"In a fair fight we’d beat you hands down. There’d have to be no strong-arming, no funny business; just a test of all the agency disciplines – research, the range of Talents, ghost-suppression and removal. But what are the stakes? There’d need to be something riding on it. Something that makes it worth our while."
The "you" to which Lockwood is referring here is Quill Kipps specifically, but in a much broader and truer sense, the collective of persons representing the Fittes Agency. That entity is a rival to Lockwood's own team of psychic investigators. The biggest difference, at least as Lockwood see it, is that while the Fittes Agency is well-funded and supported by very influential higher-ups, his own agency is doing the very same thing while operating on a meagre budget while lacking the respect they believe they have proven is deserved. This agency to agency challenge will form the backbone of the entire narrative as the engine driving certain decisions not always based on principles of honesty and trust.
"It’s talking! I can hear it! It’s just been talking now!"
he thing that is talking which has Lucy so excited is a skull. A skull in a jar. A skull in a jar that is capable of not just communicating, but talking and not just talking, but talking "properly." That means that the skull in the jar just became living proof of the existence of the legendary Type Three ghost. This seemingly innocuous quote represents one of the biggest turning points in the entire series, much less this particular entry. While it had become the norm among ghost investigators that Type Three ghosts more than likely did really exist, it seemed a belief impossible to prove true because they were so elusive. One problem, however, is that Lucy is the only one who seems capable of hearing it. Another problem turns out to be that the skull in the jar is not exactly the most pleasant conversationalist Lucy's ever met. But that's not biggest problem facing Lucy.
"It was dangerous and evil, and had the potential to change my life for ever."
This is Lucy's estimation of the biggest problem with the skull in the jar and it is made long before she starts hearing it. Once it does start talking to her, what it has to say does nothing to change her mind. In fact, it only strengthens her conviction. She tries to convince her colleagues that from what the skull says her, she is convinced not only that it is evil in general, but it very specifically wants to inflict harm upon them all. And yet, instead of trying to dispose of it, the skull remains in the jar and the jar remains in her possession. Although she will continue to character it as vindictive and evil, it is also proving to be of assistance in their investigations. And, of course, that means it is also proving to be helpful to their effort to win the wager against the Fittes Agency.
