Chapter 4

“Your hand shows some inflammation in the knuckles and wrist joint, but no breaks” said the school nurse, Miss Kansari. She was looking at a monitor screen as she ran the sensor unit a few centimeters above Sarah’s right hand, the one she had smacked into Sanderson.

Sarah was lying on the white sheeted bed in the Nursing Station, while an anxious Carmody watched on from a visitor’s chair.

“Can I still play the piano?” Sarah asked the nurse in a serious tone. “I have to give a performance this afternoon”

Miss Kansari snorted at the old joke, one she had heard a number of times in the past from this particular student.

“I didn’t know you could play the piano!” Carmody exclaimed, which set Sarah and the nurse into a fit of giggles.

“Well, Miss Evermore has been known to tickle the ivories of a few students in the past” Miss Kansari admitted. “I do remember one spectacular performance that got her suspended for a whole two weeks”

“Oh yeah, that was Kevin Briggs in Year Nine!” Sarah laughed, then squealed as the nurse applied some antiseptic to the broken skin over her knuckles. Miss Kansari shushed her and put a dressing over the small cuts.

“Yes, poor Kevin” agreed the nurse. “Sadly he is no longer with us”

“What!” interjected Carmody. “Did Sarah kill him?”

“Hmm?” replied Miss Kansari. “Oh no, he transferred out of the school. He could not handle the embarrassment of being beaten up by a girl from Year Seven”

“Best fight ever” sighed Sarah wistfully and sat up once the nurse finished her treatment, flexing the fingers on her right hand and wincing a little.

“You really are a strange girl, Sarah” Carmody muttered under her breath.

“Okay, we are all done here girls” the nurse told them. “Your teacher and Miss Smith are waiting for you in the Security Office, so head over there now”

“Thanks, Miss Kansari” Sarah replied breezily. “See you next time!”

The two girls left the nursing station as the nurse cleaned up the equipment she had used. She watched them go with an indulgent smile and gave them a barely heard farewell.

“I’m sure it won’t be long, Miss Evermore”

=====

The two girls walked the mostly empty halls of the school, hearing the hum of voices coming from classrooms and offices all around them. Christmas decorations hung from the ceiling, long strands of brightly coloured tinsel and paper chains made by the Art classes reminding everyone the end of year was approaching fast. They walked in silence, heading to the newly refurbished offices used by the School Security team.

“I’m sorry about what I said” Carmody said out of the blue, breaking the awkward silence. “I know you like to spend time with Stanley and he adores it when you do”

Sarah stopped in the hallway and faced her friend.

“Hit me” she demanded, her blue green eyes locked onto Carmody’s brown ones with determination.

“What, seriously?” Carmody asked her in confusion. “You remember I am a Kinetic Enhancer, right?”

Sarah stepped forward and punched Carmody gently in the stomach, barely pushing her school shirt inwards at all. The girl stood back and regarded her friend with a grin on her face.

“Come on, hit me” Sarah demanded once more, her hands down against her sides.

Carmody nodded once then pushed her curled fist into Sarah’s stomach as gently as she could, all the while feverishly making sure she did not use her Ability.

“There, we fought about it” Sarah declared. “Now we can be friends again”

With that, Sarah marched off towards the office so Carmody ran after her, cricket bat and school bag bouncing on her back.

=====

The Junior High School had always had a small Security team that looked after the school grounds, doing patrols after hours and at nights. Most days it had just been three guards, overseen by a senior guard who manned the office.

With the increased threats to the school, and the provision of an expanded force of guards from Brackenridge Transportation, the tiny office in the main building was far too cramped. It had been a tight squeeze in the old days when all four guards had met together, so there was no way the new team of a dozen guards and their commanding officer could use that space.

A compromise had been reached, where the guards had a newly constructed building at a secluded end of the school grounds. It had a reception area, interview room, bunk room and its own bathroom facilities. There was even a small, secure confinement room to hold suspects until the Police Auxiliary arrived. No one dared to call it a Cell, yet it had very sturdy walls and a solid door that could be locked from the outside only.

The original Security Office in the main building now had a small reception area where students or parents could visit and an office at the back for Miss Smith, Head of Security. As offices go, it was cramped and spartan. For Fiona, a serving member of the Guard until very recently, it was as spacious and luxurious as a five star hotel.

“Hi Fiona!” called out Carmody to her friend as they were ushered into the small room. The grey uniformed guard who had brought them in scowled at the familiarity with his boss, but Fiona waved him off with a small grin. The two girls sat down in chairs provided on the other side of her simple plastic desk, squeezing in against a metal locker bolted to a wall behind them. At Fiona’s side stood a flustered looking Miss Abrams, their homeroom teacher and nominal adult in charge of the AURA Project team at the school.

“Good morning, Carmody, Sarah” Fiona said in her flat way, a little more inflection in her voice than last week Carmody noticed. Their teacher just nodded at her students, obviously unable to speak at the moment. “I am glad to see your injuries were not severe” added Fiona, looking at the bandages wrapped around Sarah’s knuckles.

“Yeah, I am fully functional” Sarah answered, mimicking a phrase she had heard Fiona and the rest of the Guard team use at one time or another. “How are you going, Fiona?”

“I am also fully functional” Fiona told them, yet both girls noticed how she unconsciously laid her left hand over her right shoulder, as if verifying to herself she really had an arm there after all.

“How about we wrap this up quickly?” interjected Miss Abrams. “The girls have classes to attend and I should be teaching right now too”

“Of course” agreed Fiona and began a series of questions about what had happened that morning, from the moment they arrived at the school grounds until Mr Hanson and the Security Guards had intervened in the fight. The two girls had seen different parts of the whole and between them managed to answer all of Fiona and Miss Abram’s questions.

“So, is Andrew a self-Awakened now?” Carmody asked at the end of their questioning. “It looked like he was using Chiller powers when he attacked Sanderson”

“Chiller?” asked Miss Abrams. “Oh, you mean Cryokinetics. We don’t really know what happened at this time with Andrew. He was still registered as a NOMA at the last Testing session, but that was over a month ago. Before today there was no indication his potential would ever be Awakened”

“Was it because of his medicine?” Sarah asked, looking with suspicious eyes at the two adults. “You guys are hiding something about this, aren’t you? Andrew only went all Ice Monster after he took something in that injector, am I right?”

“Err, perhaps” Miss Abrams replied uncertainly. “There are a lot of things we need to look into and what was in the hypo-injector is one of them”

“The school board and the Police Auxiliary will examine the whole case” Fiona assured them in her emotionless way. “There are a lot of confidential elements to this matter, things that we can’t reveal at this time”

Sarah and Carmody regarded the adults closely, realising they were probably only following orders from someone like Eric or Jericho-Two.

“Okay, you are off the hook for now” Carmody told them. “But make sure you let us know what is really going on as soon as you are able to”

“Yes Ma’am” Fiona said by reflex and nearly threw a salute before she visibly caught herself. Miss Abrams nearly choked on a hastily smothered laugh before they sent the two girls off to their classes.

Once they had left the room, the teacher dropped into a chair opposite the other woman with evident relief.

“Bloody hell Fi-fi, it felt like we were the ones being questioned” Miss Abrams said to her friend.

“Indeed, So-so” agreed Fiona. “They did not ask about what would happen to the Frobisher boy or Sanderson either”

“Oh yeah” pondered Miss Abrams. “Does that mean they don’t care?”

“No, it means they are going to ask someone else for those answers. Someone they are confident won’t tell them lies or evasions”

“Like who, Fi-fi?”

Fiona met her friend’s gaze with her own, the sniper grade cybernetic eye glittering with intensity in the office lights.

“Eric Hargeaves, of course. They have that boy wrapped around their little fingers”

“You think so, Fi-fi? I reckon he would be harder to crack than you or me”

“Not when it comes to those two, So-so. And stop calling me Fi-fi!”

=====

Eric liked doing Chemistry with Mr Hanson. The teacher gave off an air of being laid back and easygoing, yet he really knew his stuff. Today was especially enjoyable as Sarah was still in the Nurse’s office, which meant he could do all the experiments and note taking without her constant interruptions.

Sarah had become a good friend, but even she would be the first to acknowledge she was a terrible student.

Mr Hanson was going over some of the experiment results with a couple of students at the other side of the class, so Lilly and Achmed sidled over to Eric’s bench. Eric nodded to them as they approached, focussing on his beaker filled with bright green solution.

“Shouldn’t you be downstairs, checking on Sarah?” Lilly asked first, beating Achmed who closed his mouth with an audible snap. “Carmody is with her too, so you could comfort them both”

“No, I don’t think they need me right now” he told his friends, shaking his beaker gently, which remained obstinately green of hue. “Miss Kansari is an excellent Nurse and I would only be in the way”

Achmed regarded his friend with a flat expression.

“You know they are going to tear you limb from limb if you don’t make some kind of effort to show concern” he warned the boy. “And besides, can’t you just download all this school work into your memory files? Why do you bother to attend classes?”

Eric swirled his beaker once more then sat it on the stand with an air of resignation. He pointed at the green solution in his experimental beaker, which for Lilly and Achmed had turned a vibrant shade of red.

“For this reason” Eric admitted. “All the theoretical knowledge in the world is no good if I can’t put it into practice. Just knowing how something should be done is not the same as making it happen in the real world”

“I think I understand what you mean” Lilly told him. “I used to read a lot of Romance Manga, trying to find out how to make a really stupid boy notice me. None of the theory made any sense until I tried to put it into practice”

“So how did it go?” wondered Eric. “Did this boy end up noticing you?”

Lilly looked at Achmed, who looked back at her with a dawning sense of realisation.

“That was me?” he gasped. Lilly returned her gaze to Eric with a smile.

“Like I said, he was a really stupid boy. Take it from me, you need to let Carmody and Sarah know how you feel. The uncertainty is driving a wedge between them and as their friend I can’t let that continue”

Eric seemed confused and scratched his short blonde hair.

“How did a conversation about Chemistry turn into a discussion on Romance?” he asked.

“Because chemistry between two people is how you get romance!” said Mr Hanson, appearing unexpectedly behind the three of them. He leaned forward and placed a fatherly hand on Eric’s shoulder.

“As I understand, my earnest young student, you are torn between the affections of two girls?”

“Er, yes I suppose so, Sir” Eric agreed reluctantly. “Are you sure this is a discussion we should be having during class?”

“Well, as the number one Ladies Man at this school, I think you could benefit from my years of dating experience” Mr Hanson continued like a runaway train. Lilly and Achmed were already edging away from Eric’s bench, seeking the comparative safety of their own.

“So what should I do, Mr Hanson?” Eric asked, stepping onto the figurative tracks as the train bore down on him.

“Date them both!” he declared and slapped the boy on the back good-naturedly.

With that the end of class bell rang and everyone scrambled to pack up and get out of the class as quickly as possible. Eric was the last to leave, seemingly in a daze as he processed his teacher’s words. Lilly and Achmed had already gone, promising to catch up with him later.

As he walked from the room, Sarah and Carmody appeared in front of him with determined looks on their faces.

“Eric, we need to talk!” they told him in unison.

“Good luck, son” Mr Hanson said, giving him two thumbs up and closing the classroom door, sealing off his only avenue of escape.

=====

The morning sun was quite intense on the rooftop of the main building. Eric was looking nonchalantly out over the cityscape that lay before him, trying to ignore the pointed looks of the two girls on either side of him.

“So what is happening this time, Eric?” demanded Sarah. “Poor Andrew Frobisher took some weird medicine and suddenly became a Chiller? That has to be some new plot by the Emissary doesn’t it?”

“Yeah” chimed in Carmody, crowding him on his right side, her cricket bat held rather tightly in her hands he couldn’t help noticing.

“Look, not everything bad or strange that happens in Pan City is because of the Emissary” Eric tried to reassure them. “The AURA Project was started long before my brother Two even knew about Mr Albright and the Emissary. This whole city, the entire Zone, is like a magnet for all the crazy and dangerous people in the world”

Carmody pondered this, flipping her bat idly in her hands as she thought.

“What you are saying is there IS something going on, but it may not involve the Emissary, is that right?”

Eric thought for a moment, then decided to go with a simple “Yes?”

“Okay, some bad guys are making some drug that is turning NOMAs into angry, rage filled Awakened” Sarah announced. “Is that correct?”

“Yes” agreed Eric, who was feeling his authority as Project Leader was evaporating rather quickly. “But we can’t get involved. This is a matter being investigated by the Police Auxiliary and the Awakening Centres. You have to promise me you will both stay out of this!”

“Of course, Eric” Sarah lied to him.

“Absolutely!” Carmody added her untruth to her friend’s.

“That’s good!” Eric sighed loudly in relief. “We will all stay out of this investigation” he fibbed to both girls.

A bell rang in the distance, signalling the next class was about to start. The three students trooped into the building and down the stairs. Sarah got halfway to their class before she burst into laughter.

“What is so funny?” Carmody asked her.

“We are all such bad liars” giggled Sarah and quickened her pace, forcing the other two to join her in running down the stairs.

=====

The rest of the morning passed fairly quickly, with Double Maths under Mr Ishikawa being mostly him telling a rambling tale about his Christmas holiday plans in Japan.

At lunch time, the AURA team gathered in one of Sarah’s secret hideaway spots on the rooftop, sharing their lunches and chatting about the morning’s events.

“So why is Angelina not at school today?” Lilly asked Carmody, her voice muffled by the tuna roll she was eating at the same time. It was one of Carmody’s mum’s creations so there was no way she was going to pause in devouring the delicious food!

“I called her earlier after she sent me a text” Carmody replied, chewing with gusto on a piece of spicy fried squid that Achmed had brought. “Apparently the big warehouse owned by their family in District Eight caught fire last night. Her parents were concerned it might be another rival company going after the Brackenridge business so they are keeping her safe at home”

“Wow!” gasped Sarah. “Must be tough to be part of a family of smugglers! I wonder if Angelina gets her own gun?”

“Sarah! That is not fair” Carmody reprimanded her friend. “Angelina can’t help it if her parents are criminal masterminds!”

“Yeah, I know” Sarah agreed. “It’s the same as I can’t help it that my older brother is a servant of Satan. We can’t choose our family, only our friends”

“Actually, Sarah’s brother Brent is kind of handsome I always thought” Lilly added to the conversation, having finished her tuna roll and looking over the remaining selection of lunch items.

“Try some squid, Lilly dear” Achmed told her pointedly and handed her a piece.

“Hmm, Squid? No thanks, it gives me hiccups” she answered and took an egg sandwich made by Sarah’s mom.

“What do you think, Eric?” Carmody asked the boy, who had been sitting to one side eating a little but mostly just lost in thought.

“I like Squid” he answered, which earned him a thump from Sarah and Carmody.