It is almost Halloween in the sleepy New England town of Blackwood Falls Leaves litter lawns and sidewalks, paper skeletons hang in the windows, and carved pumpkins leer from front porches The Doctor and Martha soon discover that something long-dormant has awoken, and this will be no ordinary Halloween What is the secret of the ancient tree and the book discovered tangled in its roots? What rises from the churchyard at night, sealing the lips of the only witness? Why are the harmless trappings of Halloween suddenly taking on a creepy new life of their own? As nightmarish creatures prowl the streets, the Doctor and Martha must battle to prevent both the townspeople and themselves from suffering a grisly fate Featuring the Doctor and Martha as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman in the hit series from BBC Television Forever Autumn BY MARK MORRIS 10 Published in 2007 by BBC Books, an imprint of Ebury Publishing Ebury Publishing is a division of the Random House Group Ltd © Mark Morris, 2007 Mark Morris has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988 Doctor Who is a BBC Wales production for BBC One Executive Producers: Russell T Davies and Julie Gardner Series Producer: Phil Collinson Original series broadcast on BBC Television Format © BBC 1963 ‘Doctor Who’, ‘TARDIS’ and the Doctor Who logo are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner The Random House Group Ltd Reg No 954009 Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at www.randomhouse.co.uk A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 84607 270 The Random House Group Ltd makes every effort to ensure that the papers used in our books are made from trees that have been legally sourced from well-managed credibly certified forests Our paper procurement policy can be found at www.randomhouse.co.uk Series Consultant: Justin Richards Project Editor: Steve Tribe Cover design by Lee Binding © BBC 2007 Typeset in Albertina and Deviant Strain Printed and bound in Germany by GGP Media GmbH, Poessneck For David and Polly, who share that Saturday feeling A Doctor to call your own Contents Prologue One 13 Two 19 Three 25 Four 37 Five 45 Six 57 Seven 73 Eight 85 Nine 95 Ten 103 Eleven 117 Twelve 131 Acknowledgements 149 When the bell finally rang, Rick Pirelli almost burst with excitement Now there was nothing standing between him and the monsters He spotted his best friends, Scott Beaumont and Thad Steiner, in the school yard From a distance his buddies always reminded him of Laurel and Hardy, one tall and wide, the other short and skinny He ran up to them, swinging his bag around his head in sheer exhilaration ‘Hey, you guys!’ They turned to him Scott, who played quarter-back in the school under-13s football team, had a wide grin on his chubby, red face ‘Ricky baby,’ he boomed ‘How’s it going?’ Rick thumped to a stop The cool air felt great on his hot skin ‘Man, I thought today was going to go on forever,’ he said ‘Yeah, me too,’ said Scott ‘It was like we were stuck in a time zone or something.’ ‘Warp,’ said Thad quietly ‘Huh?’ ‘It’s time warp, not time zone A time zone is just like whatever time it is in whichever part of the world you’re in There are twenty-four time zones on the planet But a time warp is like a time distortion, so it seems as if –’ Scott rolled his eyes at Rick, who grinned back at him ‘Yeah, Thad, whatever,’ he said They set off home, Rick – medium build, tousled chestnut hair, a ‘cute nose’ according to Beverley Masterson, who sat behind him in Math – strolling between his two friends Scott, on his right, seemed almost to bounce as he walked For a big guy he was full of energy, and deceptively athletic Thad, by contrast, was like a mouse, a little blond mouse with specs, which were constantly slipping down his nose He was studious and precise and he read truck-loads of books, mainly science fiction, but all kinds of other stuff too Maybe for that reason he told the best stories – at camp it was always Thad’s ghost stories the other guys wanted to hear He could also be side-splittingly funny, though half the time he didn’t even seem to realise he was being funny, and in a way that made him funnier still Rick was feeling good – great, in fact It was Friday afternoon, school was out, and tomorrow was Halloween, which meant all the usual fun stuff – dressing up, trick-or-treating, bobbing for apples, eating candy Then later, when it was dark, he and his friends would head down to the Halloween Carnival, which was always a big deal in Blackwood Falls, where they would eat as many hot dogs and go on as many rides as possible, and watch the ceremonial burning of the Pumpkin Man And then, later still – if Scott hadn’t thrown up and gone home, like he did last year – they would head back to Rick’s and spend what was left of the night watching scary movies in their sleeping bags until they fell asleep Could life get any better, he thought As the three of them tromped through the quiet, tree-lined streets, Scott yakking about some old movie he’d seen on cable the night before, something about a guy who shrank to the size of an ant and had a fight with a giant spider, Rick looked around, taking in the sights, drinking it all in It seemed to him that everyone in Blackwood Falls loved Halloween Maybe, he thought, the Mayor or the town committee or whatever wouldn’t let you live here if you didn’t Wherever he looked, front porches were bedecked with Halloween pumpkins, trees were with rubber spiders and bats, and windows were festooned with spray-on cobwebs, paper skeletons, cardboard witches and leering rubber masks The air even smelled right, of dry leaves and wood smoke and damp, mulchy earth This was gonna be the best Halloween ever, he thought Rick’s house was one of the biggest and oldest in Blackwood Falls, a sprawling colonial residence surrounded by a picket fence, flanked by well-established trees and fronted by a long porch When the boys were hanging out, it was where they usually ended up, mainly because it was the closest of all their houses to the school, and also to the town’s main square, which – once they’d dumped their stuff and ... Television Forever Autumn BY MARK MORRIS 10 Published in 2007 by BBC Books, an imprint of Ebury Publishing Ebury Publishing is a division of the Random House Group Ltd © Mark Morris, 2007 Mark Morris. .. broadcast on BBC Television Format © BBC 1963 ‘Doctor Who’, ‘TARDIS’ and the Doctor Who logo are trademarks of the British Broadcasting Corporation and are used under licence All rights reserved No... thumped to a stop The cool air felt great on his hot skin ‘Man, I thought today was going to go on forever, ’ he said ‘Yeah, me too,’ said Scott ‘It was like we were stuck in a time zone or something.’