51
They did other major – and slightly cliché – acts, after they'd finished they both bowed and left the stage. Phil practically collapsed in the dressing they were given, flopping in a chair it didn't take long for The Doctor to pop up in her line of vision and check she was alright.
"It's tiring."
"Well yeah that is one reason why I don't like teleporters, that and you rip time apart. But oh well, it wasn't like we used it for a long period of time was it?"
"No no!"
"Are you sure you're alright? You've gone a very odd white colour." Doctor tilted his head to the side. "People aren't meant to be white."
"Odd white colour? What?" Exclaiming and jumping out of the chair Doctor had to grab her by the shoulders when she almost fell over. Helping her to get to a mirror the two looked into it, "I do look off." She paused, "Really off."
Doctor put a hand on her cheek and frowned, "You're not any warmer or colder than usual. How's the head?"
"It hurts."
"That's not normal."
"Oh wow I don't believe it! You're actually taking my head hurting seriously!"
"Well look where your headaches got us in the past," he said simply while tapping her on the nose when he'd helped her sit back down. Phil nodded slowly and rubbed her head, The Doctor frowned lightly and turned to the door when it was knocked on and opened.
Cillian Wood stood grinning from ear to ear, "Brilliant!"
"Excuse us?" Doctor answered for the two of them, it was evident that Phil wasn't up for talking right now. She'd leaned forward and leant her head in her hands, she was in some sort of pain but he couldn't put his finger on it. She was psychically fine, just very pale. Shaking his head slowly, Doctor turned his attention back to Cillian, who had yet again lit another horrid cigar and blew the smoke in their direction.
Lifting his hand to swat the smoke away Doctor nodded at him, "You saw us then?"
"Yes! Like heck would I miss it? It's still amazing the second time round, really though how do you do it?"
"A magician never reveals his secrets," The Doctor said while crossing his arms over his chest and giving the shorter man a smug smile and a nod. Cillian just accepted this answer, it seemed that he asked nearly everyone it and got the exact same answer each and every time.
Doctor had to congratulate him for his perseverance then, "Well, all I can say is well done to you two for your first show!"
"Thank you," Phil said quietly from the chair.
"Is she alright?"
"She's just tired, it's mentally draining to do that three times in a row." He explained while looking over his shoulder at her. She rubbed her eyes and slowly looked up at them both. Doctor looked at her a little sadly, she was slowly but surely returning to her normal skin tone, but she still looked utterly exhausted.
"Right, of course I understand. Well there's two more acts and then the shows over."
"Thank you for informing us."
"You're welcome, thank you for performing."
"You're welcome," Doctor smiled and watched Cillian leave the room. His smile dropped as he turned on his heels and looked at Phil. Crouching down in front of her he tapped her on the head lightly. She opened her eyes and looked at him, "What was it?"
"Huh?"
"Ok, what is it then? Something is bothering you." He paused, "And before you say nothing I know you'll be lying. You're not very good at lying, you're not even a convincing liar. So come on spill then beans!" Doctor stayed crouching in front of her. Phil looked at him and then up at the ceiling, she was thinking over her words wisely.
"Well-"
"Before you start actually can we go? This room just stinks of that cigars smoke," Doctor said annoyed. Helping Phil to stand the two exited the room and walked back to the stage. Standing in the wings they stood and watched the man on there. "You can continue now." Doctor said quietly to her.
Phil gave a nod and crossed her arms. "Well Egypt was fine, the sanatorium was creepy and Russia was cold." She paused, The Doctor gave a slow nod choosing not to comment until she was finished. "I saw nothing particularly weird in Egypt, every thing was weird in the sanatorium. But in Russia there was a man."
"A man?" Doctor repeated and looked down at her. "A man? Ok I'm sure there's many men in Russia what was weird about him?"
"He was wearing a black cloak."
"So he has a weird sense in fashion."
"No you have a weird sense in fashion, this guy was creepy."
"I do not!"
"You call bow ties cool! That's well weird," Phil laughed and rubbed her head slowly. She was beginning to feel back to normal. Doctor just pointed a finger at her, Phil stuck her tongue out at him.
"We're not having this conversation, tell me more about this 'creepy man'," he said while using air quotations. Phil pulled her tongue back into her mouth and tapped him on the shoulder. The Doctor looked away from the stage to her only to suddenly get head butted.
"Ow!" He whined and rubbed his forehead. But thanks to her head butting him he managed to get a fuzzy linked image of the 'creepy man'. "Ow, oh...oh!" He exclaimed and looked at Phil who nearly collapsed on the floor. "He is creepy isn't he?"
"That's what I mean! He's just there! It was very odd."
"He didn't do anything?"
"Nothing."
"How bizarre," Doctor sighed thoughtfully and looked back to the stage. "Just as bizarre as that."
"As what?"
"Well while you were telling me the story of the creepy man I was watching the show. That man made two people disappear and they've not reappeared. So where are they?"
"So that's our man?"
"I believe so, come on Phil." Once the curtain closed The Doctor and Phil ran across the stage and followed the route the man had taken. Out of all the gathered people this man did stand out, he was about the same height as The Doctor, he had black curly hair and walked with a limp. Despite the trouble his leg obviously gave him he was very fast at walking. It was almost like he was expecting someone to follow him.
Exchanging a look when he walked into a dressing room the two of them stopped outside it and leant against the wall. "So where do you think the people are?"
"Haven't the foggiest idea." He answered and then walked up to the door. Phil stayed where she was, letting out a quiet yawn she watched The Doctor knock on the door and the man open it. He glanced from him to her then back again.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes you can actually, how do you make two people disappear and not make them reappear?"
"I am not complied to tell you that."
"Well alright, that's interesting." Doctor gave a nod.
"How do you make a lovely young lady disappear and make her reappear with something from another land?"
"I can't tell you that can I? Isn't it a long tradition for magicians to steal each others tricks? You want to know how to do it, you're going to have steal it from us. And that's not an easy task, you won't be able to do the trick anyway." The Doctor said simply, the man didn't agree with his words and narrowed his eyes at him.
"Well this lovely young lady is interested, set your magician squabble aside please." Phil pushed away from the wall and stood in between the two. The man looked at her confused yet had a stern look in his eyes. It was more than obvious that he was not going to tell them anything. Being tapped on the shoulder Phil looked up at The Doctor. He was nodding his head in a odd way which confused her, rolling his hands at her too and then nodding at the man he just received odd looks from the two of them.
"Oh come on! Just bonk him on the head already Phil!"
"Oh, I can do that?"
"Yes! I give you permission this one time!" The Doctor exclaimed and ran a hand down his face, he didn't actually want to say anything and was hoping for Phil to just understand his weird sign language. The man stood utterly confused but took a retreating step back when they walked towards him. It didn't take long for the man to get himself cornered, Phil smiled and placed her hands on the man's cheeks and leant her head against his. Head butting would hurt, her head had only just recovered from earlier on.
Turning away from a thing which looked like an old tape recorder Doctor frowned and looked Phil when she rubbed her head. "His name is Solomon, I like that name. There's a machine...oh...you found it."
"The tape recorder?"
"The tape recorder," she walked up to him. They both stood looking at it and were none the wiser when Solomon had stood up and shuffled out of the room as quickly as he could. "What does it do?"
"Oh come on Phil! You more or less read his mind, well alright it's more like stealing his memories and whatnot. But you still saw what this thing was, and is, and what it is capable of doing."
"But-"
"No no, just no I'm not telling you." He wagged a finger at her, Phil crossed her arms and looked at the tape recorder like machine.
"Soul stealer."
"Well essentially yes it is. Although I think that's the first time I've heard it be called that. But you're right! It is, which just brings up the question of why?"