Note: Thanks for all the great reviews, guys! :)
Chapter 10 – Treading Water
"Lucy, this is Seren," the Master properly introduced me to his wife. He put little emphasis on the word, it was an empty title. We sat in the kitchen, Lucy had made sandwiches.
"Aren't you in charge of the newest space project?" I asked her curiously. I had seen tidbits on the news, but was largely uninterested.
"Yes, that's mostly Harry's idea," she explained. I forgot for a moment that she was calling him 'Harry' instead of 'the Master'. It was a reference to Harold Saxon. "When he's not working on grading papers he's helping me with that."
"Why did you take a job at a school?" I asked.
"We needed the money," he said quietly. Teachers didn't make a lot of money, but it was a low profile job. Lucy looked embarrassed, she had grown up with money and lost it all. "I couldn't draw attention to myself and teenagers are the easiest to fool." He continued to tell me a rough overview of his plans. The Master planned on capturing the Doctor and taking him to the moon base. There, he would put into effect the final phase of the plan.
"We'll get you on a shuttle out as soon as possible," Lucy said, folding her hands in her lap.
"My parents," I said suddenly, "I don't turn 18 till October. I'll have to tell them something so I can get to the moon base."
"We'll figure it out," he sighed, "I'm still working it out. I –" he checked his watch. "I need to make a phone call, be back in a minute." He patted Lucy's shoulder and left the room, leaving us alone.
"You're a Time Lady?" she asked me quietly. I nodded. "Gosh. Harry never told me much about his planet," she said quietly.
"It was beautiful," I said wistfully. "Orange skies, mountains covered in snow, silver trees. The Citadel would sparkle when the suns hit it just right." Lucy watched me delicately. She was so polite and kind, I felt like I owed her something.
"Amazing. I'm sorry you're stuck on Earth. Harry said…the Doctor has his own TARDIS. He goes everywhere." My eyes widened. Of course he would have the last TARDIS in existence.
"What about you? What do you think of all this?" I asked her.
"I don't know what to think," she said. "I was sent to jail after he died." Her voice turned bitter. "I missed a lot. This man, he saved me. His name was Jack. Captain Jack," she laughed musically. "He was such an impossible thing," her gaze shifted to the window and the small section of sky visible over buildings. "He pitied me. He visited me in the jail and thought that Harry had hypnotized me before. He was wrong, but I let him think that. He let me out, took care of me for a few weeks. It was nice to be back in the real world." She seemed enamored with this Jack.
"He sounds nice," I said, unsure of what to think.
"You must think we had something. No, he was very nice," she sighed. I suspected that she was a pawn in the Master's game of chess, not a queen. She had simply fallen for a knight on her way across the board to be queened.
The Master entered the library as a grandfather clock struck 3:30.
"I should go…" I said.
The Master was reluctant to let me leave on my own, and called a taxi. He looked at me as if I were a child he was in charge of. Lucy lingered at the door to wave. I smiled, she was sweet. I didn't know what I would do now, the Master seemed willing to set his plans back until October so that I could avoid my 'parents'.
It was nearly 4 in the afternoon when I arrived home. I braced myself for whatever punishment I would get for leaving without an announcement.
I opened the door and checked the unlit rooms. Strangely, no one was home. I had left home at about 11:00 that morning, without a word to Justin. My father should have come back around noon, and my mother was sleeping in after a late shift. I had been gone, unannounced, for hours, my mobile hadn't even rung once. I turned on most of the lights, locked the doors, and tried my mobile. Neither of my 'parents' answered their mobiles, the same with Justin. I turned on the TV, bored and impatient.
"...drove into the Thames at approximately 3:00 this afternoon. Authorities say a man, woman, and child were killed in the accident, but we await further confirmation. The car was one of the 10% of cars that have not had their ATMOS sat-nav removed in the past few years."
I flipped the channel, to another news station. They were talking about the same car accident. I sighed and plopped down onto the sofa.
"...a silver 2009 Ford Focus, crashed around 3:00 PM. One man, woman, and child were killed when their car drove into the river. Officials have released the name of the driver as Thomas Justice. In other news, representatives from NASA met earlier today with LazLabs representatives about the upcoming announcement on developments for the colony on-"
I froze. Thomas Justice was my adopted father's name. As if on cue, the doorbell rang. I turned off the TV and answered the door.
A half hour later, I buried my face in my pillow and cried myself to sleep.
I'm not sure if it's possible to drive a car into the Thames (barriers and such), because I live overseas. If it isn't, could someone drop a review so I can change it? Thanks!