Clara had stopped looking over her shoulder. They had left the TARDIS behind them and she had to focus on finding Maebh. It had been so long since she'd looked back. It wasn't until the urge was overwhelming that she threw a glance over her shoulder. She stopped.
"Doctor? Look behind us. The path we just walked down. It's overgrown already."
But the Doctor didn't look behind them. He had been a few steps in front of Clara and had launched himself at something on the ground. When he stood and turned, he was holding a pink phone.
"Is this Maebh's phone?"
It only took Clara a few long steps to reach him and grab the phone "Why would she put her phone down?"
The Doctor looked around them "Doesn't want to be followed? Lost a hold of it in a struggle? Left it as a clue, so we would know where she was going? Trail of breadcrumbs. Hansel and Gretel."
Clara clutched the Doctor's arm "I'm actually frightened. I never get frightened. Why am I frightened?"
The Doctor put his hand over Clara's "You lost a little girl."
"Yes, that is a worry, but I know you'll find her. No, no, no. This is not a worry, this is a dread."
"You're pursuing a little lost girl through a mysterious forest. The path has disappeared. You find yourself with a strangely compelling masculine figure." The Doctor took her hand from his arm and lead her slowly onwards.
"Any minute now we're going to find a gingerbread cottage with a cannibal witch inside." She tightened her grip on his hand.
"Exactly. The forest. It's in all the stories that kept you awake at night. The forest is mankind's nightmare." He squeezed her hand.
Clara's sense of dread was elevated when they found a bright red pencil case on the ground "It's Maebh's." They kept going, their steps quicker.
Soon they spotted a pink lunch box, standing out against the green of the undergrowth. "Clever girl." Clara muttered "She's leaving a trail."
It wasn't long before they stumbled across a large group of people in Hazmat suits, each armed with flamethrowers.
"Get back! We're burning here. Stay back." One of them shouted.
"We're looking for a little girl." Clare said desperately.
"Haven't seen anyone except you two." he responded "Stay back. We're about to burn."
Clara and the Doctor watched as the flamethrower was put to use and several trees with lit with flames. But the flames burnt out, leaving the tress unchanged.
The Doctor pulled Clara away, finding a route around the burning. "Trees control the oxygen on this planet. They withhold it, they smother the fire. What sort of forest is clever? What sort of forest has its own in-built fire extinguisher?"
"What do they want?" Clara asked desperately.
"Why now?" The Doctor said.
"What do you mean, why now?"
"The whole natural order is turning against this planet. But why? Why now?"
Clara shrugged "Well, what else?"
The Doctor pulled an exercise book from the inside pocket of his jacket and handed it to her "Look at the corner of the pages. How did she know this?"
"She always doodles in her books."
"This is a massive solar flare headed for Earth, like the one that destroyed the Bank of Karabraxos. I've got an entire TARDIS and I didn't notice this. But she knew. How?"
Clara closed the book, looking at the name on the front "This is Maebh's. Where did you get this?"
"You left a pile of books in the TARDIS."
Clara felt like a hand was compressing her chest "Danny handed me this book."
The Doctor sighed angrily "I've just informed you that a solar flare is going to wipe out your planet. You're worried about a row with your boyfriend. How did she know this? She even put the date on it!"
"I always make them date their homework."
"It's dated today." The Doctor said.
"Well, there must be a way?"
"They want something. They're saying something. If there is a way, the way is Maebh Arden."
They renewed their speed as they pushed their way through the thickening foliage.
"Okay, you know they're not really gifted and talented, don't you? I just tell them that to make them feel good." Clara said.
The Doctor shrugged "She's lost someone. People who've lost someone, they're always listening, always looking, always hoping. So, they notice more. They hear more."
They stopped when they heard a howl, long an low.
"Was that a howl?" Clara whispered.
A second howl rang out in response to the first.
"Was that a wolf? No. That is impossible. We're in London."
"Would that be the London with the zoo? The zoo with the pack of wolves? The zoo whose barriers and gates have probably been mangled by the trees? No, wolves are not impossible. Stick to the path, Red Riding Hood." The Doctor said.
"There is no path."
"Well, then we're lunch."
A nearby scream made them momentarily forget the looming presence of wolves. They broke into as much of a run they could manage.
Ahead of them, on the other side of an iron fence, they saw Maebh. Behind her, they saw three large wolves stalking towards her.
"Doctor, help me get over there." Clara said quickly. But the Doctor didn't help her. He ran to a gate, went through it and pulled Maebh back with him. "Maebh. You came looking for me. You didn't just stumble into the TARDIS. Tell me what you know." The Doctor asked her quickly. Maebh didn't reply. She waved her hands around her face as though trying to swat away a million invisible flies.
"Doctor can we please deal with the wolves first?" Clara asked.
He tutted "They're zoo wolves. They're not used to hunting."
"Sure about that?"
The Doctor looked around at the wolves, still tutting to himself. He then saw that all three were approaching the fence with their teeth bared "All right, okay. We've just got to look as if we're too much bother to eat, right? So, stay still. Stay together. Look big. Look big like a big three-headed, six-legged scary thing!" The wolves spotted the gate the Doctor had left open and headed for it.
"We should run." Clara said quietly.
"Do you think you could outrun a wolf?" the Doctor said.
The wolves had reached the other side of the fence and edged towards them. But suddenly they stopped. They whined and whimpered, turned and ran.
"Ha ha! Told you they were rubbish. Those wolves are terrified." The Doctor said.
"What did you do with that thing?"
The Doctor and Clara looked around. Stood, not far from them, was Aderyn, her sonic screwdriver in her hand, pointed towards where the wolves had stood. Danny and the children were stood behind her, Ruby looked at her with awe. She twirled the screwdriver in her hand and tucked it back into her pocket.
"A frequency only it can hear." she said smugly.
"Like a dog whistle?" Bradley asked.
"Like a dog whistle. But something that would cause them to be uncomfortable enough to not want to stick around."
"Thank you." Clara said with a relieved sigh.
Aderyn whiped an imaginary hat from her head and bent at the waist just enough to imitate a shallow bow.
"Show off." The Doctor said with a smile.
Aderyn didn't respond to him. She was frowning, watching Maebh as she waved her hands. "Maybe we should focus on that." She said.
The Doctor instantly crouched next to Maebh.
"Has she had her medication yet?" Danny asked.
"No, no. Not her medication. We don't want to shut her up. We want to know what she knows." The Doctor said quickly. "What's going on? Maebh. Maebh, this forest is communicating. With you. Nobody else. No technology can hear what it's saying, but you can. Tell us what it wants. Where it came from. Just tell me who did this."
"It was me. I did this. I did these trees."
Aderyn edged closer and knelt next to her "No, Maebh. You didn't make a global forest appear overnight. How could you do that?"
"The thoughts come to me. Ever since Annabel went missing, I look for her everywhere. I don't find her, but I find thoughts. The big forest was one. I thought everyone would love it. The thoughts! The thoughts! They go so fast."
Aderyn looked at the Doctor "Anything you can do?"
"Everything's subject to gravity. If I can create a little local increase." the Doctor took he sonic screwdriver from his pocket and twirled through the settings, finally settling on the right one.
Maebh stopped waving her hands around her head. She stared in awe at the hundreds of soft white lights that hung around her. "They're lovely. They don't like it when you're holding them. They want you to let them go."
"We will." Aderyn assured her "we just need to know what's going on and what we can do to help."
"Who are they?" The Doctor asked.
"We are Here. Here, always, since the beginning and until the end." Maebh's voice changed. Her own voice was still audible but there was a deeper voice talking with her.
"Here?" Clara asked.
"We are the green shoots that grow between the cracks, the grass that grows over the mass graves. After your wars are over, we will still be Here. We are the life that prevails." Maebh said.
"Why now? Why are you here now?" The Doctor asked firmly.
"We hear the call and we come, as we came before to the great North Forest, where we lie still in a great circle. As we came to the vast Southern Forest." Maebh's own voice was so quiet. The voice of Here taking over.
"Who is calling you now?"
"The sun that creates. The sun that destroys. You are hurting us. Let us go."
"The girl came looking for me. Why? Why me?" The Doctor asked quickly.
"We did not send for you. We don't know you. We were here before you and will be here after you."
"Doctor, let them go." Aderyn said.
The Doctor dropped the sonic screwdriver into his lap and the lights vanished. Aderyn reached out to Maebh, grabbing her as she fell to her knees.
"Maebh, you came looking for the Doctor. Think. Who sent you for the Doctor?" The Doctor asked quietly.
"It was just a thought. It was just a thought that came. I think it came from Miss." Maebh said.
"Clara, you've been rumbled." Aderyn said with a smile. She then looked closely at Maebh's face. She stood and leant towards the Doctor and Clara "We should get back to the TARDIS. She doesn't look good."
"They've gone. Why does everything have to go?" Maebh said sadly.
Aderyn sighed. She lifted the girl up, swinging her onto hip hip and holding her tightly "Maebh, my dear, you have learnt one of the most valuble life lessons. Everything ends."
"Excellent bedside manner you've got there." The Doctor said quietly.
Aderyn shrugged " Stars implode. Planets grow cold. Catastrophe is the metabolism of the universe. You can fight monsters. You can't fight physics. But once again I missed something." She said. They all started walking in, what they hoped, was the direction of the TARDIS. The way they had all travelled had become so overgrown they didn't recognise it. Maebh put her arms around Aderyn's neck and rested her head on her shoulder.
"Why would trees want to kill us? We love trees." Clara said.
"You've been chopping them down for furniture for centuries. If that's love, no wonder they're calling down fire from the heavens." The Doctor said darkly. He looked at Aderyn as they walked "What did you miss?"
"I don't know yet. I'm not sure if I missed something or if I'm just waiting for something to fall into place." Aderyn said.
"But we saw the future. Lots of futures. Earth's futures." Clara said desperately.
"And they're about to be earased." The Doctor said.
"What the Doctor isn't telling you," Aderyn said carefully "is that time is in flux. Some points are fixed. Some are not. Somethings can be changed, some can't. The Earth's future can be different at the time you wake up from what it was when you went to bed."
"If you can't save them all, save who you can. The TARDIS. It's a lifeboat, isn't it? Not everybody has to die." Before either the Doctor or Aderyn could respond, Clara turned and walked back to where Danny was walking with the children.
