The Story of Emily Evans

XXXIII: Gwyneth's Gift

We all gathered around a table, and from left to right...clockwise sat: Gwyneth, Rose, Sneed, me, and the Doctor. Charles stood around the table, thinking this idea silly and wanting no part.

"This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in Bute Town. Come, we must all join hands." Gwyneth seemed to explain.

"I can't take part in this...." Charles stated, dismissing the idea.

"Since when did you get all Scrooge on us...?" I asked him, referring to his novel 'A Christmas Carol'. "I'd thought you, if anyone, would have an open mind about this stuff."

"This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask." Charles stated. "Seances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees." He then looked at Gwyneth. "This girl knows nothing."

"Now, don't antagonise her. I love a happy medium." The Doctor stated.

"I can't believe you just said that." Rose told the Doctor, a bit embarrassed....

You and me both, Rose. I thought to myself.

"Come on, we might need you." The Doctor told Charles.

Charles then, hesitantly, sat down between Gwyneth and Rose at the table. "Good man. Now, Gwyneth, reach out." The Doctor told Gwyneth.

Gwyneth then looked towards the ceiling while keeping her head held straight. "Speak to us. Are you there? Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden." Gwyneth told the spirits. At that, small indistinguishable whispers began to fill the room as they floated through the air around the table.

"Can you hear that...?" Rose asked us, referring to the whispers.

"Nothing can happen. This is sheer folly." Charles proclaimed, as if he knew better.

"But do you see her...?" I asked Charles as I watched as Gwyneth started to slightly rock back and forth. A light seemed to surround and danse about her.

"I see them." Gwyneth told us. The will-o'-wisp's of the gas creatures began to fill the room, hovering above us. "I feel them."

"What's it saying...?" Rose asked as the creatures seemed to be the cause of the whispers.

"They can't get through the rift. Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now, look deep. Allow them through." The Doctor seemed to translate as he spoke to us...more precisely, Gwyneth.

"I can't." Gwyneth stated, her voice a bit stretched thin.

"Yes, you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth." The Doctor told her, reassuringly. "Make the link."

"Yes." Was all Gwyneth said. With that, the will-o'-wisps seemed to converge on her as they took a humanoid form as they stood behind her.

"Great God!" Sneed stated in alarm. "Spirits from the other side."

"The other side of the universe." The Doctor seemed to correct him.

"Pity us. Pity the Gelth." Gwyneth seemed to say, her voice intertwined with that of the spirits. "There is so little time. Help us."

"Do what...?" I asked them. Just what could they need help with. "Just how could we help?"

"The rift." Gwyneth spoke with the Gelth. "Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge."

"What for...?" The Doctor seemed to ask them.

"We are so very few." Gwyneth spoke with the Gelth. "The last of our kind. We face extinction."