CHAPTER 10
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THE TRUE HISTORY OF ADA MULLINS
The next thing that I knew I was suddenly waking up in a large white corridor that seemed to stretch on forever. Standing in front of me was a sinister woman with a wicked smile carrying an umbrella who was dressed like some kind of demented nanny out of a storybook. She held a cup of tea in her hand and offered it to me as soon as I noticed her.
"Tea? It'll help make the transition easier or so I've heard," The woman said.
"No, I don't want your bloody tea. What I want is to know what's going on here? Where am I and who are you?" I asked in a voice filled with emotion.
"It's okay, dear. Everyone is a bit emotional when they first arrive here. You just need to calm down and get used to it. Your transition is almost inevitable now so it looks like you're about to become a permanent resident here. I'm Missy by the way and this is the Nethersphere. Don't worry, Christina. You'll soon learn to love it here especially when your friends arrive here shortly. Tea?" Missy said with that demented smile of hers growing even larger now as she offered me the teacup yet again.
"I'll tell you where you can stick that if you don't quit shoving it in my face. Now tell me what's going on? How did I get here wherever here is?" I insisted.
"Ooh, I like you. You're spunky. I like spunky. It makes the eventual breaking of your spirit when you're forced to accept the inevitable all the more enjoyable to watch. You want the truth, Chrissy? Well, here it is. You're dying. Even now Ada is killing you as we speak. You're already starting to transition to this world early because you're only human while your friends are made of much sterner stuff. It'll take them just a little bit longer to come here but they'll be along. Don't worry about that," Missy said obviously enjoying every moment of this.
I love it. Even here they're still calling me Chrissy! Will that horrible nickname ever go away?
Then a disembodied female voice that seemed to come from everywhere at once suddenly said, "It doesn't have to be that way, Christina. It's still not too late despite Missy's words of doom and gloom. I can save you. I can give you power beyond imagining that will dwarf even Ada's. You will be able to crush her and save your friends and the man that you love with it. All you have to do is become my champion. What do you say?"
"This is highly irregular. You can't just come barging in here like this and steal someone?" Missy protested.
"I can do whatever I like. I can even shut your penny ante little operation down in its tracks and make it all come crashing down in flames if I like with a single gesture and you along with it so I suggest that you don't anger me," The voice said.
Missy said nothing but the anger on her face spoke volumes. She obviously knew exactly who this was and knew better than to cross them.
She was making Missy furious whoever she was. I didn't trust her one bit but I definitely appreciated that because I absolutely loathed Missy with a passion.
"What's the catch, whoever you are?" I asked with suspicion.
"I thought that you'd be far too intelligent to just jump in without learning all of the details first, Christina. I'm glad to see that I was right about you. The catch is that you will become my champion and will therefore have to do whatever I say. You will be mine forever until the end of time," The voice said.
"Which may not be as long as you think," Missy quipped.
"Not one more word or I'll incinerate you," The voice said in anger which immediately made Missy become angry again and sulk.
"What? What does that mean?" I asked feeling completely confused.
"It's nothing for you to worry yourself about. Do you accept my offer or not?" The voice said.
"You're not telling me everything. I can already tell that. You're trying to trick me. I know an attempted con job when I hear one, lady," I said.
"Good for you, Chrissy. Now if you'll just come along with me for final processing," Missy said.
Suddenly she began to choke as if from a pair of unseen hands being suddenly wrapped around her throat as the disembodied voice said, "Pay no attention to her. I never do. Are you really satisfied with your decision? You do realize that you're about to die and so are Giacomo and your friends. You could fix all of that with just one single word. Just say yes to me and you can save them."
"Yes, and then I'll be your puppet for the rest of eternity which doesn't sound like it's going to be long and that really concerns me. That can't possibly end well. I don't want to die and I don't want the others to either. I can't save us by making things worse with a mistake though, and this sounds like the mother of all mistakes since you won't tell me a thing about who you are and what I'd have to do for you. I'll just have to find another way to save myself," I said obstinately.
"How are you going to do that exactly? You're almost completely crossed over now," Missy mocked me after the unseen owner of the voice let go of her and she regained her breath.
"I just won't let myself go the rest of the way then. I'm not giving up. I'm going to keep fighting because that's what I do. There's a way out of this. I know there is. I just have to find it," I said even though I wasn't completely sure about what that way was just yet.
I was secretly absolutely terrified, but I wasn't about to let them know it. I also wasn't about to let my fear get the better of me and cause me to make a stupid mistake either.
"You already have," A voice that I was all too familiar with said as either Ishtar or Rose appeared out of nowhere.
I never could tell them apart to be honest.
"Ishtar?" I asked as I hoped that I had just found my way out.
"Nope, it's Rose. I've been watching you because Jenny insisted on it, and it's a good thing too. You're almost as bad as the Doctor about getting yourself into trouble, Christina," Rose said.
"Thank you," I said with a grin as I suddenly began to feel like things were going to be alright now that she was here.
"Now you're really starting to remind me of the Doctor," Rose said with a grin.
"Oh, no! Not you again! Didn't you cause enough damage here when you died? Don't you have someone else to annoy?" Missy said with a frown.
"Don't get all bent out of shape, mate. I'm not here to smash this place to bits like I did when you tried to snatch me after the Black Guardian killed me. I'm just here to make sure that she gets back to her body safely without one of you two interfering," Rose said.
"I won't interfere, Bad Wolf. I've already gotten the answer that I came for after all. I must say that I'm impressed with this one. Most people would have been begging for my help to get out of this dump, but she actually stood up to me. That took great courage," The voice said.
"I don't appreciate you trying to trick her in the first place. I still don't know what you lot and Ishtar are up to but I will find out. You won't be able to keep it from me for much longer, and you also won't do anything to her either if that's what you have planned. She's under my protection now, and she's not to be messed around with in the future, got it?" Rose said.
"As if you could really stop me if I actually wanted to kill her, Time Lord," The voice said with mocking laughter.
"Oh, but I've already stopped you before. I am the one who took your previous champion away from you after all. Koschei says hi by the way," Rose said evilly.
"Oh, that was a good one!" Missy said with a chuckle.
"Christina has proven herself to me even if she hasn't to the others just yet, and that's all that I came here to find out. One day, we will have a reckoning though, Arkytior. You can count on that. All things must bow before me one day eventually even you," The voice said as it slowly faded away until it was gone.
I felt so lost here and more than a bit annoyed as the others had all been discussing me as if I wasn't even in the room.
"Will someone please tell me what is going on here? Why is everyone acting like I'm some kind of precious gem in a bank vault? More importantly will you please take me back to my body, Rose? I really need to stop Ada somehow," I protested.
"You're already going back to your body, Chrissy. You'll be back any minute now. You're just having what you might call a near death experience, and this lot were both trying their best to take advantage of it," Rose said.
"I'm going to be alright then? Ada's been stopped?" I asked in relief.
"Not exactly. You're still not out of trouble yet. If you don't watch out, you could just wind up right back in the same spot of trouble all over again. Just a heads up on that. Good luck, Christina," Rose said.
I felt myself starting to leave the Nethersphere even as I heard Rose say to Missy, "Don't think I don't know what you're up to either. If you try to go through with it, I'll make what I did the last time that I was here seem like a vacation in comparison, yeah? Oh, and stop going around calling yourself the Doctor's girlfriend or I'll give you a personal introduction to the back of my hand. Got it?"
Missy began to smile now amazingly enough as she said, "We'll soon find out who wins in the end, Rose Tyler, and I'm going to enjoy it oh so much. As for you, Chrissy, I'll be seeing you soon too. Maybe then you'll accept some tea, hmm?"
I would have to wait and figure out what had really been going on later as that was when I finally returned to my body, and I gasped for breath as my eyes quickly snapped open. The first thing that I saw was Lydia fighting a titanic battle with Ada as the two of them tore the entire house apart. I looked to see that the others were all knocked out cold on the ground. At least I hoped that they were just unconscious anyway.
Then I turned to see that the others who had been at the séance had all fled except for Houdini. He was still standing there staring at me in disbelief. I think that he was actually still trying to figure out how we were doing the 'trick' or maybe he was just in a state of shock. I didn't have time to find out which before the Trickster suddenly made his presence felt as he appeared beside me in an extremely bad mood.
"So you passed Death's little test, eh? You may or may not be the one to stop us, but it doesn't really matter because this all ends here. It looks like you've come back just to die for good, Christina. Ada, kill her and your deal with me will be complete," The Trickster ordered.
"She's not killing anyone. Call her off or you'll have to deal with me. You got lucky before when your little puppet took me by surprise, but this time I'm ready for you. You're definitely not going to have the same results this time around," Willa said as she returned to consciousness and stood in front of me protectively.
"I can guarantee that he won't. I killed the Black Guardian before I was even born so what do you think that I'm going to do to you, Trickster?" Jacqueline said as she too regained consciousness now and came to stand alongside me.
"I'm not afraid of you, Little Wolf. You only really hurt the ones that you love after all. Isn't that so?" The Trickster said with a chuckle.
"Oh, you did not just go there. You are so dead now, Tricky," I said with a grimace.
Then I had to quickly duck as a barely conscious Lydia was thrown at me from halfway across the room by Ada. As Lydia landed near a still awestruck Houdini with a massive thud, I winced in sympathy for her.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that, Christina. The Trickster is about to give me everything that I've always wanted in my life, and you're the only thing standing in my way. I'm not about to let you leave here alive," Ada said as she advanced on me threateningly.
Now it was Giacomo's turn to rejoin the land of the living as he stood in-between me and Ada and said, "No, this ends now, Ada. I'm not about to just stand by and watch you kill the people that I care about especially not her!"
"You don't have much to say in the matter now, Doctor. You're like an insect to me now. Nothing you do can stop me from getting the life that I've always dreamed of. I will have a real proper family, and no one will stop me from getting them!" Ada shouted as she began to glow with power.
"I know how you must feel," I said as I decided to try a new tactic because I could see the pain in her eyes.
That was real and it was a pain that I knew all too well. I had known it all of my life after all.
Ada glared at me as she said, "You couldn't possibly know how I feel. I've heard all about you from the Trickster. You were born to wealth and privilege, Lady Christina. Yes, your father stole everything but the kitchen sink from all of the great and the good from throughout Europe in order to maintain this magnificent lifestyle and it eventually caught up with him, but at least you never had to wonder if he loved you or not. At least you never had to grow up without him. I never had anyone. I grew up in an orphanage where no one ever wanted me and I had nothing. I never even had a decent pair of socks to wear much less enough food to eat. My life was nothing but pain and misery from the very start, Christina. I don't even remember my family. My earliest memories are all about that rotten orphanage! I had nothing until I finally took to stealing. I became the greatest thief of my time, and I finally made a life for myself from it. It wasn't just handed to me, Christina. I went out there and got it all for myself with nothing but my wits and my skill."
"You're right. I never had to worry where my next meal was coming from or if I had anything gorgeous to wear. I went to the best schools and always had the best of everything. My life wasn't as great as the Trickster made it sound though. Yes, I had a father but he was often gone while I was little, a lot, on several 'business trips' that I later found out were him stealing from millionaires. I was raised by nannies and barely even knew my father so when he asked me to start helping him steal when I became a teenager I jumped at the opportunity. It wasn't because I wanted to steal at first. It was because I just wanted to actually spend some time with him! As for the rest of my family, my mother and my sister were both lost in a horrible car accident in Cardiff when I was just an infant. I never even knew them. At around the same time, my father went bankrupt after making a bad stock investment with the family fortune, which he seems to do a lot whenever he gets some money, which is why he took to stealing in order to raise me. All of this meant that I was very lonely when I was a child, Ada. I didn't exactly have the greatest of upbringings either so don't lecture me about having a bad life!" I shouted at her.
I began to turn red with embarrassment because I had never told anyone that before not even Lydia. I had never wanted anyone to know.
"You still had a better life than I did," Ada said but I could see something there in her eyes now that wasn't there before.
Was that sympathy? Maybe even sorrow? Could it be that Ada wasn't as bad as I thought? Maybe I could still reach her somehow and stop all of this.
I had to try.
"Ada, I know that the Trickster told you that he would help you, but I know all about him from Rose. He lies in order to get what he wants and always finds a way of profiting off of his bargains with people while they get the short end of the stick. I mean he's called the Trickster. It's in the name. He tricks people," I said.
As Ada hesitated, the Trickster said, "Don't listen to her. She's just trying to save her own skin. You have everything that you ever wanted at your fingertips. It's almost in your grasp now. Kill her! Kill her and her life can be all yours."
"Her life?" Ada asked suspiciously.
"What do you mean my life? Why my life specifically?" I asked in surprise.
The Trickster hesitated as though he had just been caught at something and then quickly said, "I meant that metaphorically of course. You can have the kind of life that she had growing up."
"No, that's not what he meant. He's practicing a classic example of misdirection. He unwittingly blurted out the real truth, and now he's trying to cover it up with a lie. He wants you to believe in and focus on the illusion that he's built up for you while he's hiding the real truth. That's how the best tricks are done," Houdini said as he finally spoke for the first time since I woke up.
"What would you know about it, magician? You may be something to these pathetic little humans, but you know nothing about the higher powers and how they function. You know nothing about the universe beyond your own little corner of it," The Trickster said.
"I know a con man when I see one. You're even worse than those mediums that I've exposed over the years. The most they ever did was steal people's money. You steal people's lives. That's exactly what you're trying to do now too is to steal Christina's life. That's it isn't it? You want to have Ada kill her so that you can give her life to her. You're going to rewrite Christina's entire history," Houdini reasoned.
"How would that work though? Ada lived decades before I was ever even born. How could she possibly steal my life in the twenty-first century?" I wondered out loud.
Ada's eyes widened as she said, "You said that you had a sister that was killed near Cardiff?"
"Yes, I did. What about it?" I asked confused.
"It's just that . . . I was told that I was found wandering around Cardiff all alone with burns all over my body and blackened clothes as though I had just been in a fire. Did the car catch on fire?" Ada asked as she began to look sick.
"Yes, it did," I said still confused and then my eyes widened as I realized what she was getting at.
"It couldn't be though. I'm from this time not yours," Ada said in disbelief.
"Yes. There's a rift near Cardiff however that could have easily deposited you in the past if you happened to wander into it unwittingly. Or maybe there's an even simpler explanation," Giacomo said as he looked pointedly at the Trickster.
"You found my sister wandering around after the crash and sent her into the past so that you could give her a miserable life there instead of the one that she should have had with me, didn't you? Was it so that you could force her into making a bargain with you in order to get rid of me? Was that it? Why though? Why am I so special? Why go through all of this for anyway? Why not just kill me yourself outright? You certainly have the power to. I've seen it," I said as I began to become angrier and angrier.
"You're protected though, Chrissy, because not only do all of us look out for you but also Jenny and Rose do too. Also there's someone else that would stop him instantly if he tried to kill you himself. The Eternals," Lydia said.
"What? Why would they care? I thought that they were afraid of me. Wait a minute though. Back when I had that hallucination or near death experience or whatever it was, Rose said something about the woman who was trying to make me into her champion being allied with Ishtar, didn't she? That was an Eternal? Why are the Eternals after me for?" I asked in confusion.
"It was Death wasn't it? At least that's what she calls herself anyway because she has such a huge ego. I can't believe that she did that! That sneaky little - !" Lydia said in anger.
"Lydia, don't say anything else! She knows too much already," Willa warned.
"No, why not tell her more, hmm? That way you'll invalidate the whole thing and do my job for me," The Trickster said with an evil grin.
"Wait a minute. This all sounds so familiar to me. It's almost as if I've heard it all before," Jacqueline said as though in a daze.
"Uh oh," Lydia said with a frown.
Then she suddenly became enraged and shouted at Willa, "You erased my memories!"
"What is going on here?" I said in disbelief as Jacqueline started trying to take a swing at Willa.
"Jackie, stop this! We're supposed to be fighting the Trickster and Ada not each other!" Giacomo shouted.
Ada meanwhile seemed stunned as she said to the Trickster, "You did this to me. You ruined my life!"
"You wouldn't even have had a life at all if not for me. My minions didn't just find you wandering around. They pulled you out of the flaming ruins of the car just before it blew up. I knew a golden opportunity when I saw it so I had them secretly save your life when it should have been lost because your death was not a fixed point in time like your mother's was . I knew that I could get you to eventually agree to switch places with your sister if I ensured that you had a terrible life growing up alone in another time entirely. You're going to keep your promise to me too, Ada, because when you do it will be you who didn't go in the car with your mother and Christina who did and died in the car accident as a result. She'll be completely wiped out of the picture, and there will be no one to prevent the end of the universe. That's what I want. As for you, you'll have Christina's life. It will be the one that you always wanted. That is what you asked for, isn't it?" The Trickster asked.
"No, this can't be true. It can't. I . . . I don't believe it. I can't believe it. I'm not just some pawn in your sick, twisted little game with her. I can't be," Ada said in tears.
"Ada, I'm sorry. I wish that you could have been there with me when I was growing up. It would have made my life a lot better believe me. I always wanted a little brother or sister to play with growing up," I said as I tried to reach out to her.
Ada looked at me with indecision for a brief moment, and I thought that maybe she was about to help us against the Trickster. I thought that maybe I was about to finally get the sister that I had always wanted. Then her eyes and her face filled with rage as she glared at me.
"You! It's all your fault, Christina! He did this just to get to you! He made me into his plaything and ruined my life just to get to you! You destroyed my life!" Ada screamed as she launched into an explosive tirade.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know. I'm so sorry," I said in tears.
"That's not good enough!" Ada shouted.
She began to glow with power now and advanced on me with murder in her eyes as the Trickster laughed and said, "Yes, kill her. Kill her and claim her life for yourself."
Ada looked like she just might do it for a moment and then she shook her head and said to the Trickster, "No, I won't ever help you. You did this to me. You destroyed me. I take back our bargain. I want out of it."
"No!" The Trickster screamed as Ada's power faded and then she disappeared.
I realized now that she had gone back to the jail that the Trickster had found her in. His bargain with her had now been completely broken.
So was my heart.
"Why? Why did you do this? Why are you and the Eternals so interested in me for? Do you want me to fail to get all of the Time Lord weapons back? Is that it? Do you want them for yourself? Is that how I'm supposed to save the universe by keeping them from you?" I asked in an uncertain voice.
The Trickster just laughed and shook his head without saying a word as he immediately vanished.
"Tell her! Tell her what you made me forget," Jacqueline demanded of Willa.
"Do it. She's been kept in the dark long enough," Lydia said which made me look at her in shock.
"It wasn't my idea. My mother made me promise not to tell you and I hate it. I don't like keeping things from you," Lydia said apologetically.
I nodded already forgiving her even as Willa finally spoke now and said, "The weapons aren't important. They never were. They're real and dangerous enough alright, but that's not really why you're after them. Like you said once, anyone could have found them. The reason it's you that's been asked to get them is because the Eternals are testing you with them. They're trying to see if you're as worthy of saving the universe as you were of gaining the power of an Eternal. So far you've passed with flying colors."
"Testing me how? By seeing if I could get the weapons or not?" I asked.
Then I looked at Houdini as I said, "No, the weapons are like one of your illusions, aren't they? They're what they wanted me to see instead of the truth of what I was really doing. It's how that I got the weapons that's important isn't it? They wanted to see if I could get them without backsliding and becoming the person that I was again didn't they? They've all been tests of my moral resolve and to show whether I'm really changing or not. I can see that now. Their reasons for giving the tests are the same reasons for me taking them: to prove if I'm a good person or not. Why though? How does my being a good person save the universe?"
Willa looked like she had utterly failed as she said, "I guess that it's okay to tell you the rest of it now since the other tests are all invalid now that you know about them. Did you ever wonder what happened to the previous universe before this one that Ishtar came from?"
"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked.
"Everything. In the previous universe and in all of the ones before that one too, there always came a moment, a single moment, where the fate of that universe was sealed either one way or another. A single decision was made that would determine whether that universe and all life in it would one day be destroyed at a certain time in a certain way or whether it would be allowed to continue on a new course with no predetermined end in sight. The wrong decision was always made in every universe and that universe was always condemned to utter destruction and then a complete and total rebirth as a result of that. It's been an endless cycle of destruction and rebirth over and over again as no matter what happens and no matter what anyone does, the forces of chaos and entropy eventually always overcome those of order. That's what the Trickster was trying to ensure happened to this universe too, and it looks like he finally has if not in the way that he expected," Willa said.
"What decision is this that could have changed things, and why do you have to be so moral in order to make it for?" I asked still not quite getting it.
It was Ishtar who now answered as she suddenly appeared and said, "No one knows the answers to those questions. All that I know is that my universe was destroyed because the one thing that could have prevented it from eventually collapsing due to entropy, the heat death of the universe, wasn't able to be activated. You see in a universe way before even mine a device was created that could stop entropy and keep the universe from ever being destroyed that way. Someone in that universe, their version of the Time Lords maybe even though I never knew for sure, had created it to save it but had ultimately decided against using it because they foresaw that without an ending that the inhabitants of that universe would eventually become so wicked and corrupt that life would become sick, twisted, and utterly meaningless. They decided to hold onto the hope that one day a better universe would be created that would find a new path and become a much better place. So they placed the device that they created into a ship that would jump ahead to the next universe and that could only be accessed by someone who had once been corrupt but had reformed themselves to the point where they had a high almost perfect moral character instead. That would prove to the original builders of the device that that particular universe was capable of always being able to overcome its darker impulses and thus deserved to survive and grow."
"If no one ever opened the ship then how do you know all of this?" I asked.
"I learned it from a holographic projection generated by the ship when it appeared in my universe. You see it pops up in every universe in the same time period and tests the inhabitants there. I never learned what the device was or what it did because we were never able to enter it either. We never found anyone who was moral enough to be able to open it. The Eternals hope that maybe that person in this universe is you since you're the first person to ever be found worthy of having the power of an Eternal. Now though they'll probably not use you because there's no way to determine if you are or not now, and you only get one shot to open the ship. If you choose the wrong person, then the ship suddenly vanishes and waits to reappear to the next universe to give them a shot. I was the one who tried to open it in my universe . . . and I failed," Ishtar said with shame.
"You? I thought you said only someone who had been corrupt and reformed could open it though," I said.
"That's right. I'm not like your Rose though. I was completely corrupted by a dark being who was created by my power and called itself Fenris. I never became human like Rose did so I was never able to resist it like she did. Eventually I was saved by my Doctor though and I reformed. Apparently I didn't reform enough however. Maybe your Rose has. Maybe she could open it. I've been trying to keep her on the straight and narrow path by trying to teach her not to manipulate people's lives by what I did to Discord in case it turned out that she might be able to open the ship where I couldn't since she's different from me. I still think that you could maybe open it as well. You're a very moral person now. You've definitely proven that to me if not to the Eternals just yet," Ishtar said.
"I guess it's just as well that I didn't try. I'm sure I would have just condemned all of us if I had," I said sadly.
"I don't think so, Mia Bella. You're more than worthy of gaining access to this ship," Giacomo said with absolute surety.
I smiled at him and kissed him even as I silently disagreed with him.
Then Lydia's Eternal birth mother, Veronica Tempus, suddenly appeared out of nowhere and said to me, "The other Eternals sent me to talk to you because they're all afraid that the power of Enlightenment that you possess will give them a conscience if they stay around you for too long. They don't have to worry about that with me though. You already cursed me with one. They think that maybe you're the one too based on what we've seen so far so they want you to continue finding the remaining weapons. You'll continue to be tested along the way and it will still be an honest reaction even if you do know that you're being tested because you won't know in what form or in what way that the test will come or what moral that it's supposed to be testing. We must be certain that you're the one before the ship comes."
"I'm not sure that I want to continue these tests or not. I guess if there's even the slightest chance that it could be me though then I have to try. At least I'll know if I'm a good person or not when I'm finished won't I?" I said.
Veronica smiled as she said, "I'll tell them that you said that. If you want my opinion, Chrissy, I think that it is you because you are a good person. You always have been."
"Tell that to Ada," I said in a low voice.
"I'm so sorry for that. I didn't know what the Trickster was up to or I would have stopped it," Veronica reassured me.
I smiled at her but said nothing. Then I watched as she hugged Lydia and held her for a while. She had always been estranged from her since Lydia had been half-human and had a conscience when she didn't. I only hoped that now that she had one too that sooner or later the two of them would become closer. It looked like that they were already on the way to that fortunately.
"Mum, aren't you going to stay?" Lydia asked hopefully.
"I will soon after the tests are done. I'm not being allowed to by the others until then so that I don't contaminate the results according to the other Eternals. Bunch of prats!" Veronica protested.
"It's alright. I can wait," Lydia said smiling at her as they shared one last hug before Veronica left.
As soon as she did, Ishtar took the crystal ball where it still lay on the séance table and said, "I have a new set of coordinates now whenever you're ready to go. Take your time. I'll put them in your mind again."
Then she implanted the new coordinates in my brain by placing her hands on the sides of my head even as she said, "This next one is a potion that can grant its user absolute indestructability. Nothing will be able to destroy whoever uses it. Luckily for us, it has been found and locked up in a place called the Bank of Karabraxos, the most secure place in the galaxy. I'm sure it won't be any problem for you to get into and out of it though. Good luck, Chrissy."
Then she vanished as I said, "Yeah, because it's been really great so far. Come on, Doctor. Let's go."
Before I could leave though, Houdini surprised me by putting his arm around me and saying, "I believe in you, Christina. I see now why the Doctor thinks that you're the one that he's meant to marry. You are beautiful just like I knew that you would be both inside and out. It's your inside that's the most beautiful part of you of all though and that's no illusion. You will prove that you're the one that these other beings are seeking. You've already proven it to me after all. Goodbye."
Then he gave me a kiss on the cheek that made me blush and briefly become brain dead as I smiled like a huge idiot. My hero had just kissed me!
"Come on, Christina," Giacomo said as he glared at Houdini yet again.
"It was completely chaste I assure you," Houdini insisted even as Giacomo continued to grumble.
"Right. Do me a favor and don't mention this to me when you see me again. None of it. In fact, don't even think about Christina. Period," Giacomo said.
"I can agree to the first request but never the second one. I doubt that I'll ever be able to forget someone like her," Houdini admitted which made me swoon even more even as it made Giacomo positively fume.
After we made our way back to the TARDIS and started to leave, I came back to my senses and said, "You don't ever have to be jealous of him, Doctor. It's you that I want. I'm still here even after the headhunters, aren't I? What else is that but love?"
Giacomo smiled and kissed me even as Lydia said, "It could just be called insanity."
"Shut up, Lydia, and let them have their moment," Jacqueline protested.
Lydia and Willa both looked at her guiltily as Lydia asked, "Jackie, are we good?"
Jacqueline looked angry at first and then smiled as she said more to Willa than Lydia, "I understand why you did it, but I still don't like it. Don't ever keep things from us again or break into any of our minds anymore. Got it? I'll forgive it just this once but never again."
Willa nodded as she said, "I'm sorry. I promise that I won't do it anymore. It seems that I still haven't quite learned what it takes to be a good friend just yet."
"Don't worry. You'll learn. You have the best to study from after all," Jacqueline said as she pointed to me.
I shook my head even as I said, "I'm not even a good sister."
"Yes, you are," Lydia said firmly.
I continued to shake my head though as Giacomo said sympathetically, "Come on. Let's go visit Ada."
We arrived at the prison where they were holding her minutes later and I left the TARDIS by myself as I pretended to be Ada's lawyer with the psychic paper and a shimmer. I was allowed inside and let into her cell. She never showed any emotion even though I knew that she recognized me when I spoke to her in my own voice.
"Did you know that your real name is Felicia? Felicia Evelyn de Souza. My father once told me that he used to call you Evy. They must have given you the name Ada Mullins at the orphanage," I said as I tried to start up a conversation with her.
She said nothing so I continued to speak as I said, "So you still prefer Ada huh? I'm not so sure that I would. Evy sounds pretty good to me. Felicia isn't so bad either I suppose."
I sighed and tried not to let her silence get to me as I attempted to speak to her one more time.
"Ada, I know that I've already said this before but I'm so sorry. We can't change the past but we can still move forward from here. Maybe you could even eventually come traveling with me. Would you like that?" I asked hopefully.
"Go away. You did this to me. It's your fault and no one else's. I'd rather have died than to have had this life. It's because of you that I didn't. I can see that that's why I'm such a failure and a screw-up now. I never amounted to anything because I wasn't supposed to live," Ada said in despair.
"That's not true. Don't say that. You're still young enough to change yourself and become better than what you are, Ada. I believe in you. Please. I want you in my life. Please say that you'll change," I pleaded.
"I said go away. I don't want anything to do with you. You did this. All of it. Go!" Ada said in an angry voice.
I nodded and slowly walked away feeling completely devastated. I had utterly failed to reach her, and I now had a feeling that I never would. She hated me and probably always would.
I really couldn't blame her either. Even if it turned out that I was a good person now which I was once again starting to doubt, this would always be the one terrible thing that I could never make up for.
I would always have been at least partially responsible for ruining my sister's life, and nothing would ever change that.
Next: It's time for the next test as Christina and company break into the Bank of Karabraxos and encounter the deadly creature known as the Teller. That place was just tailor made for Chrissy wasn't it? Plus Jacqueline tries to get back together with Anthony. How well will she do at it?