"Kathryn, I found the light bulb, so you don't need to worry about it. Were you able to locate any glass?"

There was no answer.

"Kathryn?"

The Doctor sighed in exasperation and started to look through the store isles, searching for his friend. Of all the people he had brought with him, she had the very worst habit for wandering off.

"I might need a leash for them. It would certainly help me keep track. Kathryn!"

He paused, a strange smell reaching him, one that clung to the back of his throat. A sticky, salty smell. Inhaling deeply, he realized it was the odor of blood.

"Kathryn!" the Doctor called again, picking up the pace. He caught sight of a small office and looked in. The Doctor jerked back, the sight startling him.

Kathryn was standing in the middle of the room, transfixed as it seemed by the multiple drawings of Weeping Angels pinned to the wall. A pool of purple blood was on the floor next to her, constantly fed by the cut on her hand.

The Doctor hurriedly set his finds down, stepping next to Kathryn where her peripheral vision should have seen him. Her eyes were closed, her face nearly expressionless. Nearly.

"Kathryn," he said gently, slowly walking in front of her. "Kathryn, look at me."

Katie could hardly hear the vaguely familiar voice. The singing of the angels in the pictures filled her. The noise the person made was an unwanted distraction, someone calling for her to come out of her warm safety.

Someone stepped into her vision, the energy they gave off blocking the sparks flying from the sketches. The singing lessoned and stopped. Katie opened her eyes, about to tell the Doctor to move. Instead she gasped and let go of the glass. It shattered at her feet as she clutched her wrist, staring at the cut that was slowly healing.

"Nearly went through your hand," the Doctor mused, looking at it.

"It'll be fine. It's already healing."

"Kathryn, what happened?"

She glanced up at him, and then away. "I was looking for the glass, and I found a journal that says how the angels got here. At least the first one. Hitched a ride with a delivery truck." Katie grimaced as she tried to move her hand, the cut still not healed. "Damn that hurts."

The Doctor didn't comment on her choice of words. Something was definitely wrong with Katie, and he had to find out what it was.

"Kathryn, what were you looking at?"

She hesitated before answering. "A…mental trail. It goes through the wall. I was trying to figure out where it came from."

"By slicing your hand in half?"

"Just drop it, Doc," Katie said, her tone annoyed. "I found the glass, you found the light bulbs and wire. Problem solved. Let's just go find the next piece of junk that you need."

The Doctor grabbed her shoulders, bending down so that his eyes were on a level with her. There was a level of defiance in her eyes that he had never seen before. Her jaw was set, sending a clear message.

"Kathryn, something is very wrong, but I can't do anything until you tell me what happened." He searched her eye, as though trying to read the answer there. "What did you really see?"

Katie brushed it off like a petulant teenager. "Nothing happened, Doctor. Maybe I'm tired or something."

"You don't get tired."

"How would you know? You aren't me." She flung her arms outward, shaking off his grasp. Bending down sharply, she picked up the box of glass shards. "Come on. We still have to get the rest of whatever it is you need."

She turned and walked out, leaving the Doctor staring after her. As he did so, he noticed something.

Katie had taken off her mirrors.

Katie trailed behind the Doctor, her thoughts in a muddle. She didn't lash out at him, not like that. He had every reason to be worried about her. Cutting her hand in two, snapping, being stupid enough to take off the mirrors, not asking questions. Even in her own mind, she wasn't questioning anything. She always wondered and poked and prodded and searched and asked. It was part of her nature.

Her nature. Was that what was wrong? Was her nature changing? Was some buried programing coming into play, a hidden code written into her brain finally unlocking? Was she going to become someone new? What was the silver mist? Was it blocking her somehow, preventing her energy view from its usual third person view? What was happening to her?

Katie opened her mouth, about to tell the Doctor that she was worried, what she had seen. An image of the lead angel flashed across her mind, interrupting the words.

It was alright. Just teenage growth, that was all. Nothing to worry over.

Katie kept walking, ignoring the angel in the alleyway.

After several more stops, during which possibly twenty words were said between the Doctor and Katie, they came across a small shop with mirrors of all shapes and sizes attached to every window. A sign above the door marked it as a jewelry shop.

"Last stop," the Doctor said.

"Good. What do you need?"

"Gold, tin, and copper. Pure as you can get it."

Katie closed her eyes for a moment, looking for the purple thread. The Doctor had been following it unknowingly, even as it pulsed with same word, getting louder as they went along. She hadn't said anything about that either. For some reason, it didn't bother her.

Setting everything else down outside the door, Katie turned the handle and stepped inside. Everything was dark, as she had expected. She pulled a flashlight out of her bag, casting the beam about. The gems in the display cases winked at her.

Crack!

Katie landed heavily on the ground, her flashlight spinning away as something split over her skull and the door slammed shut. Rolling away and then scrambling to her feet, she spun and crouched to face her attacker.

Something landed heavily on her back as a hard object started hitting her ankles. Hopping about, Katie grabbed the arms locked about her neck. The energy spark from her assailant immediately traveled into her, and the grasp loosened. Bounding away from the ankle-whacker, Katie scooped up her flashlight as she leapt on top of a glass display case. It held as she crouched and flashed her light at her adversaries.

"Three kids?"

The Doctor burst through the door, the worry on his face hidden but evident. "Kathryn!"

He caught sight of the boy and two girls. The boy, who looked to be seventeen, was standing with a splintered cricket-bat held in his hands, a fearsome expression on his face. He was standing protectively in front of two girls, the older looking unhealthily pale.

"What are you still doing here? The angels should have gotten you."

The boy's jaw clenched at the words. "Are you the ones who unleashed those monsters on us?"

"Hoy! We aren't the ones beating up strangers with bats!"

The bat swung about, now pointed threateningly at Katie. "You broke in!"

"You still have the "Open" sign up," the Doctor said. The boy blinked, lowering his bat.

"I guess it is. I didn't think about it."

"Maybe you should next time," Katie said, rubbing the bump on her head that was still trying to heal. "You practically cracked my skull open with that. I probably got a fracture from it."

"You'll heal."

Katie stuck out her tongue impishly at the Doctor. "You're just jealous because I can heal faster than you can treat a wound."

"Am not."

"Are too."

The Doctor turned away from Katie, though she noticed that he was smiling. "Who are you?" he asked the children.

"I'm Aiden," the boy said, gesturing to himself. "My older sister is Katrina, and the little one is Jaya."

Color was beginning to return to Katrina's face as she stood. She appeared to be about thirteen, and Jaya was probably six.

"How are all of you still here?" the Doctor asked. "There's an army of Weeping Angels out there."

"The Angels!" Aiden cried, his eyes widening. He dropped the bat and sprinted to the door, which he closed and locked. Triple locked.

A light sprang up from the far corner as Katie turned to see Katrina setting down a lit kerosene lantern.

"How long have you been hiding here?" Katie asked as the hopped gently down from the glass case.

"A little less than a week. We didn't dare leave," Katrina answered, her voice soft. "We would have had to soon though. Our parents didn't exactly keep a lot of food here. What did you do to my arm?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrow at Kathryn. She leaned away from him.

"Not my fault I had to zap her. She was trying to choke me."

The Doctor sighed. He looked at the three new finds. They appeared a bit thin and worn out.

"Kathryn, why don't you pull out a few of your MRE's for our new friends. I'm sure we've both got a lot of questions."

*Constructive critisisim welcome, praise happily accepted, flames not wanted*