"Come upstairs if you want answers," The Mistress called from the top of the staircase. "Quickly. I don't know what he has up his sleeve, and we want to be gone by the time he recovers."
The Mistress walked to her room, and Lucy started walking up the stairs with the collar in her hand. She made a "follow me" gesture. Soon everyone walked up the stair into The Mistress' room where a blue telephone box sat in the middle of the floor with its door open to the inside of the TARDIS.
Lucy quickly ran inside and asked The Mistress in a whisper, "What are you doing?"
"This is the fastest way to get everyone to safety. Once inside he won't be able to get to us so easily. Boys, could you bring in the mattress? We're going to need more furniture."
Eddie and Orion did bring in the mattress behind the maids, who were looking both stunned and confused. Mary and Ally whispered back and forth, while Emily looked around in a tranquil fury. Orion shut the door behind them. Lucy was glad for the sense of protection that gave her.
Eddie grabbed Lucy's arm and asked, "What is this?"
"A space ship," The Mistress answered and swatted away his arm from Lucy. "The maids have seen it before although… I had to… adjust their memories a bit. Apologies but it was necessary."
"Was it?" Emily spoke up, enraged. "You had no right."
"And you had no right to go snooping around," The Mistress countered. "I'm an alien on a strange planet. Of course, I wouldn't let just anyone know about my ship. You should be thanking Lucy. I was fully prepared to kill you to keep this a secret; she's the one who recommended that I just alter your memories."
Mary and Ally looked terrified, and Emily stared The Mistress down with rage in her eyes. Eddie got between Emily and The Mistress.
"That's… not okay. At all. Did you just admit to planning murder in front of a detective?" Eddie asked with a quiet rage brewing in his eyes.
"Oops," The Mistress said with fake shock. "I didn't 'plan' to kill them. It would have been self-defense. If they told someone, what do you think would have happened to me? You just saw one of my kind tonight. And that one wasn't even one of my enemies. At least… not until tonight."
"Wait," Lucy said, and everyone's attention turned to her. "Dr. Morty's not human."
"No. He's a Time Lord. The Monk. The second that I saw him in the yard I knew. We can sense each other if we get close enough. I wonder how he managed to fool me before."
"A 'Time Lord?'" Eddie asked. "So this ship…"
"Yeah, it's also a time machine," The Mistress said flippantly, not seeming to care about secrets anymore. "So here's the plan. I'll take Ally, Mary, and… Emily wherever they want to go, and, yes, you will still get your money. Then, detective, I'll take you home, and then Orion, Lucy, and I will plan on taking care of this… problem. I had to waste a perfectly fine piece of real estate on him; I hope he's happy."
"No!" Eddie said and looked to Lucy. "Let's go home. You don't have to be a part of this madness. We can go home… and just… sleep at this point. I really just need some sleep, and then… we'll deal with whatever comes our way."
"Afraid it won't be that easy, detective," The Mistress said with a fake smile. "She's my companion which means that he'll definitely try to use her against me somehow. By torture or holding her hostage… no, she stays with me."
"Then so will I," Eddie replied stubbornly.
"I'd still like to know what the hell that thing is," Emily interjected and pointed to Lucy's sleeve.
"Well, considering that he most likely saved your life, I'd say he's your savior," Lucy snapped at Emily making her flinch. "Should you really be scaring him?"
Emily looked down for a second before she said, "Okay. Whatever. That's… whatever. But basically, 'Esther,' you just admitted to wanting to kill us, and now what? You want to buy our silence?"
"Pretty please," The Mistress replied and batted her eyelashes. "Your mother will be well taken care of. I'll see to that personally. Mary, your grandfather will receive the best medical care, and, Ally, your family's debt will be cleared. Is that not enticing enough?"
Ally replied, "I'm kind of sold on the idea."
"Me too," Mary replied and looked at Emily hesitantly. "Look, I'm not saying we forget all of this, but… I'm willing to accept her conditions."
Emily rolled her eyes and asked Lucy, "You're really okay with this? Wow, you really are as messed up as she is."
"So where do you want to go?" Lucy asked before anyone else could speak out against Emily. Normally Lucy would at least passive-aggressively mess with Emily out spite, but today it seemed too much. Emily had nearly gotten choked out by a Time Lord. Today could be a free pass.
"Home," Ally replied. "You don't think that he'll come after us, do you? He already tried to get Emily."
"Only because she was alone, but I'll make arrangements for protection," The Mistress said and looked to Eddie, who reluctantly nodded.
"I'd like to go to my boyfriend's house," Mary spoke up.
Emily was unnaturally quiet, and Lucy realized with a start that she might not have anywhere else to go. Her mother was hospitalized. Lucy had never heard her talk to or about any other family members or friends.
"Um, maybe it'd be better for Emily to stay with us for the time being," Lucy said. "He got a really good look at her, and the TARDIS, the ship, is probably the safest place for her. It's just a suggestion."
Emily looked down and sighed.
"I guess that's fine… for now," Emily agreed.
The Mistress put in the coordinates for Mary and started the ship. Eddie grabbed ahold of Lucy as they took off. He was silent, but Lucy could tell from his eyes that he was not satisfied with the answers that he'd been given. Silently hoping that they could quickly solve this issue with The Monk, Lucy relaxed into his arms.