The Weeping Angel

Chapter 13: Barcelona's Library

CHAPTER 13: BARCELONA'S LIBRARY

The library of Barcelona was most certainly one of the highlights of all we'd seen here. It was made of what appeared to be marble, tall columns rising up into the sky and grotesque statues planted sporadically around the area. Long tails of ivy were growing from all the crevices in the marble, crabling up the sides of the windowless building and winding around all the columns. 

"...Wow," I said under my breath, gazing up just as Amy and Rory were. The lot of us found ourselves to be dumbfounded in the presence of all this. 

"This place is gorgeous," Amy breathed, shaking her head. 

"Doctor, how could a place like this be dangerous?" Rory asked, looking down from the columns and to the Doctor, who smiled pleasantly. 

"Beauty is often camouflage for the danger it harbours," He said smoothly, rocking on the balls of his feet as his gaze flit about. Amy and I dropped our eyes to the Doctor. The three of us looked at him oddly. The doctor finally noticed our looks.

"What's all the staring for? On we go!" He clasped his hands together and bounded up the stairs after fixing his bow tie again.  

 "He's mad, he is," Amy chuckled before following after him. I laughed and bounded after him, Rory following myself. 

"So what exactly is the plan?" Rory asked breathlessly once we'd reached the top of the stairs. "Just walk in with a giant light bulb? scare away the shadows?" The Doctor chuckled at his idea.

"I wish it were that simple. This is going to take some work," The Doctor rubbed his hands together before pushing open the massive wooden doors of the library. The creak of the old wood resonated through the library, which was dimly lit, several lights buzzing out.  

"Just. Fantastic," I sighed heavily. The Doctor clapped me on the back. 

"Isn't it just?" He chuckled and walked inside, all of us following tentatively. 

 "What would shadows want with people?" Rory asked, looking around dumbly. 

"That's what we're here to find out. Honestly where have you been?" Amy retorted, following the Doctor more confidently. 

We walked for a while, passing one or two people at the most. We soon came to a long isle of books, completely shrouded in blackness. The few light overhead were glowing a ominous amber, and blinking now and then. The aisles were all long and dark, every shelf jam-packed with thousands upon thousands of books. All the while I could hear this strange distant humming, just barely audible. 

"Well this could only end well," Amy sighed, watching one of the blinking lights tentatively. 

"Oh come now, Pond. We've battled beasts all across the universe! You're worried about some blinking lights?" The Doctor laughed almost nervously and tugged at his bow tie.

"It's not shadows, is it?" I asked after a long moment.

"..No... Not shadows," he sighed heavily. 

"Then what looks like shadows but isnt?... Black paint?" Rory asked.

The Doctor spun around on his heels and faced us.

"Vashta Nerada," He said darkly.

I suddenly felt something slide from the shadows and hit the side of my foot. I looked down only to see a leather-bound book. I bent and picked it up, upon opening it I found that every page had been ripped from it with the exception of one chapter. The book was one documenting several alien species and significant beings of those species. The chapter left, was on the slitheen. The picture was of Korst, his large back eyes burning into mine through the paper. 

"...No..." I whimpered and dropped the book, causing the Doctor, Amy, and Rory to all turn their attention to me. "It's a trap, Doctor. It wants us here."

"It? the Vashta Nerada?" The Doctor asked tentatively. 

 I slowly held up the book, open to the page with the image of Korst.

"...Oh," The Doctor rubbed his hands together, "So this comes back to haunt us at last," He continued darkly. 

"Come back? Doctor I thought we'd only just met Louna?" Amy questioned. The Doctor spun on heel to face Amy.

"Actually, I first met Louna during my last regeneration. She just met me during the current." He said.

"But how is- yeah never mind..." Rory trailed off. 

 "It's a bit of a long story," I offered. Rory nodded quickly. 

"So," began the Doctor, "Let's review, shall we? Louna and myself took part in the death of Korst Slitheen which means he released this ally of his which has turned out  to be the Vashta Nerada in a Barcelonian library. Yeah?"

"Yeah... I suppose that how properly screwed up our situation is," I sighed.

"Eh, we should be used to it," Amy tried to cheer me up, nudging me with her elbow.

Suddenly a loud slam echoed through the library and we all turned to see the wooden doors, sealed shut. The library had gotten significantly darker due to the lack of natural light. The overhead lighs buzzed ominously before steadying again. 

"That... is just great," Rory gulped. The Doctor straightened his bow tie.

"Looks like it's about time to settle an old row," The Doctor said darkly, "first thing's first. Are we the only ones in here or are others sealed in?"

"Well only one way to figure that out," Amy smirked.

"Quite right, Pond," The Doctor praised, pointing at her before taking a deep breath, "HELLLOOOOO BARCELONA! SHOUT BACK IF YOU CAN HEAR ME!" The Doctor roared, leaving us three companions to cover our ears.

"YES HELLO?" One female voice called back, followed by at least nine other replies. 

"YES HELLO. I AM THE DOCTOR. PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE BIOGRAPHIES IF YOU WANT TO LIVE." He went on, rising up on his toes as he got louder. He turned back to us. "All righty then! That settles that!" 

"Yes, Doctor. Very good," Amy congratulated sarcastically, giving him two thumbs up. The Doctor just grinned and responded with his own double thumbs up. 

"Alright, now let's see who decides to show," I sighed. This was going to be interesting.