Ch 68

Terra was the first to wake before the light from the sun started filling the tent. Her siblings and parents were still fast asleep around her. Sitting up, Terra yawned and wiggled out of her sleeping bag to go outside. The air was chilly and crisp. The birds were chirping and the scene was rather peaceful even if a bit dark.

Terra shivered at the lack of surrounding heat and grabbed her jumper that she'd left out on a camping chair yesterday. As she did, she saw a rabbit a little ways from the tent and excitedly went closer. The rabbit, of course, tried to run away, wanting nothing to do with the young girl. With a huff, Terra chased right after it.

The rabbit ran deeper into the woods, trying to get away. The girl was determined, following persistently as the campsite disappeared quickly from view.

The rabbit eventually found a tight space to squeeze into to try and get away from Terra. She nearly tripped as she got down to try to see where it had gone. She was crouched over a few oddly grown tree roots. She practically growled when she couldn't see any sign of where the animal had gone. The rabbit was far out of her reach by now, not planning on coming back anytime soon.

Frustrated and a bit out of breath, Terra straightened herself up and crossed her arms. Her face and knees were smudged with dirt but that hardly mattered as much as figuring out how to get to the rabbit.

Terra spent a long few minutes thinking about a solution to this until she started to realize just how unfamiliar her surroundings were. The trees were much denser here, so the paling light from the sky did not get through as much. Terra evaluated the shadows around her, trying not to panic at the number of them. She wasn't sure which she had come from, and that unsettled her even more.

Her mother had a rule about being lost, but she couldn't remember now if it was 'stay where you are until someone finds you' or 'go and look for someone to help.' Terra hoped it wasn't the first one because the darkness of surrounding forest was looking worse the more she stared.

Back at the camp, the other children began to wake up. Arthur frowned at Terra's empty space, wondering where she went. Rather than waking up his parents, he stepped outside the tent and looked around. Terra, obviously, was nowhere to be found.

Arthur frowned at this. He didn't put it above his sister to accidentally wander off—she did it almost every time River let her guard down. He guessed that that had something to do with that fact that River was a bit more protective of Terra because of her age and her deafness, which of course only made Terra want to prove her capability more. Now, Arthur was sure this headstrong trait had gotten his little sister lost.

He sighed. The smart thing to do would be to wake up his parents, knowing it would take longer to find Terra because they couldn't just shout for her. Then Arthur remembered last night and the fear in his mother's eyes from whatever dream had haunted her—he was almost sure he and his sisters were the main subjects of that dream.

Crawling carefully back into the tent, he tapped both Amelia and Freya's feet to wake them. Maybe the three of them could solve this before their parents woke and save them all the worry.

When the girls woke up and learned about the news of their missing sister, they both were unsure of Arthur's idea. Although it would be nice if they could solve the problem without their parents' help, they were also afraid of worrying their mum and dad even more if they woke up and all the children were gone.

It took some convincing, but they ended up deciding that between the three of them, they'd be able to find Terra relatively quickly. They decided to stick together and went down the path that had the freshest and smallest shoe prints.

"Maybe we could try that psychic thing that dad can do," Arthur suggested after a while of walking.

"But we don't have the same connection thing that he does. We haven't practiced enough so I don't know if it will work." Amelia pointed out.

"We have to try. It's the fastest way to find her." Arthur insisted.

"Okay, but Freya's the best at it, so she should do it."

Freya looked unsure. "I've only done it a few times and never long distance..."

"Please try," Arthur begged.

She sighed. "Both of you take my hands then." The took her hands, Arthur holding tightly. "Now think of Terra and don't say a word. I need to concentrate."

The other two did as they were told, hoping that this would work.

Freya focused, doing her best to ignore all the sounds of the forest around her. She shaped, slowly, her mental-sphere which, as her father had tried to describe it, was a semi-imaginary embodiment of one's telepathic view of their surroundings. She couldn't actually see through this psychic field, but it helped to pretend that she could and it worked so long as she didn't think about her physical body.

This part wasn't too difficult. She could "see" Arthur's mind on her left and Amelia's mind on her right. Beyond that there were tiny minds of trees and bugs, then things got fuzzy. The hard part, Freya figured, was trying to expand this view until she ran into Terra.

Terra was now trying to retrace her steps. She remembered passing an oddly shaped tree, but then again there were a lot of those around. Occasionally, she put her hand on a tree or the ground to see if she could feel anyone coming. As she walked, she did this more often just to make sure there wasn't something following her in the shadows.

Freya frowned as she tried to stretch her view. After a few minutes, she figured out not how to expand radially in all directions like she'd hoped, but rather how to take her mental-sphere and move it around like a torch while keeping the shape of it static.

Beside Freya, Amelia was also trying to locate her sister. Her telepathic capacity was not yet as strong as her twin's, so her range of sense was smaller and slower. Arthur wasn't sure at all how to do any of what his older sisters were doing, but he could feel the presence of their telepathy and tried his best not to be weirded out by it.

Terra was moving fast now. Regardless of the sun being more up than down, she was alone and she swore the shadows kept moving. Her hearts beat hard as she hurried over overgrown roots and uneven ground. She stopped only to put her hand on a tree, flinching when she felt a low vibration. It was probably just a branch falling someone, but now Terra's adrenaline flooded mind was sure there was a monster chasing her and she sprinted.

Freya finally began to feel as though she saw something, trying to concentrate harder on what it was. Something was moving at a run about a mile away, something with a mind blind with fear. It was running so fast that it tripped, falling and scraping its hands and knees. It had to be her.

"I think I found her!" Freta pointed in the direction she had sensed what must be her sister.

"Is she okay?" Amelia opened her eyes.

"She's scared and she's running."

"In the right direction or the wrong one?" Arthur asked.

"The wrong one, we have to be fast if we want to catch up with her."

The three started running. Terra wasn't usually faster than any of them, so she must have been terrified if they thought they might not be able to outrun her. Meanwhile, the sun was rising and the Doctor and River would be waking up any minute. The older children were aware of this, the fact only motivating them to go faster.

Terra started to feel vibrations in the tree's again and she was sure it wasn't her imagination. Terra found that she was only getting more and more lost, sniffling and wishing that she hadn't chased after the rabbit in the first place.

She stopped once more, too tired to go any further. Still utterly panicked, Terra found small patch under a tree where the sunlight shone and sat down with tear-streaked cheeks. She was exhausted now, her limbs ached terribly, and there was a thought in her head that River's rule had probably been to stay still and let someone find her.

There was a different thought that was wasn't sure was her own, that someone was coming. Knowing that she was probably too tired to outrun whoever was coming, she decided that hiding was her next best option. She thought back to earlier of how the bunny she had been chasing had found a small spot out of reach to squeeze into. She began looking around so she could do the same, hoping that she'd be able to make herself small enough so that she would be overlooked.

Arthur, Freya, and Amelia came running into the area where Terra was now hiding.

"I know she's here." Freya painted. "I can feel her."

"Do you think she's hiding?" Arthur asked, looking around the area.

"Hang on..." Freya put her fingers to her temple.

Terra squirmed where she was hiding, feeling like something was trying to intrude into her head. Freya put as much energy as she could into locating her sister. Opening her eyes, she carefully went over to a spot between a bush and a tree.

Terra was trembling, curling up into the smallest ball possible.

Freya reached out to touch her shoulder, trying now to make a projection of warm thoughts. Terra cried out at the touch, not realizing it was her sister until she looked up. As soon as she saw who it was, she leaped up, hugging her tightly.

Freya pulled Terra out into the open, keeping her arms around the girl assuringly. You're safe now, I promise.

It was then that a sudden wave of telepathic energy surged over the four of them in a sudden burst that none of them had caused. The children all put their hands to their head as the wave latched on to them.

-x-

"Doctor..." River murmured sleepily, rousing from her sleep.

The Timelord next to River stirred, "Hmm?"

"..Have to get up soon." River mumbled, "The kids..." She had her head tucked beneath her husband's chin so she did not notice that the children were already up and gone.

The Doctor frowned slightly. He didn't hear any movement from the children, and with the sun up he would've expected to be woken up by their excitement by now. He cracked an eye open. "Er... River..."

"Hmm?" She hummed. The Doctor swallowed, staring at the empty space where the children should have been. "What is it?" River murmured, starting to sit up.

The Doctor gestured to the other side of the mostly empty tent.

River's hearts seized as she looked back at the empty beds. The Doctor took River's hand, obviously having a similar reaction. Both of them were jumping to the worst conclusions possible and were jumping out of bed to start searching.

River looked like she might scream or possibly start crying when there was no sign of the children outside the tent. Instead, she turned to her husband with a trembling but hard tone, "Damn it, Doctor, find them right now!"

With a swift motion, the Doctor focused and released a surge of telepathic energy that rippled out in concentric circles from where they were and over the surrounding forest with speed fast than he could run.

"I've got a location," he informed after a moment.

"Where? Where are they?" She asked, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the forest.

"About two miles that way." He pointed west. "They're all together."

She took off, going as fast as she was able to—which was a speed walk given how early is was and the extra weight of the baby.

The Doctor was right behind her. "River, they're alright. I've given them a map back to us."

"What if you're wrong? What if someone's taken them and you're wrong." She snapped.

He answered without words, putting his fingers on her temple to give her partial control over the mental anchor he still had on the children. "Ask them, then."

She stopped walking. It took her a minute to gain control of her racing thoughts before asking the children if they were alright.

Freya answered as she was the only one who knew how to talk with her mind without having to give it much thought. Yes, we're okay. Terra ran off and we thought we could find her before you woke up.

Thank goodness. I appreciate your help, but please wake us up next time. River hands were shaking, she put them on the Doctor's shoulders, her knees feeling weak. He wrapped his arms around her.

Terra, not able to control her thoughts very well, let a burst of images through, which included the rabbit, the dark shadows, the running, and her siblings finding, her along with a general guilty feeling about having run away.

"What was that?" River breathed, talking about the dark shadows that Terra had shown her. She was still quite on edge and worried that something more had happened to her children, despite their confirmation that everything was fine.

"Just a shadow." The Doctor replied. You lot had better be heading back now.

"Why was there a shadow? Was there something following her?" She kept going.

We are, we'll be back soon. Freya assured.

"I'm sure there wasn't. The world just looks awfully scarier when you're alone and the dark and nine years old." For good measure, the Doctor pulled up the image Terra had given them. River nodded slowly, pressed her forehead against his. They watched as the image of the dark forest popped up in their heads. The shadows seemed to dance and creep forwards the more they stared at them. River was starting to relax now that she could see her children were not in immediate danger. "Just fear." The Doctor whispered after they'd scrutinized Terra's perspective.

He'd withdrawn his anchor by now, not able to maintain it for that long. River nodded, squeezing her eyes shut. It would take her a while to actually calm down. They sat down on a nearby rock to wait for the kids, neither of them really had the energy to go all the way back to camp.

"I've had so many nightmares of waking up and finding the kids gone." She whispered, shaking her head.

"I know," he said in the same tone. She sighed, putting her head in her hands. He held her until the kids came into view.

Terra was holding tightly onto both of the twins hands, looking exhausted. As soon as River saw them, she got up, pulling them into her arms.

Terra hugged River tightly. "[I'm really sorry, mummy.]"

"[It's okay, my love. It's alright. Please don't do that again]"

"[I won't.]" She promised. The experience had shaken her enough that she wouldn't try anything like this for a long while.

"My head hurts." Freya murmured.

"Why don't you lay down when we get back and we'll get you some water." The Doctor suggested.

The rest of the family followed back to the campsite. River got Freya some water once they were back and asked, "What happened exactly?"

Freya took the water, gratefully "I, um, I tried to—well I did use a mind-sphere to find Terra."

River raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Really?"

"We wanted to find her before you freaked out and it was the fasted way." She explained quickly.

"Oh… Well, I'm proud of what you did." She murmured.

Freya smiled weakly. "How did dad reach us all the way from here? I was trying to do that, but it didn't really work."

"Well, he's been doing it for much longer than you have." She pointed out.

"I want to learn it."

"I'm sure if you ask, he'd be willing to help you."

"We didn't mean to scare you guys." She said after a moment. "I thought we'd be back."

"I know you didn't. I understand."

"It's just that you and dad looked pretty upset..."

"We were. After everything we've..." River stopped, starting over, "It's scary waking up and finding out that you four are gone."

Freya nodded silently, remembering vaguely when she'd woken up to find Amelia missing when they were about four years old.

"I'm glad you're safe though."

Freya nodded absently, looking over at her other siblings who were watching as their father made hot cocoa on the camping stove. River sat down, her hands still shaking.

The Doctor brought over a cup for Freya, then sat next to River and took her hand. She squeezed his hand tightly, "Let's have an easy day, yeah?" It was more of a statement than a suggestion. Between their aftershock, Terra's exhaustion, and his and Freya's headache, none of them were really up to do more than just sit by the lake.

River nodded, closing her eyes.

"How's your head?" The Doctor posed the question to his daughter.

"Still hurts, but it's starting to feel better."

He reached into his pocket and produced some Advil for her.

"Thanks." She murmured.

The Doctor took some for himself as well, looking back at his wife. "Do you want a coffee?"

She shook her head, "I'm plenty awake."

"Can we still go swimming?" Freya asked.

River nodded, "Yes, but I don't want you to go in too deep."

"I can swim fine, mum, you know that."

"I know, but I want you to be close." She murmured.