• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Nina peered into the fissure, but with the sun now down behind the cliffs the entrance was a solid, dark blank. 'Like I said, there's probably a shaft not far in, and it's impassable.' She turned away from the fissure and hugged herself. 'The light's going. It'll be dark soon, and there's no point hanging around here until we can't see our way back.'

She could see the Doctor was reluctant, but he gave in. The sun was below the horizon now and the gathering dusk was draining the world of colour and blurring the dividing line between sea and sky. The mineshaft entrance had faded into the general brooding dark of the bluff, and the path was pale and vague. Nina, who knew it better, went ahead — then as the track turned for the downward drop to the holiday chalets, a dark figure loomed suddenly in front of her. She gave an involuntary scream — and the scream choked off as she saw who it was.

'Steve!' Shock took most of her breath away and she gasped for more. 'God almighty, you scared the hell out of me! What the hell are you doing up here?'

In the twilight Steve's face looked as grim as granite. 'I might well ask you the same question!' he snapped, then his gaze fixed antagonistically on the Doctor a pace behind Nina. 'Or maybe I should ask him!'

'He's a friend of mine,' Nina said aggressively. 'Not that it's any business of yours!'

'Considering how old you are, I think it's very much my business! Do Mum and Dad know where you are — or who you're with?'

Nina opened her mouth to fire back at him, but before she could, the Doctor spoke.

'Steve. I'm pleased to meet you.' He held out a hand, but Steve only glared at it and didn't attempt to shake.

'Who are you?' he demanded.

'He's the Doctor,' Nina cut in. 'And if you had any sense at all, you'd listen to what he —'

'Nina, I don't think this is the right moment,' the Doctor said hastily. He addressed Steve again. 'I understand your concern for your sister,

Steve, but I assure you, there's nothing to worry about.'

'Oh, isn't there? Make a habit of cradle-snatching, do you? Well, you might as well know right now; whatever she's told you, Nina is seventeen years old, which in my book makes her just a bit too young for someone of your age!'

'He knows how old I am!' Nina said furiously. 'If you've got a filthy mind, that's your problem, not mine! Anyway, you're a fine one to talk, aren't you? What's the matter – Ruth stood you up again?'

Steve's mouth tightened into a ferocious line. 'Oh, yeah,' he said in a dangerous tone. 'That reminds me. Where is it?'

'Where's what, for Christ's sake? What are you on about now?'

'My pendant. The one Charlie made. You took it from my room, didn't you?'

Even in the dusk he saw the guilty start that Nina wasn't quick enough or cunning enough to suppress, and his expression turned thunderous. 'You thieving little bitch – what's the matter with you? Breaking into my flat, taking my things – you've got problems, Nina – big problems! Where is it?'

Near tears, Nina looked desperately at the Doctor. The Doctor sighed, and a hand went to his pocket. 'I presume you mean this?' he said resignedly.

'What the ... why have you got it? Showing off, was she? Thought handing out presents made her look flash?'

'Don't be so stupid, Steve!' Nina shouted. 'I gave it to him because –'

'I don't give a toss why you did anything; I'm not interested!' Steve squared up to the Doctor and held out a demanding hand. 'The pendant happens to be my property, so I'll thank you to give it back, right now.'

Nina saw the Doctor hesitate, and there was only one interpretation she could put on that. He was going to give Steve the pendant. And Steve was going to put it round his neck, and its alien nature would start to work on him again, infecting him, taking him down the same lethal road that Charlie Johns had taken. She couldn't let that happen. She wouldn't let it happen.

She yelled, 'No!' and before either man