Arcadia's Family (Book THREE)

Still Water Books

The Doctor:

I'd been searching 4 months for Seraphina now, and had nearly given up hope again. She could hide better than anyone, and I was running out of time now. The drawing was a start, but she could have gone anywhere in time and space to set up that shop, and what type of shop was it? Oh, why did she have to run? I could help her, she knew I could.

My best bet was to head back to 1893, find Jenny and Vastra, see if there was any sign of her there, so I landed in their courtyard and looked out to see Strax brushing down one of the horses, before looking at me. "Sir! Madam Vastra has asked me on sight of seeing you to accompany you to a shop on Regents Circus. This way." Then he turned, and walked into the horse. "Sir, I appear to have been knocked down."

Why Strax?

But I helped him back up to his feet, and he got the horse attached to the carriage and we were off, heading through London on the peak point of the industrial revolution, all smog and disgusting water as we rode alongside the river. River...

The shop in question was very small, but it seemed very popular, many people going in and out, all buying at least one book. Though that wasn't the interesting part, the interesting part that it was in exactly the same place that the Fall of Arcadia would be in, in 116 years when I would first find Alice, my Seraphina in hiding, with no idea who she was. God, everything was simple back then. No Dragon Warrior before she opened her watch, no Sarani when she regenerated, no loss of our children together, Rory, Melody. The Ponds, the Demon and the Silence. Everything. Sometimes, sometimes you just want to go back to the start.

"Wait here, Sir. I will go and fetch Madam Vastra from the property and alert her of your arrival." Strax told me, jumping down from the coachman's place and going down to the shop. Still Water Books.

Vastra came out a moment later, looking a little panicked. "Doctor, so good to see you again. I know why you have come, your Seraphina ran again, did she not?"

"Yes, she did. She's scared, but I can help her. I'm trying to find her, have you see her?" Her face was solemn. "She's here, isn't she? She came back for the shop, in a time no one would realise it was her. Still Water. Ponds and Lakes."

She nodded again. "Yes, she is the proprietor."

There was something else she hadn't said. "Vastra, what is it? Tell me."

"She's currently pretending to be a widower. Her husband having died in the war, leaving her the shop to work and keep her going. I don't know if you argued at all before you left, or..."

I shook my head, trying to see her in there, a flash of white and blue, a gold spark, anything. "We got back from Trenzalore and I fell asleep. Nothing. Something happened, she found out something and was gone by the time I woke up." I rubbed my eyes wearily, knowing I hadn't slept in a long time. "I just need to find her, to tell her that I won't let anything happen to her again."

Vastra nodded. "Then go and tell her. She closes at this time for lunch every day, and you have the means to get in through a locked door, do you not?" When did I not? I also had my Sera's as well, all cleaned and fine tuned. "Then go to her, and tell her how much she means to you, Doctor."

I looked to see her closing the door to the shop, dressed in a full black dress as she locked it. Pretending to be in mourning. Really, she was. Melody. I waited until she'd backed away from the door again, and took out a small, but recognisable device. This was the one I'd been holding the last time I'd met her in this shop. It went ding when there were aliens.

So I quietly unlocked the door, and went inside, seeing her small body mostly hidden by the counter, only her chest and head showing as she counted out the money, writing it into an accounts book. it looked like she'd dyed her hair black as well, making her look sallow and ill with sunken eyes. "Excuse me, I have a question. Do you happen to know why my device is registering you as an alien?"