Lightning Jack (aka Thunderstruck) - Synopsis for a book or movie

This is a story treatment that could be developed as a piece of fantasy fiction for teenagers or a movie script.

Maura Vane is alone at home when a violent thunderstorm strikes the neighbourhood. She watches, fascinated, from her bedroom window as darkness falls at noon, but is startled when the first lightning flash from the storm cleaves an old tree in the garden.
Her surprise turns to fear when she hears a knock on the door and her dog begins to growl.

At the door is an extraordinary figure, dressed in Victorian/Edwardian attire. He’s a young man of about seventeen, with wild black hair who announces himself as Jack. Despite the pouring rain, he is bone dry. Maura doesn’t realise it, but Jack is about to spirit her off on an extraordinary adventure, involving a cast of elemental characters with uncanny powers.

Jack begins by surveying the house. It’s clear there’s something preternatural about the strange visitor: light bulbs explode and electrical devices come to life in his presence. He hands a strange, glass cane to Maura and tells her she can keep it as a present – it’s a fulgerite, a lightning strike in sand turned to glass. He is wearing a ring that glows mysteriously.

Meanwhile, in a dark and gothic house, plans are being made. Jack is a runaway from the Elemental Academy, a place where special beings are coached in the ways of manipulating the environment, seemingly for good – but the new principal of the academy, Dr. Powersmith, has his own ideas, which conflict with those of his colleagues. Jack is a free spirit and as such, the principal considers him a danger. He must be brought to book.

Jack has gone ‘storm-riding’ using the power of thunderstorms as a means of moving from place to place. The academy’s senior prefect, Juipter, is briefed to find the runaway Jack and bring him back to the academy. But one of Jack’s fellow students, a girl called Bronte, finds out what’s going on and sets out to warn him.

Jack soon realises that he is being followed; but he is losing power as the storm moves off. Fortunately, Maura’s father’s vintage car is sitting in the garage, and Jack is able to use his power to get it going.

Jack must keep up with the storm if he is to continue using its power; with Maura, he drives towards the nearest city. But the storm and Jack’s own electrical aura provide a homing beacon for his pursuers…

© 2008 Martin Cater