Part 1 (2/2)

On the screen was a long stretch of rocky coast, harsh and windswept. Out in the waves was a jagged lump of black rock, the long, slender shape of a lighthouse stabbing towards the heavy clouds.

'That's the place!' Rose stared in disbelief. 'That's where I was in my dream!'

8.The Doctor looked up at her with a mysterious twinkle in his eyes.

'And if the place is real, then the creature might be real as well. Shall we go and take a look?'

Before Rose had a chance to answer the Doctor darted round the console, spinning wheels and pumping energetically at some of the TARDIS's more jerry-rigged controls.

With a grind of ancient engines, the TARDIS started to turn, and Rose realised with a thrill of terror that quite possibly she was about to confront the creature from her nightmare.

9.

The moon gleamed fitfully through the long fingers of cloud that scudded across its face, sending sparkling highlights flickering over the foaming waves. The storm that had whipped the ocean into such a frenzy was far away now, the rumble of thunder just a distant boom over the hills, the lightning a faint glow occasionally illuminating the sky.

A new sound joined the rhythmic hiss of waves on s.h.i.+ngle, a rasping, grinding noise, rising and falling in pitch, building in volume until, with a loud thump, the TARDIS appeared from nowhere on the cliff top, incongruous among the windswept gorse. With a rattling of the latch, the door swung inwards and the Doctor stepped out into the cold night air, coat billowing in the wind. Rose emerged tentatively after him, looking around nervously. The Doctor spread his arms wide and took a long, deep breath.

'Come on, Rose. Get a good lungful of that fresh sea air.'

Rose pulled her parka tight around her. 'You'll get a great lungful of fresh sea water if you're not careful. It's freezing out here!'

'It's a bit fresh, I'll admit.' He twirled, fixing her with a piercing gaze. 'Is this the place?'

11.Rose nodded, stepping closer to his side and s.h.i.+vering. 'Yeah. It is. The same as I saw in my dream. It's weird.'

'Marvellous!' The Doctor smiled happily, pulling the TARDIS key from his pocket and locking the police box door. Rose turned slowly around. Everything was horribly familiar. The tall, jagged cliffs, the brooding sky. Along the coast she could see the lights from the village, tucked into the curve of the bay, a tiny harbour jutting out into the cold grey sea.

A noise made her jump, a long wail, drawn out and plaintive. On the next headland over she could see the lights of a lonely farmhouse, a trail of smoke whipped from its chimney by the driving wind. She caught the Doctor by the arm. 'Listen.'

The Doctor turned from the TARDIS, head c.o.c.ked to one side. The sound came again, high-pitched and almost cat-like, cutting through the sound of the wind.

Rose felt gooseb.u.mps run down her spine. 'It's a baby. Poor thing sounds terrified.'

'It's not happy, certainly.' The Doctor pulled a pair of opera gla.s.ses from his coat and peered at the lights blazing from the distant farm buildings. 'And keeping the house awake by the look of things.'

'Where are we exactly?' Rose asked.

'Wales, according to the instruments.' The Doctor swung his gaze out towards the horizon. 'West coast, just along from Tenby, I think. Village called Ynys Du.'

'Come again?'

'Black Island. Not the kind of place you usually find ravening fourarmed creatures, I must admit, but probably very good for sea ba.s.s. Ah. . . '

'What is it?'

The Doctor nodded out to sea. 'Your mysterious lighthouse?'

Rose followed his gaze. The racing clouds cleared from the moon for a moment and she could make out the tall, slender shape rising from the jagged mound of black rock in the bay. She s.h.i.+vered again, though this time not from the cold.

'Yeah. That's it.'

12.The Doctor adjusted a small dial on the opera gla.s.ses, peering intently at the lighthouse through the computer-enhanced lenses.

'Doesn't look as though it's been used for years. Shame. Make a nice little home, that would. Tricky to get your milk delivered, but no problem with the neighbours.'

'Great if you like fish.'

'Exactly!' He lowered the gla.s.ses and turned to her. 'Where did you see the fisherman?'

Rose nodded down the cliff. A well-worn path snaked through the gorse, winding its way to an untidy jumble of rocks at the water's edge.

'Down there, on the rocks.'

The Doctor raised his opera gla.s.ses again, scanning the coast. 'No sign of any monsters. . . h.e.l.lo. . . '

Rose's heart jumped. 'What is it? Have you seen it?'

'I think there's someone there.' The Doctor frowned. 'Thought I caught a glimpse of someone at the sh.o.r.eline.'

'The creature?'

'Not unless it's taken to wearing a long white coat.' He tucked the gla.s.ses back into his pocket. 'Come on. Let's take a closer look.'

The Doctor set off down the rocky path, his own coat billowing out behind him.

'Hang about!'

Rose set off after him a little more cautiously. The rain and spray had made the path treacherous and gorse barbs tore at her clothes as she pushed her way down the narrow sheep track. By the time she reached the bottom, the hems of her jeans were streaked with mud, her trainers sodden.

The path ended at a narrow spit of land, scrubby gra.s.s that sloped down to the sea. Huge wet boulders, flecked with foam and seaweed lay jumbled up against the sh.o.r.e. The Doctor was squatted on top of one of them, seemingly oblivious to the spray that swirled around him each time a wave crashed in. He was prodding at the rock with his sonic screwdriver.

13.He glanced up at her as she picked her way over. 'Nothing. No sign of monster, fisherman, anything. . . '

'What about your white-coated figure?'

'No.' The Doctor pursed his lips. 'No sign of him, or her, either.'

'Well, they can't have got past us. There's no other way down from the cliffs and they'd be mad to take a boat out in this. You must have been seeing things.'

The Doctor hopped down from his rock. 'Perhaps I dreamt them.'

'That's not funny.'

'Neither is this. Look.'

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