"Get everyone inside the church. Rory, I'll get her back." We all began to move to the church, but Rory hung back a little. Fear began to grow in his heart.
"What do you mean get her back? Where's she gone?" The Doctor and I stopped.
"She was taken. Into the earth."
"How." Anger began to build in him. "Why didn't you stop it?"
"I tried. I promise I tired."
"Well you should've tried harder." His voice rose and I placed a hand on his shoulder,
"Rory…"
"I'll find Amy. I'll keep you all safe I promise. Come on please. I need you alongside me." The Doctor turned and began to head back to the church. I took Rory's hand and pulled him along,
"Rory, believe me when I say we will get her back. When the Doctor makes a promise, he keeps his promise." Rory didn't say anything but I felt his heart lighten a little. Worry was still there but he anger was subsiding.
We made our way into the church and I felt question grow in the young woman,
"Where's Moe? Is he with you?"
"Stupid door I though I got it fixed."
"Dad!"
"Something's happened to him hasn't it?" The boy was smart.
"How do we get the door open?" I smiled at Nasreen.
"Can you guys clear away from the door for me?" They did and I smiled at them. It took one good strong kick and it swung open. The Doctor stared at me for a moment, "What? I learned a few tricks while I was here." He gave me a quirky smile before heading in.
We were setting up our new little base when I felt the exasperation grow in the young woman again,
"So we can't get out, we can't contact anyone, and something, something that took my husband is coming up through the earth."
"Yes, if we move quickly enough we can be ready."
"No." She was defiant and I was loosing my patience with her, "Stop. This has gone far enough. I mean what is this?"
"He's telling the truth love." Thank you dad.
"Come on, it's not the first time we've had no mobile or phone signals. Reception's always rubbish" She threw her hands in the air. I was getting fed up with her.
"Look, Ambrose, we saw one of the Doctor's friends get taken. You saw the lightening in the sky. I have seen the impossible today. And the only person, who has made any sense of it for me, is The Doctor."
"Him?" The disgust in her voice made me want to slap her. The Doctor popped up from behind a crate,
"Me?" And he disappeared again,
"Yes and do you have a problem with that?" I stepped closer so my eyes were locked with hers. I could feel the affect that my intimidation had on her. The Doctor popped up again,
"Phoenix, down." I backed down but I had set fear into her. Nobody has the right to talk to the Doctor like that.
"Can you get my dad back?" Ambrose shot a look at her son and the Doctor stopped moving about and looked at the boy. Everybody stopped and looked at the boy. The Doctor paused for a moment,
"Yes. But I need you to trust me and do exactly as I say from this second onwards because we are running out of time." He moved closer so now he was in front of Ambrose. Defiance grew in her again but when her eyes met mine it shrank a little.
"So tell us what to do." Her voice was harsh but she was trying to bite back tears.
"Tank you. We have eight minutes to set up a line of defense. Bring me every phone, every camera, every piece of recording device, or transmitting equipment you can find." They all dispersed, on the hunt for the list the Doctor had just spouted of. I stayed with him though. Once everyone was gone the Doctor looked at me.
"Why did you get so defensive earlier?"
"You shouldn't have to take that from anyone." He lifted my chin so my eyes met his. He had his grin plastered on his face and kissed my head,
"You are a one of a kind Phoenix." We moved outside so the Doctor could continue telling them what to do. He began to spout more things off, "Every burglar alarm. Ever movement sensor. Every security light. I want the whole area covered with sensors." They all began to tape things to walls and other structures of the church.
"Alright guys we need to be ready for whatever's coming up. I need a map of the village marking where all the cameras are going." He patted the boy on the shoulder making him the one for the job,
"I can't do the routes, I'm dyslexic."
"Oh that's alright I can't make a decent meringue. Draw like your life depends on it Elliot." He beamed at the boy and the boy beamed back. The Doctor always had a way with kids. Elliot ran out of the room to draw a map.
"Six minute Forty seconds." Rory was still outside hooking things up, "Anything moves we'll know." The doctor patted the old man on the back.
"Good lad." The Doctor ran back outside while I stayed with Nasreen and Tony. The Doctor came back in and started working with the readings again when Elliot came running back in with the map he made.
"Look at that. Perfect. Dyslexia never stopped Davinci or Einstein. And it's not stopping you."
"I don't understand what you're going to do?"
"Two phase plan. First the sensors and cameras will let us know when something arrives. Second if something does arrive I use this," he pulled out his sonic screw driver and pointed it at the screen, "to send a sonic pulse through that network of devices. A pulse which will temporarily incapacitate most things in the universe." The boy grinned,
"Knock 'em out. Cool."
"Lovely place to grow up around here." I leaned against the table as the boy and the Doctor talked. The boy really liked the Doctor.
"I suppose. I wanna live in the city one day. Soon as I'm old enough I'll be off."
"I was the same way when I grew up." I laughed and shook my head,
"I never wanted to stay home. I wanted to see the rest of the universe." The boys smiled at us,
"Did you get away?" I nodded and the Doctor grinned,
"Yeah,"
"Do you ever miss it?" A pain grew in my heart. I did miss it…terribly. The Doctor stopped and the gleam in his eyes faded along with his smile. I didn't have to read his heart to know his pain.
"So much." The boy looked to me and simply lowered my head.
"Is it monsters coming? Have you met monsters before?" The Doctor got on eye level with him,
"Yeah."
"Are you scared of them?"
"No there scared of me."
"Will you really get my dad back?"
"No question." The Doctor smiled at him then looked back at the screen,
"I left my headphones at home." The Doctor was distracted but I decided to go with the boy,
"I'll come with you." I walked with the boy out the church and we began our short stroll to his house.
"You're names Phoenix? It's different, I like it."
"Mhm. To you it is. But where I come from its normal."
"Where do you come from?"
"I'm from a place far away form here. I'm what you call a Starheart."
"A what?"
"Starheart. The stars were named after my people; I can read your heart as well. Like right now you're worried about your dad." He stopped and gapped at me, "You wish you could make time go back until yesterday when your dad was reading to you."
"How did you know!" I smiled at him,
"Starheart."
"Wow! So there's a whole planet of people like you?" Again I felt a pain in my heart.
"No… I'm the last of my kind." His head hung and a felt sadness come over him,
"What about the Doctor? Is he a Starheart as well?"
"No, the Doctor is a different kind of species."
"Is he the last of his kind as well?"
"Yes." Sadness hung over him but vanished quickly,
"Is he your boyfriend?" I laughed as we entered the house,
"No he's not my boyfriend." He ran into his room and came back with his headphones, "Cool, I like them."
"You do!"
"Mhm, they light up. Well, come on." I took his hand we walked back out. We were less than half way there when it became dark,
"Phoenix? What's going on?"
"I don't know… Come on. Move quickly now." We were heading up the hill when I thought I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I whipped my head around but saw nothing.
"What is it?" There it was again,
"Quick, up the hill. Hurry." We reached the door but it wouldn't open. I saw something our of the corner of my eye again and again I saw nothing. He banged on the door.
"Doctor!"
"Mum!"
"Move over." He did and I began to kick the door.
"Elliot!"
"Phoenix!"
"Get the door open!" I kept kicking the door but it wouldn't budge.
"Phoenix…" I turned around and saw one of them coming towards us.
"Elliot, get behind me." He did and the banging on the other side kept going,
"Phoenix! What is it! Why'd you stop?"
"Elliot, I promise nothing will happen to you."
"Phoenix!" It kept getting closer. Elliot squeezed my hand and I squeezed it back. It was right in front of us. It was examining us. Then a mist came over us and Elliot lost consciousness. I however was just groggy.
"Interesting…" It hissed and another one appeared. One picked Elliot up and the other picked me up and everything became fuzzy.
