We Fight Dragons (Volume 1, Chapter 9) 'Contagious'
Jam was worried. Somehow Niles had found out where they lived, and it was likely that Zar had told him. Maybe Niles had bullied her into telling? Jam had to know if Zar was okay, because he felt responsible for getting her involved.
After school he told his friends that he had chores to do before dinner, which was stretching the truth. Instead of going home, he went to the train station and darted onto the next city-bound train, hoping that no one saw him.
Zar was where he’d first met her, talking with Mels. He felt tentative about approaching, in case she was angry about her phone and the crazy stuff that had happened, so he stood at a distance and waved to get her attention. He thought that she saw him, but then she started quietly arguing with Mels about something. He spent a very awkward minute standing there on his own, before Zar indicated that she’d seen him.
Before Jam could ask her anything, Zar launched into a short speech. ‘Whatever happened with Niles yesterday I had nothing to do with it.’
‘Of course. I know. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay?’
‘I’m fine. But my phone is still busted. Are you here to give me a new one?’ This earned Zar a sharp elbow in her side from Mels. ‘What I mean is… are you okay? Did Niles… do anything? I haven’t seen him all day.’
‘He attacked us. All of us. He was acting strange. Did he say anything to you?’
‘No.’
‘How did he know where we lived?’
‘Oh… well… he came by yesterday and said that he’d talk to you about my phone, so I told him which town you lived in. That’s all.’
Zar was not making sense. First she hadn’t spoken with Niles. Then she had told him where they lived. She wasn’t adding up.
Jam extended a peace-offering. ‘So, do you… both of you… want hang out this afternoon? We can do what you want. We could take your phone to Oli’s dad if you like? He fixes electronics.’
Zar looked ruffled, as if what Jam just said was the most unpleasant thing she had ever heard. ‘Look! You are weird! I don’t want to hang out with you.’
‘What? I thought you had fun the other day, I mean before the storm. And even that was wild.’
‘No. Yes, you are. Wrong.’ Zar got up, grabbed her backpack and swiftly walked off.
Jam was both saddened and shocked. Zar was acting rude, but he could see that she was frustrated by something. She hadn’t even waited for Mels. ‘What did I say?’ he asked the other girl.
‘It wasn’t you,’ Mels said as a consolation.
‘I kinda figured, but thanks. I’m going to go, I suppose. I’ll see you around… sometime.’ Jam turned around and began heading home.
‘Wait!’ Mels said excitedly. ‘I mean… I’ll walk you to your platform. It’s… on my way.’
‘You don’t have to.’
‘It’s okay. I want to explain. Zar has always been getting into trouble, or getting other people into trouble. I think it’s because she’s sad.’
‘Sad? How?’
‘I’ve known her for ages. Her parents are always out of the city, so she stays with her grandma and grandpa, and she says they don’t like her.’
Jam thought about how unpleasant that must be. By the time they arrived at his platform he was feeling depressed. He knew that Mel’s explanation was intended to help him understand, but it was like an emotional whirlpool was forming in his chest. It was sucking him in. He felt claustrophobic.
‘Hey. Are you alright?’ Mels asked. ‘It’s not as bad as that. They aren’t mean to her. You look pale. Maybe you are coming down with something?’
Jam heard the words, which were like a lifeline, but he felt like something was trying to pull him down. He’d been sad before, but this was different.
Then, on the platform opposite, an old man abruptly stood up, moaning loudly to himself as he shuffled towards the edge of the platform.
A young girl who was scrolling her phone looked up and saw what was happening, but then she dropped her phone like she didn’t care about it, started whimpering, and followed the old man to the edge of the platform.
The whole thing was creepy. Even in his saddened state Jam could recognise that something unnatural was happening. He and Mels watched in mute shock as the girl and the old man stepped off the platform and fell on the tracks, and just lay there.
The sadness was like an infection. Jam recognised that it came from him, and somehow it had infected them, yet he was too sad to do anything except watch in numb horror.
A sharp fist punched his shoulder! It was Mels. ‘Snap out of it! Help me!’ Mels half dragged him with her, as she jumped down from the platform onto the tracks.
The punch and her words woke Jam from the nightmare. Immediately, the sadness was replaced by a feeling of dread, but at least it wasn’t sadness.
Mels checked on the girl, while Jam went to the old man. ‘Sir! Sir! Get up, the train is coming.’ Slowly the old man looked at him like someone waking from a dream. He’d seen that look before. It was how Niles looked yesterday, right before he ran away.
Jam looked up and saw that in fact a train was heading their way. It was riding the tracks that the old man had fallen on, so he just had to get the old man over to the other tracks.
Then he looked the other direction and to his dismay he saw that his own train was also arriving. The tracks were about to get very busy, and they were all in incredible danger.
The old man was trying to get up, but he was unsure and slow. Jam summoned that power inside him again, the roaring in his ears, and he picked up the old man and rolled him onto the platform.
Horns sounded from both oncoming trains. The drivers had seen them, and the trains had started braking, wheels locked up and squealing, but it was too late.
Jam saw Mels half-dragging the girl over to the other side. But Mels was not strong enough to lift her. He ran over, deliberately knocked Mels off balance as he did, and used the distraction to scoop up the girl and toss her bodily onto the platform.
The trains were almost on top of them now. He had a split second left. He grabbed Mels by her arms, and half-spun, half-threw her onto the platform as the west-line train barrelled towards him.
He used the momentum of the throw and turned to face the oncoming engine.
Just before it could knock him over he let his body drop between the tracks, between the screeching wheels that threw sparks. The noise was deafening, and the sparks burned his skin where they landed. But he dared not move.
He lay flat, fearing that if he raised his head even a fraction then a part of the train would hit him. When the train had finally stopped, he climbed up from under a carriage and rolled onto the platform, breathing heavily.
As he lay there, he heard footsteps rapidly approach and then Mels appeared above him, barely able to contain her joy. ‘Jam! You’re alive!’
‘Yeah! I’m pretty surprised myself!’
He could hear the train driver frantically looking for him. ‘I’m fine,’ he called out as he got to his feet, and the driver came running, as pale as a ghost. When the driver saw that Jam was okay he fell to his knees in relief. ‘Thank god, son. I thought…’ He couldn’t finish the thought, it was so terrible.
‘Jam, I can’t believe you saved us. But how?’
‘Adrenaline?’ he joked, shrugging his shoulders.
‘It’s not funny… it could have been.. a disaster.’
Jam tried to distract Mels from the thought of what might have been. ‘What about the others? I rolled that old man off the tracks. What about that girl?
Mel’s looked around. ‘She’s walking around back to her own line. It was weird. As soon as she landed on the platform she stood up like nothing had happened. She asked me how she got there.’ Jam reckoned that the old man would say the same thing.
The driver wanted Jam to come with him to report what happened, but Jam remembered what his father had told him about not drawing attention. He explained to the driver that what he had done was not important, and that the rail authorities should be talking to the girl and the old man, to find out why they had thrown themselves on the track. In the end, the driver agreed that was the more important thing to do, and he set off to find them.
‘Thanks, Mels. You broke me out of whatever was going on in my head.’ Jam meant it. Mels had snapped him out of his sadness. ‘You probably deserve some public service award or something!’
Mels blushed. ‘I don’t usually do things like that.’
‘Well, of course not. I mean, I hope not!’
‘I mean I don’t usually tell people what to do. Usually, I’m the one getting told.’
‘Well, I’m glad you did.’ Jam suddenly felt awkward. It had been dramatic, but now there was little else to say. ‘You don’t have to hang around, you know. It could take a while for the trains to go again. But can I ask just one favour?’
‘Okay. I owe you.’
‘Just please don’t tell anyone about this.’
‘What? This is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me! I want to tell everyone! In fact, I should be recording this.’ she said suddenly remembering that she had a phone.
‘NO! Sorry for yelling. I mean, please don’t. Think about it… I don’t want people coming to the Green just to gawk at me. Does that make sense?’
Mels considered it. ‘Yeah,’ she sighed. ‘And as I said, I owe you. You know, Zar was right about you. You are a bit weird.’
Jam knew that she wasn’t being mean, but he didn’t agree with her. ‘Why do you say that?’
‘Well, most people would put this straight onto social media.. but you… you don’t even have a phone!’
‘Hmph! If not having a phone makes me interesting… then I’m okay with that,’ Jam said with exaggerated dignity.
Mels shook her head. ‘Okay, wierdo. Maybe I’ll see you online one day!’
Jam laughed. ‘Dad says not until I shown that I’m mature enough.’
Mels shook her head again and said ‘wierdo’, in a friendly way, then she waved goodbye as she walked off to catch her own train, shaking her head at everything that had just happened.
When Jam got home he explained the events at the station to his parents. As he expected, Mum focused on the fact that he had risked his life. She also zoomed in on the idea that he had once again gone to the city without telling them. She understood that it was because he felt responsible towards Zar, but it was still a breach of trust. In her mind, Mels was the only sensible person in the whole story.
Dad was interested in how he’d used his strength to save three people, but he was even more interested in what had happened just before the trains had appeared. ‘I think you’re correct, son. It sounds like the girl and old man were en-spelled. What’s confusing is that Knights can break spells, but they can’t do it until they reach adulthood, so I don’t know how you managed. Are you sure you told the story right?’
Jam didn’t know what Dad meant. He had seen the others get sad, just like him, so he reckoned that he had fought off whatever the spell was, then he broke the charm on them. But it made him wonder why the spell hadn’t worked on Mels.
What Jam didn’t know, was that he had the whole thing back-to-front.
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