Doctor Who_ Wonderland - Mark Chadbourn [21]
'Do you think she really is a witch?' Polly whispered. 'You know, a real one who can cast spells?'
'People say. The Society people swear by her. There's this story that she caused some minister who'd been harassing her to have a heart attack:
Ben snorted. 'Or maybe he just had a heart attack.'
A connection fizzed in my brain. Polly must have seen it reflected in my face because she asked, 'What is it?'
'When I was at the Goblin's place, I saw something.' I tried to find the words to describe what had been a terrifying experience. It had come back to me so many times over the days since, but however much I tried, I couldn't explain it at all. 'Or rather I didn't see something. It was like ... a ghost ... invisible, but ... solid. It attacked this poor girl.'
I expected disbelief, from Ben at the very least, but their faces were deathly serious. 'We should tell the Doctor,' Polly said. 'This sounds like his kind of thing.'
'What I'm saying, is that if Mathilda is a true witch, she could be controlling whatever it was. I don't know ... a demon?' I suggested tentatively. 'Or a familiar? Do you think?'
'I don't know,' Ben began. 'I've seen some funny stuff, but ... You're sure?' I nodded. He glanced at Polly. 'There's got to be some kind of connection.'
We all turned to watch Mathilda. I thought how hard her eyes looked, but all the fabulous people who circled her were entranced. Mathilda made a symbolic gesture and doves flew from a concealed box at the side of her throne. The crowd was wowed, ducking out of the way of the wildly flapping birds, which eventually made their way through the open window.
'I won't find out who killed Denny until I know why he was at the Goblin's –'
'You're sure it wasn't the Goblin?' Ben said.
'Yeah, pretty much. He would have bragged about it if he'd done it. That's the kind of sick person he is.' I shuddered at the thought of him leaning over the stairs making his threats; I just prayed he'd have more on his mind than to waste time pursuing me. 'But somehow Denny's
death is tied into the Blue Moonbeams, I'm sure.'
'Why do you think that?' Ben asked.
'You know what I think? That he found out about all the kids dying after dropping that acid and he decided to do something about it. He was always ready to do the right thing. And that's why I loved him.' If I'd have been honest I'd have said I always thought that had been the thing that would get him into trouble.
Behind Mathilda we could just glimpse a doorway, entry through which appeared to be restricted to people who gave a secret knock.
'I wonder what's in there?' Ben said.
'The stash, probably.' As I looked around, I occasionally caught some of the masked guests staring at me. It was probably harmless, but it made me feel paranoid.
'I reckon we should check it out,' Ben continued. 'It looks important.'
Mathilda was entertaining the crowd by spooking out some pretty young thing I vaguely recognised from a couple of movies, so we edged around the walls towards the door. But before we could try it, it suddenly burst open with such force Polly jumped in shock.
A guy who looked a bit like Jim Morrison burst out and fell to his knees. He was shaking his head and making a noise like some cat in pain. Three masked men dressed like the doorkeeper hurried through the door, their black robes flying.
I could only guess the guy had been dipping into the tabs and was freaking out. But instead of helping him, the musclemen grabbed him roughly. 'Get him out of here!' Mathilda barked furiously.
Mathilda's crew hid the guy from the rest of the people in the room, but his head was turned to us. I'd seen bad trips before, but this was nothing like it. His face was twisted with pain. He tore at his clothes, then his cheeks and hair; at first I thought his mind was telling him he was on fire, but there was more to it than that. He ducked down, croaking, making no sense, and when he raised his head again we were all horrified to see he was changing.
His skin