Chapter Three
The old ladies wouldn't stop screaming. The
show kept going, but there were nervous looks
from the people on stage.
Miss Leake was trying to get the two
screaming women to be quiet. Rory went to
join her, and helped lead Mrs Collins and Mrs
Hooper up the centre aisle. Amy was going to
help, but noticed that the Doctor was sitting
still. His eyes hadn't left the stage.
'Shouldn't we see what's wrong?' she asked.
He shook his head, although his eyes didn't
move. 'Rory will cope. Rory will be perfect. I
need to see this show. I need to see it right to
the end.'
Amy was torn. Go with Rory or stay with the
Doctor? She dithered for a second, then sat
back down. The Doctor was right. Rory would
be fine on his own. He was great with old
people. It sounded like the real action would be
here.
On stage, Sammy Star emerged from his
grave, dressed as a skeletal monster. The mist
cleared. The Doctor and Amy watched as the
monster crept up behind the young girl.
She shrieked and tried to run, but sharp
spikes shot through the stage floor in front of
her. She backed away, but spikes sprang up
behind. The 'monster' began to pluck apples
from a twisted tree and throw them. They stuck,
proving the sharpness of the spikes.
More and more spikes herded the girl
towards the base of the tallest tree. She began to
climb. The bark of the tree fell away, revealing
a spiral walkway. Sammy Star scooped up an
armful of daggers and moved underneath.
The girl was running now. Sammy Star thrust
his daggers up through the walkway, each just
missing the girl's feet. Following her, behind
and below, he rammed home dagger after
dagger. The blades stuck there, pointing
upwards, a dangerous, glittering path.
The girl reached the top of the walkway.
There seemed to be no escape for her. Sammy
Star was still climbing up behind, weaving his
way through the dagger points. Below, the
spikes gleamed.
Finally the girl could go no further. She
turned round and there was the monster, facing
her. He held up a hand and opened it to reveal
an apple. The girl tried backing away, but there
was nowhere to go. Sammy Star threw the
apple...
The apple hit the girl. With a scream she
toppled backwards, falling towards the spikes.
Amy gasped. Everyone in the audience
gasped, except the Doctor.
The very instant the girl began to fall, there
came a blinding flash of light from the stage.
Amy blinked her eyes. When her vision
cleared, she could see that the girl had gone. In
the centre of the spiral, amid the spikes, stood
the angel statue.
The crowd began to applaud loudly. There
were even some cheers and whistles.
Amy didn't clap or cheer. Neither did the
Doctor.
'The angel moved...' Amy whispered.
'Oh yes,' replied the Doctor grimly. 'The
angel moved.'
'So it's...'
'It's a Weeping Angel,' said the Doctor. 'A
stone-cold killer. A lonely assassin.'
As the applause died away, the lights on the
stage faded. There was only one spotlight, and
it was on the Weeping Angel.
'We have to keep looking at it...' said Amy
under her breath, scared. 'If we stop looking at
it, it'll move. It'll get more people.'
The curtain fell.
Amy jumped up, thankful she was in the
front row. She ran to the stage and clambered
onto it. The audience murmured, wondering if
this was part of the act. She scrambled under
the curtain.
Two men were carrying the Angel off stage.
'Hey!' Amy called after them.
'Who are you?' said a voice. Amy spun
around. Sammy Star had come back onto the
stage. He was no longer in his graveyard outfit
and was now wearing a purple suit. 'Look, I'll
sign your programme if you wait at the stage
door, but get out of here now, OK? Time for me
to take a bow.'
'I'm not a fan!' Amy told him. 'I'm trying to
save people's lives! Do you know what that
statue is?'
The Doctor pushed through the curtain. 'Oh,
I'm quite sure he doesn't,' he said. 'He only
knows what it can do. He's just using it.'
Sammy Star stared at them for a moment.
The look on his face scared Amy, it was so
fierce.
'No one is going to ruin this for me,' he
snarled. 'No one. Do you hear me? This is my
moment.' He turned to the side of the stage and
beckoned. Two burly men appeared. 'Throw
them out!' he hissed. 'Make sure they don't set
foot in this theatre again.'
'Time to go!' said the Doctor. He took Amy
by the hand and pulled her to the edge of the
stage. They ducked under the curtain, jumped
down and ran up the centre aisle. The security
men were close behind them.
As the audience began to applaud Sammy
Star's curtain call, the Doctor and Amy made it
to the exit. They raced through the foyer, nearly
knocking over a lady selling It's Magic! Tshirts.
'Oooh,' said the Doctor, pausing for a
second.
'You don't need another T-shirt!' Amy yelled,
dragging him to the doors.
The security men didn't chase them once they
were out of the theatre. They just stood in the
doorway looking fierce.
'Yeah, and stay out!' the Doctor shouted at
them, waving his fist in the air. 'Oh, hang on,
might not have got that quite right...'
The summer sun was low in the sky now.
Amy and the Doctor walked to Trafalgar
Square and sat at the base of Nelson's Column.
'Weeping Angels can. send people back in
time,' Amy said to the Doctor. 'So when the
falling girl vanished, she must have been
zapped into the past.'
The Doctor nodded. 'Oh yes, it's all been very
carefully planned. A Weeping Angel can't move
if anyone's looking at it. The audience can see it
the whole time. Even if they're not looking
straight at it, it's in everyone's field of vision. In
the corner of their eye. Until the very end. The
light flashing so brightly dazzles them all. The
Angel is free and can move. The nearest target
is the falling girl. It touches her and sends her
into the past. Yum yum, nice bit of time energy
for the Angel, and a nice trick for Sammy Star.
All the people applaud.'
'There's one thing I don't get, though,' said
Amy. 'How does he bring her back? How does
he do the trick night after night?'
The Doctor didn't answer. He got up and
walked over to a lamp post. A poster had been
stuck to the black metal and he pulled it off. He
came back and handed it to Amy without a
word.
'HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GIRL?' she read.
'Kylie Duncan, nineteen. Long dark hair and
green eyes. Last seen wearing blue jeans and a
red T-shirt.' She looked up at the Doctor,
puzzled.
'Have you seen this girl?' he echoed. 'Last
seen wearing a long white nightie.'
Amy's mouth fell open as she stared at the
photo on the poster. That's her! That's the girl
we've just seen vanish!'
'People are worried,' said the Doctor.
'Worried enough to report her missing. I expect
Kylie Duncan's mum is crying herself to sleep
every night. She doesn't know she'll never see
her little girl again. No one from this time will
ever see her again.'
He jumped up and began to walk around the
edge of the square. There were posters every
few metres. 'Molly Crane. Brittany Hughes.
Amber Reynolds. Lauren Peters,' he read as he
ripped them all down. 'Each of these girls has a
mum waiting at home. None of those mums
will ever see their daughters again.' Amy had
rarely heard him sound so angry. 'Sammy Star
doesn't bring his assistants back from the past.
He doesn't have to. There are hundreds of girls
out here, friendless and helpless. They come to
London looking for a new start. Of course
they'll jump at the chance to get into showbiz!'
'Oh no,' whispered Amy. 'You mean... it's a
new girl every night? Every show someone else
gets sent back in time? But it's sold out for
months and months!'
'Then the theatre will have to give everyone
their money back,' said the Doctor grimly.
'Tonight was Sammy Star's last show. His last
show ever.'