The Doctor dropped into a crouch, putting his hands on the children’s shoulders. ‘How long have you been listening?’
‘Long enough,’ Masie said, stepping back to break away. ‘So is that what’s happened?’
‘Has your mum jumped a groove in time?’
She nodded, her eyes fixed on him.
‘I don’t think so.’ The Doctor glanced over her shoulder, seeing both police officers and builders emerge from Marter’s house. ‘Come on,’ he said, standing and holding out his hands. The children took them and he led them across the road and back into Bugs Close.
‘Where are we going?’ Bill asked.
‘Away from Constables Schofield and Turman. I have enough questions of my own without facing more from them. That should be far enough.’
He sat himself on a garden wall two doors down from the children’s house and patted the brickwork, urging them to join him. Noah complied, but Masie remained standing, her hands crammed in her jean pockets.
Bill glanced along the close, looking for Velma, but Charlotte’s camper van was nowhere to be seen. She probably didn’t want the Doctor to know where she was, which was wise, although at the moment he was giving his full attention to Sammy Holland’s son.
‘Noah,’ he said, softly. ‘Your dream that wasn’t a dream …’
‘What about it?’ Masie answered sharply for her brother.
The Doctor continued, his impossibly old eyes looking at the boy with genuine compassion. ‘She wasn’t really there, your mum.’
‘I thought you believed me,’ Noah whined, eyes brimming.
‘I do,’ the Doctor told him quickly. ‘You saw her, but that wasn’t her body, only her mind.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Your mum reached out to you from wherever she is.’
‘Like astral projection,’ Bill offered.
The Doctor glanced up at her, both shocked and impressed. ‘Well, yes. Exactly that.’
She shrugged, giving him an embarrassed smile. ‘Doctor Strange. You should watch it. It’s good.’
‘It is,’ Masie agreed begrudgingly.
The Doctor raised his eyebrows. ‘In which case, I’ll give it ago. Praise from Masie Holland is a rare thing indeed.’
The girl dropped her hair in front of her face, trying not to smile.
‘Now,’ the Doctor continued. ‘Tell me more about this footprint in Noah’s room. You both saw it.’
Masie nodded. ‘And the leaf.’
‘What kind of leaf was it?’
‘I think it was oak,’ Noah said, scratching his eye.
The Doctor was nodding, taking it all in. ‘The tricky thing to understand is that neither the footprint or the leaf was there either. Not really. They were … echoes of her cry for help, that faded over time.’
‘Which is why they were gone when you brought us home,’ Masie said.
‘I could still taste it, though, when I licked the carpet.’
Noah screwed up his nose. ‘That was disgusting.’
‘You’re telling me,’ said the Doctor, prodding Noah in the stomach and making him laugh. ‘Someone needs to wash their feet more often.’
Bill was still trying to get her head around all this. ‘So their mum was, what, calling out to them from the Invisible?’
‘You mentioned that before,’ cut in Masie. ‘What is it?’
‘The Invisible?’ The doctor replied. ‘A world just beyond our own.’
‘Fairyland,’ Noah offered.
‘More or less. But I don’t think that’s what happened. I’m not sure a human could call across the veil between worlds.’
‘You don’t know?’ Masie asked.
‘I can’t be expected to know everything. No one knows everything.’
‘Nan does,’ Noah said.
The Doctor considered this. ‘Yeah, I can believe that. Either way, wherever she is, your mum is linked to the Shining Man.’
‘He took her,’ Noah said. ‘Dragging her into a hole.’
‘Leaving behind an oak leaf.’ The Doctor pulled a small notebook from his jacket. ‘Could you draw it for me?’
‘The leaf?’ Noah asked.
‘Yeah. I have a pencil here somewhere …’ The Doctor patted down his pockets before reaching forward and pulling a stubby yellow pencil from Noah’s ear. ‘Ah. There it is!’
Noah chuckled and took the notebook and pencil. The Doctor winked at Bill as the boy knelt on the floor so he could lean the pad against the low wall.
Noah began to draw, first sketching a long stem and then adding pairs of narrow, oval-shaped leaves on either side. ‘There,’ he said, passing the notebook back to the Doctor.
‘And that’s the leaf you saw too,’ the Doctor said, showing the drawing to Masie.
She nodded. ‘Yeah, pretty much. But it wasn’t green.’
‘Yeah. It looked dead,’ Noah said. ‘All curled up and brown.’
‘What do you think?’ the Doctor asked, turning the notepad towards Bill.
She didn’t really know what to say. ‘It’s a good drawing.’
‘It is,’ the Doctor agreed, studying the picture. ‘A very good drawing. You’ve got talent, Noah, although I’d brush up on your botany, if I were you.’
‘Why?’ Noah asked, frowning.
The Doctor held up the notepad again. ‘Because that’s not an oak leaf. That’s either from an ash or more probably—’
‘A rowan!’ Bill cut in, excitedly. ‘It’s a leaf from a rowan tree, isn’t it?’
‘What difference does it make?’ Masie asked.
‘The Doctor told me all about rowan trees,’ Bill told her. ‘The wood from the rowan tree interferes with fairy magic—’
‘Fairy science,’ the Doctor corrected her.
‘Whatever. It’s a natural defence. Something to put the world right.’
‘But what’s this got to do with Mum?’ Noah asked.
‘It’s a clue,’ the Doctor said. ‘You’ve read Sherlock Holmes, haven’t you?’
‘The guy on the telly?’
‘The world’s greatest detective!’
Noah looked confused. ‘I thought that was Batman?’
The Doctor looked as though he was about to argue but thought better of it. For once. ‘It doesn’t matter. Sherlock Holmes and Batman follow clues.’
‘And punch people,’ Masie pointed out.
‘Let’s stick to the clues bit for now,’ the Doctor said. ‘You two go with Bill.’
‘Why?’ Bill asked. ‘Where are we going?’
‘Back into the woods,’ the Doctor told her.
‘Where we saw the Shining Men?’ she asked. ‘You sure that’s a good idea?’
He rolled his eyes and pointed to the sky. ‘See that big ball of fire in the sky? It’s daytime. Shining Men only come out at night.’
‘And you’re sure about that, are you?’
‘No, but you can tell me if you see one.’ He thrust the notebook into her hands. ‘Go back to the woods and look for rowan trees.’
‘What about you?’
The Doctor looked back towards the end of the road. ‘Sammy Holland always liked fairy stories,’ he said. ‘I think it’s time I found out why.’