Locked In

by Z. Fraillon

  ‘It’s a bit – small – isn’t it?’ said Jasper.

  It looked like a golden cocker spaniel was pacing up and down beside the prefect.

  ‘Well, at least we’re prepared. Right, Felix, what’s the diversion?’ Saffy whispered.

  Felix looked guiltily between Jasper and Saffy. ‘Um, I – ah, thought you guys were just joking.’

  Jasper put out a hand to stop Saffy as she started towards Felix. ‘Although I’m interested to find out just who would win a fight between karate boy and kickboxing girl, now’s not the time,’ Jasper whispered, and pointed to the guard. ‘Before we kill each other, let’s take a closer look. We might be able to get past him – he’s not even standing near the gate. And seriously, what’s a spaniel going to do?’

  They edged closer.

  The prefect’s muscles seemed to pop out of his camouflage suit. There was no way they’d be able to get past him.

  ‘A diversion would have been perfect right now ...’ Jasper whispered to Felix, just not loudly enough for Saffy to hear.

  A ghostly screech echoed through the night. The prefect’s radio crackled to life and the spaniel took off, barking madly. The prefect jogged further down the fence line to investigate, talking intently into his radio.

  ‘There you go,’ Felix said cheerfully, ‘a diversion.’

  Saffy just glared at him. ‘Hurry up, before he comes back,’ she ordered Jasper, shoving him towards the gate.

  Jasper looked at the key ring. There were at least twenty keys on the thing. He shoved one unsuccessfully into the lock.

  ‘Come on, come on!’ said Saffy. Jasper realised now why Saffy had escaped from all her other schools. Once she had her mind set, it was clear that nothing got in her way.

  ‘Oi!’ a gruff voice yelled. Jasper turned around, the keys gripped tightly in his hand.

  Well, almost nothing.

  The prefect was back.

  16

  ‘Hey, I know you ... ’ the prefect said, looking straight at Jasper. It was Craig, the same prefect Jasper had pick-pocketed. Then he saw the keys in Jasper’s hand. He sneered, walking menacingly towards them. ‘Well, well, well. What do you three think you’re doing?’

  He’s so dumb he can’t even count, thought Jasper. We must be able to get out of this.

  ‘So, you think you’re escaping? Ha!’ Craig shook his head. ‘Not on my watch.’ He pressed a button on his radio.

  Jasper wondered how long it would take for backup to arrive.

  Saffy whispered something to Felix as Craig reached behind his back and pulled out some kind of baton. He flicked it, and the stick flew out, becoming a fifty-centimetre metal rod. Jasper didn’t like their chances so much anymore.

  But then, he didn’t know karate or kickboxing.

  ‘NOW!’ Saffy screamed, charging towards the prefect.

  Jasper stared in disbelief as Felix flew through the air, his foot hitting the prefect squarely on the side of his head as Saffy spun in a perfect half-circle, her foot connecting with Craig’s stomach.

  Craig doubled over and collapsed. Even though Jasper knew the prefects were seriously nasty, he couldn’t help but feel slightly sorry for Craig, who now lay unconscious in the snow.

  ‘That’s going to hurt,’ Bertie piped up as he inspected the prefect.

  Jasper spun back around to the gate, fumbling to find the right key as Craig – starting to wake up – began to groan.

  ‘We don’t have much time!’ Felix called.

  ‘I know!’ Jasper hissed. ‘But it’s like we have every key except the right one!’ It was impossible to see in the dark. Jasper tried not to think about how dark it was, or how cold.

  Craig’s moans seemed to be getting louder.

  ‘Psst!’ A voice whispered over Jasper’s shoulder.

  ‘What?’ Jasper snapped – now really wasn’t the time for the kid to distract him.

  Suddenly, a deep, low, growl broke through the night. Jasper’s stomach clenched. He turned around slowly. The spaniel was snapping and growling at Bertie.

  Jasper couldn’t believe how frightening a small cocker spaniel could be. He looked up, wondering why Saffy or Felix hadn’t pounced on the dog – and froze.

  Felix and Saffy wouldn’t be helping out any time soon. They had both been turned to stone.

  Jasper stared at the statues of his friends. Saffy’s face had an expression of complete surprise, and Felix was frozen as he reached anxiously into his pocket, probably for his asthma puffer.

  It doesn’t make sense, thought Jasper. How did the Bogglemorph –

  The dog growled again, and suddenly, he realised what had happened.

  ‘That golden cocker spaniel is the Bogglemorph,’ Jasper whispered to Bertie. ‘Golden, blond, same thing. We should have known – who ever heard of a cocker spaniel as a guard dog?’

  Jasper wondered how much longer it would take for the prefects to arrive and help catch the monster. And then he remembered the prefects couldn’t see monsters. They were too old and, according to Mac, too stupid.

  Jasper dropped the keys into the snow, and reached slowly into the front pocket of his hoodie. The spaniel continued to growl, but didn’t come any closer. Jasper felt his hand clench around the whipped cream.

  ‘Here pup, pup, pup,’ he cooed. The dog growled even more loudly. ‘Or should I say, Bogglemorph?’

  Jasper charged forward, spraying the dog with mountains of white, fluffy cream as it barked furiously and snapped at his heels.

  Jasper stopped and stared at the dog. The dog stared at him. Jasper wondered how long it would take for the monster to turn into an elephant-nosed slug-sheep. The dog licked a paw. It didn’t look too impressed. He turned to Bertie. ‘Why isn’t it working?’ he whispered.

  Bertie shrugged.

  The dog looked at Jasper and whimpered.

  ‘FREEZE!’ a booming voice called from the dark. ‘YOU ARE SURROUNDED!’

  Jasper peered into the night. He could just make out three figures in camouflage suits. The prefects turned on their torches and shone them directly into Jasper’s eyes. One of the torches flashed to the whimpering cream puff at Jasper’s feet.

  ‘What did you maggots do to Sparky?’ a prefect growled.

  Jasper shook his head. None of this was making sense. He didn’t think the prefects could see monsters. And how long would the whipped cream take to transform the dog into its natural state?

  Think! Jasper told himself. If he didn’t work this out soon, Felix and Saffy would be joining the other statues up at the mansion. Not to mention the punishment he knew the prefects would dish out. Especially Craig, who was now sitting up in the snow looking dazed.

  Then Jasper realised. What had the Craig said when he first caught them? What do you three think you are doing? But there hadn’t been three of them – there had been four ...

  Suddenly things began to make sense. The dog wasn’t the monster. It was Bertie!

  The prefects can count, thought Jasper. It was Bertie – with his big mop of curly blond hair.

  Jasper turned, but Bertie had vanished.

  ‘Where did he go? Bertie Warf! The Bogglemorph!’ Jasper yelled frantically. If he got away ... Jasper looked fearfully at the statues of his friends.

  ‘Nice try, but this one all falls on you.’ Jasper recognised the voice. Bruno, the head prefect.

  And then Jasper saw him. Bertie stood behind Bruno with an evil smirk on his face. How could a small boy with curly blond hair look so nasty? ‘I’ll teach you,’ said Jasper, gritting his teeth.

  Bruno flicked his baton to its full length.

  Jasper knew he was only going to get one shot at this.

  He jumped forward, yelling crazily and spraying whipped cream at Bertie. Bruno roared as he was covered in whipped cream.

  Jasper didn’t know how much spray would be needed to change the boy to the Bogglemorph, but he wasn’t going to take any chances. He emptied the spray can onto the boy, struggling with Bruno to g
et a clear shot.

  Jasper just managed to wriggle free of Bruno’s grasp as he emptied the last of the spray directly into Bertie’s face.

  The boy looked horrified, and for a moment, Jasper wondered if he had got it wrong again.

  Then suddenly, there was a loud POP, and Bertie changed form. The Bogglemorph lay wriggling back and forwards on the ground, unable to move its fat, woolly, legless body. It gave a soft trumpet of frustration as it tried to wind its trunk around Jasper’s arm.

  Then Jasper thumped into the snow.

  Bogglemorph

  17

  Jasper had been so surprised by the Bogglemorph’s sudden transformation that he hadn’t even seen Bruno coming.

  ‘You’ll teach me, eh?’ said Bruno, shoving his boot roughly onto Jasper’s face.

  The Bogglemorph was only a metre away. Jasper could see it slowly wriggling its woolly body closer and closer. Jasper tried to slide out from under Bruno’s foot, but only managed to have his face squashed some more.

  ‘Thank you, Bruno,’ an icy voice cracked through the night. Jasper didn’t think he’d ever be pleased to see Stenka, but he felt overjoyed.

  ‘On your feet,’ she ordered Jasper.

  Bruno grunted and let Jasper rise. ‘We caught him trying to do a runner with these statues,’ Bruno explained. ‘He’s clearly nuts. He sprayed me and the dog with whipped cream, and look what he did to poor Craig!’

  The prefect was still sitting in the snow, staring at the statues of Felix and Saffy in confusion.

  Stenka held up her hand for silence. ‘Yes. However, I have an urgent message for you. Here, it’s highly confidential.’ Stenka handed Bruno a set of earpieces.

  Bruno handed them around to the prefects. They stuck the pieces in their ears and listened intently.

  Jasper could swear he heard the soft tingle of music coming from the earpieces – it sounded like the music from the plane. The prefects’ gaze became vague and unfocused.

  Stenka

  ‘We have to go,’ Bruno said dully, and the others nodded and jogged off into the night.

  ‘The Bogglemorph!’ Jasper said eagerly to Stenka – although it came out more as a hoarse whisper. He felt a bit shaky, after what had happened to Saffy and Felix.

  Stenka walked over to the monster and inspected it carefully. ‘Yes. It appears that is exactly what it is. We meet again,’ she said softly to the monster.

  Stenka turned back to Jasper. ‘However, that doesn’t explain what you were doing out here in the middle of the night.’

  ‘We were, um, catching the Bogglemorph.’ Jasper tried. ‘It was obvious – you know, the pink hair in the middle of his head, six toes, so we took it upon ourselves to show our true commitment to this fantastic institution by catching our first real monster.’

  Stenka glared at Jasper. ‘So how exactly does that explain the stolen keys lying in the snow?’

  ‘Hmm, I wondered the same thing myself.’ Jasper tried to look thoughtful. ‘I suppose they got tangled in my clothes when I accidentally crashed into Craig earlier today.’

  ‘I suspect you rarely do anything by accident, Mr McPhee,’ Stenka hissed, before turning and inspecting the statues of Felix and Saffy. ‘You are aware that I have been watching you on the CCTV cameras that are set up all around the school campus, aren’t you?’

  Hmm, Jasper thought, pleased that Saffy couldn’t say anything. But even as a statue, Jasper thought he could feel Saffy’s eyes burning a hole into the side of his head.

  ‘Didn’t you think it was just a tad easy to escape? I found it all quite entertaining. Apart from poor Sparky of course. She was just doing her job. Spaniels are very good at sniffing out monsters.’

  Jasper mentally thumped his head. Not a guard dog, a sniffer dog.

  ‘And just so you know,’ Stenka continued, ‘despite its looks, this school is very high-tech.’

  Next time we’ll wait for the helicopter, Jasper thought.

  ‘There won’t be a next time,’ said Stenka, ‘not after the punishment I have in store.’

  She could definitely read his thoughts. Jasper shuddered.

  ‘You may have been clever in the outside world, but in here, you are nothing,’ Stenka added severely.

  A few comebacks popped into Jasper’s head, but Stenka’s glare told him it probably wasn’t worth saying them aloud.

  ‘However,’ Stenka added, her voice thawing slightly, ‘I am pleased to see that our little plan worked. You did catch the Bogglemorph. I suppose we will have to take that into consideration when we decide on your punishments.’

  Jasper stifled a groan. But he had to ask. ‘What do you mean, your plan?’ He had the bad feeling that they’d all been played somehow.

  Stenka smiled shrewdly. ‘After our attempts at catching the Bogglemorph failed so miserably last time, we knew that the only way was to use its intended victims as bait.’ She looked decidedly pleased with herself. ‘Of course, we didn’t expect first years to catch it, just to deliver the message.’

  Jasper was finding it hard to keep up.

  ‘Why else do you think Principal Von Strasser asked you to deliver the note?’ asked Stenka.

  Jasper couldn’t stop the guilty look this time. They knew I’d read the note, he thought. No, even worse – they planned for me to read the note.

  ‘That’s why all the older students were issued with whipped-cream-filled injector pens. You seemed to find your own source, however – the principal’s personal stock for his Sunday-night strudel.’

  Jasper looked at the empty can lying in the snow. Oops.

  ‘Now, if you wouldn’t mind, hold this.’ Stenka grabbed the Bogglemorph by its trunk and handed it to Jasper. He couldn’t help shivering slightly as he held it at arm’s length. Stenka produced a pair of tweezers from her pocket. She leant over the monster and plucked the single pink hair from its head.

  The Bogglemorph trumpeted loudly in objection. Jasper expected it to pop or deflate or something, but it just sat there looking miserable. ‘Does that hurt it?’ he asked.

  ‘Not exactly,’ said Stenka. ‘It can’t change form again until the hair grows back, so it’s harmless, for now at least. I will see to its … disposal. And now for your foolhardy friends,’ she turned to face Saffy and Felix, flashing a smile. ‘Let’s just say being de-morphed is an experience that will haunt their nightmares.’

  Stenka pulled out a small vial of clear liquid and carefully placed the pink hair in the vial. The liquid immediately began to sizzle, turning a bright pink as it bubbled to the top of the bottle. ‘One single drop ...’ Stenka dripped the liquid carefully onto the heads of Felix and Saffy.

  Jasper watched in horror as the statues began to melt. His friends’ faces oozed onto their chests, then the rest of their bodies bubbled and dripped like melting cheese, until they looked like two blobs of skin in the snow.

  They were better off as statues, thought Jasper, horrifed.

  Then the blobs began to take shape again. It was almost as if invisible hands were moulding Saffy and Felix out of playdough. The blobs started throbbing to the beat of two hearts, then swelled grotesquely as the bones and muscles took shape inside. Jasper had to turn away. He hated to think how much it would hurt.

  ‘There – isn’t that better?’ Stenka said to Felix and Saffy as they finished re-forming.

  ‘Ugggh,’ Felix managed to groan.

  Stenka snapped her fingers and two prefects with blank-looking faces emerged from the dark. ‘These two – the school hospital,’ she ordered. The prefects nodded and began to haul Felix and Saffy towards the mansion.

  ‘At least you’re not statues anymore!’ Jasper called out feebly. He thought he saw Saffy wave, but it might have been a different gesture.

  Stenka turned to Jasper. ‘You. Follow me.’ She took the Bogglemorph from him and pocketed the vial. ‘I have a feeling there are more statues who have been waiting a long time for a drop of this.’

  Slowly they trudged back to
the mansion, Jasper keeping as much distance between himself and the Bogglemorph as possible.

  Despite everything he had been through, Jasper felt pretty good. After all, he had caught a monster. A wild monster this time. And probably saved all those statues. They would all be turned back to normal kids, with Jasper to thank. A marching band was definitely in order this time. He wondered if he should suggest it to Stenka.

  Perhaps being a monster-hunter wasn’t such a bad thing after all. The more he thought about it, the more excited he felt. The buzz was definitely there.

  They reached the school and Stenka marched Jasper towards a cell marked Punishment Room 1. She turned to him and smiled. ‘The basement is full. However, I’m sure you will find this room equally ... deterring.’

  Jasper gulped and felt his guts clench. ‘A marching band?’ he tried weakly.

  Stenka smiled and shook her head.

  This couldn’t be good.

  TO BE CONTINUED ...

  Jasper and his friends are about to take on their biggest challenge. They have to find a monster that’s loose in Monstrum House ... before it finds them.

  If they fail, they’ll have their creepy teacher Stenka to answer to. Or perhaps they’ll be eaten by a monster. It’s hard to know which is worse.

  www.monstrumhouse.com