EDITED [07/01/2020]

Chapter 69

You're NOT funny!

Young Raven woke up at the crack of dawn, ate and dressed in her best robes. She brushed her teeth and was delighted at her reflection. It looked like her skin tone was starting to turn fleshy coloured, or maybe her face just lit up the way it was because she was actually smiling.

She had a friend, someone she could talk to, someone to communicate with, and that's all that mattered to her. Gallrick was just so wonderful and understanding. He was also very calm and cool. Not once did he raise a hand nor his voice against her. She finally had a friend.

The young Raven ran down to the main hall for morning meditations before their breakfast meal. Part of Azarath's customs was that you fasted for a number of hours over the night and only ate once morning meditations were done. It apparently maximised meditation and promoted a healthy body.

When Raven arrived in the meditation hall she looked and looked for Gallrick and his lovely brown hair. But he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe his customs were different. Maybe he ate first and meditated later. But oh well.

Raven adopted her meditation stance with the rest. Though she was in a good mood she made sure to steer clear of three other monks in particular. Andra, a thin faced young female monk. Cal, a serious looking male monk, and Maphalle, another male monk. All were older than Raven and all three didn't like Raven. Not one bit; and Raven didn't know why. In fact, not many fellow monks at the temple liked Raven and she couldn't understand why.

Okay, she was a deathly, pale grey. Okay, she had some strange and unusual ideas and hobbies. Okay, she liked the weird an macabre. But that didn't mean she was a bad person. It just meant she was different. It didn't mean she wasn't worthy of at least a little respect. Or at least just the simple request to be left alone. But no one followed that simple request. It was like they had to make their dislike of Raven clear to everyone, not just herself.

Like it was fashionable to not like Raven.

But Raven could cope with that. She now had a friend. She now had Gallrick.

Gallrick… whom she finally spotted. When Cal, Andra and Maphalle parted themselves and Raven's new friend was sitting with them. They were talking. She kept her eyes on him, but didn't try to attract attention to her. Maybe she should've told him how bad those three were so he'd know they were bad news.

Gallrick caught her eye and gently waved at her. So he hadn't forgotten her. Unfortunately, the thin faced Andra noticed this and looked around. She saw Raven looking. Quickly Raven looked away. She didn't want those three to start bullying Gallrick too just for knowing her. She'll just wait until meditation was over and hopefully Gallrick can get away and come back to see her.

But after meditations it looked like Gallrick went with the three, and Raven felt forgotten.

Little Raven sighed.

An idea came to Raven as her conscious mind suddenly woke up again. What little air she had in her lungs she blew out and she watched where the bubbles went. Logically, that way was up.

She hooked her arms under Russel's shoulders and began kicking as hard as she could. Her lungs were still burning, she was desperate to breathe and her lungs didn't care that there was nothing but filthy water around her.

Then she couldn't hold it any more. Her lungs gave up and began gulping down water.

That was when something happened. An explosion from underneath her suddenly caught her and forced her to the surface and her lungs gulped down thankful lungs full of fresh, smelly, country air. In her struggles to the surface, she wasn't keeping a lid on her powers, so it had escaped and focused straight down. The blast was enough to fling both her and Russel from the river and into the air. Far too far into the air. They must've been thirty feet up before they began to come down. If they hit the ground from this height then they'd certainly be killed.

Focusing and shaping dark energy Raven produced a trail of darkness ahead of them which they landed on and she used to gently slide down. Unfortunately, she couldn't direct it well and they both just ended up back in the river. Raven was relieved when she felt her feet touch the river bed. It was the shallow part of the river.

Russel was still knocked out, and the monster would surely be on their trail! Raven had to either fight or hide. Both seemed like a good idea so she did both.

There was an overhang in a bend of the river that was eroded out of a rock surface. It wasn't the best hiding place but it was the only good one they could use.

The soaking girl dragged Russel under the overhang. There was so much dried silt in here that it was high and dry compared to the river. Raven laid Russel out on the silt and rested, and waited for any sign of the monster.

It was difficult because of Russels laboured breathing. Oh shit, his lungs are full of water! Raven realised. Thinking back to her experiences in the Land of Fiction where Doctor Davision had rescued her from the water, she remembered the recovery position she was placed in after being revived.

Russel's right leg was lifted, and his right arm was moved across his body to line up with his left arm, and Raven rolled him onto his side. He coughed as water began pouring out of his mouth. Sharply, she slapped him on the back a few times. This helped get the water out, but it was also causing him intense pain. That wasn't normal.

His shirt had rolled up a little at his back, and Raven could see the unmistakable shape of pooling blood under the skin. The creature had broken something.

He needs help! She realised.

But I can't leave him, and if I call out the creature might find us.

What about the Doctor?

He might be too far away.

I'm going to have to deal with this myself.

With my powers? But they're evil.

Maybe she should wait until the creature was gone. But who knows how long that may take. Plus, if the creature found them what was she going to do? Cough on it to death? She'd have to use her powers anyway.

Okay, just this one time to heal.

Rolling up his shirt Raven hesitated before she laid her hands on him. She scolded herself for being so silly and placed her hands where the wound was. Activating her powers a little she allowed her aura to connect to his so she could find the damage and repair it.

The kinks in his energy, there were so many of them. Two broken ribs, internal bleeding, a potential infection of the lungs from the dirty river water. Child's play for someone like Raven. The boy yelped in pain a little as his bones snapped back into line, but as they knitted and the superficial damage was healed Raven went a step further and blocked additional pain signals to his brain, as well as force the body to release endorphins. The infection she stopped from latching onto his lungs and with a great push on the last of the river water in his lungs, it all erupted out of his mouth in a spurt. He was breathing normally.

While connected to Russel Raven checked his aura to test out a theory. She was surprised to find he was human. She kind of expected to feel something weird about him. There was a mysterious cavity in his stomach area, but Raven had sensed weird stuff like that before. The body grows differently for each person after all. But what was really weird was his brain. Raven couldn't quite put her finger on it, but Russel's brain felt like it was wired up differently to a normal persons. Raven had no clue what each are of the brain was called nor what it was for, but certain sections were more developed than others, and a few were less developed than normal.

He's not brain damaged his he? Raven worried. From his aura it felt like there was no damage to his brain, if there was she'd be able to sense it as clearly as lights on a Christmas tree. So his brain was supposed to be like this? The magical mage did not want to attempt to fix something if it wasn't broken, so she left his brain alone.

At least she'd found out her new friend was a human, not a robot or an alien, or an alien puppet of some kind. So sue her, life with the Doctor makes you question the ordinary.

Russel rolled onto his back, clearly shaken from the shock and Raven tilted his head back to clear his airway.

After this Raven got angry.

You stupid idiot! She wanted to fume, clenching her fists tightly. I was going to use my powers to shield us, and you had to step in front of the danger. I can handle things myself without you to protect me. But despite being angry she found herself saying aloud, "But thanks." Not many people she knew would've shielded her. In fact, she just never thought it would ever happen. She was so used to standing on her own two feet, on her own. Russel's help back there was more a hindrance. But Raven did concede that she had no idea if her powers could've stopped the creature's attack, it was 'Semi-material' after all. So perhaps Russel had just saved her life, and gotten a few broken bones for the trouble.

And perhaps something else.

Russel's shirt was rolled up a little at the back. There looked to be some faded, red marks. Russel wasn't bleeding anymore, Raven would've sensed it and fixed it. Those marks must be something else. Gently Raven began to lift up the back of the shirt to get a better look, but before she could get a good look Russel began a coughing fit.

"What happened?" He gasped. Raven placed a finger to his lips.

"That thing might still be out there." Raven whispered, looking out into the river, waiting for some kind of shimmer of its invisible outline, but she couldn't see anything.

Russel felt his head, then his arm snaked down to his wounds, that were no longer there anymore.

"I thought I'd wake up dead." He whispered.

"Not on my watch you're not." Raven said. The air was still. The only sound was the water of the river running across from them. It was rather peaceful, despite the need to hide.

"Thank you." Russel said, realising what had happened and that Raven must've saved him from the water.

"Don't mention it." Was all Raven could think to say.

Russel sat up and gently leaned up against the stone wall of the overhang. Without turning to look at him Raven said, "You should rest."

"I just want to sit up." They both looked out onto the warm summer from this relatively cool overhang. "Any sign of it?"

"No, I think it's gone. But we'll wait a little longer to be sure." Raven said, and she backed away from the summery scene and back towards Russel and sat down next to him.

"I thought you couldn't swim."

"I can't." Raven said, "So kindly don't try to drag me towards the water again."

"I think we may have to. There's no dry land to walk on to get onto the bank." Shit, he was right. "And we don't want to be caught in here if the river rises up."

"Is it likely to do that?"

"Might do. I've come down here before and found this entire section swallowed up with water. I didn't even know this little overhang existed." He turned his head to look at the wall. "But someone did."

Raven looked over and saw carved into the rock a heart with the initials A.R. + R.L in the centre. Raven's gut churned at the sight and the thought of something so mushy.

The demon girl felt like she should say something, but she was drawing a blank.

"This reminds me of the last time I went swimming." Russel said, "Ever been at the pool and suddenly decided you need to use the toilet, so you go to the deep end?"

"I'm sure plenty of people do that." Raven said disinterestedly.

"I got caught by the lifeguard. He blew his whistle so loudly I nearly fell in."

Raven's lips twitched and she rolled them to stop them making the movement they wanted to make in response to the image she now had in her head.

"Funny..." Raven said flatly.

"I actually got banned from that pool." Russel started again, from the smirk it was obviously another gag story.

Raven reached down and scooped a clump of soggy silt in her hand.

"It was stupid, I was being an idiot..."

Surprise me. Raven held up the silt and gave him a look to indicate what she intended to do with it. He noticed but continued on anyway.

"...apparently, the breaststroke wasn't what I thought it was."

And Raven threw the silt at him. He raised his arms to cover his face and it splatted over him as he laughed. Raven scooped up another handful and moved over to him as he continued to laugh. Then Raven's face did something she'd never thought possible. She began to smirk. "Your jokes are shite," she said, the smirk becoming broader, "now eat shite!" and Raven lunged at Russel, thrusting the clumb towards his face. He grabbed her arms and wrestled with her. "I said eat it! You irritating, stupid, pathetic, little human." He continued laughing, and though Raven didn't express it, she couldn't help this feeling of enjoyment. She was actually having fun while doing this. She didn't know why, she was just both angry and happy.

She pressed the dirt to his lips for a second, then he took her arm and removed it. He blew to clear his lips and continued laughing.

"Stop it! Stop laughing! You're not funny!"

"Then why are you smiling?"

"I'm not smiling!" She was.

"You are!" He teased.

"Stop it!" Raven dropped the silt and instead she was on top of him again trying to mash her fists into this irritating boys face. She wasn't doing it very hard and Russel had his arms up to defend himself. Despite what she said Raven kept smiling, she felt so wonderfully normal for a change. "I hate you! I hate you!" She said through childish giggles she never thought possible of her. "Screw you! Screw you! Screw you!"

Russel took her arms and she fell on top of him, her face level with his looking down into his eyes. With the play fighting over Raven tried to force herself and her emotions back into a neutral balance.

"You know, you look both pissed off and happy at the same time." Russel mocked.

"Screw you!" This was a weird situation she'd never found herself in. Laying on top of Russel and with their face's so close together like this. Her lips twitched. Russel opened his mouth as if to...

Is he... is he going to kiss me?!

BANG! It was like a depth charge went off in the water spoiling the moment. Secretly, now that Raven was back in her right mind she felt glad to be out of that awkward situation. She was trying to distance herself from Russel so she'd stop feeling these things. Imagine what might have happened if he had kissed her? What kind of devastation might her powers unleash?

"The hell was that?" Russel asked, spooked.

"A reminder to get moving." Raven said, grabbing Russel and helping him up.

"You know, I thought I'd broken something." Russel said, Raven remained quiet.

Russel sank into the water and held out his hand for Raven to join him. Gingerly she followed and sank down to her neck. She began to panic.

"Be calm. Like in meditation?" He said.

"Meditation?"

"Yes, ever meditated before? Be calm. The human body is surprisingly buoyant in the water. But if you panic you will sink."

"Now is not the time for a swimming lesson, Russel!" Raven said sharply.

"Take my hand." He said gently. Raven looked at it a little before she gingerly took it. Russel kicked off, dragging Raven with him gently. "Stay calm and try to keep your head above water. Kick your feet and angle your body upwards a little." He said as he led her down the river.

"Stop it!" Raven insisted. "This isn't a lesson!"

"You know, I'd make a river joke, but I don't think it's current." That was it! Raven lashed out and tried to strike him. She dragged at the water trying to pull herself level with him to bonk him on the head.

"Come here, you!" she shouted, "You're not funny!"

She lashed out with her other hand, trying to get him and it was only after he retreated up onto shore did Raven realise something. He wasn't holding her hand anymore, and she was swimming. She was actually floating. Only now that she started to take notice did she begin to sink, so she focused again, and what she focused on was getting to Russel so she could smack him over the head. He just stood there with a pleased look on his face and an irritating grin of satisfaction that Raven was going to wipe off.

Once she was ashore she ran at him in an attempt to strike, but he spun on his heel and began running away from her. He wasn't running very fast, just fast enough to stay out of Raven's hands. Raven kept chasing him, she wasn't going to stop until her fist connected with his head. She reached down, picked up a stone and threw it vaguely in his direction. It didn't even land close to him.

"Come back here!" She shouted, "You are so dead when I get my hands on you!"

"I'll keep my distance, thanks, until you calm down." He laughed.

As she ran it was as if her anger just slowly ebbed away, and she began to laugh a little with him. Until he looked back at her, then her face dropped back down again into a pissed expression.

She still wanted to smack him on the head, but she no longer wanted to murder him.

Soaking wet and feeling cold the pair made their way back to Devils End. Raven was looking forward to that iron-like device she'd found in the Doctors suitcase so she could fix and dry her clothes. Russel did offer his soggy hoodie as an extra layer. Raven thought it was both sweet of him, but at the same time, she doubted it would keep her any warmer, and would only make him colder. So kind and selfless, but ignorant.

Across a field Raven spotted the Doctors purple beetle driving down the road, the noise its engine made was unmistakable. She called out to it, but it was too far and just drove on. Presumably, he'll have returned to the pub, and so that's where Raven needed to go to catch the Doctor up.

As they'd walked they'd asked the usual questions like "What was that thing? Do you think it's gone? Where did it come from? Should we warn everyone? Should we call the police, or something?" All Raven dismissed because who'd believe that an invisible monster lies in wait in the woods?

After exhausting that conversation it instead moved to a rather sad note for Russel.

"I'm sorry about your sketch pad." Raven had said to him. Once they'd stopped playing chase Russel realised his sketch pad had vanished. He must've lost it in the river, or else dropped it as he ran through the undergrowth.

"It's alright." He'd sighed, he clearly missed it. "I can always get another one."

Raven wanted to go back to look for it, but she didn't want to put his life in danger again just for a stupid book.

When they finally made it back to town they were still soaking wet, and when Raven tried to go back up to the room in the pub the Landlord refused to let her come in while soaking wet. Which was ridiculous! How was she supposed to get dry and get changed?! But the Landlord refused to budge. Worse, the Doctor's car was gone, meaning he was still out. So she couldn't shout up for him to throw down the iron-device to fix herself.

Raven so wanted to use her powers on the Landlord, but she was too cold to be angry. That was until Russel offered to take her to his place to warm through. Raven wanted to say no. But she had limited options.

"Don't worry. The Landlord is just an arsehole." Russel said. "He's like that with everyone. He's banned me from even having a drink in there."

"Why?" Raven asked of him, surely he was old enough to drink? But he paused for too long to answer.

"Doesn't matter." He said with a look like he was forcing something down. Did he look shameful, or was it just sadness?

With nothing better to do Raven followed him to his house with the hope of a warm fire or something. She hadn't forgotten about the creature or the Doctor, but she didn't know where either of them were. Her instincts were to wait in the room until he showed up and confront him about investigating dangerous forces behind her back. Obviously, those plans were out the window.

Hugging herself, Russel approached his house, tried the door, it was locked. So he took out a key and unlocked the door.

"Just one thing. Take off your shoes. My mum will kill me if we tread water on her carpet." He'd said as he reached down and pulled off his own shoes and socks. When Raven had also removed her footwear he pushed open the door and let her inside.

"Mum?" He called out, but no one answered back. He called a few more times but the house was empty. "Wait here a second." He said, carrying his shoes across the living room carpet, hoisting his trousers up to stop him trailing water. Raven didn't mind waiting. She just wiggled her toes in the thick carpet which was slowly warming her feet. "Alright, come through."

Raven did as instructed and saw a stool he'd laid down in front of the fireplace. The stool had a cushion on top with a tea towel over that to stop it getting wet or dirty. He patted it to indicate she should sit down. The boy then turned back to the coal fire and lit it. The fire was small, but over time it began to grow as did the heat it put out.

Cautiously, Raven approached the stool and sat down, holding her fingers out to the fire to feel the slowly growing warmth. She nearly jumped as Russel placed over her shoulders a thick jacket, it was too big for her, but it helped her keep warm. "I'll put your shoes by the radiator." Russel said and she allowed him to take her boots from her hands and he disappeared into a kitchen. Through the door, she saw a slowly boiling electric kettle.

A few moments later he came back with a hot water bottle and a cup of tea. A cup of herbal tea?

"What's this?" she asked.

"Peppermint tea, my mum makes it." Russel said, "You did say you liked herbal teas."

Indeed she had, she'd almost forgotten she'd mentioned it. Russel had remembered though.

"Thank you." Raven said, rather meekly and held the cup in her hand as the fire built.

"I'm just nipping upstairs to change my clothes." Russel said. He picked up a TV remote control and turned the TV on before giving the remote to Raven. "I'd let you use the shower, but the water won't be warm." Raven had no intention of showering in a strangers house, though she did want to wash her hair badly.

Russel disappeared upstairs, and while he was gone Raven experimentally flipped through a few channels on the TV before just turning the thing off. She had no interest in TV, books were more her thing, and indeed there was a bookcase in this room.

When she felt sufficiently warm she stood up and approached the bookcase. His mother or his father was clearly into crime thrillers, there were also books on herbal medicines and remedies. Raven realised that whatever she found down here it reflected his parent's personality, not his own. She wondered, briefly, what his own room was like. She was tempted to look, but that would be rude, and she didn't want to walk in on Russel while he was half-naked.

That image rang for longer in her mind than she liked.

Raven picked out a book about herbal remedies and looked through the index. Instantly, she raised an eyebrow, groaned and put the book back. Any book which suggests drinking Urine to cure a hangover or prevent cancer clearly had questionable ideas.

Raven flipped through other books, but they all peddle similar such nonsense. She, of course, had studied some herbal remedies which actually worked. But Raven knew that the herbal remedies which actually worked became modern medicine. Everything else was a misunderstanding or lacked a crucial ingredient to make it work. In most cases, it was psychic healing abilities, without that most of these herbal remedies were just bowls of fancy potpourri.

Perhaps this is why Russel was a sceptic of supernatural stuff, perhaps his mother believed in all this, but when she tried to teach him he too spotted the problems and thought it was all nonsense.

Looking through the book case once more she also found books about child psychology, all with the logo of a colourful jigsaw pattern on them. She kept looking through them until she came across a book she recognised, and it was oddly out of place on this shelf. Pinocchio, not the same version Raven had, but it was weird to see it here. Raven took the book off the case and opened it up and checked to see what differences there were. It was more a classical take on the story than the version she'd read.

With further digging she came across a bunch of books. Books which featured a certain doomed, four funnelled passenger steamer on the cover, an image that did nothing but to bring back the screaming in her head. The books were titled, 'Secrets of the Abyss, Wreck of a Titan, the Unsinkable Titanic, Lost Voices from the Titanic.' Raven didn't linger on them, but there were more books on the Titanic than she'd liked to see.

After a while, instead of feeling cold and damp she now felt warm and damp. Her shoes were still soggy, so it'd take a while before the Landlord of the pub would let her upstairs.

Russel eventually came down in changed attire. He now wore jeans and a blue shirt and socks. His wet hair had been combed and already it was starting to regain some of its unkempt nature.

"Feeling any better?" He asked.

"After the day I've just had, I've felt better, thanks." Raven said, rather flatly. Putting the book down.

"Hey, where did you find that. I've been looking for it." Russel said picking the book up about Pinocchio, Raven hadn't put it back yet.

"I found it on the shelf." Raven said her eyes looked surprised. "You've read it?"

"It's one of my favourite books." Russel said, "I used to read this over and over when I was a child."

We have the same favourite book!

SHUT UP!

Russel set the book back down again for Raven to continue reading it.

"Why is it one of your favourites?" Raven asked, curious if he liked it for similar reasons.

Russel didn't answer at first, his manner, though calm, betrayed some kind of hidden tension. "I just liked it for the picture on the cover." He said through another smile.

Raven looked at the book. It had no picture on the cover. Her eyes rolled back to him showing a none-amused look.

"Cute." She said, her head cocking a little to one side. "Very cute."

"Do you want anything cooking?" Russel asked her, suddenly changing the subject.

Cooking? That caught her attention. "I didn't know you cooked."

"You never asked." He shrugged. Raven didn't know what she wanted, she didn't even know what he could make.

"Yeah, sure." Raven said, and when he asked what she wanted she said, "Surprise me."

He wasn't gone long. After the long hum of a microwave, he came back with a big bowl full of fries. He'd been so quick he'd clearly just warmed up some oven fries.

"Hey, you told me to surprise you." He smiled a lopsided smile. Raven was just thankful for anything warm, and she was more surprised that he'd remembered another small detail of something she'd told him. That she preferred fries to chips.

"Are you still cold?" He'd asked.

"A little." Raven realised she'd said a little weakly, so she straightened her back so she did not look weak, because she wasn't, she was just cold.

Raven looked at Russel as he sat facing the fire with her. He was cross-legged on the floor eating some fries he had in his hands. For some reason, Raven wanted him to put his arms around her. Well, actually she did and she didn't. It felt like such a normal thing to expect from a boy if he fancies the girl.

That was 'if' he fancied her at all. Did he not feel the same way? That was possible, she might just be thinking silly thoughts, and he might just be doing all this to be nice.

"Is your mom a herbalist?" Raven asked to make conversation, nodding at all the books.

"She's into herbal medicines." Russel shrugged, "I don't believe in them, personally. But it makes my mum happy to make these little remedies of hers. As I said, I stopped trying to understand how they work, because they clearly don't, but mum won't listen." Russel laughed. "I'm amazed sometimes how people will believe a story about... say... a woman who had a headache, so she rubbed a black cat over her head, and the headache was gone the next day." Raven felt like she was being mocked. "But, it causes no harm, so far anyway. People who take herbal remedies still have the good sense to go see a proper doctor and take their advice and medicine."

Raven had to remind herself that he didn't know about her psychic abilities, nor that they existed. That she could make half of those herbal remedies work with her own powers added to the mix. Though she'd agree, the Urine one was taking it too far.

"You know, one of the recipes involves drinking your own urine to cure a hangover and skin conditions." Russel said, he had her attention. "A Pee Remedy! I couldn't believe it when my Mum came up to me and told me to pee in a bottle for her." Quickly, he finished the story, and Raven sensed a punchline coming. "I said to her 'are you taking the piss?' and she said, 'yes I am'."

That was a bad one. Raven just rolled her eyes and softly scowled. He looked at her face and smiled. Did he enjoy annoying her like this? Raven gritted her teeth a little and forced herself to calm down. He'd shown her so much kindness, more than she expected, she can take a little irritation.

"Did you drink it?" Raven asked about the Pee Remedy.

"Nah, when she wasn't looking I tipped it down the toilet." He turned to look at her with a lopsided smile. "Cut out the middle-man."

That one she couldn't help but smile a little at and she had to turn away from him to hide it. Come to think of it, she still hadn't bonked him on the head yet for that river joke, but the time didn't feel right to do it.

"What's with all the books on the Titanic?" Raven asked, she felt in a little more of a relaxed mood to ask the question. Russel looked at the books, then turned back with a sheepish look to his face.

"They're mine. I'm kind of fascinated by it." He said. Raven looked at him like he was insane. Fifteen hundred people died on that ship, and he was fascinated by the event? Okay, in a gloomy kind of way, she was fascinated by it, but only because she'd lived it.

"Why?" Raven asked.

"How can't you be captivated by it?" He asked, "It reads like a Greek legend, only it actually happened. It's like a cautionary tale of mans' hubris. The Titanic was the safest vessel afloat, made of all the modern materials, and engineering, and yet on the night it sank everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. In fact, the disaster had the potential to be a lot worse."

"But it killed people." Raven said, not accusatory, just factually.

"Disasters usually do." Russel said, "Sometimes we need to have big disasters like that, or else something worse might've happened for us to learn the same lessons. Suppose Titanic didn't sink, and ships were made bigger, and bigger, with no change in lifeboat regulations, nor the regulations regarding sailing among icebergs. Eventually, another disaster could've taken its place and even more people could've died." Raven had considered that, hindsight was always twenty/twenty as they say, but it still didn't make the screams in her head any less prevalent. "I have a special connection with the disaster anyway."

"How so?" Raven asked.

"My Great Grandfather survived the sinking by the skin of his teeth." Russel said, "according to mum he'd accepted he was going to die and so went down to his cabin to drink the rest of his life away. He nearly went down with the ship when a pipe fell on him, but someone rescued him shortly before the ship took her final plunge. He got on deck and managed to swim away from the ship before it went down. If he hadn't survived then I certainly wouldn't be here. It was before he fathered my grandmother you see. He only met his future wife, my great grandmother on the Carpathia, the rescue ship." Raven's insides froze at what Russel was telling her. That drunk man she rescued from the Titanic, was it the same guy? It sounded like him. He actually survived the sinking and Raven was looking at the results of that action right now! She didn't know how she felt about this. "He died shortly before the wreck was discovered. Which is a shame. Because he apparently went to his grave saying Titanic had broken in two. Did you know they didn't know Titanic broke in half until after they found the wreck?" Yes, Raven did, and she'd caused it. "My Great Granddad fought people over it for years, he hated the Night to Remember book and movie for omitting that detail. He said he'd probably never have survived in the freezing water if the ship didn't break up." Ravens ears perked up even more now. What did he mean by that? "The wave the stern caused when it crashed down pushed him towards some floating debris he wasn't even aware was there. He climbed on top and because of his intoxicated state he was able to survive in the freezing cold long enough for a boat to come back and pick him up after the Titanic went down. That's why he was so certain the ship had broken up. He thought he wouldn't have survived otherwise. Of course, he also thanked the whisky and showed his gratitude by drinking as much of it as possible in his life." Russel joked. "The baker apparently survived a similar way..."

Ravens mind tuned out as Russel began to talk at length about what was apparently one of his favourite subjects. Part of Raven wished he'd shut up, he sounded like a dork, but her brain was too numb to register that thought as the repercussions of everything slammed into her.

She'd thought she'd done something bad when she broke the Titanic. Okay, it was an accident, but it was strange now knowing that one small accident saved one person. Okay, many people had died when the stern fell on top of them, but they were going to die anyway. One man survived when he wouldn't have, all thanks to her outburst. A man who went on to start a genetic line which resulted in the boy who sat before her. Was Russel even supposed to exist? Raven didn't know. Would the Doctor force her to go back and change it back? Would she even do it if he asked? She thought of this for a second before the answer came. Hell no!

But it was like a strange version of that morality puzzle. The one with the out of control train where you had to decide if one person stuck on the track died, or six people stuck on an opposite track died by switching the track over at a crossing point just before them. It wasn't exactly like this, obviously. It was more like if there was another out of control train coming on the opposite line that had six people tied to it. The six couldn't be saved, but if she switched the track she'd kill the six sooner, but save the one person.

God, this was so messed up, and Raven didn't want to think about it now. So she just sat and listened to Russel talk about his fascination with a doomed ship from the 1910's. Though he sounded a little like a geek who knew the subject inside and out, strangely it also felt kind of enduring that, though he didn't skimp on the tragedy of the terrible disaster and the loss of life that had resulted; Russel could see the beauty, the poetry... he could see the 'art' in the tragedy that Raven could not.

She only wished she could too.

Once sufficiently dry, Raven had to pry herself away from Russel... THE WARM FIRE! She meant, the warm fire! And return to her lodgings. Her clothes were still damp and her boots were ruined, but she was going back to her lodgings now whether the Landlord let her or not.

The Doctors ridiculous VW beetle car was still missing. What the hell could the Doctor be doing?

She climbed the stairs, entered the room and instantly she knew the Doctor had been back. His stupid brass device he'd had strapped to his front had been discarded on his bed and he'd gone through his case again discarding all kinds of devices all over the desk looking for what he'd wanted. He'd clearly left in a hurry again.

She reached into the case and removed the iron-device from before. She stabbed the button and with a blast of warm air she felt her clothes dry off and revert to the condition they were in this morning. Though she'd still need to wash her hair. She was fine with that. She'd just wished this place had a bath, not a shower.

She then sat down on the bed and faced the door. I'm going to wait for him, and then I'm going to kill him!

What was the Doctor doing that was so secret? She was in total control of her powers. Didn't he trust her? Raven just felt so annoyed at this. She wasn't just going to play the good little girl, when he came through that door he would feel the wrath of a livid teen girl.

She waited for hours and hours in her mood. But the Doctor didn't come, it was the evening, her stomach was growling, and eventually Raven just found her brain failing to remain angry. She relaxed her posture, that up until that moment had been quite stiff and let her eyes and mind wander from the source of her annoyance.

Looking up down and all around Raven was bored again. She'd wished she'd asked Russel if she could borrow some of his books. She'd gladly read another book on the Titanic. It wasn't really sore point to her anymore.

I could go back to Russel. She considered.

Later!

Raven's head tilted to one side. What was that? There was something on the brown carpet. A trail of something. It came from the door to the Doctors case. Raven stood, went to the little specks she could see and dipped her finger in them. They felt like cold, damp pellets.

She snatched her hand back in case they were rat droppings or something. But she reasoned that, unless there were an army of diarrhoea rats marching around it probably wasn't animal waste. She dipped her fingers in it again and picked out a pellet. She'd wash her hands later, she wasn't that squeamish. As she rolled it in her fingers she realised it felt like soil, common soil, icky but nothing to be concerned about. The Doctor probably got himself dirty, rushed back here to get something and ran back out again.

Reaching out for his brain signature, she couldn't pinpoint it, but she felt the waves of his brain lapping against her own. He wasn't in any danger it seemed, but she could feel him stoically trying to keep down a great well of sadness. It felt like he'd lost someone. Like he was at someone's funeral. There was also a drive to do whatever it was he was doing.

Whatever was going on the Doctor could clearly handle it.

Did it have something to do with the Invisible Monster? What was she supposed to do now? Start her own investigations? Why not? She didn't need the Doctor, two could play at this game.

You already have your own companion. She reminded herself.

No, it's too dangerous for him to come along. He'd be too much of a distraction for me. Especially with his stupid jokes!

The Doctor has companions.

The Doctor is sentimental. Raven's tongue rubbed against the back of her teeth. But it would be nice to have company.

She began to think what the monster could be. Some kind of physical manifestation obviously. Possibly a projection of some kind from another's mind. Raven had read about them before. She essentially does it herself when she does stuff like temporarily causing air molecules in the air to freeze into solid objects. But this was more like personification, a personification of a demon inside someone, an anthropomorphic manifestation of sheer will. Raven had tried to manifest something like that, but it was very difficult to do consciously. Meaning someone in the village must be a psychic.

But who?

It would have to be someone close by, she realised. Such a manifestation could only be summoned at close range. Like a radio controlled car it will only 'live' when it's near its control signal. When it eventually goes out of range it would dissipate.

That left six people on her suspect list, as far as she was aware. Herself, the Doctor, Russel, Antonia, and her two friends. Raven was sure it wasn't herself, and the Doctor couldn't do anything remotely like that. That left Russel, Antonia, Sarah and Lisa.

Narrowing it down further though was difficult. Because though the creature attacked the girls it also went for Russel too.

Either there was someone else she hadn't considered, or else someone was playing very clever game. What better way to throw suspicion off of herself than for the creature to try to strangle her? Obviously, this meant Sarah. But Raven had to remind herself she didn't have enough information.

Didn't Antonia and her friends say they were meeting at the book club tonight? Raven checked a wall mounted clock. The book club started at four pm they said, and it was quarter to four. Only quarter to four? It felt to Raven like the evening had been dragging so much.

Raven sighed, she still had time. But first she was going to shower and wash her hair. Not because she was trying to impress them, she just didn't want to look like she'd just crawled out from a river.

To Be Continued...

Authors notes: Keep in mind, I'm updating the story, so from this point on the story might not make sense as I'm editing it. So please bare with me. The next time the story is updated (sometime after 29/05/2020.) I'll have finished all the edits.