"You're not allowed inside, sir." The maid says as the Doctor and Dickens push past her.
The Doctor looks at the lamps then at the walls. "There's something inside the walls. The gas pipes. Something's living inside the gas."
"Let me out!" Daisy shouts, banging on the door. "Come on, I won't harm you, just break in your face a little until you're no longer breathing."
"That's her." The Doctor widens his eyes at her voice and runs down the hallway, pushing the undertaker into the wall on his way past.
"How dare you, sir!" He glares at the Doctor before turning to Dickens. "This is my house!"
Dickens rolls his eyes. "Shut up."
*****
Daisy looks behind her and dodges the hand of the man coming for her throat. She kicks him into the door before grabbing his hands and throws him at the table, enough to knock the coffin onto the floor with a loud bang. Daisy then sees the older woman coming for her and grabs her neck, snapping it with a sickening crunch before she falls onto the floor, unmoving.
"I'm so glad Lucinda isn't here." Daisy mutters to herself, dusting off her hands.
Suddenly, the door bursts open, and the Doctor runs in and hugs Daisy.
Daisy slowly wraps her shaking arms around his neck and breathes in his smell knowing she's safe and not in danger anymore.
"Are you alright?" He asks her, taking in the dead corpses on the floor.
She nods her head in reply. "I had it covered."
"It's a prank. It must be." Dickens comments in disbelief. "We're under some mesmeric influence."
"No, we're not." The Doctor shakes his head. "The dead are walking."
Daisy looks at the man behind the Doctor. "Who's your friend, Doctor?"
"Charles Dickens." He answers, gesturing to the man with his head.
Daisy grins at Dickens. "Pleasure to meet you."
The Doctor looks back at the corpses on the floor. "My name's the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?"
"Failing. Open the rift." A man's voice answers, although it comes out like 9 to 12 voices speaking at once. "We're dying. Trapped in this form. Cannot sustain. Help us! Argh!" The corpses open their mouths to release the blue gas like things with a scream before collapsing back onto the ground.
*****
Daisy shoves Sneed into the wall of the living room with a frightening glare written on her face before the Doctor could stop her. In fact, he's standing on the other side of the room with amusement showing through his eyes but pride written on his face knowing she's defending herself and getting payback at Sneed for what he and the maid did to her.
"You grabbed me, then your maid knocked me out." She pushes him into a table, watching him fall over onto his back. "And don't think I didn't feel your hands trying to go lower, you sick old man!"
"Wait, what?" The Doctor glances at her before turning his face to Sneed with no emotion of his face as he processes her words.
"And if that isn't worse, you then thought it would be okay for me to be placed in a room with two corpses that had the blue gas creatures in them!"
"I won't be spoken to like this!" Sneed shouts.
"Did I say you could talk?" Daisy snaps at him, and Sneed goes quiet and gulps at her expression. "And in that sick mind of yours, you thought it would be okay for you to go and swan off and leave me to die! So come on, talk pervert! Or better yet, I should just kill you and snap your neck like I did to the corpses in that room!"
"It's not my fault. It's this house." Sneed tries to explain nervously at everyone glaring at him. "It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back, and then the stiffs-" He quickly pauses as Daisy steps forward with her hand in a fist. "The er...dear departed started getting restless."
Dickens rolls his eyes. "Tommyrot."
"You witnessed it!" Sneed looks at him. "Can't keep the beggars down, sir. They walk. And it's the queerest thing, but they hang on to scraps."
The maid walks in and places down a cup of tea on top of the mantlepiece next to the Doctor. "Two sugars, sir, just how you like it."
Daisy and the Doctor look at one another with confusion since only Daisy knows how he likes his tea and it's obvious she hasn't spoken to her just yet since she was too busy ripping into Sneed.
"One old fellow who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service." Sneed continues to explain as he tries to get up off the floor. "Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir, just as she planned."
"Morbid fancy." Dickens waves it off.
Daisy rolls her eyes at his words. "No denying that, Mr. Dickens. We seen the gas like figures and so did you."
"Oh, Charles, you were there." The Doctor agrees with her as Dickens tries to open his mouth to argue.
"I saw nothing but an illusion." He denies.
"If you're going to deny it and my girlfriend almost being killed just moments ago, don't waste my time!" The Doctor snaps at him. "Just shut up." He looks at Sneed who is wincing in pain and almost smirks knowing he would have done a lot worse than what Daisy did to him. "What about the gas?"
"That's new, sir." Sneed tells him. "Never seen anything like that."
The Doctor nods. "Means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through."
Daisy steps over to his side. "What's the rift?"
"A weak point in time and space." He answers her, wrapping his arm around her waist and kisses her forehead. "A connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time."
"That's how I got the house so cheap." Sneed points out to them. "Stories going back generations."
Dickens storms out, slamming the door behind him, and Daisy jumps a little before shaking her head knowing he's in disbelief and acting the way most humans would to this kind of stuff.
"Echoes in the dark, queer songs in the air, and this feeling like a shadow passing over your soul." Sneed continues. "Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine."
*****
Daisy walks over to the maid and helps her to wash up.
"Please, miss, you shouldn't be helping." She looks at Daisy as she picks up a plate. "It's not right."
"Trust me, you need the help where Sneed is concerned." Daisy shakes her head then wonders how much she gets paid since she doubts anyone would work for less than 10 quid. "How much do you get paid by him?"
"Eight pound a year, miss." She replies.
Daisy widens her eyes. "Sorry, how much?"
"I know. I would've been happy with six."
"So, any lucky husband or boy in your life?" Daisy grins at her.
The maid stares at her. "I suppose." She nods her head. "There is one lad. The butcher's boy. He comes by every Tuesday. Such a lovely smile on him."
"I like a good smile...suppose the Doctor has a good smile. You should ask out the butcher's boy." Daisy suggests. "Give him a cup of tea or invite him around, that's a start of a proper conversation to get to know one another."
"I swear it is the strangest thing, miss." She places down a fork to turn her full attention to Daisy. "You've got all the clothes and the breeding, but you talk like you're from another time period."
"Maybe I am." Daisy grins at her. "I forgot to introduce myself, I'm Daisy."
"I'm Gwyneth, miss."
"Please, call me Daisy." She tells Gwyneth. "So, how long have you been working for Sneed?"
"He took me in after I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve."
Daisy stays quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry."
"Thank you, miss." Gwyneth places her hand on Daisy's shoulder before getting back to washing up. "But I'll be with them again, one day, sitting with them in paradise. I shall be so blessed. They're waiting for me. Maybe your dad's up there waiting for you too, miss, but I can tell he's so proud of you for being a mother to your little girl. Though, I do think your mother and sister won't be accepted into paradise for the way they treat you."
"Wait...who told you about my family?" Daisy asks her with confusion.
"I don't know." She shakes her head nervously. "Must have been the Doctor."
"The Doctor wouldn't tell anyone about my family." Daisy denies. "And he knows how emotional it is for me to speak about my dad."
"You've been thinking about him lately more than ever, especially since his death day is coming up." Gwyneth says with a distant look.
Daisy steps in front of her as Gwyneth moves to the other side of the kitchen/pantry. "How do you know all of this?"
She goes quiet for a few seconds before answering. "Mr. Sneed says I think too much. I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, haven't you, miss?"
Daisy shakes her head with a small smile. "No. No servants where I'm from."
"And you've come such a long way."
"You're right about that." Daisy agrees. "What else do you know about me?"
"You're from London. I've seen London in drawings, but never like that. All those people rushing about half naked, for shame." Gwyneth twitches and messes with her apron. "And the noise, and the metal boxes racing past, and the birds in the sky, no, they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People are flying. And you, you've flown so far. Further than anyone. The things you've seen. The darkness, the big bad wolf!" She gasps in shock, and Daisy hugs her to calm her down. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, miss!"
"It's okay." Daisy reassures her. "It's my fault, I pushed you too far to answer my question."
"I can't help it." Gwyneth explains as she clings onto Daisy. "Ever since I was a little girl, my mam said I had the sight. She told me to hide it."
The Doctor leans against the door frame. "But it's getting stronger, more powerful, is that right?"
"All the time, sir." Gwyneth admits. "Every night, voices in my head."
"You grew up on top of the rift." The Doctor realises. "You're part of it. You're the key."
"I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table rappers, all sorts."
"Well, that should help." He tells her, wrapping his arm around Daisy's waist. "You can show us what to do."
"What to do where, sir?"
The Doctor smirks at them. "We're going to have a séance!"