Okay, here's 9. I haven't finished 10 yet, so there may be some revisions of this chapter and stuff... There will be a longer wait for 10 too. Also, I was thinking of splitting this into two separate chapters as it's so long. Tell me what you think.
I reckon the character development is too fast here also - again, please tell me what you think. As 10 isn't done there's still room for improvement here.
Thanks and enjoy!

Chapter 9: In The Open

Eyphah's mouth felt suddenly dry. She stared at him for a moment before replying.

"Yes." The noise sounded choked and garbled, so she said it again. "Yes. I've heard it sing all my life. No one else has noticed it before though..."

The Doctor nodded. "Perception filter. High level too..." He approached her and gently reached for the watch. "May I?"

Gulping, Eyphah nodded. Usually if someone wanted to see the watch the song would pause and a voice would tell her to keep the watch away, but this time no such warning came. Eyphah unclasped the chain and held the device up on her palm. The Doctor picked up the watch.

"Fascinating. The craftsmanship reminds me of the styles seen on Midnight, but it's made of the wrong metals. The singing is new too. River, see what you make of this." He handed the antiquated necklace to his wife.

The moment the metal touched her hand, she gasped. "The perception filter is so strong!" She stared at it carefully. "Heavier than it appears, so either it's made of Mercury or it's not an Earth metal..."

River gave the watch back to Eyphah. "I don't know what it is," the Doctor said quietly to the ginger girl, "but whatever it is; keep it safe."

As he walked off, he absentmindedly ruffled her hair. The watch jumped in Eyphah's hand as he did. Shaking her head, Eyphah refastened the necklace around her neck and they continued looking.

"What are we looking for, Doctor?" She asked a few minutes later. She still didn't get why they were even here - she thought she had left this place for good. She hasn't expected to stay with River and the Doctor, nor Anthony and Brian, but to get away from the Orphanage had been on her mind.

He looked at her oddly. "What makes you think I know?"

"You said to look for... For whatever it is!" Eyphah cried indignantly. The Doctor grinned, but didn't answer.

Instead, he pulled aside a curtain and unveiled a hideous creature. It looked like images of Slenderman that Eyphah had once seen on the Internet. It was very tall, with a large white face and deep set eyes. It wore a black suit and looked terribly imposing.

The Doctor leapt back with a shout. "Silent!" He cried. River whirled and shot the creature with a gun Eyphah had seen slung round her hips. It must have been from the future - time travel and all, this was likely, as Eyphah had never seen such a device before.

"Sweetie, there's more..." River's voice was quavering. Eyphah was confused - she had seen only the one... Thing. It had been imposing, hadn't it? River had shot it... Hadn't she? Eyphah struggled to remember.

"How many do you count?" The Doctor called across to River from the other side of the room - how had he gotten there so quick? "I'm counting about four..." Replied River.

The Doctor glanced at his hand. "Five by my count." He called. "We have to get out of here. They know now, River. If they try to activate-" River cut him off angrily.

"You think I don't know that? I grew up with these!" She hissed between her teeth. She turned to Eyphah. "Get back to the TARDIS. Now. We'll join you in a moment."

The teenager nodded and ran back to the blue box, closing the door behind her. Once inside, she sank to the ground with her head in her hands. She caught a glimpse of her left trouser leg - it was speckled with blood.

She checked herself for injuries, pulling at the blood to see if her leg had been cut. The blood was not hers, she realised. The Doctor and River - where where they? All she could remember was that they were in trouble.

Her watch ticked angrily against her chest, pulsing strongly enough for her to feel each tick as clearly as she could her own heartbeat. Fingers trembling, Eyphah drew out the watch.

The moment the metal structure came into contact with the blood on her hand, which had come from her trouser leg, she heard a whirring click from within. It sounded like a lock opening. Glancing around, Eyphah located the small button on the top of the watch that was meant to open it. The button had never worked, but the noise had encouraged her to try again. Without a second thought she depressed the button.

The watch sprung open and alien light engulfed the young girl.

Some few minutes later there was an electric cackle as River used the Vortex manipulator to get into the TARDIS. She landed right next to the console. Clinging onto her shoulder like a man possessed was the Doctor. He was deathly pale and had a gaping gash in his left side, which River had her hand clenched over in order to stem the flow of blood.

"Eyphah! Bring me a med kit will you?" River shouted. But the ginger teenager was nowhere to be seen. Tutting, River lowered the Doctor into a chair.

"Just hang in there, sweetie. I'll be right back. And don't you regenerate whilst I'm gone! That's not life threatening and you know it! It's just... Inconvenient." She dashed off to find a med kit, leaving the Doctor grinning behind.

The gash looked deep, but by Time Lord standards it was not that bad. The Doctor knew it didn't warrant regeneration by a long shot. He did need a med kit, though, as otherwise he wouldn't be able to remain conscious for much longer. His body would shut down for up to 24 hours in order to donate all available energy to healing the wound. Already he could feel his muscle responses starting to slow.

He really didn't want to leave River alone with a 15 year old human on his TARDIS - they'd probably fix the chameleon circuit or something equally dreadful whilst he was out for the count.

River returned with a med kit at last and set to binding the gash. When she was done, she sat back and admired her work. "Well, how do you feel?" She asked him softly. He winced as he pressed his fingers to his side. The bandage was made of fibrinogen - it should help to speed up his healing.

"I'll be fine. A little weak for a day or two, but otherwise fine." He smiled wholesomely at his wife as she packed up the kit. "Did you find Eyphah?"

River met his eyes slowly. Her look said no, and that she was worried. The Doctor hauled himself to his feet with River's help. Stumbling slightly he began fiddling with the console, pulling up an internal map of the TARDIS on the scanner.

He typed 'Eyphah' into a control panel and got a reading on the bottom of the scanner screen. "What do you mean 'Search Parameters Not Applicable'?" He groaned, bashing the keyboard again. This time he set the search to 'Single Heart'.

"Why not human?" River asked. He glanced at her meaningfully. She would have come up under that search as well, being only human plus Time Lord. And since she had two hearts now that she had regenerated, setting the search to a single heart was probably the more effective method after all.

Finally a result pinged up. "She's in storeroom 28b on floor 13.4D9." The Doctor sighed in relief. "Probably got lost. Lets go-"

"I'll find her." River said gently. "You stay here and rest a little. You're still weak, even by human standards. Rest. I'll be right back." The Doctor sat back down and watched his wife as she left the console room to find their guest.

Elsewhere, Eyphah sat in storeroom 28b on floor 13.4D9. The watch hung lifeless on its chain around her neck, and her hair - now beginning to slacken again - was falling across her face. But the darkness in her eye was clearly evident as she reached across the vials in front of her.

From among the plethora of bottles she selected two that looked promising. A smirk spread across the young girl's face as she pocketed both substances and walked out of the room in deathly silence, darkness glinting in her eyes.