Final Storm

by Deborah Abela

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  A Quiet Fear

  ‘I can’t believe you’d be so reckless.’ It wasn’t the first time Griffin had said this.

  ‘I’m sorry.’ And not the first time Isabella had apologised.

  After their lucky escape, Aleksander and Griffin had rushed Isabella to the infirmary, where the Academy’s nurse declared she was lucky to get away with a few scrapes and a bruised hip. After a thorough examination, the nurse agreed to release her.

  But not without a stern talking to from Principal Galloway about the dangers of not following school rules and respecting out-of-bounds areas. Isabella, Aleksander and Griffin were given yellow warning cards, but it was Principal Galloway’s last words that stung Griffin the most.

  ‘Three of our best students.’ Her voice was cold. ‘I’m especially disappointed in you, Griffin. It is a privilege to be at this Academy. One I thought you valued more highly.’

  ‘But it wasn’t Griffin who –’ Isabella began.

  But Principal Galloway was in no mood for excuses. ‘Three of you were out of bounds, so the three of you are on notice.’ She fixed them with a stern eye. ‘If any of you disobey the rules again, you will face expulsion.’

  And now, sitting in an Armacab being driven from school, it was Griffin’s turn to be furious.

  ‘How could you even think it was safe to try out a hoverboard on the roof?’

  ‘We wanted to –’

  ‘The weather is too dangerous.’ Griffin was worked up. Principal Galloway’s words hurt, but he was mostly shaken by seeing Isabella crashing onto the rooftop. He could see her falling again and again, slamming into the ground. ‘You could have been seriously hurt or –’

  ‘You’re right,’ Isabella agreed. ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘You were almost killed!’

  Xavier, Bea and Raffy sat in the strained silence, until Xavier couldn’t resist. ‘It was pretty impressive.’

  Griffin shot him a warning look.

  ‘Was it fun?’ Bea tried not to seem too excited.

  ‘It was okay,’ Isabella said, playing it down.

  ‘Do you think we could try it?’ Raffy asked.

  ‘Well, sure, I …’ Isabella said. ‘But Griffin’s right, it’ll have to be somewhere safe.’

  Griffin crossed his arms and stared out the window. He wasn’t ready to forgive Isabella just yet.

  The storm had passed and the snow was falling in more gentle drifts. The Armacab made easy work of ploughing through the mounting piles. On the footpaths, kids had snow fights or slid down side streets on makeshift sleds, until they were chased inside by anxious parents.

  ‘Do you think he’ll ever talk to her again?’ Raffy whispered to his sister.

  ‘Of course,’ Bea answered. ‘He always gets angry when she does something dangerous, then he forgives her. That’s how their friendship works.’ She bit her bottom lip. ‘Even though he does seem pretty upset.’

  Griffin was silent all the way to an austere stone building in the city centre, which housed the Library and Archives.

  It was one of the first places they’d visited in New City. The Archives gathered information to help reunite families and now that Isabella and her friends had been there a year, it was time to update their details.

  Climbing the marble staircase, they entered the library and made their way to a set of glass doors marked City Archives. Xavier offered to take Bea and Raffy in first while Griffin and Isabella waited outside.

  Still angry with Isabella, Griffin turned away. The library’s orange domed roof draped everything in a warm glow. He watched parents and kids snuggle together reading books, friends playing chess or doing homework with floating holograms of teachers.

  Isabella and the others were his family now. The only family he had. Griffin felt a wave of panic thinking one day he might lose them.

  ‘Why did you do it?’

  Isabella took a deep breath and answered carefully. ‘It was a perfect day, Griffin. Just like it was before the floods, when we still had parents and homes and didn’t spend most of our lives afraid of the weather. I wanted to pretend everything was like it used to be. Just for a little while. Does that make sense?’

  Griffin wanted to disagree. He wanted to say nothing that put her life in danger made sense, but instead he said, ‘Yes.’

  Isabella smiled. ‘Remember how our families would go camping together?’

  ‘How could I forget?’ Griffin shivered. ‘I spent every night convinced we’d be eaten by a bear.’

  ‘Which never happened,’ Isabella reminded him.

  ‘That just means we were lucky.’

  Isabella smiled before it melted away. ‘What do you miss most?’

  Griffin thought about it. ‘Spending time with Dad in his shed. And you?’

  ‘Swimming at the beach.’

  ‘Are you crazy? There are so many creatures in the ocean waiting to kill us.’

  ‘I’m still here, aren’t I?’

  They laughed and fell into an easier quiet.

  ‘I’m sorry about today.’ Isabella snuck a small, hopeful look. ‘Are you still angry with me?’

  ‘Not really,’ Griffin admitted. ‘I was worried, that’s all. We’ve known each other a long time and I’d like to keep it that way.’

  ‘Me too.’

  With those two words, the last of Griffin’s anger dissolved.

  ‘Isabella Charm?’ A tall man with round spectacles poked his head out the door.

  She stood up. ‘My turn.’

  Griffin and Isabella had been friends since they were kids and lived a few houses away from each other. They’d survived the flooding, defeated Sneddon in Grimsdon and stood up to Mayor Bog in New City.

  Always together.

  But as he watched Isabella disappear into the archives, Griffin couldn’t help feel that one day, he’d lose his best friend forever.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  An Uncertain Promise

  With their information updated and new ID photos added to their files, Xavier and Griffin helped the twins with their homework while Isabella slipped downstairs. In the centre of the foyer was a model of a world map beneath a glass case.

  It showed how the planet had changed since the floods and it was here Isabella first found out about the world beyond Grimsdon.

  She reached out and pressed a small, green button. Immediately, the oceans rose, surging inland, swelling rivers and flooding cities, sometimes whole islands.

  It was quiet as the water crept across the map, but Isabella remembered the roar of the waves as they poured into the streets, sweeping people off their feet and washing away cars and buses as though they were toys.

  Even more of the world had been lost since those first waves.

  Isabella stared at the map as the water emptied from the streets, leaving it all intact, just like it was before the floods.

  ‘It doesn’t get easier to watch, does it?’ Jeremiah appeared beside her. His ruffled hair was combed and his scruffy beard had been trimmed. And he wore a tie. He hated wearing ties.

  ‘I wish it could be this simple to change it all back,’ Isabella said.

  ‘I thought you had a rule not to talk about things you couldn’t have.’

  She gave him a sneaky grin. ‘Sometimes I like to break the rules.’

  ‘Like today?’

  Even though she knew it was unlikely, Isabella had hoped Jeremiah wouldn’t find out.

  ‘Principal Galloway called and told me everything.’

  ‘Was she angry?’

  ‘She seemed more perplexed.’ Jeremiah stared over the rim of his glasses. ‘Like me, I have to say.’

  ‘It wasn’t my smartest decision.’

  ‘And one you won’t repeat.’

  ‘No, not if I don’t want to be expelled.’

  Jeremiah’s head fell forward. ‘I’m not doing a very good job of looking after you, am I? First the crash and now this.’

  Isabella’s heart lurc
hed. ‘Neither of those things had anything to do with you. The crash was an accident and flying a hoverboard off the roof was all my fault. You’re an excellent guardian. We’d be lost without you.’

  Jeremiah’s smile was crooked. ‘Me too. If we hadn’t met, I’d still be living in a flooded library, with mouldy books, burnt furniture and talking to a stuffed bear.’

  ‘But instead you attacked me with a fish and that was the beginning of our friendship.’

  Jeremiah laughed. ‘Your dad would be so proud of you, you know that?’

  Isabella tried to answer but her throat seized.

  ‘He talked about you so much. He was prouder than any dad I’d ever met. You watch, he’d say. She is going to make a difference to this world.’ He tried to look stern, even though it never really came out that way. ‘So no more hoverboarding off rooftops. Okay?’

  Isabella crossed her heart. ‘I promise.’

  ‘A hoverboard, eh?’ Jeremiah stroked his beard. ‘Very clever. Was it fun?’

  This time Isabella didn’t hold back. ‘It was amazing, until the crashing part. But don’t tell Griffin I said that, he’s only just forgiven me.’

  Jeremiah’s sunny manner clouded over. ‘I was called into the premier’s office this morning.’

  ‘For tea and cake?’ Isabella asked hopefully.

  ‘Nothing nearly as pleasant, I’m afraid.’

  ‘Was it about the modelling?’

  Jeremiah nodded. ‘I’m doing my best to work it out, but it isn’t adding up.’

  ‘What about the robot eagles?’

  ‘I have no proof that they’re involved.’ He tucked his hands into his pockets as if he felt a cold chill. ‘The premier has asked me to go on TV and explain what we’re doing to keep the city safe.’

  ‘What are you going to say?’

  ‘I’m not sure, but it’d better be good.’

  Madeline Pinkerton sat at the desk of her TV show, while a makeup artist swished around her in a mist of hairspray. She had straight blond hair, chiseled cheekbones and a sharp, officious manner that made Jeremiah feel like he’d been called to the principal’s office.

  ‘Ten seconds, everyone,’ the stage manager barked.

  Jeremiah’s hand flew to his mouth as if he was about to be sick.

  Standing in the shadows nearby, Isabella waved to get his attention and all five of them held up their thumbs.

  He smiled, until the stage manager cried, ‘Here we go, folks, in three, two …’

  The music from the show’s opener thundered through the speakers. When it finished, Madeline’s stony face gazed into the camera and the interview began.

  ‘With today’s volatile and unpredictable weather, our city is one of the world’s safest, but lately that has changed. The recent cold snap has endangered people’s lives, causing road accidents, blackouts and a debilitating wave of sickness. Jeremiah Pain is the Chief Climatologist of the Bureau of Weather.’ She turned sharply to Jeremiah. ‘Mr Pain, have you let the people of New City down?’

  Jeremiah was thrown. ‘I hope not, no. We are doing our best to –’

  ‘Keep us safe, I know, but you’re not. People are afraid to leave their homes because they simply can’t trust what you say.’

  ‘I understand there may be cause for concern but –’

  ‘Are you a liar, Mr Pain?’

  Isabella’s fists clenched.

  ‘No.’ Jeremiah looked cornered.

  ‘Why should we trust you?’

  ‘Because we have a system, a … a model that –’

  ‘Can your model tell us why we’re having this icy weather?’

  ‘That’s the thing, I –’

  ‘Or when it’s going to end?’

  The questions rained like hailstones.

  ‘Why won’t she let him answer?’ Raffy’s brow knotted in anger.

  ‘She’s not interested in answers.’ Xavier scowled.

  Jeremiah squinted against the glare of the lights. ‘No.’

  ‘No? So your system is useless.’

  ‘Not useless, no, but we have detected that there are times when clouds behave in ways that go against scientific theory, leading us to –’

  ‘Clouds are misbehaving?’ Pinkerton’s voice oozed with sarcasm. ‘Like naughty children?’ She was toying with him, like a lion with a mouse.

  Jeremiah winced.

  ‘She’s a bully.’ It took all Bea’s strength not to run on set and snatch the woman’s microphone from her jacket.

  Madeline leaned forward, something she did when she was about to deliver a deadly blow. ‘Do you consider yourself a good scientist, Mr Pain?’

  ‘I’d like to think I –’

  ‘Someone reliable and trustworthy?’

  Isabella and Griffin exchanged nervous looks. Something was up.

  ‘Yes, I –’

  ‘Even after this?’

  Screens all around the studio switched from Madeline to footage of a grand hall crammed with people in suits.

  ‘It’s Grimsdon parliament.’ Isabella could barely breathe.

  ‘How did she know about that?’ Griffin tensed.

  In the footage, Jeremiah stood at a lectern, yelling and shaking a fist of papers. Cutting laughter was heard before he took off his shoe and threw it across the room. Guards pounced, pinning back his arms and dragged him out, kicking and screaming in a wild rant.

  The screens switched to Madeline, whose smile had all the warmth of an iceberg. ‘This is the man you want us to trust?’

  ‘That’s it.’ Bea began to move but Xavier held her back.

  ‘It’ll make things worse.’

  ‘I was frustrated,’ Jeremiah mumbled, shifting in his seat. ‘The floods, we tried to tell them … but they refused to –’

  ‘So you attacked someone?’

  ‘I didn’t mean to, it just –’

  ‘So you don’t deny it?’

  How could he? It was there for the whole world to see.

  ‘I believe you are the guardian of children from Grimsdon?’

  ‘Why is she talking about us?’ Raffy asked nervously.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Bea took his hand.

  Madeline continued. ‘That’s quite a temper you have. Are these children safe living with you?’

  At this, Jeremiah’s back straightened. He stared directly into Madeline’s cold, hard gaze. ‘I’d give up everything for those kids. They saved my life. Without them I’d –’

  ‘Yes, but that temper,’ Madeline repeated with calculated cruelty. ‘Is it right that children are exposed to that?’

  ‘I would never –’

  ‘Wasn’t one of them hurt today? A young girl. In an unfortunate incident?’

  Isabella felt sick. How did Madeline know about her accident?

  ‘Didn’t she have a terrible fall after school?’

  ‘Isabella was merely –’

  Madeline Pinkerton touched her earpiece. ‘Sorry, I’m getting a message from the producer.’ She listened intently, before announcing. ‘New City has just had its first fatality. An elderly woman has been found in her home after her heating broke down. What do you say to that, Mr Pain?’

  ‘It’s terrible … if only I could …’ he muttered, as if he had no idea how to make any sense of it. ‘A mystery …’

  ‘Mr Pain?’ Madeline craned her neck, trying to catch Jeremiah’s eye, but he simply stared at his hands clenched in his lap.

  ‘The modelling … I never meant to,’ he drifted into a mumbled incoherent ramble.

  Isabella’s eyes pricked with tears. When they’d met Jeremiah, he was living alone at the top of the State Library in Grimsdon. He’d been driven mad by his failure to stop the floods. He was a good scientist and an even better guardian. And here he was, sounding just as broken and sad as when they first met.

  ‘She can’t treat people like that!’

  On the way home in the Armavan, Bea fumed. ‘She has no idea what she’s talking about!’

  Je
remiah was silent. He drove through the foggy streets.

  Bea was about to say more, when Isabella gave her a gentle look that said enough.

  Raffy huddled in his seat, knees drawn to his chest, staring out the window. He hadn’t said a word since they left the studio.

  It wasn’t until Jeremiah tucked them in, that Raffy asked in a small, frightened voice, ‘They won’t take us away from you, will they? And make us live with someone else?’ He was crying now. ‘Or make us live apart?’

  Normally, Bea would pipe up and reassure him, telling him everything would be okay, but instead, she nestled beside her brother and stared at Jeremiah, her eyes glassy with tears.

  Jeremiah pulled them close. ‘I won’t let them. I promise. You and I are in this for keeps.’

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  A Race Against Time

  From that day, Raffy woke with night terrors, and only calmed when Isabella and Griffin dragged their mattresses into the twins’ room and slept beside them. Griffin would read, putting on his best character voices, until Raffy couldn’t stay awake any longer and he’d fall into a fitful, uneasy sleep.

  Since the interview, Jeremiah had been working later and his beard grew long and straggled. Sometimes Griffin woke to find him poring over his notes, rambling to himself in gibberish sentences and asking Snowy for advice, just as he had when they’d found him in Grimsdon.

  ‘… it makes no sense … the calculations … you agree, don’t you, Snowy?’

  Then he’d dwindle into mutterings Griffin couldn’t understand.

  Ice and snow continued to fall. A bitter cold swept through the city like a flood, spilling over everything, seeping into gaps in windows and doors. It was a cold they’d never experienced before, with snow flurries so thick it was hard to see past your fingers. The robotic eagles had rescued five people in the last week alone. Three were trapped inside an Armavan when its computer systems froze.

  Calls to shut the Bureau grew louder as did demands that Premier Albright be sacked.

  To Griffin’s great disappointment, the Academy increased their classes of sports trials to better prepare the students for the challenges to come, which is how he found himself in the Great Outdoors dome, with its vast indoor forest beneath a painted sky.