Time and Earth: A Doctor Who and PJO Crossover (Bk 1)

Chapter 30: Sunshine

Chapter 30: Sunshine

Pollux's violet eyes were oversized grapes, his blonde hair stuck to parts of his forehead, cheeks flushed scarlet. In the commotion, Leo shot out of sleep, arm thrust out over me, one hand already aflame.

But before he could set fire to our tent, I placed a hand on his shoulder, effectively extinguishing the flames. "Pollux, what happened?"

He pointed outside, words sputtering out of his swollen mouth like a dying candle. "I-it's Daniel, there was a crack and he- you need to stop him."

I was already up at his name. Manoeuvring myself around Leo's body and dropping the book, I shot out of the tent, following the son of Dionysus who'd already started to run.

Perhaps we were not meant to be friends, perhaps we were too different to ever hope for it, but I wasn't going to give up the second we were put under strain. It was the same treatment I'd give Leo, Annabeth, Percy.

He'd spent too long thinking he was the second choice.

I owed this to my friend.

Pollux lead us into the forest which I'd noticed before, to the west of our camp, the straight pine trees allowing for afterimages of cloaked figures between the slim trunks. The undergrowth here was different too, it was softer underfoot, almost like vinyl. Far different from the roots and branches and tactile growth from camp. The whole place smelled like Daniel; forests and wind.

There was no echo of sound, not a call of a bird or a rustle of a nocturnal predator. Apart from the commotion we caused, there was nothing. And the lack of life was perhaps more unnerving.

Leo had followed, his hammer in one hand and No More in another. Each of our steps dug into my gut, but I kept sprinting.

Pollux stopped at the edge of a clearing, his stop so sudden that I nearly crashed into the plump demigod. The clearing was half the size of the combat arena back home, with a cluster of rocks formed in the center. The biggest of them, more correctly named a boulder, was around two meters wide and half as tall, it's navy rock shimmering with the crack of golden light cut into it.

I'd seen that crack before, in Amy's stories about her childhood. I knew what it meant, and I knew that Daniel did too.

Now was the time to run, to get out of here before the time energy it emitted absorbed us all. I didn't want to think about what it would mean for the others if we disappeared tonight.

Daniel stood calmly, facing the crack, his hands unclasped by his sides, his face utterly serene. The scene was even more unsettling than the forest which surrounded us.

Sunshine will go through the crack, the prophecy had said.

"Daniel, whatever you're thinking about doing, don't." I approached slowly, hoping that my boots could find a hold in the slippery leaves, hoping that I could somehow break the destiny which the Oracle had spewed out. Maybe in my sleep deprivation, I'd misheard the lines.

As I left Leo's side, he gave me No More.

Daniel didn't even turn around, his eyes kept themselves trained on the golden light as if he was listening to another voice. By the time he answered, I was halfway toward him, No More heavy in my hand.

"Gallifrey is on the other side of the crack, frozen in time. I'm a son of Apollo, the god of healing, I have double the usual regeneration cycle. If I go through, they'll send half to the Doctor and he'll be saved."

I didn't know how he knew the Doctor needed saving, but when I reached him and saw the burning knowledge in his eyes, I knew that somehow, the crack, the Gallifreyans behind it had told him all that was going on in the town called Christmas Peter had told me about.