Sarah and the Steam Dragon
Chapter 10

10th District, Pan City

Saturday, October 6th 2046 AD

“Sarah, wake up sweetie, it’s morning” said her mother, shaking her shoulder gently. She woke up feeling groggy, looking about her room in confusion.

“Come on, Carrie’s been up for an hour already” her mom chided her. “You’ll miss out on breakfast”

“Mmm, Okay, I’m up” she muttered and swung her feet to the floor of her bedroom. It was weird she thought to herself that she was wearing her clothes instead of the pajamas she remembered putting on last night. She was really tired though and her head was thumping like she had a headache.

“Oh Sarah, did you sleep in your clothes again? Why didn’t you change?” Her mom fussed a bit more and left the room, telling her to change and come to breakfast soon.

Sarah stumbled to her dresser and looked at herself in the mirror fixed on top. Her hair was stuck out in all directions and she had dark circles around her eyes. There was a nagging feeling she had forgotten something important, something she was meant to be doing.

With a fatalistic shrug she changed her clothes into her normal Saturday ones and went to join her family for whatever was left to eat.

“Someone had a hard night” joked her father, sitting at the head of their dining table. As always he was drinking coffee and reading the news feeds on his datapad. He was a stern but loving father, always reminding Sarah how much he cared when he punished her for the latest escapade.

“Don’t forget you can’t go visiting friends today” he added, fixing her with his gaze. “You have nearly two months of being grounded to go yet”

“Huh?” snorted Sarah. “Since when am I grounded?”

Every eye at the table locked onto her, her family’s faces a mix of disbelief, anger and in Brent’s case pure delight.

“Since you stole Daddy’s Scotch, Sarah” her mother answered crossly. “You never did give us a suitable reason for why you did that”

“No way!” she replied angrily. “I have never done anything like that!”

She looked at her family and their shocked faces. Brent was mouthing words at her from behind his hand, “You’re in trouble!” She could tell that right away because he said it to her all the time.

“Go to your room, Sarah!” thundered her dad, so she quickly stood up and bolted to her room, slamming the door behind her. With a stifled cry she threw herself onto the bed and buried her head in her pillow. Her body shook, with sobs or maybe it was anger. Even Sarah was not sure herself.

The rest of her day was like that, her family telling her things that she had no memory of. Carrie kept asking for her Unicorn torch back too and ran off crying when she said she had no idea where it was. The worst moment came when one of her fellow Year Seven students rang, a girl she barely knew named Carmody.

It had been an awkward conversation as Carmody seemed to think they had become best friends in the past week. Sarah only remembered a few vague “hellos” in Phys Ed or in the cafeteria.

Not only that, she insisted on talking about a boy she liked, some guy called Eric. It was even more confusing when Sarah discovered his name and number in her phone. When did that happen?

To cap it all off, late in the day her mother reminded her she had to get ready for the Parents and Teachers night at the school. Sarah had been positive that was next weekend, not today. However she recognised the futility of arguing about it with her parents. After this morning, her grounding had already had two more weeks added to the two months she had never known about. At the current rate she expected to be grounded for about six months after she finished High School.

With a heavy heart, still unsure why everything felt so out of sorts, she had a shower and got dressed in her cleanest school uniform. Her shoes were tucked under her bed, behind her favourite black sneakers, so she bent down to retrieve them.

A little glow was visible under her bed, coming from inside one of her discarded sneakers. She pulled it to her and fished around inside, extracting a softly glowing crystal of some kind. That was definitely something she did not remember replaceing!

It was small like a marble with facets and warm to the touch, as if there was a tiny fire inside. She held it towards her eyes for a better look when her mom knocked on the door, telling her to hurry up. Sarah hurriedly put the gem in her pocket, reminding herself to check it out later.

Slipping her feet into socks, she strapped on her school shoes and rushed out the door.

=====

The sun was setting as the auto-cab dropped the Evermore family at the school gates. It was crowded in the courtyard, with families of the Year Seven students milling about while the actual students abandoned them to catch up with their school friends.

Sarah left her parents and siblings somewhere near the main entrance to the school buildings, cutting through the knots of adults and kids to where she always met Lilly and Achmed. As expected, her two best friends were waiting in their usual location, along with the girl Carmody she had spoken to earlier on the phone.

She slowed as she approached the trio, wondering at the concerned look she was getting from Carmody.

“Um, Hi Sarah” said the new girl, “Are you feeling better now?”

“Why are you asking me that?” Sarah replied testily. “And why did you call me today?”

“Sarah, stop being rude to Carmody!” Lilly admonished her. “She told us you were being really strange today. What has gotten into you?”

“Nothing!” Sarah insisted. “I am just fed up with everyone telling me about stuff that they all think I did. Between you guys and my parents I have had enough!”

Sarah turned away from the three of them and ploughed right into some blonde haired boy she had not seen at school before. He was as solid as a rock, bouncing Sarah back a few steps.

“Sorry” she muttered in brief apology and stomped away, looking for her parents.

“Sarah, wait” the boy called out to her, so she stopped and waited like he asked.

“Yes, what do you want” she quizzed him. He was a good looking boy, with close cropped blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. She wondered whose brother he was as she would definitely remember seeing him before in the Year Sevens.

He looked keenly at her face, registering the complete lack of recognition he saw there. At the very least he expected her to be angry with him, or annoyed. Those seemed to be her standard attitudes towards him. Complete indifference was unexpected.

“It’s me, Eric” he said, his expression somehow looking lost.

“Oh right, you’re that boy Carmody likes!” Sarah said, understanding at last she thought. “Carmody is just over there” and she pointed to the trio she had left. Without another word, she left him standing there, his mouth hanging open.

Her parents, Brent and Carrie were pretty much where she had left them and together they headed inside the main building. The school auditorium was in the North Wing on the ground floor, a massive chamber that could seat a thousand people at once.

This evening there would an opening address and some entertainment by the Year Seven Band, followed by meetings in the various homerooms with the Parents and Teachers. The crowd of adults and children flowed like a noisy river into the auditorium, with the students taking the front rows and their parents and siblings sitting further back.

Despite the frustrating day she had experienced, Sarah was as excited as the other students right now. It had been a while since they had so many people all at once in the auditorium and the noise was incredible!

She went to sit in the row designated for her homeroom class, with Miss Abrams sitting already at one end. Her teacher was looking over her students as they came and sat down, greeting them each by name. As Sarah went to sit, her teacher summoned her closer and indicated the spare seat next to her.

“Hi, Miss Abrams” she greeted her teacher uncertainly. “Did you want to talk to me?”

“I just wanted to make sure you were Okay” Miss Abrams said. “You have had a very busy week, what with Eric joining the class and the school shut down on Thursday”

Sarah looked at her teacher blankly. This was getting ridiculous! Why was everyone playing this stupid game with her?

“Sorry Miss, I need to visit the Girls room” she apologised and jumped up from her seat. With her head spinning she ran from the big chamber, dashing past her friends and that strange boy Eric without stopping. People parted to let her through and she made it to the Girls room in time. In time for the crying to begin.

Her eyes blurring with tears, Sarah stumbled into the rest room and leaned against the row of sinks, sobs heaving from her. She did not understand why she felt like this, why she thought she was missing something so heartbreakingly important.

She reached into her pants pocket for her handkerchief, pulling it out roughly. A small glowing gem fell out onto the tiled floor with a faint plink. Sarah had forgotten all about it!

Reaching down, she picked it up and held it to the light. It was quite beautiful and as she gazed at it, she could swear she saw movement inside. Her tears subsided and she looked deeper, her whole attention drawn into the tiny faceted crystal.

A face appeared. A face she knew swam into view, trapped inside the crystal.

“Angelina?” she breathed. Memories started to flash into her head, strange memories that felt alien and somehow familiar at the same time.

Memories of this school, her friends, Angelina and some disturbance. Thoughts filled with images of that boy Eric, and her teacher Mr Albright. Thoughts that should be hers yet she could not fit them into place.

She looked at the crystal in her hand and knew only one thing. She had to replace Angelina and give this to her. Sarah had no idea how she knew, but Angelina needed this back!

Bursting back into the crowded corridors, she was surrounded by students and parents still moving into the auditorium. She shoved her way through them, earning many cries of anger as she bulled into any gaps she could replace, making her own when she had to.

At last she reached her homeroom row of seats, her face tear streaked and wild. Her friends Lilly and Achmed sat next to each other as always, beside them Eric. They all regarded her with concern and Eric spoke first.

“Sarah, what is going on? You are acting strange tonight”

“I know, and I am sorry!” she said in a rush. “Something really weird has been happening to me and I need you guys to help me”

“I have to replace Angelina. I think this is hers and she needs it right now!” Sarah showed them the glowing crystal, held like a glowing ember between finger and thumb. They looked at it curiously and at each other, wondering why Sarah was so fixated on the dull looking crystal she was holding.

“The kids that got affected by that illness are in a special seating area” declared Achmed. “She will be with them. Follow me”

The four of them worked their way through the crowd, thinning at last as most people had found their seats. Achmed led them to a reserved seating area near the main stage, where the affected students were already seated with their parents and families.

Angelina was one of three Year Sevens who had come down with the mysterious condition. She sat quietly with no expression on her face, flanked by tired looking parents. Her mother, a spitting image of her younger daughter, held Angelina’s hand in her own. Worry lines were etched on her face, the same as all the other parents seated here.

Sarah stood in front of her classmate, and addressed the parents.

“Mr and Mrs Brackenridge, my name is Sarah Evermore. I am in the same Homeroom as Angelina”

“Oh, good evening Sarah. Thank you for stopping to say hello. Are you a friend of Angelina’s?” her mother said in a gentle manner.

“I hope to be” she answered truthfully. “We have had our issues in the past, but seeing Angelina like this makes me want to be a better classmate to her”

She held out the crystal to Angelina. “I think this is yours”

Angelina’s hand slipped out of her mother’s and reached timidly forwards. Sarah gently turned the girls hand over and laid the shining ember in her palm, then closed her fingers over it to make a fist.

Sarah saw a light flicker from within the closed fist, brighter and brighter. It made her eyes blink and she turned away, getting strange looks from everyone else.

“Wow, that light was really bright” Sarah said, rubbing her eyes.

“What light are you talking about?” wondered Lilly. “You just gave Angelina some dull old crystal”

“Sarah” said Angelina, opening her palm. It was empty but Angelina’s eyes were alive with the glow only Sarah had been able to see. “Thank you”

Angelina stood and clasped Sarah’s hands in hers. “You found me. Thank you so much Sarah!”

The parents were in shock, seeing their daughter come back to life so suddenly. Excited voices broke out and Angelina was swamped with hugs from her mother and father. They wanted to hug Sarah too but she backed off and left them to their joyful celebrations.

The memories she had lost came flooding back. She remembered it all, thanks to the act of returning Angelina’s Soul Spark.

Her friends had crowded around her, congratulating her on helping Angelina, even if they had no idea how she had done it.

“Guys, I know why I have been so weird today. I had all my memories of the last week hidden away, so I forgot about Eric, and the school closure, all the strange stuff that happened this week”

“You lost your memories?” wondered Eric. “But you have them back now?”

“Yes, and the school is in danger! Everyone is in danger and I have to replace the one person who can help us stop it”

“Who?” demanded Eric, grabbing her arms and looking into her face urgently.

“Stanley, he’s a dragon” Sarah said. Eric regarded her implacably then nodded.

“I believe you” he said.

Then the school alarms went off and the armoured security doors slammed shut, sealing everyone in the auditorium.

A speaker crackled to life, filling the auditorium with a voice, clearly audible over the wailing alarms.

“Thank you all for coming tonight” said the voice of Mr Albright. “The scheduled Parents and Teachers Night has been cancelled I am afraid. Instead we will be running a different event, with all of you being very important guests”

“Tonight we will be welcoming a traveller from another world. He will be arriving soon and he is going to be very hungry from his journey”

“I don’t like where this is heading” said Sarah. Her teacher continued.

“You will all have the honour of being his first meal”

Cries of alarm and horror rang out through the vast chamber as his words sank home. Frightened parents and teachers alike started banging on the security doors, striking the armoured plates with desperation. Students and siblings cried and cowered, the noise in the hall rising to deafening levels.

Carmody broke through the mass of panicked people to join Sarah and her friends. She looked at Sarah uncertainly and the girl stepped forward and gave her a hug.

“Sorry I forgot about you, Carmody” Sarah apologised.

“That’s Okay” said Carmody, hugging her in return. “It has been a hell of a week”

The group of friends formed a tight circle with linked arms over shoulders, facing inwards as chaos and terror reigned around them.

“So what do we do now?” Eric asked them all.

“I think I have an idea” Sarah announced. “And I need you all to help me”