The Girl of Colours (Book TWO)

Falling Skies

Callie:

I couldn't remember. Nothing, I didn't remember my name, that I'd been assured was Calliope, Callie to people who knew me. My husband always assured me that he loved me, that while Vastra and Sky, my eldest child, looked after Lyrica, the soon to be middle, and my father, reluctantly, walked with me through the town, my bump well and truly on show now, given that I was 6 months pregnant.

He blamed himself, I got that much, but from what I could work out, it wasn't. It was someone else. But it felt nice to know that people cared about me so much. But my dad never spoke to me as we walked together, just walked head down and collar up, making sure that no one went near me.

Apart from a random girl.

"Did you make this snowman?" She asked, and I paused, looking back at her.

"No." Dad replied, not stopping, trying to pull me too, but I wanted to look.

The girl frowned a little as I looked, seeing some small swirls coming off it in icy grey. "Well, who did? Because it wasn't there a second ago. It just appeared, from nowhere." Realising that I wasn't going to let myself be dragged away, dad came back to look at it, familiar glasses on his face.

"Maybe it's snow that fell before. Maybe it remembers how to make snowmen." I suggested, not understanding how I could suggest something like that.

Laughing a little, she gave me a strange look as I rubbed my stomach, feeling the content weight of Noah inside me. "What, snow that can remember? That's silly."

Was it? "What's wrong with silly?"

"Nothing." She replied with a smile. "Still talking to you and your friend, ain't I?"

Dad frowned at her. "What's your name?"

"Clara." Sky had a school friend called Clara, back in the future. It was in her Year book, she was a few years older.

Now dad was smiling. "Nice name. Clara. You should definitely keep it. Goodbye!"

He pulled me again, and I went with him around the corner. "Oi! Where are you two going? I thought we was just getting acquainted."

"Those were the days." Dad sighed, helping me into a carriage, before getting in beside me.

Where Sky and Vastra, two very good friends, being gay aliens, were ready to talk to us. She was loving being part of the Patternoster Gang, though she didn't enjoy Strax babysitting. "How refreshing to see you taking an interest again. Was she nice? She certainly looked nice."

"We just spoke to her, and only because your mum stopped, Sky."

Vastra laughed a little. "And made your usual impact, no doubt."

Dad was still adamant. "No, no impact at all. Those days are over."

"You can't help yourself, gramps." Sky smirked. "It's the same story every time, even when it came to nana. And it always begins with the same two words."

"She'll never be able to find me again. She doesn't even have the names, either of us. Doctor and his daughter Callie. What two words?"

At which point Clara's head appeared through the hatch in the roof, and I jumped, holding my stomach protectively. "Doctor? Doctor who?"

So we ended up locking her inside the carriage, walking to where dad wanted to be, overlooking a large house surrounded by a wall that Strax was looking at through some binoculars. While the carriage was rocking. "They've taken samples from snowmen all over London. What do you suppose they're doing in there?"