River's probably wondering where I am. And if the Doctor was here, he'd be telling me to stay away, probably. But no good mother ever does what the kids say. Sends out the wrong message, doesn't it?
I saw it. Out in the courtyard. I just barely got away from it myself. The roots don't just wrap you up, they split, and you put your foot through them and they close like a bear trap. Wasn't getting me, though. I still have one of the hacksaws from the bridge earlier.
Yeah. Didn't see that one coming, did he? And yet, oh, if he was here and with his ankle in a tree root, wouldn't he be happy I'd stolen it? Somebody has to plan ahead.
Somebody has to do things she's been told not to do when she knows they're going to get her somewhere much quicker.
I'm here to see McDonagh.
I don't know what the Doctor's problem is, either. He's usually very, very good at talking people into helping us. And when one of us is in danger, I've never really known him to give them a choice before. 'No' has never really been an acceptable answer. And yet on this one, with Rory stuck in some untouchable time-world (don't laugh. Look at how he's explained it to me and tell me you would call it anything else), he backed off. Yeah, well, not me, not yet. I haven't backed off. And I'm not leaving without him.
He's still at his office. Of course he is; Tirinnanoc is outside the window murdering anything it can lay its twigs on.
I charge in and he starts up the old 'Miss Pond' stammer like he's about to tell me off, and I just shake my head.
"You can help," I tell him.
"No," he says. Sounds sure, too.
No. Not putting me off.
"Yes, you can, or the Doctor wouldn't have brought us here."
You know, I liked McDonagh when we first came here. Funny little man cracking jokes in his mad office, paying attention when Rory and I didn't have a clue what they were talking about anymore. I think I misjudged him a bit. For instance, the other world that, for whatever reason, he has researched and studied, is killing at will outside the window and a) he still won't help me and b) he's hiding from it. Not in any way you'd notice. Just that he stays in his chair and is staring into the blotter on his desk like it has the answers.
"The Doctor," he says, and way too slowly, "brought you here because he wanted to talk to the Tir, and then figured that out for himself. Now that's as far as I could have gotten you, Miss Pond."
"Mrs Williams, Professor."
I don't like the look he gives me then. The penny drops about me and Rory and he looks up all shocked and sad. Don't think about it. Think, Amy, what next? He still knows way more than he's saying, we know that, but how do we get to it? Don't think about the Doctor; he'd just know exactly what to say to trigger the floodgates, we're not going to be that good right away. Think about River. What would River do? Get him to trip over himself, that's what River would do.
Quick, though. Not long now before more people get their hacksaws out and worse, and who could blame them? But what will happen to Rory when they do?
"That was your life's work, wasn't it? Tirinnanoc, I mean. Why, though? Of all the alien worlds and the mad, crazy things going on in this one, why Tirinnanoc?"
"It was here." If that's all the answer he's giving me I'm just going to squeal in his ear until he comes with me. "The best chance to prove that all myth is born of stone, Miss… Mrs Williams. If you can prove one then the rest become possible."
"I don't understand."
"There's a legend, here in Ireland, the story of Tir Na Nog, do you know it?"
"No. I take it it's got something to do with trees killing people."
"No. It's to do with a land of eternal youth and beauty, and a wonderful young queen who stole a human warrior away to it. But a day in Tir Na Nog was a hundred years in the real world. The warrior didn't know this. Crossed back over to visit his family. And the moment his foot touched the earth of home, all that age descended on him. He died and the queen was heartbroken. That, Mrs Williams is the myth and that-" And he stabs a finger at the window, "Is the concrete of it all."
The 'concrete', then, smashes out straight through the window and wraps around his wrist. It starts growing, winding a fine tendril up around his arm. McDonagh panics, and the harder he pulls the tighter it wraps. I grab the letter opener off his desk, pull it through the twig and grab him away from the desk, out from the window.
He's coming with me now, alright.
In the hallway another window comes in. The branch flails back and forth, thumping the pictures off the walls, feeling us out.
Running down the stairs I wriggle my phone out of my pocket.
"Rory? Rory, are you alright?"
"What's happening, Amy? It doesn't sound safe."
"It's not but don't worry. Look, I've got a half an idea. I'm hoping you or the Doctor has the other half."
A/N I'm thinking of using one or other of the Ponds, maybe both, as the main voice for next week's episode. Any comments on my little practices would be greatly appreciated.