EIGHT

 Once we were finally inside the exhibition room, we split up and bustled in and out of the eager crowds, some gazed in rapt fascination, others showed more enthusiasm than necessary as they had waited so long to get inside, whilst some were under whelmed and in a typical, laid back black country attitude couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. I heard one elderly gentleman mutter. “ Yes it’s alright but how much is it going to cost to keep? And it’s a lot smaller than in the booklets Shelia.”  Even after the amazing wonders and sights I have seen with the Doctor, the Staffordshire hoard was rather spectacular. The tiny gold and deep red garnet pieces caught my eye as they sparkled from under the glass display cabinets. My dad was right about the intricacy and workmanship, for once archaeology was actually exciting. There was so much to see here, though apparently over a thousand pieces had been uncovered, uniquely all military related, most had been a decorative part of a weapon such as a sword hilt and had then been removed and mysteriously buried.

 “Why would they bury so much of it and all in one place?” I asked aloud, to me there seemed to be a great big crater sized mystery at the heart of this treasure. I wondered if the Doctor was tempted to go back and find out.            

 You were only allowed so long with the treasure before you were moved on but of course the Doctor simply flashed his psychic paper at the security and pointed to the three of us to stay.

 “What exactly has he got on that paper?” Mum hissed in an aside. I shrugged, though strongly suspected we were the Doctor’s assistants.

 “Nobody knows exactly why it was buried Anna, there are lots of different theories.” Dad interrupted excitedly, beating the Doctor to it. “An Anglo-Saxon version of banking, their own personal safe. They must have intended to come back for it but if the whole army was wiped out in a battle…”

 “It could have been an offering to the Gods, that was all the rage back then…” The Doctor mused, lost in contemplation. The Doctor’s eyes brightened as his gaze locked with mine and that’s when I knew he was intrigued by the treasure as he glanced back at the exhibition and frowned. “Mind you, to bury this many pieces it seems a bit like overkill to me. I wonder what happened?”

 “Well maybe it’s cursed.” Mum added darkly with a hint of mischief, she folded her arms expectantly, not wanting to be left out on the historical theorizing.

 The Doctor glanced up at my mum, I thought he was going to laugh in her face. The Doctor never had much time for superstitions but as usual he reacted the complete opposite to my expectations. He nodded solemnly.

 “You may have a point Caroline. Just like your daughter, you Bailey’s are a perceptive lot. All these ancient artefacts, 7th or 8th Century, that’s very old and when something that old is dug up who knows what else gets disturbed…” My parents and I moved closer to the Doctor, drawn to his ominous words, realizing we were hanging on his words, the Doctor looked up at us and sniffed. “But then again, I’m talking from personal experience I’ve had a spot of bother on a few archaeological expeditions. Archaeologist’s they never know when to leave it alone… Don’t get me started on them…” The Doctor rolled his eyes but then suddenly froze mid-sentence as though distracted by an unseen force, all his Time Lord senses on alert. He made his way to the back of the room to a cabinet that had drawn the least attention from anyone in the room, except for a young boy peering intently over the edge, his chin resting upon the glass surface. I might be more sensitive to strange phenomena since travelling with the Doctor but I felt a definite repulsion to that cabinet as nausea rose in my stomach. My parents followed me, there were a few twisted gold strips but the other item instantly stood out, in a room full of gold, silver and metal, it was made of stone. It was cream coloured and shaped like a bead, in the centre there was a dark dot. I read the inscription-  The Stone bead is unique in the hoard- Thought to be either a good luck charm or as some Anglo-Saxons believed, to contain magical properties. Intriguing.

 “That’s an unusual piece.” Dad uttered as though he’d only noticed it for the first time.

 “You can say that again Dave.” The Doctor concurred heartily, with a troubled look in his eyes.     I glanced down at the young boy with his thick and unkempt mop of ginger hair. He had shot up in height since I last saw him.

 “It’s Kyle isn’t it? Kyle Jenkins. You used to come in the shop and spend whole Saturday afternoons there, if you weren’t here at the gallery. Well you probably still do…”

 Kyle frowned at me in confusion, crossing over your own time line was really hard work. In 2009, I  probably still work at the bookshop, the night I ran away I remember giving the Doctor a piece of my mind and telling him there was nothing wrong with working in a shop especially a bookshop but now the thought that I was still working in the same job filled me with quiet dread. But I remembered poor Kyle, a highly intelligent and thoughtful kid, we all knew he was neglected and had a nasty piece of work for a step father. I had a run in with the obnoxious man when he tried to return a science book of Kyle’s which the young lad had brought with his own pocket money.

 “Hello Anna..” Kyle stuttered with an intrigued look in his eyes, maybe the perceptive lad knew I was an earlier version.  

 “Hello Kyle Jenkins. So why are you so interested in this particular piece young man hmm?” The Doctor eyes blazed with fascination, though he beamed down kindly on Kyle. He knew a neglected child when he saw one.

 “Hello… Mr. Smith?”

 We all turned round and there was Jasmine Kaur, dressed in a smart suit and her hair neatly tied up, she was wearing a badge with her name and the title assistant museum curator. Jasmine had moved on in her life and was doing her dream job.

 “Jasmine.” I smiled with delight and marvelled at how we were all interlinked. I thought it was such a wonderful coincidence… 

 My friend’s response was one of surprise as she glanced awkwardly at me and my parents, muttering a muted hello. I began to have a bad feeling about this reunion. For a split second Jasmine scrutinized the Doctor and then she remembered.

 “We’ve met before Mr Smith about eighteen months ago, only then Anna introduced you as the Doctor after you made some glib comment about being called Rob occasionally…The day Anna mysteriously disappeared for the week.” Jasmine’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What’s going on?”   

 “Jasmine this is the Doctor, the man who Anna travels with…” Mum added helpfully.

 “You mean “The Doctor” who she once travelled with and when my friend returned home she was never the same again.” Jasmine confirmed bluntly, her words chilled me to the core. 

 “Quite.” Mum cleared her throat awkwardly, remembering that Jasmine wasn’t privy to my travels in time and space.

 Of course at the time I wished I had explained everything to Jasmine but she wasn’t there the night I first returned home and then when I caught up with my friend, I didn’t have the heart to tell her the whole truth. At the time I didn’t think she would believe me but maybe I should have taken the chance and now I think we must have fallen out or drifted apart. Was the loss of friendship with Jasmine one of the casualties of life with the Doctor?

 “Jasmine Kaur. I remember you. Good to meet you again!” The Doctor interrupted cheerfully before anything else was said. Though a moment before I had caught a look in his eyes of growing concern about the future version of me. But Jasmine was in no mood for niceties.

 “Security tells me, you’re a freelance archaeologist on secondment with the British Museum. The Staffordshire hoard is part of my department, no one mentioned anything about a visit today. So I’ll ask again what are you all doing here under false pretences?” Jasmine was one step away from calling security and throwing us all out.

 “Oh so you’re running this gig?” The Doctor’s smile had become more set, he wasn’t too impressed with my old friend’s lack of friendliness. “Care to explain this piece away?” The Doctor pointed to the stone artefact.

 “What?” Jasmine frowned and peered reluctantly over the glass cabinet. “It’s just a stone carving, a mere trinket found with the rest of the treasure…” She shrugged dismissively and then looked again. “In fact I don’t even remember who put it there, must be one of my fellow curator’s idea of a joke.”

 But then the strangest thing happened, Jasmine physically recoiled as though she could no longer bear to look at the artefact. But then the same thing happened to my parents and I also felt compelled to move back. It was like a wave of energy had passed through this part of the room, from this very cabinet containing the exhibit. No prizes for guessing which piece was causing the disturbance and the only two who appeared immune to the stone artefact was the Doctor and Kyle Jenkins.

 “What can you hear Kyle?” The Doctor asked the boy as he clung tenaciously to the cabinet.              

“It’s like its singing, I can hear singing.” There was a dreamy look in Kyle’s eyes.

I couldn’t hear a thing but I could certainly feel something. The Doctor nodded and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. He began scanning above the cabinet.

 “Interesting, just as I suspected…”

 “What’s the matter Doctor?” It was that moment again, we were on the precipice of diving into adventure. I glanced at my parents and gulped, my heart suddenly racing with a mixture of excitement and anxiety.

 “The stone artefact, it’s transmitting.”

 “Transmitting what?”

 “A homing beacon transmitting across time and space, it’s sending a signal to come here.” The Doctor looked up at all of us. “To come to planet Earth.”