THE BELLS OF NOTRE DAME
Phoenix kept scrolling through the TARDIS database long after her companions had gone to bed. She didn't entirely know how it worked, so it was touch and go, but there was so much that was in the TARDIS system even when she got information she wasn't looking for, she learned something. And now that Switch had turned off the restrictions, there was even more.
"Blue box...blue box- no that's too big," She glanced down at the list from Sammy, "Gallifrey...Gallifrey, TARDIS what do we have about Gallifrey?" The screen shuffled for a moment, then froze, then read out INFORMATION CLASSIFIED. Apparently Switch hadn't gotten all of the blocks. Phoenix tapped the screen, annoyed. "No it isn't! I own this TARDIS, I command you to un-classify it!" The TARDIS beeped resolutely. "Fine! How about...umm, tell me about the Vortex." Nothing changed. "I'm sorry I said I owned you!" An enormous file appeared on the vortex, and after asking the TARDIS politely to print it, she sat in her hammock under the console and contentedly flipped through the file, reading. There was very little known for sure about the Vortex, it was all wobbly and confusing and tangled up, but there was a lot of interesting theories. At the Academy, there was a whole class for the Vortex-
The Academy?
That's funny...I don't know how I remember that. What Academy? Was I in school?
She tried to think harder, what did she learn? She could conjure no images but a faint sense of unease and vague wariness crept over her. The TARDIS beeped softly and the lights went down. She was trying to tell Phoenix to sleep. Phoenix sighed and dumped the file on the floor.
"TARDIS, I don't know where to go next. Won't you take us somewhere? Somewhere we need to go? I'd like that…" she trailed off sleepily and closed her eyes, and began to dream of whatever it is Time Lords dream of.
Upon waking, Phoenix could tell that they had traveled. Sammy and Jesse were just waking up and making their way into the control room, and Phoenix glimpsed Karmen near the door.
"Where are we going today?" Sammy asked, rubbing her eyes.
"I told the TARDIS to take us somewhere we needed to go," Phoenix said, straightening her skirt and fluffing her hair. She looked rumpled and a bit messy.
"Come here, little one," Jesse said with a chuckle, "Let me help you with that hair." Phoenix yawned and sat down next to him. He pulled her hair back from her face and asked Sammy if she had an extra hair tie.
"Oooo! Jesse, do you know braids?" the Time Lord asked.
"Well actually...yes. I do. It's been a long time, but let me think…" he divided her hair into two sections and in a few minutes had two tight braids in Phoenix's hair. Sammy produced another hair tie. Phoenix hugged Jesse around the middle and swung her plaits proudly.
"Karmen! Look, look what Jesse did! I've got braids now!"
Sammy asked amused, "When did you learn to do hair?"
"Oh...some years ago. I had a little girl, you know. A good father learns how to do braids," he smiled, but Sammy caught a trace of sadness. While Karmen and Phoenix were still admiring her braids, Sammy opened the TARDIS door.
"Oh...Phoenix! Phoenix I think we're in Paris."
"Paris? Ooo! So posh! I love Paris! Can you see the Eiffel Tower?"
"No...I don't think it's been built yet. We're in Paris, but a very long time ago." Jesse, Karmen, and Phoenix rushed to the door.
They were in the middle of Notre Dame's square. All the usual souvenir hawkers and fat, camera waving tourists were substituted for street vendors calling out wares such as meat pies and saint's relics, a few devoted worshippers kneeling on the steps, and pigeons scattered around the plaza. The bells in the high tower began to ring in the joyful peals of midday.
Jesse stepped out of the box first, a light in his eyes Phoenix had not yet seen. He clapped his hands and threw back his head and laughed.
"It's Paris! Paris, and Notre Dame, in the 1600s! And there's the bells, ringing just as if the Hunchback himself were pulling the ropes!"
"Hunchback? Like the novel?" Phoenix suddenly asked.
"Yes! Have you read it?" Jesse asked, looking at all of them.
"No," said Sammy and Karmen together.
"I didn't read it…" Phoenix said slowly, "But I think Jane Smith did...and she liked it. So I like it! I remember bits of it!" Jesse would have probably asked her who Jane Smith was but he was far too taken with the scene before him.
"Oh, it's everything Victor Hugo described it as! The stones are so much brighter though, I guess there's not so much pollution!" He smiled again and looked up, "Oh look at all those gargoyles!"
"The gargoyles were always my favorite," Phoenix said, excited, then paused, "But...that's funny. I know it's about 1600…"
Jesse was already walking toward the doors, no longer listening. Karmen followed, freezing every few seconds as someone looked at her. Sammy began to move then looked down at Phoenix.
"What's the matter?" The girl was still staring at the roof of the cathedral. "
"It's just...those gargoyles weren't actually put there until the 19th century. They're not supposed to be there."
Jesse was in high spirits all throughout the marketplace, Karmen at his side. Sammy took everything in cautious wonder. Phoenix was in deep thought, looking childishly perplexed which really just made her look cute. She would look up, then down, tug her braids and keep walking. Sammy was just thinking that her primary school French might pay off when she realized that she could understand everyone around her.
"Phoenix...aren't they speaking French?"
"What? Oh, yes. Of course, we're in France!"
"But...I don't speak French. And I can understand everything."
"Oh. That's a good point. I don't remember learning French either. That's very odd, I've never learned French in my life! Or English."
"But...I've always been able to understand you. Besides, you have an accent like you're from England. I can't place it, but it's sort of London-ish."
"I wonder how I know all these languages. I must've gone to school, but I can't remember…"
"The funny circles I drew, you could read those!"
"Oh yes but those...those weren't- huh. This is making me very muggy. I need to sit down." So she plopped herself down in the middle of the muddy street. Jesse, up ahead, had already managed to purchase two hats from an street vendor (though Sammy had no idea where he got the money.)
"You won't believe this, girls, but we came on the day of the Feast of Fools! I keep waiting to see Esmarelda herself dancing in the streets or Archdeacon Frollo sweeping around the alleyways!" He put the hats on top of Sammy and Phoenix's heads.
"You're so excited," Sammy observed, not really sure if she should phrase it as a question or statement.
"Why aren't you?" Jesse grinned.
"Dunno...feeling a bit sick…"
"What about you, Phoenix? I've never seen you so quiet."
"I'm thinking!" She said earnestly, but failed to look serious due to her ridiculous hat and child's squinty glare.
"Oho! Being a serious time lord now?"
"Being a Time Lord is very serious, thank you very much," She said, sticking her nose in the air.
"Oh come on," Karmen cried, "Can't we enjoy this? It's a festival! I can't remember so many colors! And there's so many people! Though that does make it a bit hard to move…" Karmen had been frozen near Jesse for several minutes now.
"I like parties!" Phoenix exclaimed.
"I thought you were a very serious Time Lord, Phoenix," Jesse teased.
"Serious is for grown ups! Boring grown ups! Let's go!" She straightened her hat and marched toward the gathering crowd.
The performers danced and sang, the smell of freshly baked bread almost masked the smell of manure and waste, fancy nobles rode by, people were behaving most ridiculously and Phoenix and her companions were loving every second. Except Sammy. Phoenix kept noticing her furrowed, worried brow and sad expression.
"Why are you so sad?" She asked, as Jesse went to join a group of peasants who were dancing.
"Oh- I'm not."
"Yes you are. You're sad. Do you want to travel somewhere else? Is that it?"
"No- Phoenix- this is incredible, I mean we are in Paris hundreds of years ago! I don't know why...just seems….how long have we been gone?"
"From the hospital?" Phoenix asked.
"Yes."
"Oh...I don't know. A little while? But we can get you back there any time." They were silent for a few moments, then Phoenix asked, "Sammy, why were you in that hospital?" It suddenly occurred she had never asked.
"It's uh- I dunno it's kinda hard to explain- those dreams and things I've been having. Everyone thinks I'm delusional and prone to stress, stuff like that." Sammy never talked about her "illness" for lack of a better word. She didn't want pity and saying it outloud made it far more real. But Phoenix was different, somehow.
"Oh. No, I don't think so."
"Yeah?"
"No. You can just see through time and space differently. Your mind can travel and see things on the other side of the universe. It's not an illness, it's amazing!" Phoenix smiled encouragingly.
"How do you know?"
"Um- I don't know. But I know that I'm right."
"It's not really amazing," Sammy grumbled, "It sucks. I don't know where I am or if I'm safe or…" Phoenix considered this again.
"No...I guess you're right. It seems amazing to me but it's probably scary to you." She suddenly hugged her, then caught sight of the top of the Cathedral. "We really need to get to the top of that. Come on, let's go look."
"What about Jesse and Karman?"
"They're having fun," she looked over to where Jesse was now accepting tips for his amazing performing statue, and Karman eagerly changed positions as she could. Sammy laughed a little as he winked at them.
"Alright." Getting into the Cathedral proved to be difficult. Guards were stationed outside to keep troublemakers away, so they had to have Phoenix run up breathless and point them off toward where an imaginary thief had gone. They slipped in before anyone else could stop them.
Inside of the cathedral was silent, save for a few faithful who prayed at the front of the altar. They made their way under the tall gothic arches, Sammy looking around in awe. Phoenix quickly found the tight spiral staircase which led up toward the roof.
"This is beautiful…" Sammy said glancing out the narrow windows on the city below.
"I like seeing in back at this time, in your time it's always too crowded and loud. Cathedrals are supposed to be quiet...like awestruck quiet."
"Do you suppose we'll run into anyone?"
"If we do, we can just ignore them," Phoenix shrugged.
"Why are we doing this again?"
"The statues. They're not supposed to be there."
"But- they're the gargoyles. That's what makes Notre Dame so famous, the gargoyles."
"No," Phoenix shook her head, "It's the bells. And the gargoyles weren't added until the 1800s, like I said."
It was windy on top of the cathedral, but looking across the roof with the delicate arches and nests of the pigeons and belltower yards in front of her she almost forgot she was in Paris at all. It seemed its own world made of stone. Phoenix was ahead of her, already pointing that ridiculous crayon at a statue. Sammy took a few hesitant steps toward the nearest gargoyle. It was a hunched creature, with two clawed forearms, enormous ears, a horn protruding from its head, and mouth full of fangs, leering down at the passersby. She passed to the next statue, posed similarly to the first but with a flute in its hands. Sammy turned back to the first and jumped.
It had turned, its claws in completely different positions. Backing up, Sammy kept her eyes fixed on the statues.
"Phoenix…"
"Stupid thing, isn't working!"
"Phoenix!"
"Hm?"
"That gargoyle. It moved. When I wasn't looking."
Phoenix looked where Sammy pointed and gasped a little.
"Oh...yes, yes it did. I think we're meeting some of Karman's cousins, but I don't think they're as considerate as her-" Phoenix turned around and stared at the gargoyles behind them, "Except that a few of these actually are statues. I just don't know which ones-"
"What do we do?!"
"Ummmm- don't look away, don't even blink! Just- just make your way slowly back to the door, and we can get away. Just don't blink."
Karman and Jesse, far from being concerned about the gargoyles atop the cathedral, were enjoying themselves in a small secluded courtyard where they could hear the sounds of the festival and see the river without many seeing them so Karmen was more free to move. Jesse was trying to form a question,
"Now...uh, I'm not so sure that I understand all of that talk about angels and all that, Karmen. Could you explain...I mean - not to be rude - but what are you?"
Karmen paused for a while, thinking. "All of the scanning things identify me as a Weeping Angel. And I know what those are, at least I know what they do. But I don't remember anything about them or what I was doing in the maze. I know it was a prison. So I must've done something wrong to end up there."
"So I may be traveling with a highly dangerous criminal?" Jesse said teasingly, trying to reassure her. It seemed to work because there was a trace of amusement in her voice when she said,
"Maybe. But, I can't remember! I can't remember how long I was there or anything before…."
"Nothing before?"
"It's a little like what Phoenix says where I can remember a few pictures in my mind and a few words. And I remember things without knowing how I know them."
"So...Weeping Angels. Phoenix and Sammy both seemed pretty scared of them. Because you all eat…"
"Time energy. If I wanted to feed on your time energy I would only have to touch you and it would send you back in time however many years your life has left." Jesse kept thinking about this, and decided he understood it enough to ask no more questions.
"You remember meeting any of these other angel critters?"
"No...I don't know any others. But I know they are not kind and they feed on anyone they can find. I am...afraid." Jesse couldn't help but look at her and pat her on the stone shoulder. They were silent for a time, listening to the ebb and flow of the crowd.
"Why do you love the cathedral so much?"
"The book! The Hunchback of Notre Dame! It was my daughter's favorite, like I said. I read it to her twice and she would dress up as Esmerelda and I would be her Quasimodo and carry her around on my shoulders," he sighed, "She was fascinated by the old place. I took her a few times by the train and she would sit on a pew and watch the stained glass for hours," his eyes looked misty, "And she'd sing and twirl outside and make all the pigeons flutter away. Ah, we loved that book."
"Where is your daughter now? We should bring her along!"
"No, I don't think we can. She died, a long time ago."
"Oh...what happened?"
"An accident. A car accident."
"But we have a time machine! We could go get her before she died!"
"I suppose. But something about that seems wrong." Karman was put out by this.
"Couldn't you at least ask to visit?"
"Maybe." He looked sadly at the cathedral.
"I'm sorry…"
"Wait - where'd all the gargoyles go?" Jesse stood up suddenly and pointed. Karmen looked up and noticed that indeed all but two of the gargoyles were missing.
"Didn't Sammy and Phoenix go to the cathedral?" She asked.
"Yes...they did. Something about the gargoyles."
"What about them?"
"Well, she said they didn't belong here."