Sarah and the Steam Dragon
Chapter 6

10th District Junior High School

Wednesday, October 3rd 2046 AD

“NEVERMORE!” shouted a girlish voice, rich with anger. Sarah and Carmody stopped beside the main doors to the school and looked in the direction of the cry.

They had arrived early together, planning on some exploring before classes started. It seemed that Angelina had gotten to school early today as well. She faced them across the courtyard like some old Western movie gunfighter, her hands at her side, clenching and unclenching. A school bag sat discarded to one side, with her lunchbox dropped carelessly on top.

A cool morning breeze wafted across the courtyard, bringing a scent of the sea from the nearby harbour. Somebody’s lost scarf fluttered in the air currents like a ghost, warning of danger to come. Early bird students scattered out of the firing line, no-one daring to stand between Sarah and Angelina.

“Hi Angelina” said Sarah cheerily, “We really missed you in class yesterday” Sarah really did like messing with her arch enemy, as dangerous as that could be.

“It was you and your friends, wasn’t it?” screeched Angelina, her eyes wide with fury and a little vein throbbing on her forehead. “The ones who soaked me yesterday and got me reported to the Principal!”

“You may want to stand clear” whispered Sarah to Carmody, “She looks about ready to blow”

“The Gang of Four do not retreat in the face of danger” said Carmody bravely, even though she was quaking all the way down to her shoes. She moved closer to Sarah and glared at Angelina.

With a scream like a demon, Angelina thrust her hands into the air. Someone’s bike in the nearby bike rack rose in response, twisting like a leaf in the air, mimicking Angelina’s hand movements.

“I think she has totally lost it” said Sarah, getting a little worried now. “Get ready to run”

The bike was halfway across the courtyard when a voice like a gunshot echoed across them all.

“Brackenridge!” said Mr Albright, using her last name, “What is that bike doing up there?”

Angelina whimpered and dropped her hands to her side, the bike falling in a clatter of metal and plastic a meter short of Sarah.

The Physics teacher stalked out from the main doors, passing close to Sarah and Carmody, and standing ram rod straight in front of the cowering Telekinetic.

“Sorry sir, I got a bit carried away” she cried, her eyes now full of tears.

“Come with me, Angelina” he said and turned on his heel to stride towards the main doors. Angelina picked up her bag and lunchbox, trudging after Mr Albright like a prisoner on their way to the firing squad.

As he passed Sarah and Carmody, the teacher gave them both a cold smile.

“Looks like I saved you again, Evermore” he said.

“Thanks, Sir” Sarah muttered. She watched Angelina stumble past in the wake of the teacher, all her anger gone. In a way Sarah felt sorry for her, as this would guarantee a suspension from school. For all her skill as a Grade Two Telekinetic, Angelina had no friends at school that Sarah knew of.

In her own way, Angelina was worse off than being a NOMA like Sarah. She may have no abilities and not a lot of friends, but she did have some friends. Good friends, even new ones like Carmody, who stood at her side in the face of danger.

With these thoughts filling her head, Sarah went into the main building, Carmody tagging along behind. All thoughts of exploring the school had vanished from her head for now.

“It really is exciting, being your friend’ said Carmody, ”A lot more exciting than I expected”

=====

The day started with Home Room in Miss Abram’s class as always and everyone reported in except for Angelina. Miss Abrams told the class that the Telekinetic had been sent to the Principal’s office again and was likely to be suspended.

“Probably needs some therapy” suggested Lilly, which got a few laughs until the teacher told them she was being cruel.

“Angelina is not the only Awakened to struggle with her powers. You are all still very young, even though you may think of yourselves as quite grown up. The abilities you develop here can be very dangerous, which is why you attend Testing every week” said Miss Abrams.

“We want you to learn not only how to use those abilities, but how to cope with being around other people. Not everyone in the world can be Awakened, in fact most people never will be. Here in Pan City we have so many Awakened, but this city is unique. In the rest of the world, the Awakened are rare and often feared”

“Always remember, we are all human beings, no matter what our abilities are. Treat each other with respect and compassion and there won’t be incidents like this morning”

“Yes, Miss” chorused the class. Sarah joined them and felt bad for how she provoked Angelina earlier in the day. The girl was a bully and frequently mean to Sarah, but she was also quite alone at school. She was not sure if Angelina would accept it, however Sarah decided she would apologise to her next time she saw the Telekinetic.

After home room, Sarah, Lilly and Achmed headed to their various classes for the day, followed by the ever present Eric. The new boy seemed especially quiet, even for Eric, so Sarah dropped back to talk to him.

“Hey, Eric” she began uncertainly, “You Okay today?”

“I am fully functional” he responded in his calm voice. “There is just a lot to process at this school”

They walked a bit more, heading to the classroom for their next period. Lilly and Achmed went on ahead, looking back once or twice and smirking. Sarah just ignored them for now.

“Those girls didn’t upset you yesterday?” she ventured.

“No, I evaded them easily. They were persistent but unskilled in pursuit methods” he replied.

He stopped walking and Sarah stopped as well, wondering what this was about.

“Sarah, how many students have been sent home from school with unusual illnesses like Andrew Frobisher?” he asked her.

“No idea” she answered, thinking hard. “Is that something that concerns you? Are you worried about getting sick at this school?”

“I can’t get sick” he said automatically, then paused and corrected himself. “Sorry, I mean I rarely get sick. I have a very healthy immune system. What I meant to ask was have you noticed a lot of students leaving school like Andrew?”

“You mean all spaced out, totally unlike his old self?” suggested Sarah. She thought about what Carmody had said, that he was like a Zombie. That did not seem likely, as he had been talking and stuff. Yet he had been different, like something important was missing from him.

“He had no spark in him, no spirit” Sarah said aloud, still thinking to herself.

“Yes, that is it” Eric said. “Have you seen other students like that?”

“Well, I did hear about a Year Nine girl last week that was kind of the same” she said slowly. “And there was another Year Eight boy that Achmed told me about. They were in Computer Club together so he knew him pretty well. That could have been the same thing” Sarah thought some more and realised one thing did not add up.

“Eric, why are you here at this school?” Sarah asked bluntly. “This school is to teach us how to be Awakened. I am a NOMA, but I was sent here like the other kids because I have the potential. If you are Enhanced, you can’t ever be Awakened. There are plenty of other schools you could have gone to”

Eric looked up and down the school corridor, as if he was alarmed at their conversation being heard.

“Please Sarah, there are reasons I need to be here at this place. Important reasons that I can’t tell you right now. You have to trust me and not tell anyone I am Enhanced”

She gave him her best look, the one that told other kids not to mess with her or else! Eric met her look with his own desperate one, the one that begged her to trust him.

“Okay” she relented and turned to head towards their classroom. He put his hand briefly on her shoulder to stop her, just for a moment.

“Thank you, Sarah” he said and then let her go.

=====

The morning lessons passed quickly, Eric helping Sarah puzzle out their schoolwork. At the first break, Sarah and her trio caught up with Carmody near the main stairs. Her new friend seemed especially excited to see Eric again and they all agreed to meet on the rooftop again for lunch. Carmody told them she had brought even more food today, just in case anyone was extra hungry, her eyes on Eric the whole time she said this.

By lunchtime, Sarah herself was extra hungry and tired of learning as well.

“My brain is too full” she complained to Lilly as they packed their datapads away. “My head feels ready to explode, there is so much stuff jammed in there”

“That is a rare situation for you” laughed Achmed, earning a glare and a promise of a punch from Sarah. “Sorry Sarah” he added, holding his hands up in mock surrender. “Maybe you should take some tips from Eric about staying calm. He never gets angry”

“There has been no need for me to get angry” Eric said politely, appearing like a ghost behind Achmed and making him jump in fright.

“Don’t do that Eric” Achmed gasped once he could speak again. “You need to make some noise when you walk around. You move like a Ninja or something”

“My apologies, Achmed” Eric replied in his calm and measured manner. He followed Sarah as she left the room, Achmed and Lilly coming close behind, sharing conspiratorial nudges and winks.

Sarah stopped suddenly in the corridor, causing even Eric to run into her and the others crowding into him.

“Hello Sarah” said Angelina, standing quietly in the middle of the school hallway. Other Year Seven students cleared a space around them immediately, scrabbling to get clear. Some of the braver ones stood their ground and took out their phones, ready to record another Sarah versus Angelina bloodbath.

“Hi Angelina” gulped Sarah, “I thought you had gone home already” She gave the Telekinetic girl a weak smile.

“I just needed to see you before I left” replied Angelina, remarkably calm. In fact she sounded even calmer than Eric and that guy was like a talking rock. Almost like Andrew Frobisher the other day, Sarah suddenly thought.

“Well, I am glad I have this chance to talk to you as well Angelina. I just wanted to say sorry for getting you in trouble”

Angelina regarded her with dull eyes, her hands hanging limply at her sides.

“I wish to apologise to you for my behaviour” said the girl, as if she had not heard Sarah’s own apology.

Sarah frowned and stepped right up close, raising her eyes to look deep into Angelina’s. The taller girl met her gaze with no sign of recognition.

“Angelina? Are you in there?” said Sarah with a strange emotion washing over her. Angelina said nothing in reply, just turned and walked away. The students filling the hall parted to let her through and she moved with regular footsteps to the main staircase.

Waiting there was Mr Albright, a smug smile on his face. As the young girl approached him, he handed her the bag she always carried and her lunchbox.

“Well done, Miss Brackenridge. Your parents are waiting to take you home”

He laid a paternal hand on her unresisting shoulder and escorted her down the stairs. As he left, he shot a glance directly at Sarah, standing stock still in the corridor. With his smile still in place, he nodded at her, like they were sharing some private secret.

Maybe they were, Sarah thought. She knew now what the feeling had been as she looked into Angelina’s vacant eyes. It was fear, plain and simple fear.

=====

The Gang of Four sat on the rooftop in their usual hideaway spot, Eric joining them for lunch. Today he had surprised them all by retrieving a lunchbox as big as Carmody’s from his locker and carrying it easily up the stairs to their meeting point.

He explained that he had told his guardian about the lunch time gatherings. As a result a caterer had been retained to provide nutritious and delicious food for his new school colleagues. There were cries of delight and wonder as he unpacked the goodies, ranging from small sandwiches cut into neat triangles (crusts already removed) to tuna sushi rolls and individual salad bowls. The container it all came in even had a battery powered chiller to keep it at a nice cool temperature.

Carmody felt embarrassed to present the food her mother had made, until Eric had told her outright he would much rather eat what she had brought. She brightened at his comment and completely missed the glances that Sarah, Lilly and Achmed shared between themselves.

The sun was shining through white clouds, giving a gentle warmth to their gathering. The friends ate until they could eat no more and sat back with full stomachs and satisfied grins. No one even noticed Sarah put some sandwiches and a couple of tuna rolls away in her lunchbox. She had a hungry dragon to feed as well she remembered.

“So, Sarah” Lilly began once they were all settled, “What is going on at this school?”

“What do you mean?” Sarah said evasively.

“I mean you sneaking about the school, kids going all strange like Andrew and Angelina, you and Mr Not-So-Bright sharing special looks” Lilly replied firmly. “Those kinds of things”

“We are not as dumb as you think we are” added Achmed. “Or at least I’m not. I do wonder about Lilly sometimes.” That got a swift kick to his shins from Lilly who was seated next to him.

Sarah sat up from where she had been leaning against a ventilator stack, the metal warm and soothing against her back. Carmody looked in her direction and shrugged, unsure of what to say.

“There has been some weird things going on, that is true. But I don’t know yet what it all means or who is behind it” she finally said.

“Not-So-Bright” said Lilly confidently. “And his awful mate down in the basements, Creepy Bob”

Sarah sighed. “I think they are involved too”. She told them what she had seen during her Testing Day adventures, leaving out any mention of Stanley. Carmody chimed in with what she had seen as well, which was less than Sarah but confirmed it was not all in their imaginations.

“Those are serious allegations” Eric’s voice caught them unprepared, filled with a tone of authority. “If teachers and staff at this school are involved in harmful actions against students, they will be facing severe penalties. It could mean long sentences in the labour camps at the very least”

“It’s why I wanted to be sure before I told anyone” Sarah said. “I did not want to ruin someone’s life, even a teacher like Mr Albright or Creepy Bob, without proof”

“So who do we tell?” wondered Carmody.

“Leave it to me” Eric declared. “My Guardian has contacts in the Pan City Guard. He will be able to have them investigated without putting any of you at risk. In the meantime you should all stop any exploring of the school. It could be dangerous” He looked in particular at Sarah, who refused to look at his face.

“He means you, Sarah” said Achmed and her other friends nodded their agreement.

“Sure, that sounds fine to me” she agreed, lying through her teeth.

=====

Sarah was glad they did not have Physics today, as she could not face the thought of seeing Mr Albright. She got through the rest of the day’s lessons somehow, barely able to focus on her datapad. Her mind was whirling around, trying to think of what might happen if the Guard really did replace her teacher had been involved in something dangerous.

More importantly, what if the Guard discovered Stanley? He was still somewhere nearby, drawn to the school as it held the only clues for him to replace a way home. Despite her promise to her friends, she knew she had to look for him after school.

Once the last lesson ended, Sarah made hurried goodbyes to her friends in the class. She told them she had to get home early for a family dinner. Whether they believed her or not, she bolted out of the class and rushed down the stairs to the ground floor, dodging and weaving past the slower students.

Sarah exploded from the main doors into the courtyard and skidded to a stop. About a dozen blue uniformed men and women of the Police Auxiliary were marching towards her, wearing bullet proof vests and helmets. Behind them were the same number of tall, solidly built clone soldiers of the Guard, ten of them male Jacks and two of them female Jills. All of those were in their blue combat armour, helmets closed and heavy looking guns in their hands.

Along with the other students, she ducked to one side and watched in awe as they marched into the school. Eric had not been kidding when he said his guardian had contacts with the Guard! Sarah had urgent business with Stanley, yet she was captivated by the sight of the clone soldiers.

They were at least six feet tall, fit and athletic looking even in their armour. She wondered what their faces looked like under the closed helmets they all wore. Some of the other kids said they were designed to be really good looking, like fashion models, but with no emotions on their faces they were quite scary.

Once the new arrivals had trooped inside, Sarah ran around the back of the school, her bag and lunchbox thumping noisily against her spine.

“Stanley!” she called out, casting her eyes over the rooftops and patches of sky she could see. “Stanley, please come down! I have some food for you! Stanleeeeeeeyyy!”

“Who is Stanley, Sarah?” said a quiet and measured voice close by. She turned to look at Eric, standing calmly near the wall of the school building.

“You followed me?” she said in disbelief.

“I was worried about you” Eric said truthfully, but Sarah knew that was not the only reason.

Sarah glanced around herself. No-one else was in sight, nor was there any sign of Stanley. She shivered a little, afraid all of a sudden to be alone like this with Eric.

“Who is Stanley?” Eric asked again, stepping closer to her. His arms lay at his side, no threat evident in his stance, and yet he was scary. Sarah stepped away from him, circling towards the route back to the school’s front courtyard.

He pivoted on the spot, not coming any closer.

“Just a stray cat I have been feeding” she improvised. “He hangs around the school grounds some days and he lets me pat him”

Eric nodded, as if he accepted her story. It could even have been true, as there were many cats that wandered about Pan City.

“Go home, Sarah” he said to her. “The Guard will interrogate Mr Albright and Mr Crepsley. The school grounds will be thoroughly searched too, so I would not want you to be caught somewhere you did not belong”

“Okay, Eric, you win. I’m going home” she said in defeat.

“Thank you, Sarah. I do like you and your friends and I want you all to remain safe”

It was a strange thing to say for a student. Yet she was certain that of all the many things he might be, Eric Hargreaves was not just a student.

=====

Sarah walked home slowly, watching the skies about her for any sign of the dragon. In a way she hoped she did not see him, that he was safely far away from the school. Yet another part of her fretted that he had been captured somehow by the Guard or the Emissary.

It was in such an uncertain frame of mind she got to her home tower. Sarah and her family lived on the twenty second floor in a three bedroom apartment, quite roomy by Pan City standards. Her sister Carrie shared her room, with Brent in his own and her parents in the third. There was a large open space for living, dining and cooking that they spent most of their time in, doing family things. Plus a tiny bathroom and a separate toilet, for doing other things.

She wished she had a room of her own, but she knew from talking to other kids her family was actually pretty well off. Lots of the other parents spent a good chunk of their hard earned Pandas just sending their children to the Junior High School. Being an Awakened was a big benefit in Pan City but the costs of the training were not cheap.

Sarah was the only child in her family that had the potential to be Awakened, at least according to the tests they ran. To still be a NOMA, after all the extra money she cost her parents, was a big part of Sarah’s own frustrations. Mom and Dad never said anything about it yet she knew they had always expected her to develop a useful Ability by now.

“I’m home!” she announced as she used her smartkey to open the apartment door. She took off her shoes in their cramped little entry way and went on into the living area in her socks.

“Hi Sarah” said her sister Carrie, sitting cross legged at the low table in the lounge space. She was happily playing some childish games on her datapad, a brightly coloured one she had used since she was five years old. Carrie refused to use the new one her parents had bought her, the one approved for use at the Elementary school she attended.

Sarah smiled at her little sister and went to their shared room, dropping her school bag and her own datapad on her desk. The lunchbox was meant to go to the kitchen, however she decided to hold onto it for now. Maybe Stanley would need to be fed later that evening?

It was a hopeful thought she knew. She was not even sure if Stanley could replace her anywhere other than at the school. Her head full of thoughts, she changed into some comfortable clothes, put her favourite sneakers on and headed out of the apartment once more, the lunchbox tucked under her arm.

She told Carrie she was going to the rooftop garden, a shared space for the tower residents. Carrie gave a mumbled reply which meant she was probably not listening anyway. Sarah had her phone so her parents could always call her if they needed to locate their missing child.

As she ascended in the elevator to the fortieth floor rooftop, she was glad her parents and her evil brother were not home yet. She did not feel like talking to anyone at the moment, other than Stanley she amended in her head.

The elevator doors opened to a small glass sided shelter on the roof. This in turn led her outside to the gardens. It was quite beautiful up here, with many plants and small trees dotted around the fenced roof space, a wonderful aroma of living greenery and flowers wafting through the air.

She spotted some older residents she knew by sight working on weeding and repotting some plants, so she headed in the other direction. At the open weave fence on the roof edge she stopped and breathed in deeply. Some of her worry eased as she took in the cool afternoon air and gazed out over the city.

Her view to the harbour was blocked by rows of residential towers, their glass and solar panel sides gleaming in the late sun. She did not mind for once, just enjoying being alone with her thoughts. Propping her lunchbox on the ledge she leaned into the safety fence, confident from past encounters that it would easily support her.

Like the harbour, her school was hidden from her sight up here. By now the Guard and the human officers of the Police Auxiliary would have searched the basement corridors and rooms. She wondered if they would replace anything to prove Mr Albright was guilty of doing something to the students.

In theory most of the school was under remote camera surveillance, yet she knew herself it was easy to bypass the cameras. You just needed to know which directions to go in and which areas were not covered. Even if her teacher did not know, Creepy Bob would have detailed knowledge of the school.

It would not surprise her to have the teacher and the janitor let go again for lack of any evidence. Andrew and Angelina did not go missing and seemed healthy enough despite their lack of emotion. If a lack of emotion was a crime, then Eric was in big trouble!

Sarah sat on the roof until the sun went down, seeing no sign of Stanley. She left the sandwich and tuna rolls on the ledge for him just in case and headed to the elevators. It had only been two days since she first met the dragon and she was missing him already.