‘Stop!’ the Doctor yelled. The girl was getting close to the Angel. ‘Stay away from that!’

‘Nooooooo!’ It was like the night before all over again. The screaming of an elderly lady in the stalls. Everyone turned to look at her.

The Doctor couldn’t help it. His eyes flicked away too, just for an instant.

When he looked back, the Angel had moved.

The blonde girl was gone.

Chapter Eleven

THE CAMERAS WERE still rolling as the judges jumped to their feet. ‘We were promised a show to astound us,’ said Austin Hart with a sneer. ‘This is hardly such a show.’

‘It’s just, like, really dumb,’ said Daisy Mead. ‘Yawn-arama.’

Amy, now down on the stage, was again amazed. A girl had just been blasted into the past, but these judges thought it was nothing. Just because they’d been looking away when it happened.

Sammy Star called down to the judges from the top of the walkway. ‘Oh, I’m going to give you a show,’ he said. ‘I’m going to give you a show you’ll never forget. You’ll be sorry for the way you laughed at me. Let’s see if you’re still laughing when the Angel gets you.’

The Doctor looked up. ‘You don’t want to do that,’ he warned.

‘Oh yes I do,’ ranted Sammy. ‘They’re rude and they laugh at people and it hurts so much. I wanted what they’ve got! I wanted to be famous! When I found the Angel, I knew just what I had to do. I could get everything I wanted. Fame, and revenge. Austin Hart, Daisy Mead and Bill Evans being zapped into nothing? I’ll be on every news channel in the world.’

‘Get out of here!’ shouted the Doctor. But no one moved. ‘I’m talking to all of you! Every person in this theatre! Leave now!’ There was a second’s silence, and then people began running to the doors. The judges, the film crew, the stagehands. Only Rory, Amy and the two old ladies stayed still.

‘No!’ screamed Sammy Star. He was still at the top of the walkway, and was holding something in his hand. A wire trailed from it. Amy felt suddenly cold. It was the control for the pyrotechnics. She watched helplessly as the Doctor ran towards the walkway. But Sammy hit the button before the Doctor could reach it. There was a second blinding flash.

‘Amy!’ shouted the Doctor.

Amy was still wearing her dark glasses. But even so, she was taken by surprise. By the time she was able to focus on the Angel, it had moved.

It was right next to her. Amy gasped in horror. She was trapped at the very edge of the stage. The Angel was now blocking her only escape.

Amy had nowhere to go. ‘Oh help oh help oh help,’ she muttered, backing away.

Rory ran towards the stage. Mrs Collins and Mrs Hooper followed him as fast as they could.

Then there was another flash. Amy blinked. Suddenly the Angel was poised over her, its fangs bared, its hands clawing for her.

Amy was almost bent backwards to avoid its deadly touch. Somehow she managed to creep back just a little further. But now she was out of room. The next time she so much as blinked, the Angel would get her.

‘Amy, look out!’ Rory cried.

It was too late. Amy had moved too close to the edge of the stage. She wobbled... Then, with a cry of despair, she fell.

As she fell, a lot of things happened at once.

Something green flew past Amy. There was another blinding flash. There was a scream...

Amy picked herself up. She was shaking with fear. The Angel had moved again, and there was no trace of Sammy Star.

‘What happened?’ Amy asked in a trembling voice.

Rory gently put his arms around her. ‘An apple,’ he said. ‘Someone threw an apple. Just as Sammy Star set off that firework, or whatever it was. I think I saw the apple hit him, but then I was blinded. We all were.’

‘So he fell off, and the Angel got him,’ said Amy. ‘I tumbled off the stage, so the Angel went for the next nearest target. It was used to catching people falling off that walkway.’ She looked at the Weeping Angel, now standing beneath the walkway. It was stone again. ‘Who threw the apple?’

The Doctor came down the stairs at the side of the stage backwards. ‘I’m not going to take my eyes off that Angel,’ he said. ‘I think I can tell you the answer without looking, though. You didn’t expect to see yourself on stage, did you, Mrs Hooper? To see the dreadful moment when young Amber Reynolds got lost.’

‘Lost,’ came Mrs Hooper’s shaky voice. ‘I was so very lost.’

Amy had her eyes fixed on the Angel too, but she could hear that Mrs Hooper was crying.

‘I was there, on stage,’ said Mrs Hooper. ‘All of a sudden, it didn’t seem like a dream any more. It was real.’

‘That was you!’ Amy cried. ‘The girl who vanished. The girl who I tied up. That was you! Oh. Right. You’d already told me that, before it happened. No wonder she looked familiar. I’d seen her face on the MISSING poster. Your face, I guess I should say.’

Rory rested his hand on Mrs Hooper’s arm. ‘It must have been a shock to see yourself like that,’ he said.

‘Yes, my dear. It was a big shock, waking up from the dream. But I am awake now. You know, I wouldn’t change things. I met my Albert back then, I had my lovely girls. As I woke up, though, all I could think of was Max. That was the moment when he stole Max from me. That was the moment I lost Max for ever.’

Amy hadn’t thought much of Amber Reynolds the girl. Not that she’d spent a lot of time getting to know her. She thought she liked Amber Hooper the adult, though.

Rory coughed. ‘Er, Doctor?’

‘Yes?’

‘Are we going to have to stay here for ever? I just wondered.’ Rory took Amy’s hand and squeezed it. ‘Sammy Star might have gone, but the Angel’s still here.’

‘We could go and find that box,’ Amy said. ‘The one Sammy Star locked it in.’

The Doctor shook his head. ‘That wouldn’t keep it trapped for long. It was only so placid because it was getting fed every night. Let it miss a few meals and it’d soon find a way out of the box.’

‘Er, Doctor,’ said Rory again. ‘I don’t know if this is a good time to mention it, but I think the cameras are still on.’

‘Oh well,’ said Amy, ‘I suppose it might be fun to see yourself on TV.

‘I don’t think so,’ Rory began, then stopped, his mouth hanging open.

‘What is it?’ Amy asked.

‘See yourself,’ he said. ‘See yourself! Doctor! What if the Angel saw itself in a mirror? It would be looking at itself for ever!’

‘Yes!’ yelled Amy, jumping up and down. ‘Go Rory!’

The Doctor didn’t seem so sure. ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘It might work. It all depends if eye contact is the main factor or just the state of being watched. Then there’s the risk of something getting between the Angel and the mirror. Not to mention what might happen if it goes dark, or if the mirror gets broken...’

‘Oh,’ said Rory. ‘I thought it was a good idea. Sorry.’

‘It is a good idea!’ Amy cried.

‘No,’ said the Doctor. ‘I’ve just explained that—’

Amy cut across him. ‘The image of an Angel becomes an Angel,’ she said.

‘Yes!’ Now it was the Doctor yelling. ‘That’s it! Rory, I won’t let anyone ever call you stupid again. Quick, there’s a large mirror down in the prop room. Take Amy and bring it up here. Go on, now, chop chop. Amber and Kylie here will keep watch with me. As long as we don’t all blink at once we’ll be OK.’

Amy and Rory hurried away, leaving the Doctor and the two old ladies staring at the Weeping Angel. Now the theatre was empty they had no problems getting to the prop store. Even the dogs had gone.

‘Right,’ said the Doctor as they arrived with the mirror. ‘We have to put it in just the right place. We want the Angel almost nose to nose with its image.’

The mirror was placed in front of the Weeping Angel, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.