"Mrs. Smith," the Doctor said, bending from the waist. Jack and Nara were walking the streets without us. So it was only me who followed with a slight curtsey.
"We were wondering if we might have a chat with you, possibly indoors."
Jeriana who had not yet spoken, looked up at the Doctor with a furrowed brow, glanced at me quickly before replying, "I suppose. But who are you?"
"My name is the Doctor and this is Erica."
"Doctor who?"
"Just the Doctor."
She turned away muttering under her breath.
"I don't think that she likes me very much," the Doctor mumbled to me.
"No I don't think she does."
"Oh well," he said. "I guess you can't have everything in life."
As we entered a house that was just off the main street, Jeriana hung up her umbrella and removed her bonnet. "Would you like a cup of tea?"
"Yes please," the Doctor replied.
"So," she called out from the kitchen as we made our way towards her voice. "I guess that you're here to inquire as to why my slave girl was freed last week?"
"Yes," the Doctor said, pulling his psychic paper from his pocket. "As a matter of fact that is what we're here for. But, considering we're in town, and you seem to be in the know, we were wondering if you know anybody with the surname Deiyan? The family comes from Parethon."
I could see on his face that the Doctor was expecting her to lead them into a more private room and tell them all about it, but instead she just set about making tea, replying as she did, "I can't say that I have. It's an unusual name. And place. Are you sure that the they're correct?"
"Quite sure," the Doctor responded.
"Well, perhaps a bit further south of town you might find them. And how many sugars in your tea?"
"Just one thanks."
"Me too," I replied quickly before removing myself from their presence.
I stepped out of the room silently and quickly searched the bottom floor. Finding nothing helpful to our cause, I shifted my search up the stairs, entering a library of sorts that carried way too many books. My eyesight immediately zoned in on the bookshelf that looked the oldest.
'Where did your companion go?' I heard Jeriana's voice carry up the stairs.
'She just had to duck outside for a moment.'
'Oh. So I expect you wish to hear about the slave girl.'
'I'm all ears.'
'Well...'
I closed the door to the hallway which silenced all noise from the outside world, making it eerily quiet and almost scary.
The sunlight coming from the open windows shone upon the chintz chairs either side of the room, and a small shelf above the doorframe. Carefully, I reached up and pulled the nearest book down, noticing as I did that it was a diary. Jeriana's diary.
"Now we're getting somewhere," I muttered, walking across the room and sitting down in one of the chairs.
I hesitantly turned the brittle pages, quickly scanning pages for anything helpful. But problems arose in the form of a baby crying.
"Damn," I muttered, getting up and opening the door. I tiptoed across the wooden floorboards into the room across the hall where my great-great-great grandmother was crying.
"Hello Georgiana," I whispered looking down at her. I had her eyes. They were obviously a hereditary feature that carried through many generations.
"That's little Georgiana," I heard Jeriana tell the Doctor. "If you'll excuse me. The nurse must be occupied."
I shot back across the hallway and into the library, closing the door behind me. I breathed a sigh of relief as I heard Jeriana walked past into Georgiana's room. Walking back over to where the diary sat, I picked it up and reached up to put it back, accidentally pulling down the book next to it as I did. Or at least, I thought i did...
But it didn't move.
I dragged a chair over and stood on it, attempting to pull out the book, but it simply refused to move. I emptied the shelf of all the other books and noticed that when I did, there wasn't any back to the shelf. All I could see was darkness.
Then I figured out that it was probably a trap, but by then it was too late.
The top part of my body was sucked into the abyss, followed by the rest of my body. I yelled out, but as I twisted to see the way I had come, I realised it was already shut. I began to panic as I became conscious of the fact that I was trapped. That's why I was so surprised when I landed on a hard floor.
"What now?" I whimpered, getting up from the ground stiffly. I turned around to see a dull blue light surrounding me.
And I felt devoid of emotion as I stared helplessly at Jeriana's dead Tardis.