Prologue

In the middle of England somewhere on private property in a forest, a gust blew up from nowhere, despite it being the stillest day of September that year. This oddity was soon overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of a large wooden box painted bright blue that stood out like a gold coin amongst silver.

One of the doors opened and a brown eyed girl with a backpack exited and peered through the trees. She sighed then exclaimed, pointing through the forest, "You can't even see it from here, Professor."

A voice inside the box replied, "Don't be ridiculous, Ace."

Ace turned to face the box. "If you're going to be dropping me off at this place you might have at least landed a bit closer."

"Ace." The tone implied that this conversation had already occurred twice before.

She rolled her eyes, unseen by the second speaker. "I know. Blending in."

"Exactly," the voice answered, enthusiastically.

Ace frowned as she hoisted her backpack higher onto her shoulder. "Do I have to go?"

"Ace," the voice warned again.

She looked up at the sky, and took a deep breath. "You promise you're coming back?"

A hat and a head popped out of the box to look at her. "Of course," he answered with a touch of sarcasm. "I'm just going to drop you off in the middle of the 21st Century after enrolling you in a school to finish your education and disappear off the face of the Earth, leaving you 20 years in your future." The sentence rolled right off his tongue just as his 'r's did. "It's what I do for fun."

That forced a smile from her, "Right." She took a step forward reluctantly. "See ya then."

She gave a small wave as the hat and head vanished into the box and then, another breeze picked up, sending dried leaves into the air. As suddenly as it had appeared, the box was gone.

Driveways should never be made this long, Ace decided after walking along the driveway for twenty minutes. There was still no sign of its end.

The reason for this long slog of a walk was to 'blend in'. In reality, it was probably attracted even more attention walking all the way instead of being dropped off at the door. But it was for 'her education' so she shouldn't be complain (yeah, right, like she wasn't going to complain) as the Professor had to pay an enormous amount just to get a place for her. He could have saved money by sending her to any other school, but no, he chooses the most expensive of the lot. It wasn't really his money in the first place, but still.

Personally, Ace thought it was another 'lesson' the Professor had planned. Memories flooded her brain as she walked. Creepy dark haunted houses that held more secrets than people. She had promised herself that she would never go back to her own personal past ever again, and she intended to keep that promise.

This school the Professor was making her go to was pretty creepy too. It was a boarding school. Worse, it was just for girls. Boys, she could deal with. She could relate to them much better. Girls were something else. They were different, harder to read and even harder to trust. She'd only found two girls her age that had anything in common with her. It is rather disappointing that girls just aren't into explosives, as most guys can't get away with carrying lots of deodorant cans around.

Ace had never liked school. The social expectations were a bore and pain, just like the rest of Perivale, but some good had come of it, namely two things. Manisha and creative chemistry. Her art teacher hadn't seen it coming, but she saw to Ace's expulsion. Maybe that had been a good thing. The next most hated subject was English and those rooms were located on the second floor.

Despite all this, the Professor had seen fit to send her here, to a boarding college. Just what Ace loved; a fancy posh school for a trip down Ace memory lane. At least it wasn't her time period. She didn't think she could live through that again. No, early 21st Century looked much more promising. After all something must have changed in almost 20 years. Otherwise, what was the point of having small personal computers and phones if not to be more helpful and easier to use? More technology, more learning, must be the thought. Probably more like, more technology, more distractions, more mayhem.

Ace had been lectured, rather briefly, on the time period and how to operate some of the new devices. The problem with being 'briefed' was that he could only tell her what he knew, but she knew from experience that it was often what the Professor neglected to tell her that was the most vital. She had said as much to him once. He also knows next to nothing about social factors and current trends that were sure to be well known and expressed at schools like the one she was reluctantly going to. Although he didn't view it as important, Ace had a sinking feeling that teenagers of almost any time period were the same. They were a pack, strangers were unwanted and uniqueness was frowned upon and hunted down.

This was not new for Ace, but she was on shaky ground. She did not have the benefit of being able to speak the 'lingo', (a new term for her but she understood the concept) or having some common ground with the other students. Nor was she a very open person. She was particularly bad at blending in because she was Ace. There was no other way to explain it. She would make no allowances, no deals, no changes in any way, to please or meet the approval of some teenagers she will never have to see ever again after she's done here. The pack would just have to deal with it.

"Name."

"Ace," she replied shortly. Not overly friendly, but not rude either. No need to make herself a bigger target than she already was.

The receptionist, blonde with a funny kind of voice, didn't look up from the forms and papers that covered every surface of the desk. "What?"

She repeated, "Ace." Those small speakers from those mini stereos (what were they… Ah, an mp3 player) must be seriously damaging the receptionist's eardrums. Ace could hear the music coming from them but, (surprise, surprise) didn't recognise it. Still, music from 2006 can't be that much more different from 1986.

The receptionist didn't blink. "Right then." There was an odd tone expressed in that voice, that might have been disapproval or doubt, but Ace wasn't sure so said nothing.

Ace stood there, backpack slung over one shoulder, for a few minutes, while the receptionist studied the tree outside a nearby window as though it was the most amazing thing she'd ever seen. It was quiet, which was odd as this was a boarding school and Ace hadn't seen anyone outside.

She glanced back at a big glass box at the entrance. It had caught her attention on the way in due to the contents. It was an 'Amnesty Box' and all sorts of things had been placed inside. A slight noise drew her attention away from the curious box. It took her a few seconds to register that the sound she could only just hear over the music were snores, and even less time to decide that she might as well look around.

First stop, science supply room. She was running low on Nitro supplies. Enough to scare some overcurious teen who felt like going through her stuff, but not enough if things got ugly which happens a lot (in other words, always). The Professor had searched her bag twice before she left. He knew that there was no way he could prevent her from finding some way of smuggling explosives in or out of the TARDIS, but it would stupid to think that he wasn't doing his hardest to try to limit or immensely reduce the amount. Long ago, she'd learnt to make them on the go.

Grinning, she set off.

With a nose for Nitro ingredients and trouble, (it's an acquired trait of travel with the Professor) Ace found the labs quite quickly. The room was a mess with test tubes, piping and glass beakers found on every bench. Some kind of experiment? She could smell gas; a Bunsen Burner was boiling some kind of liquid in a beaker positioned precariously on a tripod. She peered through the tubes, curious.

Cries echoed through the building. Ace's ears picked up on the sound. Those weren't shouts for help, but screams filled with anger. Something was going on outside and it sounded like trouble. So what was Ace going to do?

Run towards it, of course.