The weather has gone weird. Is it a natural phenomenon or is something more sinister at work. Out of the frying pan and into the freezer.
"What's that ?" asked Aneisha, pointing up at the sky. They all looked up. A huge, thick black cloud was gathering over the town. Jagged streaks of lightning were shooting through it. The sky was going black and the light was fading rapidly.
"That is weird !" muttered Dan. By now a whole schoolyard full of students was staring up at the darkening sky.
"Ow !" someone said. "Who did that ?"
The teens all looked around. A rattling sound could be heard. Something was bouncing off the roof of the school. Suddenly hail stones started thundering down on them. There were screams and shouts as people started running in all directions. The hail stones ranged in size from peas to golf balls. "Get inside quick !" shouted Dan. Everyone ran, putting their school bags over their heads for protection. A particularly large hail stone glanced off his forehead. "Aagh !" he shouted as he dashed for the school door with the others. That had really hurt.
"What is going on here ?" shouted Mr. McNab, forcing his way through the crowds of frightened students. "I thought you were told to go home !" he shouted. "What happened to you ?" he asked Dan, stopping suddenly.
"There are huge hail stones Sir," said Dan, pointing out through the doors. Mr. McNab opened a door to look outside and dodged back inside to avoid the hail hammering down on the doorstep, quickly closing the door again. "All right everyone, remain in here until the storm ends !" he called out. "Please keep to one side of the corridor, or go and sit in your registration class," he ordered. "Daniel Morgan, go and see a first aider," he instructed Dan, before walking off.
"Huh ?" said Dan, looking at the others.
"Dan, you've got blood running down your face," said Aneisha, wincing. "You must have been hit by the most humungous hail stone !" she added. Dan touched the side of his face and his hand came away bloody. "Come on. We may as well find Frank," she said.
The four trooped off in search of Frank. Tom lent Dan his handkerchief to hold over the cut on his head. Tom called Frank on his phone. He told them to come down to their base.
Frank had the first aid kit out ready. Dan sat down while Frank cleaned his cut and put on a plaster. "There ! How big are these hail stones ?" asked Frank.
"About this big," said Tom, holding his thumb and forefinger apart. "I thought you said it was hot down here," he commented.
"Yes, it was. The temperature started dropping a few minutes ago," said Frank, absent-mindedly putting the first aid kit away.
Aneisha shivered. "Feels pretty cold now," she said.
"That's odd," said Frank, checking the thermometer. "You're right. The temperature is dropping rapidly," he said, looking puzzled. "What on earth is going on ?" He checked the outside cameras. "It's still hailing heavily," he said. Some cars parked in the staff car park had holes in their windscreens where they had been smashed by the hail.
Tom sat at a computer looking through what looked to Dan like gobbledegook. "The boiler is set in some kind of loop. Oh, wait. It's changing. The boiler is off Frank," reported Tom. "I'll have a look at the base's temperature control system." Further screens of code scrolled up Tom's screen. "Hm. That looks like it's stuck in some kind of control loop too," he reported. "Someone has definitely hacked into these Frank," he reported. "Someone is trying to upset all the heating control systems."
"Why ?" asked Aneisha. "Who would care ?" Tom shrugged.
Frank looked baffled. "Well, it's stopped hailing now," he reported looking at the CCTV. "You may as well go home while you can." They all got up and left.
As they all went their different ways, Tom and Dan walked side by side for a while up the part of the route they shared. It was now cold and they were both wearing their school blazers. "I wonder what's making the weather go so weird ?" wondered Dan.
"You can get freak hail storms in hot spells," said Tom. "Never been in one though. That was pretty amazing !"
Dan felt the bruise coming up on his head and looked a lot less pleased. "Yeah, wonderful !" he said sarcastically. "It feels like someone is throwing weather at us. Oh, now what ?" he said in disbelief. "That's, that's snow !" he said.
"Wow. It is too !" said Tom in amazement. Heavy flakes of snow were starting to fall all around them. "Ha, this is crazy !" he said in delight. At the end of the road the two boys split up and went in different directions.
It was freezing and Dan pulled up his blazer collar and wrapped his arms around himself to try to keep warm. He could see his breath in front of his face. This was ridiculous. It was like summer and winter in one day ! By the time he got home he was shivering and struggled to get his key to turn in the door lock. "Is that you Dan ?" called out his Mum's voice.
"Y y yeah," he replied. He took off his shoes and hung up his blazer to dry before joining his Mum in the kitchen.
"Oh dear ! You look frozen !" said his Mum. "Have a cup of tea to warm you up love," she said, putting the kettle on. Dan sat in front of the warmth of the oven. Gradually the shivering subsided. "What happened to your head ?" asked his Mum. She had become used to his many cuts and bruises which were usually unexplained.
"I got hit by a hail stone," he said. "It was huge !"
"Are you feeling all right ?" she asked him, concerned.
"Oh yes. It's just a bruise that's all," he said, hugging the hot drink in his hands.
"How strange ! It was really hot this morning ! Are you going to be looking into it ?" she asked, glancing sideways at him.
"Well, we don't know if it's anything like that," said Dan obliquely. He knew that his parents knew roughly what he did. They never talked about it directly though. They more or less pretended they didn't know. Normally they never spoke about it, unless he came home injured. "Tom's having a look into some stuff," he said. "I expect I'll hear if there's anything odd," he added.
His Mum smiled at him. "Well you might as well go and get changed into something warmer," she said. "Dinner's at the usual time," she added. Dan suddenly felt a surge of gratitude to his Mum. He stood and gave her a kiss on the cheek before going up to change. "Well, to what do I owe the honour ?" she asked, but the smile on her face showed her pleasure.
Aneisha let herself into her house. She lived in a very grand contemporary house which her parents had had designed by an architect. It didn't seem much warmer inside than out. As usual, there was nobody home, as both her parents worked in high power jobs. In the kitchen she found a note pinned to the fridge. "In London tonight darling. Bolognese in fridge," it read. Aneisha sighed. She loved her parents of course, but she often wished they were around a bit more. She went to her room and changed her clothes. Her wardrobe was filled with designer clothes and her room was decorated with the best of everything. It still felt a bit empty though. She called Zoe on her mobile. "Hey Zo, how's things ?" she asked. She could hear shouts and yells in the background. Zoe lived in an MI9 orphanage. There were always loads of kids around.
"Fine," said Zoe. "You on your own ?" she asked. Zoe always managed to work out what was on Aneisha's mind.
"Yes, my parents are away again," she said. "Are you able to come round ?" she asked.
"No, MI9 have put a curfew on all the safe houses," explained Zoe. "It's because of all the weirdness," she added. "They don't want us out."
"Oh, OK. Well, have a good evening," said Aneisha, trying not to sound disappointed. She called Tom on his mobile. "Hey Tom. How's the investigation going ?" she asked.
"Slowly," said Tom, sounding frustrated. "Are your Mum and Dad away ?" he asked.
"Am I totally obvious or something ?" demanded Aneisha, sounding annoyed.
Tom laughed. "You often ring up when they've gone out. Why don't you ask Zoe round ?" he asked. "She'll probably enjoy a break from the orphanage."
"MI9 have put a curfew on all the safe houses," Aneisha explained to him. "She can't come out."
"Oh, sorry," said Tom. "I've worked out how all these systems have been interfered with, but it's going to take a lot of work to fix them all," he said.
"What about the weather ?" asked Aneisha.
"Oh, now that's way out of my scope !" said Tom. "I have no idea what is going on there. We'll have to wait to see what Frank and MI9 come up with on that one. Sorry," he added. He sounded like he'd let her down.
"Hey, brainbox. I don't expect you to know everything !" said Aneisha jokingly. "Well, actually I usually do. But on this occasion I'll let you off," she said, laughing. Tom laughed and they hung up. Tom usually made her smile. Looking across her empty room, she finally rang Dan.
"Hey, Neish. Things must be serious !" said Dan.
"Why ?" asked Aneisha, puzzled.
"You never ring me unless you're really desperate !" joked Dan. Aneisha grinned.
"Busted !" she admitted. "My parents have gone away for the night. I was just checking on everybody," she explained.
"Oh, bad luck," said Dan. "I'm just trying to get through this French homework," he said. Aneisha could picture him scratching the back of his head as he said this.
"Bon Chance !" Aneisha said.
"What ? Oh yeah, right," said Dan. "You OK ?" he asked.
"Mm ? Yes, I'm fine. Just a bit, you know," she said.
"Lonely ?" he asked her quietly.
"Yeah, a bit," she admitted.
"Well, why don't you go on Facebook or email or something ? There might be some virtual friends to talk to," suggested Dan. Aniesha heard a voice shouting in the background. "Oh, that's my Mum. Dinner," explained Dan. "Call me later if you're still fed up," he said kindly. Aneisha smiled at him in gratitude, despite the fact that he wasn't actually there.
"Thanks Dan. I'll see you tomorrow," she said. They closed the call and Aneisha went downstairs to heat up her ready-made bolognese.
"Who was on the phone ?" Dan's Mum asked him.
"Oh it was Aneisha," said Dan. "Her Mum and Dad have gone out and she's on her own again," he explained, sitting down at the table.
"Poor dear," said his Mum sympathetically. "You can ask her round to dinner in future if you like. Dad could give her a lift home afterwards."
"Mmm hm," agreed his Dad, with his mouth full of dinner.