A young woman with dark brown hair opened the door to us
"I'm sorry, sir. We're closed." she said trying to make us leave
"Nonsense. Since when did an Undertaker keep office hours?" Dickens scoffed "The dead don't die on schedule. I demand to see your master."
"He's not in, sir." Gwyneth stuttered
"Don't lie to me, child. Summon him at once." Dickens demanded
"I'm awfully sorry, Mister Dickens, but the master's indisposed." Gwyneth said before one of the gas lamps flared
"Having trouble with your gas?" the Doctor raised his eyebrows
"What the Shakespeare is going on?" Dickens asked
The Doctor pushed past Gwyneth and pressed his ear to the wall
"You're not allowed inside, sir." Gwyneth told the Doctor
"There's something inside the walls." The Doctor said "The gas pipes. Something's living inside the gas."
"Let me out!" We heard Rose yell "Open the door!"
"That's her." I shouted and we ran down the hallway
"Please, please, let me out!" Rose pleaded
The Doctor and I ran down the hallway towards the voice
"How dare you, sir." we heard Mr. Sneed exclaim to Mr Dickens "This is my house!"
"Shut up." Dickens replied and followed us.
"Let me out! Somebody open the door! Open the door!" Rose yelled as she banged on the door. The Doctor brought his leg up and kicked the door in. he reached out and grabbed Rose from Redpath and pushed her towards me
"It's a prank. It must be. We're under some mesmeric influence." Dickens muttered
"No, we're not. The dead are walking. Hi." we said to Rose
"Hi. Who's your friend?" she asked
"Charles Dickens." I told her
"Okay" Rose smiled
"My name's the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?" The Doctor demanded
"Failing." Redpath replied "Open the rift. We're dying. Trapped in this form. Cannot sustain. Help us. Argh!" the gas left Redpath's body and his mother and it returned to the lamp while the corpses collapsed.
We were in the living room, I stood next to the Doctor watching, amused as Rose shouted at Mr. Sneed.
"First of all you drug me, then you kidnap me, and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man." Rose yelled
"I won't be spoken to like this!" Sneed stated with fury at being talked to in such a manner, and by a women for shame!
"Then you stuck me in a room full of zombies! And if that ain't enough, you swan off and leave me to die! So come on, talk!" Rose glared
"It's not my fault. It's this house. It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back, and then the stiffs, the er, dear departed started getting restless." Sneed said nervously
"Tommyrot." Dickens scoffed
"You witnessed it. Can't keep the beggars down, sir. They walk. And it's the queerest thing, but they hang on to scraps." Sneed countered
Gwyneth came over to the Doctor and I, she placed our tea on the mantle beside us
"Two sugars, sir, just how you like it and Three sugars for you miss"
The Doctor looked at me smirking
"Three sugars?" he asked
"I'll need the energy" I told him
"One old fellow who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service. Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir, just as she planned."Sneed told us
"Morbid fancy." Dickens said
"Oh, Charles, you were there." The Doctor said
"I saw nothing but an illusion."
"We don't have time for this." I groaned and turned to Sneed "What about the gas?"
"That's new, Miss. Never seen anything like that."
"Means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through." the Doctor commented
"What's the rift?" Rose asked
"A weak point in time and space. A connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time."
"That's how I got the house so cheap. Stories going back generations." Sneed told us. I watched as Dickens got up and left, slamming the door behind him. "Echoes in the dark, queer songs in the air, and this feeling like a shadow passing over your soul. Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine." Sneed said
The Doctor and I got up and followed Dickens, we found him in the Chapel of Rest. Taking the lid off of Redpath's coffin and waving his hand in front of the dead man's face
"Checking for strings?" The Doctor asked, leaning against the door frame
"Wires, perhaps. There must be some mechanism behind this fraud." Dickens mumbled
"Oh, come on, Charles. You've got one of the best minds in the world. You saw those gas creatures." I told him
"I cannot accept that." he told me stubbornly
"And what does the human body do when it decomposes? It breaks down and produces gas. Perfect home for these gas things. They can slip inside and use it as a vehicle, just like your driver and his coach." the Doctor said
"Stop it. Can it be that I have the world entirely wrong?" Dickens asked himself
"Not wrong. There's just more to learn." I smiled
"I've always railed against the fantasists. Oh, I loved an illusion as much as the next man, revelled in them, but that's exactly what they were, illusions. The real world is something else. I dedicated myself to that. Injustices, the great social causes. I hoped that I was a force for good. Now you tell me that the real world is a realm of spectres and jack-o'-lanterns. In which case, have I wasted my brief span here, Doctor? Has it all been for nothing?"
I left the Doctor in search of Rose and Gwyneth. I knew I'd find them in the pantry
I walked in just as Rose started washing the dishes
"Please, miss, you shouldn't be helping. It's not right." Gwyneth shook her head
"Don't be daft. Sneed works you to death. How much do you get paid?" Rose asked
"Eight pound a year, miss." Gwyneth said proudly
"How much?" Rose asked stunned at how little she gets paid
"I know. I would've been happy with six."
"So, did you go to school?" I butted in making them look at me, I walked over and started to dry the dishes that Rose washed
"Of course I did. What do you think I am, an urchin? I went every Sunday, nice and proper."
"What, once a week?" Rose asked
"We did sums and everything. To be honest, I hated every second."
"Me too."
"I loved it!" I grinned, thinking about the school made me think of my dad. With that thought my grin faded quickly
"Don't tell anyone, but one week, I didn't go and ran on the heath all on my own." Gwyneth confessed shyly
"I did plenty of that. I used to go down the shops with my mate Shareen. We used to go and look at boys." Rose grinned
"Me too. Except I had a really cute Professor" I smirked saucily as Gwyneth gasped and Rose laughed
"Well, I don't know much about that, misses"
"Come on, times haven't changed that much. I bet you've done the same." Rose winked
"I don't think so, miss." Gwyneth looked down shyly
"Gwyneth, you can tell us. I bet you've got your eye on someone." I prodded
"I suppose. There is one lad. The butcher's boy. He comes by every Tuesday. Such a lovely smile on him."
"I like a nice smile. Good smile, nice bum." Rose and I giggled
"Well, I have never heard the like." Gwyneth said shocked
"Ask him out. Give him a cup of tea or something, that's a start." I told her
"I swear it is the strangest thing, misses. You've got all the clothes and the breeding, but you both talk like some sort of wild thing."
"Maybe we are. Maybe that's a good thing. You need a bit more in your life than Mister Sneed." Rose said
"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." Gwyneth said sadly
"Oh, I'm sorry." Rose apologised
"Thank you, miss. But I'll be with them again, one day, sitting with them in paradise. I shall be so blessed. They're waiting for me. Maybe both your dads are up there waiting for you too, misses." Gwyneth smiled making both Rose and I freeze. I knew she would mention Rose's father, but why mine? I'm not form this dimension
"Maybe. Er, who told you he was dead?" Rose asked as I stayed quiet
"I don't know. Must have been the Doctor." Gwyneth shrugged it off in panic
"My father died years back." Rose said to herself
"But you've been thinking about him lately more than ever."
"I suppose so. How do you know all this?"
"Mister Sneed says I think too much. I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, haven't you, misses?"
"No, no servants where I'm from."
"Me neither" I added
"And you've come such a long way." Gwyneth stared off into space
"What makes you think so?" Rose asked not paying attention
"You're from London. I've seen London in drawings, but never like that. All those people rushing about half naked, for shame. 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 darkness, the big bad wolf. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, misses." Gwyneth rambled
"It's all right." Rose reached out to her
"I can't help it. Ever since I was a little girl, my mam said I had the sight. She told me to hide it." Gwyneth panicked
"But it's getting stronger, more powerful, is that right?" we jumped as the Doctor spoke from the door
"All the time, sir. Every night, voices in my head."
"You grew up on top of the rift. You're part of it. You're the key." he told her
"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."
"What to do where, sir?"
"We're going to have a séance." he grinned brightly making me groan