Doctor Who_ Wolfsbane - Jac Rayner [70]
„There is a hill on the other side of her woods,‟ Godric began, „and inside the hill is a cave where the floor is covered with bluebells all year round, and the walls are made of diamond.‟
„Probably quartz,‟ said the Doctor, dropping into that know-it-all mode again that so reminded Harry of his own Doctor.
Although Harry had spotted something that the Doctor seemingly hadn‟t.
„The other side of the woods?‟ he said. „We can‟t even get up the road. We‟ll never make it through.‟ And the Doctor had to admit he was probably right.
It didn‟t take them very long to do a circuit, as much of one as they could, anyway. Harry was definitely right. There was the Leffy house at one end of the village, and Perry‟s farm at the other, and in between there were a few farms, the Rose and Crown, the post office and general store, the church and its grounds, and a few cottages surrounding the village green.
And that, for the moment, was the entirety of their world.
„What‟s the use of having a plan if you can‟t even get close enough to use it?‟ Harry complained.
„Plans can be adjusted,‟ said the Doctor. „Well, this one will have to be, anyway. Don‟t be downhearted! We‟ve probably got hours yet before we have to save the world!‟
He swung the car around again, and they went back to the Doctor‟s cottage for yet another council of war.
The light was already fading, and there was a distinct aura of nervousness around the plotters in the Doctor‟s front room.
„First things first,‟ said the Doctor. „Emmeline must be secured.‟
„I can sense the coming of the moon,‟ she said, „and it is not yet. We have maybe an hour.‟
„But we have other things to think about,‟ the Doctor told her. „And we have to be prepared. I‟m afraid you‟ll just have to put up with the discomfort.‟
They scoured the house, and came up with an assortment of things that could be used as restraints - a bit of chain, a coil of heavy string, the cords from the upstairs curtains.
„We‟re not taking down the curtains in the living room,‟ said the Doctor, „no point in tempting fate.‟
Harry lingered for a while in the Doctor‟s strange laboratory. He felt drawn, somehow, to the tall blue box that was smothered in the multicoloured tangle of wires. It seemed so familiar. What could it be? And what experiments could the Doctor be doing? The only thing he could think of involving a box was Schrodinger and his cat, but that box would presumably have been smaller, cat sized. Unless the Doctor had a maybe-dead, maybe-alive tiger in there, of course.
But that was silly. And it couldn‟t really be familiar; his senses were being tricked by its TARDIS-like size and shape.
It was only a box, after all.
Harry and the Doctor tied Emmeline to the most solid chair in the Doctor‟s front room. She tested the bonds, and they held firm. „Will they hold the wolf, though?‟ Harry asked, worried. „Surely if she changes, she‟ll be able to get out instantly. Different shape, and all that.‟
The Doctor said that was possible, even probable. „But it could hold her back for a few minutes,‟ he said, „and that could be important.‟
Every silver item the Doctor possessed was scattered around the room, although it wasn‟t really all that much. He hadn‟t accumulated many possessions in the months he had been there, he said; most of his belongings were either books or things to make tea. A silver tea pot, a milk jug and a sugar bowl were lined up along the window sill. A photo frame and a plant pot holder stood in the doorway to the kitchen. The photo frame had had a photo in it, but it was turned back to front, only the printer‟s name visible through the glass front.
Harry had a burning desire to see what was on the other side
- parents? A lover? A secret child? - but the burning humiliation of his curiosity upstairs still haunted him, and prevented him