CHAPTER 16

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Author's Note: The story now takes place after Children of the Night. The events in this story take place in the future of that one.

Holly picked up the cell phone that Lily had given her for emergencies and turned it on. She wasn't sure if she was using it right or not. She hoped so.

Such a device was so unbelievable to her. It could let you talk to people in other times and places. The technology of the future was just simply amazing!

Lily had put her daughter's number into the phone and shown her how to bring it up and call her. She still wasn't sure if she was doing this right or not. She crossed her fingers and hoped for the best.

Suddenly a voice came on the other line and said, "Hello? Mum, is that you?"

"No. This is her friend, Holly Samuels. I'm in the year 1890 at Oxford University in London. I work for her as an assistant here. Has she told you about me?" Holly said into the strange device.

"Yes, she's told me a lot about you. She likes you a lot," Rose said with a smile in her voice.

"I'm afraid that she's in danger. Some hired assassin took her and an alien away with him on his ship to the stars. He said that someone had put a bounty on her head in the Isop Galaxy, whatever that is. I thought that I would let you know on this small telephone that she gave me. Can you come and help? Please help save her! She got caught because she came to help me. It's my fault!" Holly said in an upset voice.

"I'm sure that it's not. Don't blame yourself, Holly. I'll be right there in a minute," Rose said as she hung up the phone.

Less than a minute later, Rose's TARDIS appeared in the shape of a pink sports car inside of Holly's room at Oxford. Rose got out of it and saw that Holly was scared and frightened. She could see that she was frightened of her reaction to her. She actually thought that Rose would blame her!

She put an end to that as she put her arms around Holly and gave her a quick hug.

"Don't worry, Holly! I'll get her back," Rose said to her with a smile.

Holly felt better now that she knew that Rose didn't blame her. She still blamed herself though. She pushed that guilt aside though as she knew that what was most important was finding Lily.

"Come on if you want. You can be there when I find her," Rose said as she motioned for Holly to take a seat inside of the pink sports car.

Holly and Rose got in, and the car dematerialized as Rose started to use her TARDIS' sensors to find Lily.

"My TARDIS has mum's unique biology programmed into it. The sensors are designed to search for her specifically when I need them to. I always knew that this day would come. Mum is always getting into trouble! I could tell you so many stories about her. That's how I know that it's not your fault, Holly. Mum's been get into trouble for a long, long, long time. Even I don't know how long! She's still alive though so that shows that she's also good at getting out of trouble. So cheer up!" Rose said to her with a smile.

"I'm sorry. I'm a worrier. All of my family are huge worriers. I'm really close to your mother, Rose. I want to make sure that nothing happens to her because of me," Holly said with a sad face.

"My other mum is a big worrier too so I know what you're talking about. You need to stop worrying though. It doesn't do any good. What will do some good is finding mum and kicking some Isop Galaxy tail!" Rose said with a snicker.

Holly couldn't help but smile. Rose seemed so unconcerned. She really believed that everything was going to turn out well. Maybe Holly would do well to adopt her attitude and believe that Lily would be fine. She would try, but it was hard to overcome a lifetime of worrying so quickly.

When Rose saw where her mum had been taken to, she was absolutely furious! She let out a Gallifreyan curse word that she was glad that Holly didn't know and that her TARDIS didn't translate for her. Of course! It had to be them, didn't it?!

Holly didn't understand what she had said, but she understood the tone. The language itself sounded musical even when said harshly.

"What is it?" Holly asked concerned.

"Mum's on Raxacoricofallapatorius," Rose said with an angry look on her face.

"What in the world is that? It sounds like a name to conjure with! I wouldn't even try to pronounce it!" Holly said with a frown.

"Believe me, it took me a couple of tries to get it right the first time too! It's a real tongue twister of a name for the planet where the Slitheen come from! They're a nasty bunch of aliens who like to hide inside human skins and pose as ordinary people. They also have a history with me. I helped to kill some of them that were trying to destroy the Earth back in the 21st century. This isn't your fault, Holly. It's mine!" Rose said with a look of pure anger.

Rose's TARDIS landed right in the middle of the room where Lily was being held prisoner. Rose emerged from the TARDIS in a shower of golden light instead of opening the door. She was already in Bad Wolf mode as she prepared to deal out punishment to the Slitheen who had her mum.

The assassin who had kidnapped Lily was there, and he instantly stood up and shot at Rose with a huge gun that unleashed a massive blast of energy at her head. Rose deflected the energy back at the assassin in a concentrated burst that incinerated his gun without harming him!

The assassin looked at her in helpless dismay as he realized who she must be.

"Bad Wolf!" He said in absolute terror.

"Run!" Rose said with a face contorted in rage.

The assassin ran from the room for his life like a scared rabbit as Rose glided past him and went through the wall separating her from her mother like a ghost. Lily was being held in a small cell with sleeping gas being pumped inside of it constantly to keep her asleep.

Rose looked at her in surprise. She had regenerated since she had last seen her. She was amazed at how much she looked like Jenny now, only a little older. She also looked more like her especially with the blonde hair. She wondered if it was a conscious choice on her mother's part.

She dissolved the cell with a glance and transmuted the gas into harmless oxygen with a thought.

Lily woke up to find Rose standing over her with a worried look on her face.

"Well, it's been a while since you've had to rescue me, hasn't it? Just like old times back on Pete's World!" Lily said in her new Scottish accent.

Rose grinned at the new accent and chuckled.

"Love the new voice. You know you sound like Amy now, don't you? Rory's going to get very confused!" Rose said with a laugh.

"I love my new accent! Besides maybe Amy will start traveling with me now because of it. I like her. She's got attitude. Just like me. Rory will be a nice side perk!" Lily said with a wink at Rose.

Rose grimaced at Lily's innuendo.

"He's married, mum! Amy and River will kick you into space if you even think about it. Besides, I thought that you were with Robin now," Rose said in a disgusted voice.

"I'm kidding. Although, he is nice to look at I must say," Lily said and then laughed at Rose's expression.

She wasn't comfortable when Lily talked about things like that. She was her mum after all. It just wasn't right to listen to her say such things! She was just like a female Jack sometimes.

Rose switched the topic to her new appearance.

"I like the new look. You look more like me and a heck of a lot like Jenny. Was that intentional?" Rose asked curiously.

Lily turned dark for a minute as she said, "I was in trouble, Rose. Mortimus shot me in both hearts! I thought that it was over for me. I was thinking about you, Jenny, and Cassie as I died. Especially about Jenny! I was regretting not getting to see who she would become in the future. I was thinking about how much I would miss her. How much I would miss all of you! I guess it must have affected my physical appearance. I'm okay now though. Everything's fine!"

Rose put her arms around her and hugged her tightly. She hadn't known that any of this had happened. She wished she could have been there to have helped! She swore silently to herself that Mortimus would pay for what he did.

Then she saw a glimpse of the past and saw Mortimus as he shot her mother. She saw that he wore a golden band on his arm. She also noticed a glazed look in his eyes as he did it.

As she came back to the present, she wondered why she had seen that. What was the significance of the golden band?

At that moment, a group of Slitheen poured into the room while one of them pointed a gun at Holly's head.

"You cannot leave here. You must be given to our new leader. Persephone must be given to the Animus!" one of them said with a hypnotized tone to its voice.

She noticed that they all wore the same golden bands on their arms.

What was going on here? Who or what was the Animus?

Next: Lily and Rose must go to the planet Vortis to find out the answer to that question as they confront an old foe from the Doctor's past there. Plus more about the assassin and the Zygon that he captured.