Doctor Who: The Cradle by Tasha Suri

Author:Tasha Suri [Suri, Tasha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781405956970
Publisher: Penguin Random House Children's UK
Published: 2023-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

‘I’m scared of the dark,’ Terrence says.

He’s hurting me, but I don’t tell him so. Instead I grip his hand more tightly. Then I feel someone thud against me – feel hands on my other arm and hear a wordless gasp. I scream and turn, and then I realise it’s Indy. I can’t see him, but I can feel his familiar scarf and his bulky coat. I touch his face and I know that beard too.

Inderjit uses words to comfort himself. To comfort us. I never cared about Shakespeare until he made me care. He makes words into magic. Right now, under my hand, I can feel his breath, his mouth moving. But no sound is emerging.

‘Inderjit’s lost his voice,’ I call out. I feel like the dark is going to take mine too. The dark’s not like normal night around us; it’s thick and velvet and smothering.

‘Can you breathe?’ I ask. I feel teary, but I swallow the tears back. They’re just fear. I don’t even know if anything’s truly wrong yet. Well, I do know something is wrong. But it may not be so bad. We’re all still alive.

‘Move back!’ the Doctor orders.

‘Where?’ I yell in return. ‘There’s no backwards or forward, Doctor – we can’t see anything!’ And we really can’t. The dark is so thick I can’t even see my own hands in front of me, never mind the Doctor or my friends.

‘Follow my voice!’ he orders again.

I can just hear him over the pounding of my heart. But I can also feel Inderjit’s grip and Terrence clutching on to my other arm. Sam is behind me, and this time I’m not angry he’s close. I’m glad he’s there.

‘We have to move,’ I say, but Inderjit and Terrence are both frozen. I can’t see them, but it’s like I can feel what they feel.

I know exactly how it feels when you’re so afraid you’re frozen and your legs seize up under you. You know if you try to walk you’ll be like a wooden toy soldier – you’ll stumble and trip and fall, and there won’t be any chance of getting back up again.

But I don’t feel like that right now. And I’m glad, because it means that this time I can be strong for them, just like they’ve been strong for me.

‘Sam, grab Terrence,’ I say, and I feel Sam move. I grab Indy and then we’re all moving. I reach out a hand in the direction I thought I heard the Doctor’s voice and it’s like sinking my arm into black water when you can’t see all the way to the bottom.

A hand grabs mine. But it’s not like the hand that reached for me through the blue beaded door, which was as small as mine. This hand is calloused and clasps mine firmly but kindly, drawing all of us forward. This hand is the Doctor’s. We move together.

Then the darkness fades until it’s soft shadow. Inderjit trembles, and a soft, croaky swear escapes his throat.

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