Continuing from 'The Unquiet Dead - Part II'

✧

LILY VOLUNTEERED HERSELF TO HELP GWYNETH WITH THE WASHING after everyone had finished their tea. There inside the pantry, Gwyneth lit up a gas lamp on the wall while Lily started lathering the cup with the soapy water. "Please, miss," Gwynth joined Lily's side at the washing tub. "you shouldn't be helping. It's not right."

"Oh, hush." Lily laughed and continued. "The least I could do. Plus, Sneed works you to death." But Lily could see it made Gywneth uncomfortable so she smiled and handed her the rag. Gwyneth gave her a thankful gaze while Lily backed up from the tub. "How much do you get paid?"

"Eight pound a year, miss," Gwyneth answered, positioning her body to wash and look at Lily at the same time.

"Excuse me, how much?" Lily couldn't believe what she heard.

"I know," Gwyneth giggled shyly. "I would have been happy with six."

Lily watched her wash- choosing to change the subject. "Do you go to school?"

"Of course I did. What do you think I am, an urchin?" She muttered that last part like it was an atrocious thing to say. "I went every Sunday. Nice and proper."

Lily's eyes widened. "Just once a week?"

She nodded, laughing. "Did fractions and everything. Hated every minute of it." She lowered her voice and added. "Don't tell anyone, but one week, I didn't go and ran on the heath all on my own."

"I used to do that plenty of times." Lily leaned a shoulder on one of the shelves as she reminisced. "Me and my sister Rose, when she was old enough, would go down the shops and look at boys." She decided on just mentioning the obvious gender she was attracted to given the time they were in.

But even then Gwyneth's smile became a frown and turned back to her work. "Well, I don't know much about that, miss."

Lily saw her start closing off and that was the last thing she wanted. "Hey," She softly touched her shoulder to comfort her. "You can tell me. There's no judgment here."

"Well, I suppose," She abandoned her rag and turned to fully face Lily- leaning her back on the work table. "There is one lad. The butcher's boy." She started blushing and Lily beamed to encourage her. "He comes by every Tuesday. Such a lovely smile on him."

"I like a nice smile," Lily revealed. "Second thing I notice after the eyes." A pair of blue irises passed her mind but she pushed the thoughts away. "Maybe talk to him and see if anything starts up between you two?" Talking to Gywneth in this manner started to make Lily miss her sister- now more than ever. "Invite him for tea or something?"

Gwyneth gave her a confused look. "I swear it is the strangest thing, miss." She gestured to Lily's gown. "You've got all the clothes and the breeding, but you talk like some sort of wild thing."

" Eh, maybe I am." She shrugged, twisting her locket around its chain. "Maybe that's a good thing. You need a bit more in your life than Mister Sneed"

"Oh, now that's not fair. He's not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to me to take me in because I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve."

"Oh," Lily's heart ached for her. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you, miss. But I'll be with them again, one day, sitting with them in paradise." Her words were sad but her face wasn't. "I shall be so blessed. They're waiting for me. Maybe your birth mum's up there too, miss? If she's still alive, that is."

"Maybe." She paused when it fully registered what Gwyneth said. "Who told you about my birth mum?"

"I don't know," Gwyneth replied uneasily. "Must have been the Doctor."

Lily turned from her locket to picking at her fingernails- deciding to confine in her. "I never met her. Was abandoned when I was a baby."

"But you've been thinking about her lately more than ever. More than your birth father?"

"I suppose so. How do you know all this?"

"I'm sorry. Mister Sneed says I think too much." Gwyneth spoke. "I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, haven't you, miss?"

"No," Lily held back a laugh. "No servants where I'm from."

"And you've come such a long way."

Lily blinked. "Pardon?"

"You grew up in London. I've seen London in drawings, but never like that." Gwyneth's eyes looked so far away and her voice became monotoned. "All those people rushing about half naked, for shame." Lily held back a giggle at that. "And the noise, and the metal boxes racing past, and the birds in the sky, no, they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People are flying. And you, you've flown so far. Further than anyone. The things you've seen. The statues that still haunt your dreams and call out to you." A shiver shot up her spine- Lily paying more attention than she ever had to Gwyneth's words. "The darkness that stays locked away in the inner part of your mind, in your soul, screaming to get out. The Lone Wolf." After saying those last three words she gasped in horror- scaring herself to where she backed up and nearly toppled over the vegetable shelf. "I'm sorry." She apologized and looked like she was about to cry. "I'm sorry, miss."

Lily saw it better to fake a smile and run her hand in circles on Gwyneth's shoulder in an attempt to soothe her. "It's all right."

"I can't help it." Gwyneth cried out, leaning into Lily's touch. "Ever since I was a little girl, my mam said I had the sight. She told me to hide it."

But it's getting stronger, more powerful," a familiar voice called out from the doorway. Lily looked to the side and saw the Doctor watching them with crossed arms. "is that right?"

"All the time, sir," Gwyneth admitted. "Every night, voices in my head."

"You grew up on top of the rift," The Doctor continued. "You're part of it. You're the key."

"I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table rappers, all sorts."

"Well, that should help. You can show us what to do."

Lily's curiosity peaked, looking between both the Time Lord and the servant girl. "To do what?"

He grinned and spoke with excitement radiating off of him. "We're going to have a séance."

✧

Returning to the same room as before, what had changed was a large, round table that was brought in and now sat in the middle. The sofas and chairs were pushed back to make room. Only candles lit up the barely visible space. Lily was still standing to the side and found herself zoning out, remembering what Gwyneth had told her. Wondering how it was possible that 'The Lone Wolf,' the title of that "shall not be mentioned" book, followed her from her library to here in 1869.

"Lily?" The Doctor brought her to his attention- watching him pull out a chair for her. She smiled. She had to be overthinking this. Lily decided that there was no possible way and it was pure coincidence. She rather not worry the Doctor about something that wasn't a big deal.

So, Lily sat on Sneed's right side and saw the Doctor take the empty chair to the man's left. Dickins was still standing, watching Gwyneth sit on the other end by herself. "This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in big town." She nervously spoke. "Come, we must all join hands."

When they all did as she instructed, Dickins interrupted her with an outburst. "I can't take part of this!"

"Humbug?" The Doctor teased- Lily looking down so they wouldn't see her smiling and she could hold back her giggle more easily. "Come on, open mind." He nodded to the vacant chair on Lily's right.

But Dickins wasn't having it and furiously shook his head. "This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask!" The author argued. "Séances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing."

The Doctor's eyebrows furrowed together. "Now, don't antagonize her!" He shouted. "I love a happy medium."

This time, Lily didn't stop the laugh that came out along with her words. "I can't believe you just said that."

He winked at Lily. "Come on," The Doctor told Dickens. "We might need you."

Lily was worried it was going to take more convincing but she was instead surprised when he sat down in the seat, between her and Gwyneth. Lily took Dickin's hand. "Good man," The Doctor praised him before bobbing his head to Gwyneth. "Now, Gwyneth, reach out." He kindly Gwyneth the floor.

Gwyneth nodded and made sure they were all holding hands before inhaling in a breath. "Speak to us. Are you there?" She spoke out loud. "Spirits, come." She begged. "Speak to us that we may relieve your burden."

Numerous incoherent voices filled the air around them like mist- the candles in the room flickered. "Can you hear that?" Lily asked no one in particular.

"Nothing can happen." Dickins protested in response to Lily. "This is sheer folly."

"Look at her," Lily told the group when she saw Gwyneth look up at the ceiling. What Lily could spy in her eyes was something she'd seen in the mirror countless times before- she was starting to dislocate herself from reality.

"I can see them." Gwyneth cried, and her eyes started to water. "I can feel them."

"They can't get through the rift." The Doctor told her. "Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now, look deep. Allow them through."

"I can't!" It was still in a hushed tone but Gwyneth had screamed it.

"Doctor.." Lily said in a concerned, low voice- her heart aching for Gwyneth.

He ignored her and she watched him squeeze Gwyneth's hand. "Yes, you can. Just believe it." He encouraged her. "I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link."

"Yes!" She looked forward with a blank, cold stare.

There was a sudden flash of blue light. Then three gas-like outlines of people formed behind the servant. Sneed and Dickens gasped- the former squeezed Lily's hand tight enough to hurt. "Great god!" He said. "Spirits from the other side!"

The Doctor watched, correcting him. "The other side of the universe."

"Pity us." The spirits vocalized in a child-esk voice. Gwyneth's mouth matched their words as if they were speaking through her. "Pity us. Pity the Gelth! There is so little time. Help us!"

The Doctor took the lead. "What do you want us to do?"

"The rift." They said. "Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge."

"What for?"

"We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction."

"Why, what happened?" Lily spoke up, making the Gelth turn to her.

"Once we had a physical form like you, but then the war came."

"War?" Dickins spoke up, confused. Lily caught the Doctor's gaze from across the table. "What war?"

"The Time War." The Gelth answered. The Doctor looked down at the table in sorrow. "The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged. Invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state."

"So that's why you need the corpses?" The Doctor guessed.

"We want to stand tall." The Gelth replied. "To feel the sunlight, to live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste. Give them to us."

"We can't." Lily interrupted their conversation.

"Why not?" The Doctor questioned her.

"It's not," Lily struggled to better explain why this all made her feel so queasy. "I mean, it's not-"

"Not decent? Not polite? It could save their lives."

Lily grew quiet and hoped what the Doctor told her didn't leave her gaping like a fish. The pros and cons list started forming in her mind. Yes, it could save their species but it didn't sound right to her for them to live in the corpses of other people. People who have passed on and deserved to be left in peace- who no longer had voices of their own to fight for their rights.

"Open the rift." The Gelth continued begging. "Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth."

The formed "people" turned back into gas and swirled through the air, back into the lamps. With their absence, Gwyneth collapsed out of her chair and onto the floor. Lily was quick in letting go of Sneed and Dickin's hands and rushing to her side. "Gwyneth, are you okay?"

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

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- Kayleigh