Lost & Found

Lost but now I am found
I can see but once I was blind
I was so confused as a little child
Tried to take what I could get
Scared that I couldn't find
All the answers...

When Clara woke up, it was only to find herself lying on a bed, the hatchet still in her hand, birdsong filling the air, sunlight streaming through the window. She lay there, the house presenting the past to her, rewriting her story. It understood, even as she didn't, that she wasn't strong enough to bear the burden of her being. Clara wasn't ready to remember what she already knew. Each time she'd tried to, the Library had conspired to make her forget, using others as its instruments. But the time would come when the veil would be lifted, Clara finally facing herself.

For a moment, Clara remembered the half finished tapestry in Circe's domain, the crown and the sword, the rest waiting to be woven into existence, and then the memory was fading from her fingers, becoming embers in eternity. She sat up, shielding her eyes with her arm, her gaze falling upon the dolls house opposite, seeing the envelope attached to its roof. Setting the hatchet down, she got up off the bed, before making her way over to the dolls house and picking up the envelope, carefully extracting the note inside. In slanting black letters, thank you, had been written, making the tears well up in Clara's eyes.

Tilting her head to the side, she heard what sounded like mice singing, only to realise it was Cassandra, Jacob and Ezekiel arguing. Rolling her eyes, she set the envelope down on the table, before circling the dolls house, wondering how she was going to do this.

"All I'm saying is why aren't we considering our options?" Ezekiel challenged.

"What are our options, Jones!?" Jacob exclaimed in disbelief.

"That this house is the Star Trek transporter," Ezekiel explained, "if Clara can fade to freedom, so can we! We could go anywhere in space or time. It - it could be the TARDIS! Think about it mate, we could own the stock markets," he said, gesticulating wildly, "you could date whoever it is backward country people think are hot. This place is a gravy train."

Jacob just shook his head, throwing his hands up in surrender, all but waving the white flag.

"You can't stay here, Zeke," Cassandra said slowly, glancing over at Eve sitting on the sofa, face buried in her hands. After fleeing the shadow man, Cassandra had stumbled and fallen in the garden, only to find herself inside the dolls house, Ezekiel helping her to her feet before passing her a beer. As for Eve, she didn't quite know what had happened to her, only understanding that she was trapped in hell.

"Colonel Baird, Eve, if I may," Ezekiel said, following Cassandra's glance, before sitting down beside Eve on the sofa, "I've never asked for anything in my life. Please, let me have this."

"Why?" Eve breathed, Ezekiel failing to read the danger signs.

"It grants wishes," Ezekiel said, all but saying duh.

"You know what I wish for right now!?" Eve snapped, standing up. "That you'd shut that big mouth of yours!"

"The house doesn't grant wishes," Clara said quietly, appearing out of nowhere, "it helps people in need."

They just stared at her, stunned.

"It's the House of Refuge," Clara explained, "not the Shadowbox."

"So can we keep it?" Ezekiel said hopefully.

"No," Clara said, rolling her eyes.

The End

~*~

Author's Note: The sequel, And Into The Light, can be found under the 'My Stories' section of my profile.