Carmody and the Electric Dragon

10th District Junior High School, Pan City

Monday October 29th 2046

The small drone hovered in the air, carried aloft by its rapidly spinning rotors, looking like many others that buzzed and whirred around the big city. Drones were such a common sight in Pan City that most people just ignored them, editing them out of their own perception of the world.

To the two girls walking down the street towards their school, it did not exist. The drone extended its camera eyes and focussed its long range microphones in their direction, eager to know what they discussed.

“So what did you get up to this weekend, Carmody?” asked Sarah, idly swinging her lunchbox in an overhead arc by the straps. She had no idea what her mom had packed for her today, but since she expected to mostly eat whatever Carmody had brought it was not a concern.

“Oh, just the usual things” Carmody said. “Had a sleepover, played some soccer and practiced my Kinetic Enhancer”

“Sounds boring!” laughed Sarah. “I went flying with Stanley to the coast and we played in the ocean. It was lots of fun!”

“To the coast? Isn’t that like thirty or more kilometres away?”

“Yeah, even by dragon it took a while to get there and back. Mom was really annoyed by the time I got home to the apartment. Plus she could not call me because my phone is still dead”

“So what happened when you got home?” asked a concerned Carmody.

“Oh, not much” Sarah replied airily. “I think mom and dad grounded me for an extra week or two. I have lost track of it all to be honest. From my view I am just grounded like forever”

“Don’t you wish you could go out and do stuff on weekends or after school?” wondered Carmody, who had never been grounded in her life.

“Nah” laughed Sarah, who had noticed something brown dripping from her lunchbox. She stopped swinging it around and licked the unknown sauce speculatively from the side of the container. “Hmm, soy sauce. Anyway, I see all you guys every day at school and Stanley visits my tower rooftop most evenings. Why do I need to go do other stuff?”

Carmody had slowed a little as they approached the school gates. A horde of excited students were already filling the courtyard, eagerly discussing their weekends.

“What about going to see a movie, or shopping with a friend?” she asked Sarah. “Isn’t there someone you would like to that stuff with?”

“Are you asking me out on a date?” Sarah suddenly asked, stopping and looking at her friend with a huge grin on her face.

“You know that is not what I meant!” Carmody said crossly. “I mean isn’t there a boy you would like to ask out to a movie or something?”

Sarah seemed to pause and think carefully, then her face lit up and she answered.

“Well, there is one boy. But I think he likes another friend of mine, a girl with long hair”

“Oh, really?” Carmody said with a flustered air, twirling a finger unconsciously through her own long brown hair.

“Yeah, but if I ask Achmed out on a date, Lilly will kill me”

Carmody screamed at Sarah and the two of them ran into the schoolyard, both girls shrieking with laughter.

The drone watched and recorded it all for its master, then buzzed away, leaving the school students to begin their day.

=====

Awakening Centre, 10th District, Pan City

“So tell me what you see, Sarah” the female researcher asked her, only looking at the young girl occasionally. She was more interested in the datapad braced on her knees as she sat in the sparse white room. The researcher’s fingers tapped the screen every so often, glancing up to see if Sarah had noticed any changes.

“All I see is this empty room, with you sitting over there” she said grumpily. “Nothing is changing” Sarah was stretched out on a padded couch like they had in dentist offices, her head cradled by an adjustable headrest. It was very comfortable and she was having to fight the urge to fall asleep.

“You are not seeing any visual disturbances in the room? No colour changes in the light or variations to the brightness?”

“Nope” the girl answered curtly. “Am I supposed to?”

A door opened and an older woman entered, wearing the same style of featureless white coats that the other researchers wore. The only difference was that this one had black epaulettes on the shoulders of her coat, like some sort of military rank.

Sarah regarded her with interest from her couch and noted how the younger researcher seemed immediately to adopt a deferential manner.

“Good morning, Sister Domenica. Have you come to conduct testing with the candidate?”

Sister Domenica was old Sarah reckoned, really old, probably at least over fifty years of age. Her hair was a short black bob, with a silver grey streak over her left eye. Her face was set into a hard, flinty expression as she regarded the young girl.

“Yes, Miss Lazenby. I will take over the session” the Sister answered the other researcher. “You may leave us now”

Miss Lazenby stood quickly, nodded a brief bow to the older woman and hastily departed the testing chamber. Once the door had sealed behind her, Sister Domenica walked slowly and purposefully to stand in front of the couch that Sarah was laid on.

“Are you comfortable, Miss Evermore?” the Sister asked with an emotionless voice.

“Ahh, yes I am thanks” Sarah replied and felt a strange coldness in the chamber. Had they adjusted the air-con temperature all of a sudden she wondered?

Sister Domenica laid a chilled hand on Sarah’s own where it lay on the couch arm rests.

“They say your Ability is to see the Other World” the woman told her, still with her cold hand laid upon Sarah’s. The chill felt like it was seeping up her arm, spreading across her chest.

“Can you see me?”

“Huh?” Sarah asked, then examined the researcher more carefully. Sister Domenica’s eyes bored into her as she met her gaze, the room seeming to disappear around them. All she could see was the Sister’s deep grey eyes, like two pools of swirling mists.

Suddenly in those mists she could see figures moving, human shaped figures moving and twisting in the grey shadows. A single figure moved closer, crowding out the others. It came towards her, blocking out the others until only it filled her vision.

“You killed me. You sent me to my death” it wailed. Sarah screamed as she recognised the face of Creepy Bob, the man who had been the head janitor of their high school.

The face vanished and she was on the couch once more, Sister Domenica looking down at her with her normal grey eyes.

The Sister’s mouth curved ever so slightly at the corners into a hint of a smile.

“It seems you can see the Other World after all, dear child” she said to Sarah with her voice as flat as one of the clone Guards.

“What are you?” Sarah asked, pulling her hand out from under the chilling grip of the woman.

“What am I? I am a Necromancer, Sarah. I can summon and speak with the dead”

“Rubbish!” scoffed the young girl, sitting up on the couch and rubbing warmth back into her frozen fingers. “There is no such thing”

“Really? This from a girl who claims she can speak to Dragons?”

Sarah jumped in alarm at those words. The existence of Stanley was a closely guarded secret.

“How do you know about that” Sarah demanded, her fists clenched like she was ready to do battle with the older woman. “That is a secret!”

Sister Domenica laughed coldly, no warmth at all in her that Sarah could detect.

“There are no secrets from the dead” she replied. “Robert Crepsley told me all that I needed to know. He is very angry with you and your friends”

“Are you some kind of spy, sent here to find out about me?” Sarah said defiantly.

“No child, I have no interest in your little Project or the missions you undertake” Sister Domenica said to her. She went and sat on the chair vacated by Miss Lazenby and crossed her legs. “Among the other Adepts, my kind are rare and generally despised. We have few acquaintances and no friends”

“That is probably because you are so creepy” muttered Sarah, getting off the couch and swinging her arms around to try and get warm. It was definitely a lot colder in this room now.

“That is very true” she agreed, seeming to take no offence. “Even in my Order, there are none that I am truly close to. My skills are useful but I myself am not someone others wish to be friends with”

“So you want to be my friend?” wondered Sarah in some confusion.

“Dear lord no” replied Sister Domenica. “You are a positively awful child. Rather I will become your mentor and guide you in developing your Ability further”

“Oh, well that is alright then!” Sarah said with relief.

=====

Carmody, Angelina, Achmed and Lilly were seated around a table in the Awakening Centre cafeteria, laying out their various lunch boxes when Sarah rushed up to her friends.

“Hey guys, guess what I got to do today?” she cried, bubbling with enthusiasm.

“Speak with a Dragon?” guessed Lilly with no real interest, watching what Carmody was unpacking instead.

“What, no, I do that all the time. I got to see the spirits of the dead!”

“Uh-huh” Achmed added with an air of disbelief. “My tester says I have improved so much I may get upgraded to Grade Two next time”

“That’s so cool” Carmody said. “My tester told me my fine control had improved by twice my previous scores”

“Wonderful!” gushed Angelina. “If you keep practicing like I showed you, they may make you a Grade Two as well”

“Well, I couldn’t have done it without your help Angelina. Can we do some more training one day?”

“Absolutely!” said a beaming Angelina.

Sarah glared at all of her friends and dropped her lunchbox loudly on the table. It hit with a thump and soy sauce splashed out, narrowly missing the sleeve of Carmody’s school jacket.

“Did anyone listen to what I said?” she demanded, her fists clenched.

“Yes, but aren’t you meant to be a Dracoris Familia, someone who can speak to Dragons?” Lilly spoke up. “How can you see dead people?”

“They gave me this really scary Sister as my new trainer. She says my Ability lets me see into the Other World, so I can see Spirits and stuff”

“And did you actually see a Spirit?” Lilly continued, poking at the mess revealed inside of Sarah’s jumbled lunch box.

“Yeah. I think I saw Creepy Bob” Sarah replied, her enthusiasm waning suddenly. “He was very angry with me”

Her friends looked at her with sympathy. None of them had expected that.

“Does that mean Bob is dead?” asked Carmody. “I thought he had survived having the Emissary leave his body”

“Yeah, but guys, we are not supposed to talk about this stuff. Not with Angelina here” Achmed reminded the others and they all looked at the girl in question. She looked helplessly at Carmody, who went crimson and glanced guiltily down at the table.

“Actually guys, I already told Angelina all about it. She was kind of involved in it as well”

Her friends exchanged looks and then Achmed nodded his head. The others soon followed.

“You deserved to know about it, Angelina” he told the girl. “We forget sometimes how crazy it all must sound to an outsider. Maybe you can help us out sometimes if we need it”

“Guess this makes you part of the gang now, Angelina” Sarah announced and solemnly shook her hand. The others stood and came around the table, shaking her hand one at a time.

“Thanks guys, I really appreciate this” said Angelina, grinning from ear to ear.

“There is just one thing we need to do to make this complete” added Lilly. She looked at Sarah and Carmody. “One of you needs to tell Eric”

“Bags not me!” Sarah said as quick as lightning.

=====

Brackenridge Summer House, Outer Walls, Pan City

“Hi mom, dad, I’m home!” Angelina called out from the house foyer, handing her school bags to Monique the maid. She whisked them away to the girl’s room efficiently and without fuss, typical of the high quality of staff that served their family.

Hammerton appeared in the doorway that lead to the main living room, dressed in his usual black suit. He allowed her one of his rare smiles and she grinned back.

“Did your Testing Day go well, Miss Angelina?” he enquired.

“It went really well, Hammers” she said. “Are mom and dad here? They came in late last night didn’t they?”

“Yes, Miss. Your father is still at his office, attending to some urgent business. Your mother is helping Cook to prepare dinner in the kitchen”

Angelina wandered through the Summer House, remembering the good times she had shared here with her parents. With a start she realised that this summer she might be able to invite friends to stay, for the first time ever.

“Someone is in a good mood” her mom commented as she entered the kitchen. Despite their wealth, her mother had always helped with the preparation of meals for the family. Her mom was stunningly beautiful, tall with long dark hair and a narrow face like Angelina’s except on her mother it looked incredible.

“Yes, I am. Carmody and the others were really nice to me today. They kind of accepted me into their gang”

“I am not sure I approve of my only daughter being in a gang” her mom laughed with fake disapproval. She put down the knife she had been using to cut up salad and embraced her daughter in a warm hug, fondly kissing the top of her head.

“You know how worried your father and I were when Hammerton called us, don’t you?”

“I know mom. But you left Hammers to look after me, so nothing bad was ever going to happen” Angelina said, leaning into her mother’s chest.

“Do you want to talk about it? It must have been really scary” her mother asked.

“We can talk later. But I wasn’t as scared as I could have been, with Hammers and Carmody there to protect me”

“Yes, that Carmody Brentwood sounds pretty formidable. She has even impressed Hammerton and I did not think there was anyone in this world who could do that”

Angelina stepped back from her mother and looked into her eyes. Her mother regarded her with a quizzical expression, wondering what was concerning her daughter.

“Mom, are we bad guys?”

Her mother gave her one of her beautiful smiles and pulled her in close again.

“Yes, Angelina, we are”