Then, suddenly I heard it. I wiped the tears off my face quickly and sniffed hard.
‘Wow, it was hard to break through into your head,’ a voice said with a hint of humour. This certainly wasn’t my father; could it be Jack?
‘Err, hi,’ I said hesitantly. I hadn’t actually expected it to work! This was very weird. It had been strange enough when I started seeing things from other people’s eyes, but to have a conversation with someone else, in your own head, while in separate rooms, was taking it that one step further.
‘I’m Jack. Let me guess, you’re the real Sarah?’
I nodded my head, then quickly realised that he couldn’t see me. Clever, Sarah. However, he seemed to have gathered that the answer to his questions was ‘yes’.
This was all so strange; I didn’t understand what was happening. Maybe I was just crazy like my father. It sounded like something that would be passed from father to daughter, so why not me.
Jack’s voice was clear in my head now, ‘Sarah, you are not crazy. I let you into my head. I’d been suspecting this girl with us was not telling the truth, but she was very convincing. It led me to believe she might be copying someone, likely someone she had locked up in here. I took a chance and let my mind be quite open in case I could sense someone else. I didn’t expect that someone to start communicating with me, but I guess I should have learnt to expect the unexpected now.’
Jack paused as if he were considering me. Though how he could do that from another part of the building I had no idea.
‘Sarah, how did you get here?’ he asked, ‘Who is the fake Sarah?’
‘He’s my father,’ I said quietly. I traced my fingers along the floor, drawing invisible shapes.
It went quiet in my head. I could have kicked myself. Why did I think it was a good idea to tell the one chance I had of actually escaping, that the person who was trying to torture us all was related to me. Way to go Sarah.
‘I wouldn’t call me your one chance of escaping,’ he said. I breathed a sigh of relief. I’d been alone for a long time, but suddenly the idea of losing contact with these two new people was unbearable. I didn’t want to be alone anymore. ‘You’ve probably got a better chance at getting out of here than either Dan or I have.’
I laughed. ‘I’ve lost count of the number of escape attempts I’ve made. Clearly, as I am still here, not one of them was successful. I don’t see how that’s going to change.’
‘Well, we’re here now,’ Jack said, ‘That’s something new. Maybe we can change the outcome of your attempts. Can’t say I’m keen on staying here for the rest of my life.’
‘So what’s next?’ I asked cautiously. I couldn’t let myself set all my hopes on escaping, just for my father to come in at the last moment and steal them away from me. As I knew he would.
Jack talked to me for a while and it seemed like he had come up with a plan, now we just had to hope it would work.
Next thing I knew, I was back in Jack’s head again watching through his eyes; I had a feeling he was controlling the connection this time.
‘Dan,’ Jack was saying, ‘we need a distraction. We have to break away from fake Sarah, regroup and come up with a decent plan.’
What was he doing? I got to my knees and my heart was racing in horror. She was in the same room as them; she’d hear every word he was saying.
‘You want me to use the werewolf don’t you?’ Daniel said.
I breathed out and unclenched my hands. How silly was I being? Daniel’s lips hadn’t moved. They were communicating silently, I should have known—if I was in Jack’s head then there was no reason why I shouldn’t hear Daniel in Jack’s head too.
Jack glanced across the room and fake Sarah looked none the wiser. In fact she had her eyes closed as if she had finally fallen asleep. Or she was pretending to be asleep, hoping to catch a conversation or two between her prey. I smiled, maybe we would be able to outwit my father after all.
Daniel was clearly concentrating now, battling with the werewolf that was sitting timidly in the corner, keeping it’s eye on him. After the glimpses of the out-of-control werewolf I’d seen through my father’s mind earlier on, this didn’t even seem like the same creature. Maybe he did have some control over it now. I hoped he did anyway, or I think I’d rather stay locked up in this cell for a bit longer.
The werewolf got up from the corner and moved into the centre of the room, eyeing up the sleeping Sarah. He did look like he was contemplating how to cause maximum disruption, which was exactly what we needed right now.
I could tell Daniel was fighting to keep control of the wolf. It was looking at him disdainfully as if it absolutely did not want to do anything he asked it to. Despite this, the wolf growled. He got louder and louder until fake Sarah woke up as Jack shook her, Daniel looking panicked.
‘We have to get out of here now, Daniel’s lost control,’ Jack yelled. He practically dragged Sarah out of the room and Daniel followed, the wolf right behind him.
If everything went to plan, the wolf would cause huge disruption, they would split up to confuse it, then the boys would regroup and come to find me. Jack turned around and I saw the werewolf about to catch Daniel. He did not look happy.
Suddenly everything went blank and I could just see the darkness in my own cell. The link had been broken. Again. I got up and paced around. Not knowing what was going on was awful. I walked back and forth for what seemed like hours.
It had been silent for way too long. Something must have gone wrong. I twisted my fingers through my hair, walking in circles now. I had enough bruises. Come on, Jack.
I started eyeing up the wall again. Maybe if I backed up further this time, and put some more momentum into it, I could break through. More likely I’d break myself, the sensible part of me said. The more reckless side of me wanted to try it anyway.
Before the reckless side could win—which it clearly would—the silence was broken.
‘Sarah, how can I find you?’ Jack called urgently to me. I was almost relieved, but I decided the tone of his voice did not make me feel any better than the silence.
‘Do you know where the Doctor’s study is?’ I asked.
‘Yes, we’ve had the pleasure,’ he said, with what sounded like a grimace.
‘You need to head past the study towards the end of the corridor—it looks like it’s a dead end but it’s not. If you push the top of the wall it will open into a hidden room. I’m in there.’
‘Okay, stay right where you are, I’m coming for you.’
I laughed out loud. Like I was going anywhere. There was a great big wall between me and the way out and the stupid thing wouldn’t open from the inside.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Jack
‘Tez’s Rule #9 - Always assume people are lying.’
I kicked myself as I realised the Doctor had been playing us from the moment we arrived. I was sure now that the island, this whole place, was a projection, created in the Doctor’s head. Even I had to admit, he was a very skilled telepath.
Cautiously, I walked down another corridor, looking around for any signs of the werewolf, or the Doctor. It looked clear. Daniel and I had set up a diversion, using the werewolf to chase us until we were forced to split up. We just needed to ditch fake Sarah until we could find the real Sarah. I had a feeling she would be the one person who could help us defeat the Doctor. No one was going to know the Doctor better than the daughter he had kept with him for her whole life.
It wasn’t far now until I would reach the study, I just had to hope the way would be clear. I was a little worried about Daniel now; the plan was to regroup at the study once we lost the fake Sarah, but that werewolf had looked like it was giving Daniel a run for his money. He was still struggling to stay in control, but I didn’t want to break into his mind; any tiny distraction could be catastrophic.
The corridor I was after loomed up ahead, and I peered around the corner. It appeared to be empty. Treading as quietly as I could, I walked t
owards the open study door and looked in there too. All clear. Unfortunately there was no sign of Daniel either. After a quick glance behind, I made my way quickly to the wall at the end of the corridor. Listening carefully, with my ear up against the wall, I couldn’t hear anything. It crossed my mind that this could all be some elaborate prank by the Doctor, but I didn’t think it was—I believed the real Sarah was, indeed, real. The Doctor very likely had no idea that I had been able to communicate with her at all. In fact he probably thought that she was still his secret. He seemed to think we were none the wiser to his games.
Reaching up, I pushed against the top of the wall repeatedly. Nothing seemed to be happening. I moved to the right and stretched into the top corner. There was a small raised bump at the top of the wall. My hands were sweating now. I wiped them on my trousers and returned my fingers to the bump, pushing it hard. This had better work.
There was a click, the wall swung open, and I stepped inside. Sarah, at least I assumed it was the real Sarah, was sitting there staring at me like I was a ghost. She looked exactly the same as fake Sarah, but she did not make me nervous like the other one did.
‘Sarah?’ I asked, not moving towards her in case she got up and ran, which was exactly what she looked like she wanted to do.
‘Jack? I can’t believe you came.’
She got up and walked over to me, touching my arm with her hand. ‘Checking I’m real?’ I said, grinning at her. She smiled at me.
‘It’s been a long time since I’ve seen anyone other than my father. And I prefer not to see him if I can avoid it—which I can’t. I can’t even get away from him now, even when he’s in another room.’
She had been holding something in her hand when I entered—a photograph. It looked familiar.
‘It was you that ripped up the photo in the study?’ I said, looking down at her hands. It had been bugging me, wondering why the Doctor would tear up one of his own photos. He hadn’t.
She nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. ‘It was a picture of him, and my mother. I kept the part with my mother on. He took her away years ago, and she never came back. I hate him.’
I was watching the picture twirling around in her fingers. I recognised that dress, a deep green dress, and the blonde curly hair. Taking the photo from Sarah, I ignored her protests and sank to the floor, staring at the picture. I’d thought the torn pieces looked familiar when I’d seen them in the study, but I hadn’t wanted to believe it.
‘This is my mother too,’ I said to Sarah with a catch in my voice.
‘What?’ she said, a little higher pitched than I had expected. ‘That’s not possible… How is that possible?’
I shrugged, still staring at the picture. I wished I knew.
‘But,’ Sarah said, looking completely bewildered, ‘Wait… who is your father?’
My heart dropped to the floor as she said the words out loud. It’s something I had been suspicious of for some time, but now there was no ignoring it. All the evidence pointed to it. The Doctor was my father.
‘You think my father is your father too?’ she asked. I nodded miserably. I’d been hoping that this whole journey of mine to find the Doctor would have removed my suspicions, not confirmed them. I was feeling rather sick now.
‘But,’ Sarah said again. She seemed to be searching for some reasoning behind everything. ‘I’ve seen into his head, not at any point did I get any suggestion he had a son. That I had a brother. You must be wrong.’
‘What do you mean you’ve seen into his head?’ I asked, handing back the photo, and staring at the girl in front of me. She looked a lot like my mother. I really should have seen it before. Maybe I did, but I didn’t want to believe it.
‘My mother was a telepath, my father is a telepath and I seem to have some sort of connection to my father’s mind,’ she said. ‘It’s different to the connection I have with you though.’
‘Does he know?’ I said quickly, glancing round as if the Doctor would suddenly be waiting there to scupper the plan that was forming in my mind. Maybe we had a chance.
Sarah was shaking her head. ‘I don’t think so. No, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t.’
‘Good,’ I said absent-mindedly. This could just work. ‘We need to find Daniel and work out what to do next. It won’t take long for the Doctor to realise we’ve rumbled him—he may already know—and then we won’t have much time before he comes looking for us. I want to find him first, catch him off guard.’
‘It’s not possible to catch my father off guard,’ Sarah said. She was watching me closely. Probably wondering, like I was, if there was any way that I was wrong, that the Doctor wasn’t my father.
‘I think I might have found a way,’ I said mysteriously. I was about to explain more when we heard someone running down the corridor. Quickly, I pulled Sarah back against the wall and mentally berated myself for staying here this long. The Doctor could easily have figured out by now that this was nothing but a distraction. Surely he’d head back to his study?
The entrance to the cell was open, but it was possible he would be so focussed on returning to his study that he wouldn’t notice. Okay, I didn’t really believe that, but there was nothing I could do to get us out of here so it was the one thought I could focus on that wouldn’t end in certain death. This cell had no exits, and the only way out of the corridor was to go past the person coming down it. My heart sank as I realised he could easily trap us in here.
‘Come on,’ I whispered to Sarah, taking her hand, ‘We have to run. We’ve got no choice. If we get separated then we meet back at your old cell, okay?’
I took the high-pitched squeak to mean she understood, even if she didn’t like it. We moved to the gap in the wall and took a deep breath ready to run, when suddenly a face appeared. It took everything inside me not to yell, and I slammed my hand over Sarah’s mouth as she screamed at the top of her lungs.
‘Dan,’ I said, barely able to contain my delight, ‘You scared the life out of us, we thought you were the Doctor.’
He grinned and moved into the room. ‘Nope, Doc went off in the other direction. It just took me a while to calm the wolf down; I didn’t want to come and find you until I was sure it was safe.’
Another head poked around the wall. The werewolf this time, his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth as if he were grinning. Sarah backed away.
‘I’m getting quite fond of him now,’ Daniel said, glancing behind him, ‘He’s pretty useful if he can scare away serial killers.’
He had a point. Maybe I needed to trade Tez in.
‘Daniel, meet Sarah. The real one this time,’ I said introducing the girl who was half hidden behind me. They shook hands and ten minutes later we were all up to speed. I explained to them the plan that had been forming in my head since I’d met Sarah—the real one. Now to implement it and hope it worked. Fooling telepaths was not easy, particularly when their skills were as advanced as the Doctor’s.
‘Okay,’ Dan said, ‘First things first, how are we going to find the Doctor? If we stay here we would be easily trapped when he comes looking for us.’
‘Oh, we’re going to find him before he comes for us,’ I said, turning around, ‘Sarah, that’s where you come in. Can you use your connection and see where he is?’
‘I’ll give it a go,’ she said, closing her eyes to concentrate.
‘He mustn’t know about you accessing his mind, remember that. Everything hinges on him not finding that out,’ I said. She nodded, not even opening her eyes.
Dan and I stood there, waiting as quietly as we could. We glanced at each other and I hoped we were doing the right thing, involving Sarah in this. I felt a pang of guilt, knowing I really should be keeping her away from the Doctor, not taking her to him. But she might just be our only chance. If it worked we could get her away to safety, take her away from this place.
‘I think,’ Sarah said, breaking the silence, ‘that he’s in a control room of some kind. There were cabinets, full of wires
and buttons, all over the room. I’ve never seen it before. He knows we have found the study—actually I think he intended for us to find the study—so that’s why he’s not come back here.’
‘Follow me,’ I said, leading them out of the cell and towards the study. I was sure I had seen something on the map marked control room. Sitting down at the computer, I moved the mouse to turn the screen on, minimised all the windows and brought up the map again.
‘Here it is,’ I said, jabbing my finger at the screen. ‘Gotcha.’
It took a bit longer than I would have liked to find the place in person. It was one thing following it on a map, and another thing entirely walking through corridors that looked exactly the same as each other. But eventually we came to the place. A cough on the other side of the door told me that this was the right room.
‘Everyone ready?’ I asked, looking first to one, then the other. I tried to prepare myself before we entered. I was pretty sure the Doctor knew more about me than I had originally thought, which probably meant he knew I was a telepath too. I needed to keep him out of my head. If he got a glimpse of the plan then we could forget any hopes of ever escaping this projection. While he was in control, there was no way out unless he let us go.
Carefully I opened the door. Through the gap I could see into the room, but I couldn’t see the Doctor. As Sarah had said, there were cabinets everywhere, not just up against the walls, but all through the room like a maze. I could see a few doors nearby; it looked like there were lots of ways in and out of this room. The Doctor could be anywhere in there, I hoped we weren’t walking straight into a trap. We all moved inside quietly and looked around.
Suddenly a door slammed on the other side of the room, and we all jumped. I could sense he was elsewhere in the room, but I didn’t want to give away that we were here, so I couldn’t push too hard in case he noticed.
Before I realised what was happening all the other doors that had been open slammed shut too, including the one behind us. This wasn’t looking good.
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