Chapter 12
"What are you doing here?"
The little girl, with her blonde hair, and bright red hood looked exactly as Rose had seen her the first time on the sea dunes and again in the shop, and the hospital, and Moran Spozanga's kitchen, but her face was contorted with fear. Suddenly, Rose felt an almost overwhelming impulse to go to her and comfort her, but the girl held out her tiny hands as if to ward them all away.
"You must go away now." She looked pleadingly at Rose. "I don't want to hurt anyone."
"No, I know you don't." Rose smiled and spoke gently. "Don't worry, we're here to help. I'm Rose, and this is the Doctor." She looked over and nodded to the Doctor. His face held an odd expression, but she didn't take the time to analyze it; turning back to the little girl again.
"What's your name then?"
The little girl gnawed a little at her lower lip before answering.
"I'm the Little Red Hood. I'm the spirit of Darlig Uve Stranden."
Rose smiled
"Do you mind if I call you Red?"
Shyly, Red shrugged.
The sound of the Doctor coming around beside her drew Rose's attention.
"It's not every day that we meet a 'spirit', is it Doctor." He was being rather oddly quiet actually, she thought, turning to look at him. He was wearing the spectacles he'd picked up at the shop in the village the day before, and he was looking at her intently.
She gave a little nod toward the child in the middle of the room, silently encouraging. He shrugged, still looking at her and not the little girl which she found a bit irritating.
"I don't know, the occasional spirit is not all that uncommon. Seems not all that long ago we had those gas creature 'spirits', and then of course, there was your Mum's dad that turned out to be a Cyberman. Bad luck for your Mum of course." Rose frowned at him as he flicked the tuning fork with his finger and held it out in front of him, still talking.
"But I will say that it is a bit odd to meet someone that you can see and I can't."
Rose was nonplussed for a moment.
"You mean that you can't see the little girl standing in the middle of the cave? Can you hear her?"
The Doctor shook his head looking almost as frustrated as she had ever seen him.
"I'm getting a faint psychic signal, but it's not clear enough for any specific communication. Of course if I had my screwdriver…" he ended with almost a growl, turning to look back at Moran, where the Norwegian woman still stood near the entrance to the cave.
"Moran, can you see her? The little girl?"
The older woman nodded, her eyes fixed on the middle of the cave, where Rose could see Red standing but apparently the Doctor could not. Red was looking frightened again.
"It's all right Red. We will sort this, I promise." Rose kept her tone soothing as she glanced at the Doctor who was looking rapidly between her and Moran and the middle of the cave.
"This doesn't make sense. The tuning fork is indicating a high energy signature, and I can feel a psychic presence, so I'm pretty sure you two aren't hallucinating." He took off the glasses and tapped them against his teeth.
"So why can you two see it, and I can't?"
"Oi, don't be rude. It's a 'her'." Rose protested, which earned her a huff and an eye roll from the Doctor.
"Maybe if I could get a reading from the middle of the room..." He started foreword, but at his approach a little girl's gasp of fear caught Rose's attention. Red seemed to be cringing back, on the point of running, her eyes were fixed on the Doctor.
"Monster, monster!" She squeaked in a high note of terror. "It's going to eat me."
"Doctor stop!" Rose shouted. "Don't go any nearer. She's frightened of you."
"Red?" Rose focused on the little girl. "What are you scared of? It's just the Doctor, he wouldn't hurt you."
Red had her skinny little arms wrapped around her waist and was shivering.
"He's dark, and there are flashes of angry lightning all around him."
Rose swallowed and looked over at the Doctor.
Born in battle. Filled with anger and revenge.
The Doctor looked back, face grim.
"What did she say?"
"I think that you might be showing a bit too much of your 'Oncoming Storm'."
He seemed to digest that.
"Well, plan 'B' then. This thing, little girl, spirit, whats-it; has some kind of psychic slash telepathic link with you two, and most of the native residents of Bad Wolf Bay. I would say that the only actual thing that you share is the fact that you are all humans, but then the problem becomes, why was Jackie not able to see her, with her being as human as they come?" He was moving now, the characteristic, manic energy leading him in a broad circuit of the cave. Somehow, despite the concentration he was putting into the problem before them, Rose noticed that he was still managing to avoid all the prehistoric art on the floor. The little girl that Rose thought of as Red was also watching the Doctor with wary eyes, turning to follow his progress.
"Maybe it's because I'm scary; and goodness knows Jackie is terrifying, but in any case, I'm going to have to get a look at it. Which means that I'm going to have to establish a neural link to bypass whatever's blocking me."
Rose caught him on the next go around, grabbing his sleeve before he could continue the circuit.
"Or, you could just, you know, take my hand." She reached down and interlaced her fingers with his, smiling at how right it felt. "Now look at her."
Through her hand she felt it when he saw Red, the slightest of involuntary twitches tightening his fingers on hers.
"Oh hello, that's brilliant. Your brilliant Rose. So this is Red is it?" He leaned forward to look at her, pulling Rose's hand with him.
"Cute as a button, you are." The Doctor grinned at Red's puzzled face, and stuck his glasses back on. "But what is a little girl like you doing in a cave, in Norway of all places?"
Red looked at Rose questioningly as if for reassurance..
"It's okay, you can answer him. He's here to help, honest."
Red looked for all the world like she was a child putting on her brave face as she answered.
"I was born here, sir."
"Sir, really? I must look scary to deserve a 'sir'." He looked back at Rose with such a comical look of seriousness that she couldn't help but laugh. "Really Rose, do I deserve to be called a 'sir'?"
"No way." Rose shook her head, still smiling.
"She thinks that you're funny." The small voice spoke slowly as she seemed to be working something out in her head. Hesitantly, the little face broke in to a smile.
"That's right," the Doctor encouraged. "No need to be frightened by the silly old Doctor." He smiled broadly back at the girl. "So you've been here a while, what do you get up to, to keep yourself entertained?"
"I'm the spirit of Darlig Uve Stranden, I rescue lost children and fishermen. I warn the people when danger is coming. I am a good spirit."
"Don't you have a Mum and Dad then?" Rose asked. What she really felt like doing right now was going to the little girl and wrapping her arms around her. The fact that she'd nearly fried the brains of three people was something Rose was aware of, but strangely it didn't diminish her desire. Still, the Doctor held her hand so she didn't move. The Little Red Hood glanced toward the back of the cave, and shrugged again before answering.
"I had a mother, but I can't remember her well anymore."
"You poor thing." Rose whispered, and began to move toward the girl, to loosen her hold on the Doctor's hand, but he held her in place, turning her to face him.
"Rose, she may look like a little girl, but she's not," He said looking intently into her eyes. "It is entirely likely that what has been causing all those brain injuries is her, so you need to stay as far away from her as possible."
"It's not my fault!" The protest from the child in the middle of the room drew both of their attention back around to her. "I wasn't trying to hurt Mylie, or Segun, or any of them, but when I touched them it went out all on its own." She stood looking miserable and frightened in the middle of the room, and finally mumbled. "I'm a good spirit."
"I'm sure you are Red, and I'm going to help you." The Doctor spoke to her solemnly, but then grinned. "With any luck, and I am a remarkably lucky man, we'll have this sorted out by tea time."
"First thing we have to do is figure out what you are and where you come from." The Doctor pulled Rose around with him toward the back of the cave.
"If my tuning fork isn't wrong, which considering I've never used a tuning fork for this before is a definite possibility. Nevertheless, there is almost certainly a very high energy reading coming from this area over here."
"You said that you had a mother, Red, do you remember where she came from, or what she looked like?"
Red's voice was small, and sad.
"My mother came from the other side of the rift. But it is closed now…" Then her voice perked up slightly. " But there is a picture that she left."
"Picture?" The doctor's turn brought Rose into a quick spin like they were in some kind of dance. "I love pictures, which one is your Mum?"
The little, blond girl in the red hood was suddenly no longer in the middle of the room. Her voice sounded from behind them where the back of the cave was.
"This is the picture that she left me."
Rose turned with the Doctor, and felt his fingers that held her hand go slack for a moment before tightening more firmly than they had yet. The large wolf etched in the cave wall was shining with golden light, so that suddenly they didn't need their torches.
