I thought my dog was dying on Sunday. He's fourteen years old and we got better answers at our regular vet's office, though he's still not himself. I won't be to writing Heir for a few days. Here's the thing about Astralina Reid, it wants to be written. I have to want to write Heir. It is not easy to explain, but that's my best answer.
Chapter Seven:
"So, who's TARDIS are we taking?" I asked.
"I'll shrink mine, to get it into yours," my mom the Doctor said.
"How did you figure out how to work the cylinder?" my mom asked.
"After you two died in an explosion, I ordered it to help me," I said.
"We died?" dad said.
"I had to do something."
"Not that I'm not grateful to be alive, but will erasing our deaths cause problems?" my dad asked.
"Your daughter is the center of a time event," my mom the Doctor said. "Time is in flux around her."
"I still don't like her being in the middle of this," my mom said.
"Mom, I'm glowing and levitating," I said. "I need to be involved."
"We can't keep arguing," my mom the Doctor said.
She snapped her fingers twice and the box shrunk to the size of a milk carton.
"Let' see what you've done with the place," my mom the Doctor said and went in.
I followed her.
"How do I stop glowing?" I asked.
She held my hands.
"Close your eyes and focus all your energy on a pinpoint of light. Then snuff it out like a candle."
Closing my eyes tightly, I focused. The light was beautiful. I blew on it like a candle. Stumbling to the ground, my mom the Doctor grabbed me.
"You never mentioned this in any of the notes you left," my mom said.
"She's half human and half alien," my mom the Doctor said. "I wasn't sure what would happen. The glowing thing is rare among my people."
"Am I allowed to be mad that they never told me you were an alien from a TV show, making me half-alien?" I asked my mom the Doctor.
"We can sort out what your parents should have told you about me later," she said. "Now take us back to the site of the averted explosion."
I flipped switches at random.
"My daughter isn't old enough to drive, yet she can use a spaceship/time machine," my dad said.
The TARDIS was in motion.
My mom the Doctor looked at me. I tried to read her mind. She smiled.
"Has that gotten you in a lot of trouble?" she asked.
"Tons," I said. "I also have clairvoyant dreams."
"Oh, those can get you into trouble too," my mom the Doctor said. "I've only known you for ten minutes and you are so much more remarkable than I imagined."
"You are kind of incredible too," I said.
We stopped moving.
My mom the Doctor grabbed my hand and we raced out.
"Stay close to me," she said.
"What do you want?" my mom the Doctor shouted. "Astralina is not yours to claim!"
"She will be the new fountain of our race," a booming voice said. "Half human, half Gallifreyan, her human DNA will be stripped away and we will revive the Supreme Timelord."
The air chilled. A look of horror appeared on my mom the Doctor's face.
"I won't let you," she said. "She's under Earth's protection. I signed a bond in blood with her adoptive mother to keep her here."
"When she turns thirteen in twelve days that contract will expire. That is when children are judged as adults by the Supreme Timelords. You will not be able to protect her. Until then Doctor."
There was a rushing of wind that filled the air. It sent my nerves on end. Both of my mom's hugged me.
"What was that?" my dad asked.
"Let's discuss this over a cup of tea," my mom the Doctor said. "Do you like tea?"
"No," I said.
"Then milk," she said.
SWAT personnel entered. My mom the Doctor pulled out credentials.
"Interpol liaison," she said.
"What's the girl doing here?" one of the members asked.
"I asked her to be taken out of school," my mom said. "I'll explain later. I need to get her home."
My mom the Doctor telepathically spoke to me.
"Will the TARDIS down to size," she said.
I focused, and it reverted to the size of a soda can.
My mom the Doctor picked it up.
"Experimental tech," she said. "We'll be off."
We went downstairs and Aunt Emily waiting.
"We need to talk," she said.
…
No one spoke until we entered the BAU conference room where my BAU family, including Rossi, were assembled. My mom the Doctor didn't even try to talk to me telepathically until then. She looked positively scared.
"I need to come up with a good story for how a tween girl disabled a bomb vest," Prentiss said.
"I like it better than the one where Aunt Tara comes rushing to evacuate me, and I find out both my parents were blown up, while my friends watched," I said.
"That really happened for you?" Aunt Tara said.
"You held me for three hours in a car while I cried," I said, getting emotional.
"Oh honey," my mom said rubbing my arm.
"So, let me guess," Aunt Emily said. "You read my mind for the safe combination, and pulled the cylinder out. How much did you find out about your mom?"
"That you've been lying to me about everything," I said. "I Googled Time Lady and found her picture and everything I was doodling was the Gallifreyan alphabet."
Aunt Penny slapped her forehead.
"Why didn't I think of that?" she said. "It's been thirteen years since that show was on. I completely forgot about the alphabet."
"I never did that," my mom the Doctor said. "I was a terrible speller."
"What can you tell us about the threat facing my daughter?" my mom asked "I saw the look of fear on your face. They sounded like a menace."
"They're essentially time Nazis," she said. "They believe the Time Lord race is superior to all others, along with ethnic cleansing."
"They are Nazis," Uncle Matt said.
"But wait," Uncle Luke said. "Time Lord's aren't born if I remember what I read. How do you make a Time Lord?"
"Someone remembered their history lessons. They would make her stare into to the time stream to release her full potential," my mom the Doctor said. "Then they'd take her to the center of Gallifrey to listen for her name and bind her regenerations, to it."
"How do we keep her safe?" my dad asked.
"If I thought sending her to the other side of the universe was the best way to keep my child safe, I would do it in a heartbeat," my mom the Doctor said. "But it won't. They'll hunt her down there. We have less than two weeks to come up with a better plan. I can get help, but you can't hide her. Astralina needs to play a part in this."
"We have unlimited resources through the government to conceal her," my mom said.
"Killing you and Will was a test," my mom the Doctor said. "Astralina succeeded by saving your lives using her abilities, the next time they kill, it will be far more permanent."
I stood up. I closed my eyes and relit the light in my mind. I opened my eyes and I was glowing again.
"I deserve a chance to help decide my fate," I said.
"That's new," Uncle Dave said.
I floated high above them.
"If you don't, you won't know what I'm capable of on my own."
Aunt Emily quickly closed the blinds.
"You've made your point. You'll have a voice," she said.
I moved to the floor. My mom the Doctor nodded at me with a slight smile.
"That's my girl," she said telepathically.