CHAPTER 1
'Graduation Day'
"Next to receive her diploma, Eva Tyler!" the loudspeaker boomed. I got up from my chair, my heart racing from excitement. There was a light applause from my schoolmates, and I got up and walked onto the stage. My science teacher, Mrs. Birch, was the teacher who was elected to be the one giving out the diplomas this year, after Mr. Pete had suddenly gone missing. Mrs. Birch was not what you would call attractive, with a wrinkly skin and messy, coarse brown hair. She was usually ok, but sometimes yelled at students. But I didn't care. I was too happy.
"You look gorgeous, Eva dear," Mrs. Birch greeted me, smiling, showing a row of sharp grey teeth. I always thought her teeth were a little weird. Too sharp. I looked down, blushing a little. I wasn't the most beautiful girl on the block so getting a beauty compliment meant a lot to me. My hair was thick and wavy blonde, and today I was wearing a silky blue dress, complete was a pink satin bow. Oh, and not to mention my crystal necklace.
"Thanks, Mrs. Birch," I murmured back and waited for her to give me my diploma. She didn't. She smiled at me once more and said, "You'll be alright, sweetie. I just need that," she pointed at my crystal necklace.
"Huh?" I cocked my head in confusion. Why wasn't she giving me the diploma? Then suddenly I noticed her eyes. They were a dull blue color, but as I watched, it suddenly flashed to sparkling red. I took a step back.
"Well?" she asked me, obviously impatient. When I didn't answer, she rasped, "Your time is up," and suddenly the room was engulfed in smoke and wind. People screamed. I could hear chairs toppling over and people running. I couldn't see anything. I blindly ran, driven by fear, but suddenly I fell and landed heavily on the ground. I must've toppled off the stage. Then, suddenly, the wind stopped. I looked up on the stage and nearly fainted.
Standing where Mrs. Birch had just been, was the most hideous monster I've ever seen. It looked like a dragon, but without wings. It had six sparkling red eyes and rows and rows of sharp teeth. Its jaws dropped saliva hungrily.
"Monster!" somebody screamed and everything turned chaotic. I picked myself up and bolted out the door, tripping over my dress as I did. I picked up my dress until it was about knee-length and ran. The monster howled behind me and I pushed my legs faster-but high heels weren't made for running. Taking a chance, I paused for a second and ripped off my shoes, and then took off running for the exit.
"It is pointless to run," the monster growled behind me. "Give it to me, and you shall suffer less pain…" however, right at that moment I came face to face with the heavy mahogany wood door that lead out of the building. Hurriedly, with the monster just a few feet behind me, I grabbed the handle and yanked opened the door.
Except, it didn't open. The door heaved once and remained in its place. The lock was jammed! Slowly, I turned around and saw the monster eyeing me with pleasure. I was trapped, and she knew it.
"You shall die!" the monster growled, when someone grabbed my hand and yanked me towards the left. The monster yowled in frustration and took chase. The man that had grabbed my hand was running so fast that I could hardly keep up. Soon we came to another door which was locked up as well.
"It's locked!" I wailed, but the man seemed strangely calm. He let go of my hand and took out something from his pocket. It looked like some kind of a screwdriver. He pointed it at the lock and it clicked, so we were able to open the door.
The man threw open the door and locked it on the other side using that strange thing. I looked around and saw that we were in the parking lot, but there was a phone box right in the middle of it! What was that doing there? But I didn't give it too much thought. It was just good that the danger was gone. But then suddenly I saw the door shudder and shake, followed by loud growls.
I looked around for the man and saw his head poking out from the inside of the phone box. "Come on!" he yelled to me, "You don't want to be eaten by a monster, do you?"
"But that won't save us!" I replied. What was this man thinking?! "It's made of wood!" Then suddenly the door flew open and the monster charged out, licking its jaws. I didn't think twice, I ran as fast as I could into that blue phone box, and thought that I was having illusions… That small box is huge inside! It seems to have a big tube in the middle.
"Hang on, WHAT?!" I yelped "Is this all a dream?"
"Nope! This is perfectly real!" He answered, while switching some buttons on something that looked like a huge control panel. "What? You mean… Is it really bigger on the inside?! But that's impossible!" I said, intrigued.
"Yes, now we've gotta get out of here before this Vamileine gets us."
"What's a Vam- "but I didn't get a chance to finish my sentence because right at that moment that man yelled out "Hold on!" and suddenly the phone box made a whirling sound and I grabbed on to the railing beside me. Then the phone box started to shake, lightly at first, but then gradually building strength.
"Where's your house?" the man yelled at me, still switching the controls. "24 Honan Street" I yelled back. The box suddenly tilted to the left, lifting my feet clean off the ground. Suddenly it rightened itself and I landed back on my own feet, dazzled.
"The Vamileine's using it's radar to try to throw us off-course. Hang on, I think I can fix it!" the man bent down and grabbed a hammer from a drawer, and suddenly brought it down on the control panels. The box gave a last mighty heave, and then stopped. I breathed a sigh of relief.
The man wiped his bow and grinned at me, "When in doubt, always hit it with a hammer!" he lifted up the hammer. I grinned back. Even though I've been with him for only a few minutes, I was already starting to like him.
"What is your name?" he asked me, and I answered. "Eva, Eva Tyler."
"Anyway , who are you?" I asked him, curious to find out more about him. "Oh, you can call me the Doctor," said the man. "Doctor who?" I asked him, getting even more confused. "Just the Doctor," the Doctor said, and I didn't argue.
"Well, we should be there. Might've got a little off-course but we should be close." The Doctor said, and started to walk towards the door. I followed, "But, Doctor, where are we? We're still in the parking lot! And the monster's just outside!"
"No, I think it's back at the parking lot. It definitely can't travel such a long distance so fast." The Doctor answered, and before I could ask him what I meant, he threw open the doors and stepped outside. I gasped when I saw where we were.
The phone box had landed in the backyard of my little house. The sun shone warmly on my face, making me smile.
"Aw, I meant to land it on the porch. A little off target, but still good, considering that we were running from a Vamiliene!" the Doctor sounded disappointed, but then he turned back to me, "So this is your house, eh? Nice place." And with that, he bounded up the stairs to my house.
"But…but how did we get here? Is that a Travel Machine?" I asked, pointing at the box. The Doctor turned and smiled at me, "Good guess! It is, in fact not only travel, also it can travel in time. It's called the TARDIS."
"TARDIS?" I repeated, "That stands for something, doesn't it?" The Doctor looked surprised, "You're bright. I like you, Eva Tyler. And yes, it stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. And without further ado, let's see your family," and with that, the Doctor rang the doorbell.
"What? No, don't!" but it was too late. Right at that moment my mother, Cass Tyler, opened the door. She was a woman with blonde hair like mine, but thin and straight. She wore many layers of makeup and also jewelry, complete with a black scarf.
"Eva, is the graduation over already? And who is this handsome man? Oh, I know-this is your boyfriend. Let's check you over, dear, to see if you're fit for my Eva!" my mum said this all in one breath and I groaned inwardly. Why did my mother always had to 'check' anyone that took one step into our house? The Doctor looked confused, and my mother yanked him inside our house. I followed, slamming the door in frustration behind me.
"Mum, let me explain. This isn't my boyfriend, he's my, uh…friend, who's a boy! Oh seriously, Mum!" I said, running my fingers through my hair. My mother had dragged the Doctor into our living room and had forced him to sit in our sofa.
"Now, let's see here…let me check your teeth, honey," my mum murmured, but before she could make the Doctor toothless, I grabbed the Doctor's hand and started dragging him up the staircase to my room.
"Mum! He's fine!" I yelled down and retreated back into my room before my Mum could object. I plopped down onto my bed and let out a sigh that was a mixture of frustration and relief. The Doctor rubbed his forehead. "You certainly have a strange mother, Eva." He mused. I smiled, "You can say that again. I tried to bring my friend Lona to my house once and she took off running when she saw my mum!"
Then something dawned on me, "Doctor, you're not from this world, are you?" I asked. The Doctor looked at me and nodded, "You're right, I'm from another planet, it doesn't exist anymore." He said and I had a feeling he was holding his tears in.
There was a moment of silence but the Doctor broke it. "Well, enough about that! We need to find out what the monster wanted with you." "The Vami-thingy said that it wanted my necklace," I said, and took off my necklace and handed it to the Doctor. Normally I wouldn't give my necklace to anyone, but I trusted the Doctor. The necklace was nothing really special, just a simple crystal with a silver chain. But it meant the world to me. The necklace was given to me by my Dad, who was killed by someone… 12 years ago.
The Doctor examined my necklace closely. He took out his screwdriver thing and shone it once on my necklace. "Umm, Doctor, I never got to ask but what is that thing is," I said nervously, trying to distract him from my necklace. I hoped he wasn't damaging it.
"It's a sonic screwdriver. That's a screwdriver that's…sonic. So that's why it's called a sonic screwdriver." The Doctor answered half-heartedly, still staring intently at my necklace. Then suddenly the screwdriver made a beeping noise and we both jumped. I watched as the Doctor looked at the necklace.
"But…but that's impossible! It's just a legend!" he stammered, and I started to get worried. "What's a legend?" I asked, trying to take back my necklace but the Doctor didn't notice.
"Eva," he said urgently and turned to me, "This necklace was said to be a legend-a myth! But it exists! That's why the monster wanted it!"
"Why? What's so powerful about my necklace?"
"This is the Eternity Crystal. Whoever has it literally controls the universe. This crystal necklace has the power to do anything." The Doctor explained. I could feel myself turning pale.
The Doctor looked at me with seriousness in his brown eyes, "Eva, where did you get this?"
"My dad gave it to me 12 years ago, just before he was killed," I said. I hated talking about my Dad's death to someone but the urgency in the Doctor's eyes made me say it.
Then the Doctor clicked his fingers. "Of course! Eva, when they found your father's body, did they find him dry? Completely out of blood?"
I looked at the Doctor in shock. How did he know? Only our family and of course the police knew about that. "Yes," I whispered.
"Eva, I'm sorry I'm being so blunt but this is important. I think I got it. Your dad gave the necklace to you and headed off to work, or something, right?" I nodded my head, and the Doctor continued, getting more excited by the minute, "What kind of blood did your father have?"
I wondered why the Doctor would ask such a question but I answered truthfully, "AB negative. The rarest blood type in the world. I have it too, you know."
The Doctor's eyes widened and he yelled in triumph, "Eureka, I got it! Eva, listen to this, the Vamiliene killed your father to try to get the Eternity Crystal, but you had it. It drained your father of his blood, because they feed on blood, but one human blood type, AB negative-they can't drink it! It makes them sick!"
"Then why did they drink my father's blood?" I said. I could tell that the Doctor was trying to place the puzzle pieces together, and I wanted to help, even if I had to talk about sensitive subjects.
"Probably got confused. But that's not important-oh, actually it is but Eva, listen! It drank your father's blood and got sick. Really sick. But it recovered and found you and the Eternity Crystal so that's why it was attacking you!" suddenly the Doctor went quiet, and started pacing around my room.
I felt my eyes widen in fear and I tried not to imagine the world being ruled by a thousand Mrs. Birch's. "So what can we do?" I asked, my lips dry.
"Well," the Doctor started pacing again, "The Eternity Crystal can only be destroyed by the one who made it. They were an ancient race called the Xan."
"Great!" I said, jumping up from my bed, "All we have to do is to give my necklace to the Xan and they'll destroy it. Problem solved."
The Doctor stopped walking for a second (which was good because I was getting dizzy watching him pace) and shook his head at me, "It's not that simple. First of all, we haven't seen the Xan for like…forever. And if we do find them, there'll be no guarantee they'll help. They are very touchy, I should know,"
"But… can the TARPIS…TARLIS…whatever it's called help us?" I asked hopefully. "Its' called the TARDIS, and I don't think it can help us, the only thing it can do for us is bring us to the planet of the Xan's, which is called Xanadu."
"Wait a moment… But, if the crystal wasn't made on Earth, how did it get here?" I asked, puzzled.
The Doctor started pacing again, and said, half to me and half to himself, "I don't know, but guess what? Let's go to Xanadu and find out!" he said, snapping out of his thoughts.
The Doctor flung open the door to my bedroom and ran out the room. I quickly stood up and started follow him, trying to keep up. He threw our front door open and ran to the TARDIS. Luckily my mom was shopping and didn't see us going into the TARDIS. I really couldn't imagine the look on her face if she saw us.
"Come on, Eva! You're coming with me!" The Doctor yelled to me as I ran in the TARDIS. Seeing the phone box get bigger when you step inside still amazed me. But I didn't even have time to think about that because I heard the same whirling sound as I did before, but this time I didn't feel afraid. I looked at the Doctor and smiled. I had a feeling that this was going to be the greatest adventure of my life.