Sarah and the Steam Dragon

The lunch bell sounded so Sarah and her classmates packed away the burners and chemicals they had been using. Mr Hanson, the Chemistry teacher, had let them do some fun experiments instead of boring revision. He was a cool surfer dude, tall and handsome with sun-bleached hair and tanned skin. All the girls in his classes were madly in love with him, as well as a couple of the more adventurous boys.

School gossip was that he had dated all the eligible female teachers at one time or another, plus a couple of the married ones. The only teacher who had resisted his amorous advances was said to be Miss Abrams, who had gone up in Sarah’s opinion when she heard the tale. Still, he was very good looking and very fit even if he was a Casanova (that was what Miss Abrams called him, so Sarah had looked it up online. It meant he liked to date as many women as possible but did not stick around).

Mr Hanson (Handsome Hanson to his fan club) was a Grade One Pyrokinetic. That meant he was able to make fire and have it dance around on his hands or shoot it across the room. His standard trick in the chemistry class was to light their Bunsen burners from the front of the room, which always got the girls squealing in mock terror. Sarah wished she was a Pyrokinetic, mainly so she could set fire to things.

Once she was ready, Sarah grabbed her datapad and bag, heading for her locker. Today she had brought in her lunch and she needed to collect it before heading to the school cafeteria. All the Year Seven lockers were on the ground floor, not far from the main doors into the school building.

When she got there she felt like there was someone watching her. She looked up and down the corridor, seeing a few other Year Sevens also at their lockers, but no-one was paying her any special attention.

Why did she have this weird feeling?

Tap, tap, tap went a claw on the main school doors. Sarah jumped in fright, dropping her lunch box on the tiled floor. Stanley the dragon was looking in at her though the clear glass doors. With a thumping heart, Sarah went to the big set of doors and met the eyes of the dragon.

Checking up and down the corridor, to make sure no-one was watching, she opened one side of the doors.

“What are you doing here?” she hissed at Stanley.

“Well, you have been ignoring me all morning, so I decided to wait here for you” hissed Stanley in reply, doing a much better job of it and adding some puffs of steam for extra effect. He pushed in past the protesting Sarah and stood in the main foyer, looking about him with interest.

“This is a nice cave” he announced, turning around in a circle and moving his scaled head to check out the glass fronted awards cabinet. “Nice decorations too” he added, then sniffed the air. “Something smells good” he announced and his eyes locked onto Sarah’s lunch box sitting on the floor, over next to her locker.

He puffed a jet of steam and with a happy squeal lunged towards Sarah’s lunch box.

Sarah could only watch in horror as the enormous beast grabbed her entire lunch and swallowed it down, plastic container and all.

“My lunch!” she cried and ran over to the dragon, who was now sniffing the air once more. “Bad Dragon!” she said to Stanley and whacked him on the nose with her palm. Stanley was taken aback and pulled his head away from her, his black pupils wide open.

“What?” said Stanley, “Why are you hitting me, Sarah Evermore?”

“You ate my lunch!” she scolded the dragon. “And the lunch box. My mum is going to have a fit when I tell her I lost another one”

“But it was just lying on the ground” whined Stanley. “All I have been eating since I came to this rotten world was things I could find lying around.” He snuffled sadly to himself and Sarah felt bad for hitting him on his nose, however much he deserved it.

“Sarah, who are you talking too?” said Carmody Brentwood, a Year Seven girl from another class. Like Sarah she was a NOMA, spending a boring day at school doing revisions.

“Nobody” said Sarah guiltily, spinning around to face the girl. “Just talking to myself. I was really angry with myself for eating my lunch in the morning, so now I don’t have any lunch. For lunchtime” she added lamely.

“Oh, that is too bad” said Carmody, still looking a bit confused. “Did you want to share some of mine? Mum always makes me way too much to eat”. She had an oversized lunchbox in her hands and offered it towards Sarah.

“Yes please, girl child!” said Stanley, putting his head over Sarah’s shoulder and sniffing hungrily.

“Stop that!” said Sarah, looking sideways at the dragon.

“Stop what?” said Carmody, her confusion now reaching a new peak. Sarah saw the other girl’s eyes focussing over her shoulder, her face screwing up and her eyes squinting. Could she see Stanley?

“Ah, stop offering me your lunch!” Sarah yelled out hurriedly, then calmed herself as Carmody stepped back in surprise. “I mean I really appreciate it, but you should eat your own lunch”

“Okay” replied Carmody and walked away, turning back once or twice with a strange look on her face.

“Her lunch smelled really tasty” whined Stanley. “Why did you tell her not to share it with us?”

Sarah rounded on the dragon, her eyes blazing.

“What is going on?” she demanded. “How come I am the only one who can see you and hear you?”

“Ah, that is complicated, Sarah Evermore” said Stanley. “I think it has to do with my being from a different world than yours. The people of your world are not meant to see creatures like me, so somehow their minds block me out completely. I am really here, and they could see me and touch me, but their own perception stops them from acknowledging me”

“But what about if they walked into you?” wondered Sarah.

“The few times I have tried it already, people just walk around me without thinking about it. A couple of times I had someone trip over my tail and they just thought it was a loose piece of pavement”

Sarah pondered this for a few moments. It kind of made sense, except for one glaring problem.

“So how come I can see you?” she asked.

“Maybe you are special?” suggested Stanley and gave her a bright toothy smile. It could have been terrifying but Sarah thought it was actually sweet. He was quite a handsome dragon after all.

“It would be nice to be special” she agreed. Her stomach rumbled and she suddenly regretted turning down Carmody’s offer to share her lunch. Stanley made a similar rumble down in his rather larger belly and sniffed the air wistfully.

“There is food nearby” Stanley said, his head turning to meet Sarah’s eyes. “Perhaps I could go and get it, then bring some back for you?”

“If you mean the school cafeteria, you can’t just steal it” admonished Sarah. “We will have to pay for it. Do you have any money?”

“What is money?” replied Stanley.

“I kind of expected that answer” sighed Sarah. She checked the phone that she carried in her pants pocket. According to that she had only ten Pan City Dollars to spend until her next allowance day. Everyone in the city called them Pandas for short, which always made Sarah think of those cute bears from China.

“Look, it has stopped raining for now. How about I go and buy us some lunch and then meet you out in the courtyard?” Sarah pointed helpfully out of the main doors and Stanley follower her finger.

“You don’t want me to come and help capture the food?” asked Stanley.

“It would be best if I did that by myself” said Sarah confidently. “I will be just a few minutes”

Stanley reluctantly nodded his agreement and pulled open the main doors with a clawed foreleg. With a final huff of steam he went outside, the doors almost catching his tail but then he whipped it expertly out of the way.

“I really must be going crazy today” Sarah muttered to herself and went to the school cafeteria. Once she got there, the queue for the food was quite short. Most of the students had already bought their lunches, so Sarah got to the front of the line very quickly.

The food choices on Testing Days at the cafeteria were limited, so Sarah picked a large salad and egg sandwich and a small pepperoni pizza. She thought about a drink too, however the food cost five Pandas already so she decided to drink tap water instead. Yummy, yummy tap water.

She ran to the main doors and went out into the courtyard, clutching the food to her chest. Where was Stanley? Had she finally come to her senses and her imaginary dragon had disappeared?

“Sarah Evermore” said a now familiar deep voice, “I am up here”. Sarah looked upwards and perched on top of the building was Stanley, waving a foreleg at her.

No-one else was out in the courtyard, so Sarah shouted up to the dragon “How am I going to bring lunch to you up there?” She held out the sandwich and pizza in their wrappers and from down on the ground she could his eyes open wide in delight.

Nimble as a bird, Stanley jumped off the roof and soared down to land gently at her side.

“How can you fly like that without any wings?” asked an amazed Sarah.

“Hmm” pondered Stanley, “I think it is like your Miss Abrams can fly. It is a power I just have and does not require wings to let me move through the air” He sniffed the lunch she was holding and snorted steam with pleasure. “That smells delightful. Shall I take you somewhere so we can enjoy it together?”

“Okay” agreed Sarah.

Stanley stood on his hind legs and held out his forelegs, using his long tail to balance himself.

“If you let me hold you, I can carry you to a nice park I know close by” offered Stanley. Sarah thought about it for a whole five seconds, only because she was not meant to leave the school grounds until home time.

“Sounds great” she said and climbed into his waiting arms. Despite what she expected, his scales were warm and soft and he made sure his long claws did not scratch her.

“Here we go” Stanley said and leaped into the air. Like a dart he soared high over the school buildings, giving Sarah a wonderful dragon’s eye view of the whole District. The cool air rushed past but Stanley was so warm she did not feel cold at all.

“Hey, that is the tower where I live!” shouted Sarah happily, pointing to one of the big residential buildings that sat like giant dominoes in rows. Far below she could see cars and trucks driving along the surface roads, some driving down into the many expressway tunnels that ran beneath the whole city.

People were like little dots, scurrying about on their errands. Sarah squealed with happiness and then they dived down at the ground, landing with a soft thump in a beautiful tree filled park. Sarah climbed out of Stanley’s arms and he dropped down onto his four legs, shaking himself from head to tail.

“That was fun!” declared Sarah and went to sit beside the dragon on the grass. “Oh, the grass is all damp from the rain” she said. “I had better not get my uniform wet”

“Just stand back for a moment” declared Stanley, so she took her lunch and carefully stood out of his way. Stanley inhaled mightily, winked one eye at her, then blew a powerful blast of hot air across the grass. Steam rose from the ground and she realised it was now dry and warm.

“Wow, you are really a useful dragon” she told him and sat down with her legs folded underneath. Stanley curled himself close to her and poked his snout towards the pizza, nudging it hopefully.

“How about we share the sandwich and the pizza?” Sarah suggested, to which Stanley reluctantly agreed. She unwrapped both items, roughly tore them in halves and put Stanley’s on a piece of wrapper in front of him.

They ate in companionable silence, the only sound the rustle of the leaves in the bushes and birds singing from the trees.

When they had finished, Sarah looked keenly at Stanley.

“If you are from a different world, how did you get here” she asked.

Stanley stopped chewing his last mouthful of sandwich that he had skewered with a claw and suddenly seemed quite embarrassed. Puffs of steam made smoke rings out of his nostrils as he looked away from Sarah.

“In all honesty, Sarah Evermore, it was a mistake. I was incredibly foolish and daring, doing something my mother had warned me not to do”

This got her attention, as Sarah was always doing things her mother told her not to. And things her teachers told her not to. And her father. And so on.

“I had flown far from my mother’s realm, wanting to see what the other realms were like. Mother had always warned me they were dangerous, full of big Dracoris that would eat a little Vapora like me in just one bite. Yet that made me want to explore even more.

So I went deep into the forbidden realm, flying swiftly and with confidence. Then up ahead of me I saw something amazing. It was like a hole in the sky, an opening between worlds. The old Dracoris spoke of such things from long ago, portals that led to other worlds.

It had been opened by a vast creature of darkness, one that I dare not speak of. It had sent a part of itself, an emissary, through the portal, and then moved away. Returning to its own dark realm at the heart of our world I imagine.

I should have fled, reported what I had seen to my Mother and the other Dracoris of our realm. Instead I was foolish and wanted to see what lay on the other side of the portal. So I dashed through it just as it snapped close.

On the other side I found this world, your home Sarah. There was no sign of the dark emissary who had gone through before me, no trace I could find of it anywhere”

“Why were you looking for the emissary?” Sarah asked Stanley, her puzzlement clear on her young face.

“Because I don’t know how to open a portal back to my home” said Stanley sadly. “I am trapped here, far from my Mother and my friends. No-one to talk to, or play games with, no-one to share a meal with or tell them my story”

“No-one until you met me” said Sarah, understanding at last. Well, she may as well try and find out some more about her new friend.

“So is your mother the one you called Marlevy-something the Eighth?” she asked.

“Marlevitariously the Eighth” corrected Stanley. “She is my birth Mother and leader of our Clan Vapora. If it makes it easier for you, I give you permission to use her short name of Marley”

“Thanks Stanley, that is definitely easier. You said before you were a Dracoris Vapora, is that like your family name?” wondered Sarah.

“No, that is what I am. All of our kind are Dracoris, what you humans would call Dragons. My species are Dracoris Vapora, which would translate roughly as Steam Dragon in your language. There are many others, such as the fearsome Dracoris Inferno and the peaceful Dracoris Sympata. We are like people of your world, with many different creeds and colours. Some are warlike and some are friendly, even within the one Clan”

“What about your people, Clan Vapora?” enquired Sarah. “Are they friendly?”

“Once we were a clan of mighty warriors, feared across the Seven Realms for our battle skills” said Stanley proudly. “Then ages past the Clan was betrayed by an ally we trusted, our fortresses destroyed and the warriors slain. My Mother’s own mother led the survivors to safety, claiming refuge from another Clan that took pity on us. There we have lived ever since, a small Clan, making our living as best we can”

“Wow, that is like some story out of a novel” said Sarah. “Who was the ally that turned against your Clan?”

”The one whose name I cannot speak in this place” replied Stanley, his deep voice so quiet for once. “The one whose emissary I foolishly followed to this world” The dragon lapsed into silence, one claw picking sadly at the crumbs of his sandwich.

Sarah’s phone pinged a reminder. She had five minutes before the lunch period ended and she had to be back in class.

“Umm, Stanley, I want to talk more with you, but...”

“I know, Sarah Evermore” he said, “You need to get back to school”

=====

Sarah had put their lunch wrappers in a recycling bin at the park, then Stanley had lifted her up and carried her back to the school. It was another exciting flight and Sarah was glad she had met Stanley. She felt pretty sure that he was glad to have met her too!

They landed on a deserted roof top, high above the school entrance. Sarah knew all the secret ways to get on and off the school’s roof tops, so she said goodbye to Stanley and headed inside.

“I’ll see you later, Stanley” she called out as she ran to her class, waving cheerily. Stanley waved his own foreleg in response and called out goodbye too.

Her first lesson after lunch was a double Physics with Mr Albright. Sarah was definitely not looking forward to it and she had to force herself to arrive on time. It was a combined class, with all the Year Sevens here today in the one lesson. When she arrived, most of her fellow NOMAs were already seated, chatting noisily about their lunch break, favourite TV shows, popular music bands and stuff.

Sarah could not sit in her usual seat at the back of the class, so she had to take a desk right at the front, next to Mr Albright’s imposing desk that faced the room. Carmody Brentwood was at the desk next to hers and gave Sarah a nervous smile as she put her datapad and bag down.

“Um, did you end up having some lunch?” asked Carmody, looking down at her own desk and avoiding eye contact.

“What? Oh yes, I got a pizza and a sandwich” replied Sarah without thinking.

“Oh!” said Carmody in surprise. “If you were that hungry you really should have shared some of mine. I had lots left over and my mum is a really good cook”

“Okay, maybe next time” Sarah said. She looked closer at Carmody and wondered why she had never spoken much to her before. Sarah had only two real friends at the Junior High and she was on speaking terms with few of the other students. Certainly no-one from the other Year Seven classes.

Thinking about it, she was not sure who were Carmody’s friends. Maybe she was often lonely like Sarah was? Her thoughts in this direction were interrupted by the arrival of Mr Albright, who slid their class door shut with a bang after he entered.

They were all trapped in here with him for two whole periods. Sarah sighed to herself mentally and got ready to revise last week’s Physics lessons.

Time passed very slowly as their teacher went over Force and Momentum, Angular Velocity and Impact. Sarah felt herself nodding off, the excitement of the morning leaving her completely drained now.

“Miss Evermore!” said a stern voice and Sarah woke up in alarm, her head resting on her arms.

“What!” she said loudly as she bolted upright in her chair. Laughter erupted around the room as her classmates watched Mr Albright walk over and stand directly in front of her desk.

“Quiet, class!” demanded her teacher, never once taking his eyes from Sarah. The titters and guffaws in the room lapsed immediately into silence, every pair of eyes in the room locked onto Sarah as well.

“Are you unwell, Miss Evermore?” enquired Mr Albright in his cold, flat voice. Sarah looked at him directly and shivered a little. His eyes were like black pools sucking all the light away, leaving only an empty void around him.

“Sorry sir, I am fine” she stammered. “I just ran around a bit too much at lunch break”

“Indeed” he murmured. “Young ladies like yourself should not go running about the school. You never know what accidents might befall you”

Whatever else her teacher was about to say to her was interrupted as Miss Abrams knocked hastily on the door and flung it open.

“Excuse me for barging in, Mr Albright” her home room teacher said in a rush. “Have you seen Andrew Frobisher since his Physics lesson this morning?”

“Frobisher?” pondered Mr Albright. “Small boy, Year Eight, with glasses and red hair?”

“Er yes, that is Andrew” confirmed a worried looking Miss Abrams. “He has not been seen at his classes or by his friends since the morning break”

“Why no, I don’t recall seeing him after he left my class” said Mr Albright with his usual lack of emotion. “He had mentioned something about not feeling well. Have you checked the School Nurse’s office?”

Miss Abrams gave him one of those looks. The kind where you are wondering what planet the person you are talking to has come from.

“Of course I did!” she said. The teacher turned to the class and addressed them all. “Class, has anyone seen Andrew since his morning?”

There was a chorus of negative replies from the students, along with whispered speculations as to where he could be. Sarah had not seen him herself, then her insides went cold at the memory of what she had seen in the basement.

What had been in the sack that Creepy Bob was carrying? She tried hard to think about how big the sack had been, compared to little Andrew Frobisher. He was a year above Sarah, but he was a tiny boy. Sarah reckoned she could carry him off herself.

“Any thoughts on this strange disappearance?” asked Mr Albright, still standing in front of her desk. Sarah curled into herself, suddenly very frightened.

“No sir, no thoughts at all” she answered like a tiny mouse, hoping the big cat in front of her just went away. Mr Albright regarded her solemnly for a moment, then turned to Miss Abrams with his expressionless face.

“Good luck on finding your missing student, Miss Abrams” he told her. “I am sure he is just off slacking somewhere, avoiding doing his revision work. He is bound to turn up by home time”

Miss Abrams accepted defeat in this room and thanked the teacher and class for their time. She left, closing the door as she went.

“Now, where were we?” Mr Albright asked the class. No-one rushed to provide an answer, so he looked down at Sarah. “Any ideas, Miss Evermore?” he asked politely.

“Um, Impact, sir?” she suggested.

“Impact, you say? The action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another” Mr Albright replied. “Yes, let’s discuss Impact class and what happens when one object gets in the way of another. It is a very interesting topic and I look forward to hearing your ideas”

=====

The afternoon bell rang to signify the end of the double period. Sarah and her classmates all gratefully put their datapads away in their bags and filed out of the classroom. It had been a gruelling session, with Mr Albright asking lots of hard questions about stuff they barely remembered from last week.

He had left Sarah alone after Miss Abram’s visit, much to her relief. Yet she had the feeling his eyes were on her a lot, making her wonder if he had somehow spotted her down in the basement earlier in the day.

As she left the class, Carmody had stayed behind until she had packed up and walked with her. Mr Albright said nothing, but both girls felt the weight of his gaze on them as they left.

“That was a weird class today” said Carmody once they were safely in the corridor. The other students had already headed down the stairs as it was afternoon break now.

“It sure was” agreed Sarah, relieved to be out of the classroom. She grabbed Carmody by the arm and hurried her towards the stairs. Carmody yelped in surprise and her feet stumbled a little, obviously not expecting Sarah to grab her.

Instead of heading down the stairs though, Sarah stopped at the corner, pushing Carmody and herself just out of sight.

“Wait here a minute” Sarah whispered to the other girl, then peeked around the corner. “I want to see if Mr Albright goes anywhere”

On cue, the classroom door opened and Mr Albright stepped into the corridor, his phone against his ear. Sarah strained to hear what he was saying, keeping herself tucked as far out of sight as she could.

“I’m coming down now” she heard the teacher say to his phone. “Did we get as much from this one? Yes? That is good. I’ll meet you at the elevator”

Mr Albright ended his call and slipped his phone into his pocket. He turned and closed the door then strode off towards the service elevator at the end of the corridor. Only school staff and those students with mobility issues were allowed to use the elevator, as everyone else had to use the stairs. Sarah watched him use his staff card to call the elevator and he went inside once it arrived.

The elevator descended and the indicator above the doors showed it stopped only once it reached the basement. Sarah nodded her head as Mr Albright had gone exactly where she thought he would.

“Um, Sarah” asked Carmody meekly “Could you please let go of my arm? You are squeezing it really hard.” Sarah let go as soon as she registered her words and Carmody rubbed her arm vigorously.

“Do you think Mr Albright knows something about Andrew going missing?” asked Carmody.

“Maybe” said Sarah, thinking hard.

“Should we tell someone, like Miss Abrams or the School Principal?”

“Look, just leave this to me” she assured Carmody. “It is probably nothing, and we can’t accuse a teacher without any proof”

“Okay” Carmody agreed uncertainly. “But you aren’t going to get yourself in trouble are you?”

“Me?” scoffed Sarah. “When do I get in trouble?”

Carmody looked embarrassed and shuffled her feet on the stairs. “Most days, from what the other kids say”

Sarah had to pause at that and did a little mental arithmetic in her head.

“I think you may be right” she said. “But I have already been in trouble once today, so my chances of getting in trouble again have to be pretty low”

“I don’t think it works that way” said Carmody, but Sarah was already running down the stairs with a determined look on her face. Carmody sighed and followed after her, not running of course as that would get her in trouble if a teacher saw. More like a brisk walk downstairs.

Carmody caught up with Sarah near the access door to the basement, both of them peering around the corner at the doorway.

“I don’t think we are allowed down in the basement without a teacher” advised Carmody. Sarah just sniffed her nose at such a statement and double checked there was no-one else around. Once she was certain the coast was clear she led Carmody to the security panel next to the door.

“Keep a watch out” said Sarah and deftly punched the required four numbers into the keypad. The door lock opened with the usual satisfying click and Sarah grinned to herself. Motioning to Carmody to follow her, Sarah went to the basement door and opened it wide. The automated lights flickered on, shedding their dim light on the landing and the stairs leading down.

Andrew Frobisher stood revealed in the lights, his eyes glassy and his face showing no expression at all. He was just standing there, like a statue of a boy dressed in a school uniform.

Carmody and Sarah screamed in unison and ran away, each girl running blindly in opposite directions. The door to the basement slowly swung itself closed once more, leaving Andrew in the dark.