lanyon narrowed his eyes at Hyde, not exactly trusting him.
Hyde scoffed, "It's like you don't know what a handshake is. Sure, we're cooperating now."
…"Sure" he says. Yeah, that's totally trustworthy. Unfortunately, Robert could see that was the best he was going to get.
Robert sighed. He supposed that it was time to get to business.
He tried to straighten the folded corners of the book pages, "So, in the spirit of cooperation, why don't you tell me about what you found during your research."
Hyde rubbed his eyes tiredly before petting Zosi in the absence of Lanyon's now busy hands, " I didn't find much. Just that this necklace belonged to this prick about 100 years ago, and the rest is just about the shit we already know."
Lanyon frowned, "Was there really nothing of use?"
He tried to flip to the necklace's pages, but, after seeing many cursed things he wished he hadn't seen, he quickly closed the book with a snap. He'd just have to take Hyde's word on this and hope that won't steer them wrong like most things concerning Hyde do.
Hyde sluggishly nodded, "Yep."
Lanyon didn't like this seemingly dead end. With little hope, he asked, "Did you find out anything about the lantern, then?
At the mention of the lantern, Hyde winced. Lanyon's frown deepened at the sight. Ever since Hyde got "ownership" of it, he acted almost afraid of the lantern. Which, considering that it was an ornament lantern and that Hyde didn't care about getting radiation poisoning, was very strange.
Though, before he could ponder this strange case, Hyde gestured to the transparent green lantern at the end of the desk.
"That thing is practically useless!" Hyde pressed his fingers to his temples as if this caused him great anguish, "You'd think something like it would actually do something amazing, but it's literally just a lantern! It's almost as boring as Jekyll!"
Following Hyde's gaze, Robert examined the lantern. Through its uranium glass walls, a fire, bright and violently violet, continued to burn.
"What about the fire?" Lanyon asked, feeling unease settle in his stomach.
"What about it?" Hyde turned to face him.
"Why is it still burning?"
Hyde shrugged, "How am I supposed to know?"
…He didn't like this. There were too many strange things going on and too many things that they didn't know.
Robert hugged the book to his chest and let out a deep sigh, hoping that his anxiety would leave along with it. "So, we have nothing."
Hyde shrugged his shoulders, the church grim jubilantly barking at the movement, "Eh. We still have that knife bloke. He'd probably know more about the necklace or the thief."
Lanyon supposed he had a point. Mr. Llwelleyn had seen both the thief and the necklace in person.
"Fine," Robert sighed. "We'll go see him again."
But, before he could get to the door, he felt something hit his shoulder.
"Ack!" Lanyon got pushed to the side as Hyde rushed past him.
"Finally! We get to do something!" Hyde swung the door open, "Hopefully, Floyd won't try to kill me for a third time!"
"Wait, a third t-"
Hyde grabbed Robert's sleeve and pulled him out of the room, "Come on! We're losing daylight!"
It was barely daylight out!
"Wait, Hyde, why are we in such a h-"
"Master Hyde, is that you?"
Lanyon looked at the end of the hallway and saw Rachel standing there, a tray of food balancing carefully in her hands. As soon as her eyes landed on Robert, her gaze became a glare.
"Wait a moment, you two better not be planning on trying to chase that-"
Lanyon could tell that she had a lot more to say, but a dog treat hit her forehead before she could.
"QUICK! RUN!"
With the memory of the fact that Rachel owns a menagerie of knives, Lanyon didn't need to be told twice.
It took them a lot longer to get there than what Lanyon would like to admit. Twisting and pressing against alley walls and trash cans, Lanyon and Hyde went the opposite way of the warehouse. They spent what felt like forever trying to get Rachel off their case, but, after Hyde bribed him with a treat, Zosi darted across the street. Last they saw of them was Rachel chasing Zosi somewhere off to the West.
Now, they stood at the poor excuse of a door that was the entrance of Holmes Watson Storage. For some reason, instead of barging through like he had done before, Hyde knocked on the door and waited. It would almost seem polite if it weren't for the way his foot tapped against the ground. It was as if Hyde was fighting against the urge to run in like a man on fire.
However, Lanyon's pondering got cut short as the door opened from the inside, prompting Hyde to fill out his daily confusion quota and dash in. Floyd Llwelleyn stepped aside as Hyde ducked underneath his arm and threw himself onto one of the boxes. He propped his legs on top of a giant doll's head and crossed his arms behind his own as if this place belonged to him.
Mr. Llwelleyn turned towards Lanyon, "He's quite excited, isn't he? I would think that he would be weary of this place. Especially with the whole…knife thing."
Lanyon shrugged, "I think that's just how he is."
They looked back at Hyde, who was now chatting animatedly with Ms. Hitchcock. It sounded like Hyde was recounting the events of yesterday to her. Robert was sure Hyde was going to over-exaggerate many details, but he saw no reason to go over there and correct him. He turned his attention back to Llwelleyn.
"Ms. Hitchcock is a bartender, right?" He raised an eyebrow at the taller man, "Why is she helping you find this cursed necklace?"
Llwelleyn scratched his bald head as he thought about his answer, "Well, Thea felt guilty about the whole breaking-my-nose thing. So, once she learned about the necklace, she offered to help me."
Robert gestured up to Llwelleyn's face, "How is that holding up?"
Mr. Llwelleyn shrugged and, with his nasally voice almost hidden by his low register, answered, "I've had worse. Fy nhad and I-"
"LANYON! GET YOUR SORRY ARSE OVER HERE!"
Both of them jumped at the sudden shout. They both turned to see Hyde with his chin high up in the air.
"THEA HERE IS A DISBELIEVER! SHE DOESN'T BELIEVE ME ABOUT THE SPIDERS!!!"
Lanyon rolled his eyes and made his way over there, "The spiders were real."
"Enormous!" Hyde gestured with his arms to illustrate the size, but, since Hyde had the unfortunate circumstance of being shorter than most beings, the action failed to fully capture it.
Briefly, Lanyon wondered what Hyde had already told Hitchcock. He was sure that there were many many details about Hyde's "heroism" or the terror of the mansion. Though, it was quite obvious that Ms. Hitchcock didn't believe him.
…A shame, truly. It'd be more fun if she did. Robert wondered if she would believe their story of he collaborated it.
…Hm, he didn't see the harm in it.
Now standing next to Hyde, Lanyon nodded, "It was twice the size of the mansion."
Ms. Hitchcock, who previously had an amused but disbelieving face, now looked shocked.
Lanyon immediately stifled a laugh at both of Hyde's and Hitchcock's surprised faces. He found great satisfaction at how Hitchcock immediately believed him, but an even greater satisfaction at the slack-jaw look on Hyde's face as the shock of Lanyon joining his fib rattled him. But then, his eyes lit up.
"It had razor-sharp teeth!" Hyde's grin split his face in half as his eyes sparkled with amusement.
Meanwhile, Robert hunched into himself and looked off into the distance in distress, "It bit into the mansion and tore out the wall. We barely avoided the crumbling ceiling as the spider forced its ugly head through the room."
Robert kept his head bowed down, trying his best to ignore the barely stifled laughs coming from beside him.
"How did you make it out?" Hitchcock breathed out in awe.
Hyde leaned forward and held out his hand, showing off a small knife. "I ran up to the beast-" he mimicked jabbing something, fortunately away from his audience, "-and stabbed it in the eye."
Robert didn't recognise the knife, but he didn't care too much about that. It was too small to cause any serious damage to anything that wasn't an eye. It was a great detail to add to their story.
"And that allowed me to wrap the rope I found around its neck and pull it down to where we could reach it." Looking at the knife, Lanyon found himself wishing he still had his rope. He wished he had something to show for once. "Like the manic monkey he is, Hyde jumped on top of its hairy head and climbed onto its back-"
"And plunged the knife that dared to pierce my skin into the decrepit flesh of its neck!" Hyde excitedly exclaimed. "It crashed to the ground, taking me down with it and-"
(Thunk!)
(What was th-)
"Hold on a moment," Mr. Llwelleyn interrupted. "I still have my knife. That can't b-"
"Anyhow," Lanyon cut in, realising their time was up, "We ran out before the spider could get a second attempt at eating us. But, we weren't able to get any info about the thief in the curfuffle."
Thea Hitchcock frowned at him, "So, the lantern was a dead end?"
Lanyon paused at that. Was the lantern a dead end? He found his gaze landing on the lantern that sat beside Hyde. True, they didn't find out anything about it at the banshee's residence, but that was because they never got the chance to do so.
"Possibly not," Robert conceded. "We still know that the thief is connected to the lantern. We just need to figure what out that connection is."
Suddenly, Robert remembered why they were here. He was…surprisingly disappointed that he couldn't continue his overdramatized story with Hyde, but he quickly shook himself from those thoughts.
He handed The Encyclopedia of Cursed Artifacts to Llwelleyn, "However, we were hoping you could give us more information about the necklace."
Floyd Llwelleyn carefully took the book and frowned at the bent corners, "What happened to it?"
Before Hyde had the chance to escape from his crimes, Lanyon quickly explained, "Hyde threw it."
Hyde immediately whipped his head around to glare at Robert. What? If Hyde didn't want to face the consequences of his actions, then he shouldn't have thrown a book at him.
Llwelleyn gaped at Hyde, "Why?"
"It wasn't even my fault," Hyde scoffed. "The stupid snitch over there-" Hyde nodded towards Lanyon, "-barged into the room I was in, and I threw it in self-defense."
Now, it was Lanyon's turn to glare at Hyde.
But, Llwelleyn nodded in understanding, "I had a similar problem just last night. Some rodent found its way in here and knocked down one of the globes. Startled, I was. I ended up shooting one of the gynnau hynafol."
He pointed at the wall where a small hole marked it, "The bullet went there. The rodent ran out, I think."
From the corner of his eye, Lanyon noticed Hyde wince. Slowly, a realisation dawned on him.
Robert slowly turned his attention to him, "Hyde, how did you get this book? I don't remember Mr. Llwelleyn giving it to us."
Both Llwelleyn and Hitchcock paused at that, and they also turned to face Hyde, who's face looked like the epitome of suspicion.
…
"O fy Duw, I almost killed you again, didn't I?"
Hyde sniffed pointedly, "You're really trigger happy."
Llwelleyn paled, "Mae'n ddrwg gen i! I wouldn't have shot if I'd known it was you!"
Hyde narrowed his eyes at him, "Huh, just like you wouldn't have stabbed me if you'd known I didn't have the necklace?"
Guilt etched itself deep into Floyd Llwelleyn's face once he heard Hyde's statement.
…No. That didn't make sense. Maybe he was just embarrassed about his mistake.
Hyde scoffed when he didn't answer, "Lovely conversation. Why don't you just tell us about the necklace, then?"
Floyd Llwelleyn opened the book and held it right in front of his head, almost like he was trying to hide his face.
He muttered, "All the information I know is the same as what the book has."
"So, we came here for nothing," Hyde responded dryly.
"W-Well," the much stronger man quailed at Hyde's tone, "there might be something in…in…in nghlogyn y lleidr!"
Suddenly, the energy seemed to return to him like a lightning strike, and Llwelleyn closed the book, smiling brightly as he placed it into his apron pouch.
"Follow me!" He began to climb over the sea of long forgotten treasures, "The thief's cloak is just in the break room!"
Oh! That's right! Llwelleyn took the thief's cloak. That was how he had followed the thief before. Maybe it could help them find the thief once again.
Lanyon looked over at Hyde, who seemed to reach the same conclusion. The blond menace uncrossed his arms and followed the trigger-happy man, right behind the spirit-loving bartender.
Despite the fact he did not trust this odd group, he stifled a laugh when Llwelleyn slipped on a roller skate and somehow got stuck inside a chandelier. As Hyde and Hitchcock struggled to get him out, Lanyon found himself wondering if he would ever see these people again once they found Jekyll and the necklace. Though, he put the thought out of his mind as he followed the now unstuck Llwelleyn and ignored Hyde glaring at him for not helping.
This was the b-?
"What the fuck do you mean this is the break room?" Hyde asked before Robert had the chance to do so.
Llwelleyn shrugged, "Sure, it's a bit odd for a break room, but it works."
Ignoring their baffled expressions, he entered through the door.
How he managed to fit his large body into the entirety of the closet was beyond Lanyon.
"Floyd, this can't actually be the break room, right?" Ms. Hitchcock looked on in concern as Llwelleyn held his breath to prevent his stomach from expanding and getting him stuck in there.
"Na, this is the break room," Llwelleyn forced out with strangled breath, lips beginning to turn blue while he tried to find the cloak in the thin space.
"Uh, Floyd, maybe I should look for the cloak instead," Hitchcock suggested, but it was more of an already-made decision as she grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the closet in one fluid motion.
As soon as he was pulled out, Mr. Llwelleyn staggered away from the closet and placed his hands on his knees, trying desperately to get his breath back.
Hyde frowned at him, "Why the absolute fuck is that considered a break room?"
Still breathing heavily, Llwelleyn half-heartedly waved his hand dismissively, "It's just the room my boss gave me."
"Your boss gave you this closet as a room?" Lanyon asked incredulously. He knew that the proletariat didn't often have bosses that cared about them, but this was absurd. Hell, he was sure that even Stride treated his workers better than this.
"Ie, it was either this or his office," Llwelleyn explained as he finally caught his breath. "What boss would give up his office just for his employee?"
Henry would've given up his office in a heartbeat if the other option was this. If he were here, Lanyon was sure that he would've marched up to this boss and manage to convince him to give Mr. Llwelleyn a better room.
Though, Hyde looked angry enough that it seemed like he would that instead, although Lanyon was sure it would be done with a lot less nice words.
The blond fireball crossed his arms, "Why the hell does a storage facility need an office? I can't imagine that there's much paperwork that needs to be done here on the daily."
Hyde casted a judgemental look at the building's walls and ceiling, "Besides, I doubt there's a whole of people paying for this place."
Huh. That was an interesting point. If people weren't paying to store their things here, then what was the point of this place?
Llwelleyn shrugged his shoulders, "The boss isn't around much. He mostly comes in to check that I'm working or to see if I've found something worth selling."
From inside the closet, Ms. Hitchcock's voice called out, "'Worth selling'? Are you selling the things people are paying you to keep? Also, what does the cloak look like? There's a lot in here."
Llwelleyn called back, "It's about the size of what Mr. Hyde would wear with the bottom of it ripped."
"So, it just looks like somethin' Mr. Hyde would wear?"
Llwelleyn looked over at Hyde, who raised an eyebrow at him, "Ydw, I think."
Hyde called back, "If it looks like something I'd wear, I'd like to keep it after we examine it."
"You got it," Hitchcock went back to presumably searching for the cloak.
Lanyon cleared his throat, bringing Llwelleyn's and Hyde's attention back to him, "You didn't answer Ms. Hitchcock's other question."
Llwelleyn slapped his forehead, "Ah, that's my bad! Na, we don't sell things that belong to other people. This place and the stuff inside it were abandoned some years ago. The city was aiming to demolish it, but Mr. Adalard bought it instead."
"So, you just try to find valuable objects in this clutter?" Lanyon asked. He supposed that wasn't a bad idea. Buying a building worth nothing just to sell the valuable objects inside would probably be very satisfying.
Llwelleyn nodded, "Exactly. It's a pretty easy job, so I can't complain much."
"You can still complain about your 'break room'," Thea Hitchcock walked out of the closet, holding a torn cloak in her arms.
"Gwaith bendigedig! You found it!" Mr. Llwelleyn held out his hand, "May I have it, please?"
Hitchcock nodded and gave it to him, "Sure thing, hon."
Llwelleyn began to rummage through the cloak, "Wel, this is the pocket where I found the pamphlet for your pub…"
Suddenly, his eyes widened.
"What is it?" Hyde immediately asked, noticing his reaction.
"There's something else in here. I must've missed it in my hurry to chase after the lleidr," Llwelleyn reached into the pocket.
The three of them held their breaths as they waited for Llwelleyn to reveal what he found. He pulled his hand away from the cloak, and there, rolled up in his gentle hold, was a piece of paper.
Immediately, Hyde stepped beside him and stood on his tiptoes to get a better look at the paper while Lanyon and Hitchcock watched from their respective places. Llwelleyn unrolled the paper, but, since he was much taller than Hyde, the impatient man didn't get to see it clearly.
"Well? What does it say?" Hyde looked like he was about to try jumping up to see it.
"It doesn't say anything," Llwelleyn explained as he took no notice of Hyde's desperate attempts to see the paper. "It's a map."
Lanyon pushed Hyde out of the way to see it, "A map?"
Now that he was standing next to Mr. Llwelleyn, he, with his taller height, could see that it was a map of London. That in itself wasn't unusual; it was pretty easy to get lost here. What was unusual was the small alleyway circled with red ink.
"That's strange," Lanyon muttered as he ignored Hyde trying to climb over him to see. "Where does that alleyway lead?"
Hitchcock stood on Llwelleyn's other side and, like Hyde, stood on her tiptoes to see the map. However, unlike Hyde, she was actually able to see it, "That's a dead end. I have no idea why the thief would want to go there."
"Maybe there's something else there," Hyde grumbled, giving up on trying to climb over Lanyon and was now trying to climb on Lanyon.
"Get the hell off me!" Robert struggled to push him off.
Hitchcock, ignoring Lanyon's desperate need for help, hummed thoughtfully, "Maybe. It's worth a shot. It's not like we have much else to work off."
"What the bloody hell is wrong with you?! Just ask Llwelleyn to lower the map, for God's sake!!!"
Hyde, who now had his arms around Lanyon's neck, asked, "So, we're going to an alley?"
"Seems like it," Hitchcock answered. "It's in a dangerous area, so I'll go with you lot."
"What? I can handle dangerous areas perfectly well!" Hyde exclaimed indignantly, though his complaining voice was slightly muffled from Robert pushing his face away from him.
"Mr. Hyde, you've been stabbed. There's no way in hell you're going there without me," she crossed her arms. "I'm coming along whether you like it or not."
"Sounds…like…a…plan," Lanyon struggled to get out as he struggled with Hyde. "We'll go there n-"
And, that was when Hyde decided to make his final attempt at seeing the map by jumping on Lanyon.
"Fuck!" Lanyon heard his own voice shout as the air was knocked out of him, and he landed on the ground with a loud thud!
Hyde immediately scrambled to get off of him, leaving Lanyon to deal with his quite possibly crushed stomach on his own. Ugh. This day had barely even started, and he was already sore because of Hyde's shenanigans. Dimly aware of Llwelleyn pulling him up to his feet, Lanyon wondered what worse shenanigans Hyde would conduct as they investigated the mysterious alleyway.