School's Out!

by Gareth P. Jones

  The emotionless voice continued to count down:

  The Prime Minister reached his hand towards the screen. Dirk swung his tail, knocking it away. The Kinghorns looked up in confusion as Dirk attacked again, whacking Betula on the side of the head, sending her flying across the hall.

  He dropped to the floor and reared up on to his hind legs, claws drawn, ready to fight.

  “Who is this? Get him! Kill him!” ordered Vainclaw.

  Acer flew at Dirk but he ducked, whacked the back of her head and sent her crashing into the front row of the audience. Principal Palmer, Petal’s mother, Holly’s dad and his wife instantly awoke from their trances to find themselves underneath what seemed to be a rather angry tree with sharp teeth and claws. They screamed as Acer jumped back.

  “The trees are attacking!” yelled Palmer hysterically. “Run for the door!”

  Acer flew over their heads and landed in front of the door, snapping her teeth and hissing, “Stay where you are, manumans.”

  “Prime Minister, touch the screen!” said Vainclaw firmly.

  Ducking an aerial assault from Tilia, Dirk succeeded in knocking the Prime Minister’s hand away again, but this time Betula and Buxus came at him from behind and sunk their teeth into his tail and legs, dragging him to the floor.

  “Prime Minister, are you all right?” shouted Holly’s dad, clutching his wife protectively. “What are these things?”

  “They’re d-dragons,” stammered his wife.

  “Impossible,” said Principal Palmer. “Dragons don’t exist.”

  “What would you call them? Kittens?” replied Petal’s mum.

  “Strush up, manumans,” snapped Acer. “Or I’ll flame-grill your faces.”

  “Leave them alone!” screamed Holly.

  “Holly? Is that you?” called her dad, unable to get past Salix and Tilia who were now penning all four of them in.

  “Stop wriggling,” spat Callum, his sweaty hands holding Holly down.

  “Don’t you understand? They want to kill us all!” she said desperately.

  “They’re in my head,” said Callum. “They do what I say.”

  “Petal was right all along. You are crazy,” said Holly, wrestling an arm free and sending her elbow hard into his face, pushing him off. Grabbing the silver case, she twisted it around so that the Prime Minister’s hand hit the back of the lid.

  Holly placed her palm on the screen.

  “You stupid little girl,” snarled Vainclaw, swiping at her angrily and catching her leg with his razor-sharp claw.

  Holly fell to the floor, clutching her leg as blood oozed through the gaps in her fingers.

  “Holly!” yelled Dirk, but he was silenced by Betula’s claw digging into his jaw.

  “You filthy beast, that’s my daughter!” shouted Holly’s dad.

  “Leave her alone!” screamed his wife, but Salix snapped wildly, preventing them from moving.

  The lid began to close automatically.

  “No!” shouted Callum, trying to stop it and receiving an electric shock.

  Holly crawled over to Dirk, her leg throbbing in agony with every movement. Buxus and Betula stood on top of him, their claws and teeth digging into his skin. “Get off him!” she said.

  “Do you know this girl?” Vainclaw asked Callum.

  Callum wiped his bloody nose with his sleeve and smoothed down his dishevelled hair. “Yes, Mr Grandin, sir,” he said. “She said she knew about those monsters—”

  “We’re Tree Dragons, manuman. Don’t forget it,” growled Acer, approaching Callum threateningly.

  “Leave him alone,” snapped Vainclaw. “Don’t worry, boy, they won’t harm you while I’m here.”

  “But how could she know? The monsters are in my head, not hers.”

  “That’s right, Callum,” purred Vainclaw. “It’s all in your head. Now, what’s wrong with this machine?”

  “The details I read in Father’s folder said it takes an hour to reset if the wrong hand touches the screen.”

  “Then we shall wait,” announced Vainclaw. “Your father is still in the trance.”

  Callum turned to his father, still with that distant look in his eyes and with his right palm raised.

  “Not so important now, are you, Father?” he spat, walking around him. “Not too busy to ignore Callum.”

  He turned to Vainclaw and said, “Make him bow.”

  “Bow down to your son, Prime Minister Thackley,” said Vainclaw. “Kneel before your new master.”

  Unquestioningly, the Prime Minister got down on to one knee.

  “Callum Thackley, what are you doing?” demanded the principal.

  “What have you done to my daughter?” shouted Holly’s dad.

  Petal’s mother cried out, “Please don’t touch my precious Petal!”

  “Your precious what?” snarled Vainclaw.

  “This one,” said Callum, pointing at Petal.

  “Well, that’s one way to pass the time while we’re waiting,” said Vainclaw, “killing humans.”

  “Let me do it!” said Acer.

  “She’s only a little girl!” screamed Petal’s mother.

  “Stay where you are, Acer,” ordered Vainclaw. He turned to address Petal’s mother. “I could kill your daughter the same way you could squash a fly.”

  “Do it,” urged Callum. “Kill her.”

  “No!” shouted Holly, staggering up and limping between Vainclaw and Petal, feeling weak and dizzy from the loss of blood.

  “Get out of the way,” said Callum. “It’s the way things work. Superior animals kill inferior ones. Just like Petal killed your mouse, my dragon will kill her, if I tell him to.”

  “She doesn’t deserve it.” Holly collapsed to the floor.

  “Kill them both,” said Callum.

  “The great Vainclaw Grandin takes orders from a human, does he?” muttered Dirk through his teeth, feeling Betula’s claws dig further into his face.

  “I follow no one’s orders,” growled Vainclaw, whacking Callum over his head with his long serpentine tail. “Never tell me what to do again, boy.”

  Callum giggled nervously and smoothed down his ruffled hair.

  Vainclaw lowered his gaze at Dirk. “I suppose you’re the detective that the Scavengers told me about? Dirk Dilly, I believe? You do seem to like sticking your nose in other people’s business.”

  “I thought it was his nephew,” said Salix.

  “Strush up,” replied Betula.

  “As long your business involves trying to kill innocent humans, I’ll be there to stop you,” said Dirk, Betula’s claw piercing his skin with every syllable.

  “Or at least here to watch me. The machine will be working again in one hour.”

  “Where are you planning to attack this time, Vainclaw? London again? New York? You’d better choose carefully. As soon as the machine is used, they’ll shut it down. You’ll only have one shot and it will take more than an earthquake to destroy mankind.”

  “Destroy mankind?” Vainclaw said mockingly. “What an outdated notion. I used to believe that we should destroy mankind but not any more. Humans have proved themselves far too useful. I’m not going to destroy mankind. I’m going to use it.”

  “And what’s your role in this, Callum?” said Holly, crawling across the floor to Dirk, leaving a trail of blood behind her.

  “Callum will be more important than Father or Principal Palmer or Petal or you or anyone. It’s all in my head. I control it.”

  “No it’s not, Callum. This is real and you’re helping them kill.”

  “Enough,” said Vainclaw. “Enough of this futile chit-chat. Everyone waits in silence until I say so. bark-backs, watch the humans and the detective. Don’t worry about the girl. She won’t be around long.”

  “Holly, are you OK?” called her father.

  “No, Dad, I’m not,” she tried to shout but the words came out as a breathless whisper.

  “Can’t we schmunch one of them while we’re waiting
? Just a little one?” begged Acer.

  “After we have activated the weapon you can have your fun, Acer,” replied Vainclaw, “when you burn this building to the ground and everyone in it.”

  Holly, close your eyes and sleep.

  The words appeared in Holly’s head. She felt tired and confused, but she knew by looking into his big yellow eyes that they came from Dirk.

  Sleep, Holly, close your eyes and sleep.

  For Principal Palmer, Petal’s mother, Holly’s dad and stepmum, it had been like awaking from a wonderful dream to find themselves trapped in a terrible nightmare. They sat huddled together, in the middle of the hall, holding hands in a circle, while the Tree Dragons watched them, their sharp teeth snapping every time they spoke or sobbed or tried to move.

  For Principal Palmer, it was of some consolation that one of the hands that was gripping his so tightly was that of Petal Moses’ extremely famous American mother.

  “I thought your last album was very good,” he whispered.

  “That’s very kind,” she replied. “I really wanted to make an album that was both contemporary but also—”

  “This is hardly the time,” interrupted Mrs Bigsby.

  “Strush up, manumans,” said Acer. “Not a noisound, not a whelper or I’ll schmunch all of you.”

  “Ow!” yelped Callum on the other side of the hall, withdrawing his hand from the silver case.

  “Be patient, boy,” said Vainclaw. “The hour is almost up.”

  “Callum is tired of waiting,” replied Callum.

  “Don’t you think your fellow Kinghorns deserve to know who they’ll be murdering with this human weapon?” muttered Dirk.

  Vainclaw lowered his head and locked his eyes with Dirk. “They know that they are furthering the Kinghorn cause. That’s enough for my loyal followers.”

  “Yes,” said Betula. “We are not traitors to our species, like you.”

  “Then why are you helping him slay dragons?” said Dirk.

  “What’s he talking about?” asked Buxus.

  “Do you want to tell them or shall I?”

  “We are only killing those who stand in our way,” replied Vainclaw calmly.

  “You mean the manumans?” said Buxus.

  “Humans will die, don’t worry about that, Buxus,” said Vainclaw.

  “That might be true but they’re not the target, are they?” said Dirk.

  “Shall I kill him?” said Betula.

  “No,” snapped Vainclaw. “I want to see how good this Dragon Detective really is.”

  Betula eased her foot off a little, allowing Dirk to talk more easily.

  “I was just lying here, quietly bleeding to myself, trying to see the bigger picture, when everything came together: the professor, the boy, the weapon, the Shade-Hugger’s claw, the Scavengers and these charming Tree Dragons. The whole thing.”

  “Go on,” said Vainclaw.

  Dirk continued. “Last year you ordered the kidnap of this poor defenceless child.” Dirk motioned at Callum. “These vicious Tree Dragons took the boy and scared him out of his wits.”

  “That’s not true,” said Callum. “Mr Grandin saved me from the tree creatures.”

  “That’s what he made you think,” continued Dirk, looking at Vainclaw. “You came to his rescue and promised to protect him if he agreed to work for you. You released him but stayed in contact. With the doctors assuring him that you were a figment of his imagination, he no longer knew the difference between real and unreal. You had him working for you, rifling through his father’s work. That’s how you came to hear of the AOG Project.”

  Vainclaw nodded. “Very good, Mr Dilly. Most of the documents were boring or inconsequential things about hospitals and schools, but yes, he did manage to uncover some rather interesting items on weaponry.”

  “You discovered that one of the top scientists working on the AOG project had a rather interesting weakness, an obsession with dragon mythology. You persuaded that snivelling Shade-Hugger, Grendel, to donate a claw as a bribe to the professor. But why install the Scavenger, Leon, as captain of the Dragnet?”

  “Where’s Holly?” said Callum, realizing that she was no longer lying next to Dirk.

  “Never mind the girl,” snapped Vainclaw. “She’s probably crawled off to die in some corner. Continue, detective. You really are quite entertaining.”

  “In order to win a war against humans, you need an army. But the councillors would never allow that. They’d send the Dragnet to arrest you. The trials were just an excuse to keep the councillors chained in Euphorbia Falls, while you get the Prime Minister where you could manipulate him into operating the machine. As soon as that machine resets itself, you’ll wipe out Euphorbia Falls, the Council and the whole of the Dragnet. You’ll become the most famous dragon murderer since Saint George himself.”

  Vainclaw opened his mouth and flames shot out, scorching Dirk’s face and catching Betula’s foot, causing her to scream and hiss in pain.

  “Never mention that name in front of me!” Vainclaw shouted. “I can see that watching all those late-night human detective shows has paid off but you’re wrong. I won’t be famous at all. Earthquakes are natural disasters. It will look like an accident. In a couple of minutes the machine will work again, the Prime Minister will oblige us with his hand and we will destroy Euphorbia Falls and half of Europe with it. Without the Council or the Dragnet to stop me, I will gather my army and begin the ultimate war against humanity.”

  “It won’t work. Your Scavengers revealed themselves as Kinghorns. The prisoners have been released. It won’t take the Dragnet long to find you.”

  “It will take the Council weeks to get out of those chains,” said Vainclaw. “It’s too late. They’re as good as dead already. Soon all shall follow me.”

  “What’s that noise?” said Acer.

  Someone was banging on the door.

  “This is Officer Balti Grunling of the Dragnet. We have reason to believe there is illegal Kinghorn activity within this building.” The amplified voice came from outside. “Come out with your claws down and your mouths shut.”

  “Impossible,” said Vainclaw. “It is against Dragnet procedure to come this close to a human settlement.”

  “Not when you’ve been illegally using Dragonsong,” said Dirk.

  Acer, Tilia and Salix were backing away from the door.

  “What’s going on?” said Tilia, who had been too far away to hear Dirk’s speech.

  “He’s using the manuman weapon to murder dragons,” said Betula.

  “He wants to schmunch the Council,” said Buxus.

  “That’s not what I signed up for,” said Acer. “I thought we were killing manumans.”

  “Hold your ground, you stupid bark-backs,” snarled Vainclaw.

  “I can’t go to prison,” said Salix. “I’m only nine hundred and twenty-five. I’ve got my whole life ahead of me.”

  “Never mind prison,” replied Buxus. “We’ll be banished to the Inner Core for this.”

  “It’s his fault,” snarled Betula, looking at Vainclaw.

  “He fablifized to us,” added Tilia.

  The banging came again. “I repeat, this is Officer Balti Grunling, open the door in the name of the Dragnet. You are all under arrest. Do not try to use Dragonsong. We are equipped with ear mufflers.”

  “Once they get through that door, we’ll all be cuffed. There’s no escapawaying the Dragnet,” said Tilia.

  “There’s a back door,” said Buxus. “Come on, bark-sisters, let’s go.”

  Forgetting about Dirk, Betula and Buxus led the other three towards the door by the stage, but Vainclaw flew over them, blocking the way with his wings. Dirk noticed his right wing was half the size of his left, torn and frayed at the edge. “Kinghorns, stop,” demanded Vainclaw. “I command you to stop.”

  “Get out of the way, boss,” said Betula.

  “It’s every dragon for herself,” added Acer.

  “You are Kinghorns. I
am your master,” said Vainclaw, but all five Tree Dragons were now approaching him, heads lowered not in deference but in preparation for attack.

  Acer pounced, sinking her teeth into Vainclaw’s leg. The others attacked, snapping and scratching and biting.

  “Get off me!” growled Vainclaw.

  “We’ll release you when you get out of our way,” replied Betula.

  “Hurts, doesn’t it?” said Dirk, standing up, glad not to be on the receiving end for a change.

  Vainclaw kicked and fought, smoke pouring out of his nose like he was on fire, but each time he forced one to let go, another attached herself to his limbs. He turned to Dirk.

  “This is just the beginning, Mr Dilly,” he said. “The Kinghorns will unite and the war will begin. We will win, and if you don’t join us you will die.”

  With these final words, a great red flame burst from his mouth, scorching the Tree Dragons and forcing them to let go. Vainclaw turned and fled, followed closely by the five Tree Dragons.

  “No, don’t leave Callum again,” whined Callum, before collapsing on to the floor and wailing like a wounded animal. Dirk walked over to the stage and reached a paw out to touch the silver case. No shock. The hour was up. The machine had reset itself. He grabbed the handle in his mouth and carried it up the aisle.

  “Stay away from us, you monster,” said the principal fearfully.

  “What have you done with Holly?” demanded Mrs Bigsby.

  Dirk recognized her as the same politician from the TV interview who had denied all knowledge of the AOG Project. He placed the case by her feet. “You work for the ministry of defence, don’t you? I believe this belongs to you.”

  Mrs Bigsby took the case. “The QC3000? How did this get here?”

  “It’s a long story. Now, about Holly…”

  Dirk walked to the end of the hall and opened the door to the red carpet. For a moment no one moved then Holly jumped from behind a photographer, smiling. Her leg was completely healed.

  “Did it work?” she asked.

  “Like a dream,” he said. “They bought it. How did you do that voice?”