‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘Really I am. Believe me, though, this is a lot better than what Sammy Star had planned for you.’ Then she grinned. ‘You know what? This reminds me of one of the first times I met the Doctor. I handcuffed him to a pipe. Hang on a minute. Have we met before?’

For a moment, Amy had thought the blonde girl looked familiar. The girl just glared at her, though, and didn’t answer.

Amy put on the nightie and wig. Once dressed, she looked at herself in the mirror. ‘Perfect,’ she said. ‘All ready to be scared by the Graveyard Ghosts.’

Except tonight, Amy told herself, it would be the ghosts’ turn to be scared.

Chapter Ten

RORY AND THE two old ladies went through the door marked NO ENTRANCE. There were no guards to be seen, but as they crept further in Rory heard a dog bark.

‘Uh-oh,’ he said. ‘I thought the Doctor was joking when he said about guard dogs.’

Mrs Hooper’s face lit up. ‘It’s all right,’ she said. ‘It’s nothing to worry about.’

‘Er, if you say so,’ said Rory, not at all sure that she was right.

Round a corner, there were the dogs. Two big German Shepherds. To Rory’s surprise, they stopped barking as Mrs Hooper went up to them. They even started to lick her outstretched hand.

‘This is Brandy and this is Lady,’ she said. ‘I made friends with them. I was missing Max so much.’

‘Oh!’ All of a sudden Rory figured it out. ‘You made friends with them when you were in the theatre before. When you were young. To the dogs, I guess you still smell like the same person!’

Mrs Hooper didn’t want to leave the dogs, but they had to go on. Rory stopped a bit further along. ‘Did you hear something?’ he asked. He listened again. Yes, there it was. A voice was calling. It was the Doctor’s voice!

‘Don’t worry, Doctor, we’ll get you out!’ Rory shouted back as he reached the door. Then he stopped. ‘The door’s locked,’ he called to the Doctor.

‘Yes, I know that,’ the Doctor’s voice came back.

‘Do you know the code that opens it?’ asked Rory. ‘There’s a keypad here.’

‘No,’ came the Doctor’s reply. ‘Come on, come on, Rory! A four digit number, there are only ten thousand possible ones. Get those fingers working!’

‘Er, OK,’ said Rory. He touched the keypad. 0000. Nothing. 0001. Nothing. 0002. Nothing. ‘This might take a little time,’ he said.

A wrinkled hand reached out and pushed his hand aside. A wrinkled finger punched in the numbers 2906. The door clicked open.

‘The 29th of June,’ said Mrs Collins. ‘My birthday. I noticed that the code was my birthday. It’s all coming back to me now. Being here again.’

Inside the room, Rory began to untie the Doctor. Mrs Collins and Mrs Hooper were looking past him. As if in a dream, they walked towards the mirror. Mrs Collins reached out a hand and touched her image. The image’s fingers met hers.

‘So old,’ she said in wonder. ‘We got so old. I was young when I was in this room before. Young and pretty. Scared but so full of hope.’

Mrs Hooper nodded. ‘My hair was long and golden. I didn’t like hiding it with a wig, but he said I had to. This room... I was waiting in this room. Waiting to go on the stage. They were going to film it. I was going to be famous. Then a mad man came in and spoilt it all. That man there.’ She pointed at the Doctor. ‘It all happened in my dream. The red-haired girl was in my dream too. She stole my clothes and took my place. I was so angry. Then suddenly I was so lost.’

Rory and the Doctor listened with horror. ‘That was you!’ said the Doctor. ‘The girl I met here, today, that was you!’

That wasn’t the bit Rory latched on to. ‘The red-haired girl took your place?’ he said. ‘Doctor, it’s Amy! She’s taking part in Sammy Star’s act!’

The Doctor threw off the last of his bonds and jumped up. ‘She’s up there with a Weeping Angel!’

The Weeping Angel was on stage. Two men had taken it out of a large box and put it in its place. Sammy Star had walked past Amy as she stood in the wings, watching. ‘I’m off to get changed,’ he’d said. ‘You know what you’ve got to do?’

She had nodded, keeping the dark hair of the wig over her face as much as she could. He didn’t seem to notice she wasn’t the same girl. Well, with a new girl each day, he probably couldn’t keep track.

‘Good,’ he’d said. ‘Nothing must go wrong today. I am about to get my revenge.’

That hadn’t sounded good. Amy knew now more than ever that she had to foil his plans somehow. Her idea was simple. She’d go along with the act as much as she could. The only thing was, she would never take her eye off the Weeping Angel. Not for a single second.

A short while later, a voice called ‘Action!’

Mist came out of a dry-ice machine and crept across the stage.

Amy had seen the show, so she knew what she had to do. She copied Kylie Duncan’s movements as closely as she could.

Sammy Star, dressed as the Graveyard Ghost, emerged from his grave. Amy didn’t have to pretend to be scared. There was a mad look in his eyes that was very, very scary.

She darted away from him, and spikes sprang up near her feet. She was being herded towards the tall tree that would become a walkway.

It felt real. It was real. The person chasing her might not be a ghost, but he wanted to hurt her.

Sammy Star was throwing apples as Amy reached the tallest tree. Its bark fell away as she began to climb. Amy had never been scared of heights, but this walkway felt really high right now. She paused for a moment, dizzy, and Sammy Star’s dagger nearly went through her foot.

Up and up she climbed. Somehow she kept her eyes on the Weeping Angel below.

She was aware of a noise from down in the theatre. Someone was shouting. It might have been the Doctor, but it seemed so far away.

Higher and higher, until she could go no further. This was it. This was the end. Sammy Star was behind her. He was going to throw the apple that would knock her down. Any moment now would come the blinding flash.

With one hand, Amy reached into her bag and pulled out her pair of sunglasses.

She put on the sunglasses. The other hand reached out and caught the apple. She wobbled, but didn’t fall. There was a blinding flash...

Amy, with her dark glasses on, kept looking down at the Angel.

The Doctor and Rory burst in, Mrs Collins and Mrs Hooper behind them. Amy was poised on the top of the walkway. ‘Keep looking at the Angel!’ the Doctor yelled, although he knew it was useless. He ran towards the stage as fast as he could. If he was close enough to the Angel, maybe he’d still see it through the flash. At least he’d be offering himself as a victim rather than Amy.

He couldn’t run fast enough. He couldn’t get there in time. Sammy Star raised his hand to throw the apple. There was a blinding flash...

When the Doctor stopped blinking, he saw that the Angel hadn’t moved. Amy, still at the top of the walkway, was staring at it through her sunglasses.

‘Yes! Oh, good girl, Pond!’ he yelled. ‘Now come on down. Mind the spikes. Tell you what,’ he called to a man in the wings, ‘just get rid of the spikes, will you?’

The spikes slid back down, and the Doctor climbed up. Scattered apples rolled off the stage behind him. He looked up at Sammy Star, still near the top of the walkway. The magician didn’t even move as Amy made her way past him.

‘Time to retire, I think,’ said the Doctor.

Sammy shook his head. ‘Not yet. Oh, not yet. I’ve barely even started.’

‘She locked me in the loos!’ A blonde girl ran onto the stage. The girl the Doctor had met before, the one he now knew was Amber Reynolds. ‘Oi, you, what do you think you were playing at?’ Amber yelled at Amy. ‘I’d have been there all day if someone hadn’t found me.’