Draven Atreides, Teenage Informant Series
NEW NAME NEW LIFE…COOL JOB
Hey. My name name is Draven Atreides, I’m 16-yrs-old. And I’m a spy. Yeah, okay, not really. I’m more of a snitch. I mean, I don’t travel to exotic places, I don’t handle or carry weapons (does a pen, a notebook and a digital camera count?), and I don’t work for a government agency. Well, three out of four isn’t bad. Let me explain.
You see, I was abandoned by my biological parents as a baby and I’ve spent all my life in the foster care system. At 16, I ended up with the Foster Couple From Hell. I discovered their dirty little secret–the bastards–so I ratted them out to the local authorities. Lucky me, when I decided to play tattletale, an agency with three letters had been investigating The FCFH for years. So, being the good citizen that I am, I decided to help them out. The agency with the three letters, that is. I cashed in my Get Out of Hell Free card. Three months later, I got a new name, a new life…and a paying gig in the Youth Informant Program.
The Girl
Draven Atreides (pronounced Dray-ven Uh-tray-deez)
Nickname: Dray
Height: 5′ 6″
Eyes: green
Hair: brown
Likes: reading, hangin’ out with friends, her real job (sometimes), and her other part-time job
Dislikes: social workers, doing homework, the whole parental unit thing.
The Sitch
Apparently, Phoenix is a hotbed of illegal activity (sort of like the Hellmouth in Sunnydale, but it’s criminals instead of demons), so it looks like I’m going to be here a while. Welcome to my life.
The Story
Ever since the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I’ve been a huge fan of butt-kicking females. When Alias came on the scene, I was immediately hooked. These shows were the embodiment of all that is female-empowerment and it got my creative juices flowing. Although there are a few teenage espionage series out there, I wanted mine to be different: no teams, no international travel, no special weapons training or expertise, very down-low, behind the scenes…with an African-American heroine.