by Z. Fraillon
DOCK C
Jasper had never heard of the docks before.
It was like the school kept sprouting new parts.
‘Transport departing in thirty seconds,’ came a monotone voice over the intercom.
‘Quick!’ Mac ordered. ‘The transport is on auto-pilot. It won’t hang around.’ He wrenched open the door to Dock C.
Behind the door, a muddy old military truck rumbled in a garage. A large canopy was open in the back of the truck.
‘That’s how we’re getting there?’ Saffy groaned. ‘This school seriously sucks.’
Mac chucked his backpack into the back of the truck and jumped on board. The others threw their bags up. Felix and Saffy had just clambered in when the garage door swung open automatically.
‘Jump on!’ Mac cried.
‘Jasper!’ Felix yelled as Jasper slipped in the mud.
The truck took off out the garage door.
Jasper sprang up from the mud and sprinted towards the truck. He might have been worried about the Hunt, but he still didn’t want to get left behind at school. He’d never live that down.
Mac and Felix stretched their arms out. Jasper just managed to grab hold of Mac’s hand. Saffy grabbed him by his hoodie and hoisted him into the truck as it swerved around a corner.
‘Firsties,’ Mac sighed again and closed the canopy.
It was dark in the truck, though some sunlight peeked through the cracks in the canopy. Jasper hoped it wouldn’t be a long trip. They had only been driving for twenty minutes, and already he was bored.
The truck was empty except for some old cardboard boxes, a few fishing nets and a large pile of oily rags.
‘OK, well, night-night,’ Mac yawned and settled down, using one of the backpacks as a pillow.
‘It’s three in the afternoon!’ Saffy remarked.
Mac opened an eye. ‘It won’t be soon. And the more sleep you get now, the better. Trust me. Anyway, the music will start soon.’
‘Hang on, you mean like the music on the plane when we first came to Monstrum House?’ Felix asked. ‘I hated that music.’
Soft music began to play over the speakers in the back of the truck.
Mac smiled.‘Exactly,’ he said.
‘Can’t we – ahhhhh –’ Felix yawned and rubbed his eyes. ‘Turn it … turn it offffffzzzzz.
’ Felix’s head dropped to his chest and he started to snore.
Saffy had quietly nodded off too. Jasper tried to keep his eyes open – he peered through the cracks in the canopy, trying to see where they were going. But it was hopeless. He lay down against his backpack and instantly fell asleep.
Jasper woke up with a start. He blinked his eyes and rubbed them. I must be dreaming, he thought.
‘No way,’ Felix murmured behind Jasper.
‘Is this for real?’ Saffy joined in.
‘I dunno. Pinch me.’ Jasper immediately regretted the invitation. ‘OK, that hurt. So I’m not dreaming.’
‘This is soooooo awesome,’ Felix grinned.
They weren’t in the truck anymore. Instead, they were in the coolest apartment Jasper had ever seen.
The lounge room was full of stuff Jasper had forgotten even existed: a huge television screen took up most of one wall, and there were computer games, DVDs and a whole bookshelf full of games, cards, comic books, scrapbooks and pencils. Jasper was itching to grab a pencil and start sketching.
His eyes wandered over to a huge desk set out with paper, pens and a range of textbooks. Jasper flicked through The Massive Manuscript of Monstering Mechanics, before he spotted Sub-Monster Species and Surrounds. He looked over his shoulder, but the others were checking out what else was in the room. He quickly flicked to the Scrambler section.
Vernonvex. He stopped his finger under the name and quickly read the opening excerpt.
The Vernonvex species of Scrambler is one of the most cunning in its order. The Vernonvex preys on shy, young individuals, and will often spend days stalking the victim before striking. Its intent is to confuse and frustrate the victim.
Although solid, it has a wispy, smoke-like appearance and accesses the brain through the victim’s nostrils. The Vernonvex is often a cause of hayfever.
‘No way!’ Felix exclaimed again as he opened a fridge full of soft drinks and chocolate bars.
Jasper slammed the book shut.
‘It’s like we’re in one of those really fancy hotel rooms that movie stars stay in,’ Felix said. He took a slurp from a can and then shoved an entire chocolate bar into his mouth.
‘Welcome to the Hunt!’ The door to the room swung open. Mac wheeled a shopping trolley full of take-away food boxes into the room.
‘Hamburger and chips!’ Saffy cried, helping Mac unpack.
‘One Hawaiian pizza, one supreme pizza, one bowl of wedges, two strawberry milkshakes, two chocolate milkshakes, four chocolate sundaes, a spaghetti bolognese, a sushi platter, hamburgers with the lot, chips, a Greek salad, a fruit salad, and tomorrow night there’s Indian, Thai, fish and chips, and a Chinese restaurant to choose from.’
Jasper, Felix and Saffy stood with their mouths hanging open.
‘Beats the food hall, eh?’ Mac said as he grabbed a hot chip.
Jasper leapt towards the table, ignoring the plates and cutlery that Mac had laid out. Felix and Saffy were right behind him.
‘This is awesome!’ said Saffy.
‘It’s one of the perks of being on a Hunt,’ Mac explained. ‘All this helps to fill your body with excitement and happiness. When you feel good, it’s a whole lot harder for monsters to tap into any negative feelings. If you had this luxury all the time, it wouldn’t seem so good, would it?’
Saffy grunted something through her food.
She swallowed, then started again. ‘I don’t think I would mind, really.’
Mac smiled. ‘I already ate, so I’m gonna hit the sack. Don’t stay up too late. We have a lot to get through in the morning. I’ll wake you up at 6.30am. Try to get some sleep.’
‘Six-thirty? That’s almost as bad as at school,’ groaned Felix.
‘No way, I’d take this place over school any day,’ said Jasper, cramming some wedges into his mouth. ‘Do you reckon we have to go back?’
Saffy winked. ‘My thoughts exactly.’
Something told Jasper she wasn’t joking.
11
Jasper woke in the middle of the night with a start. He was terrified. I am becoming a monster!What if the whispering starts while I’m on the Hunt?
In a sleepy fog, he stumbled into the kitchen to get a glass of water. He switched on the light.
‘Good morning!’ a cheery voice boomed.
Jasper jumped. An old man in a plumed helmet was sitting on a horse with a cup of tea in his hand.
‘Principal Von Strasser?’
This was seriously weird.
‘Up nice and early, I see,’ said Von Strasser warmly. ‘Good, good. Probably getting in some study before your first big Hunt. Grand.’
Jasper couldn’t help wondering how Von Strasser had managed to get inside the kitchen on the horse – and without spilling his tea.
‘What time ...?’ Jasper managed to mutter.
‘It’s 3.02am, and twenty-one seconds.’ He swung the chain of his pocket watch around in a circle then landed it elegantly back inside his pocket. ‘Tea?’
‘Ah, no thanks. What are you –? I thought teachers couldn’t come on Hunts.’
‘Well, technically yes, that is quite true,’ conceded Von Strasser. ‘But I felt it necessary to bend the rules, having spoken to Señor Hermes about your particular … situation. I thought perhaps there were some points you’d like resolved before you go on your Hunt. We can’t have you feeling uneasy, it will excite the Glibberhowl. However, I must ask you to be quick. I can only stay for another nine minutes and thirty-nine seconds. Otherwise I may compromise the location of Monstrum House. You never know when a Scrambler is about.’
Jasper was suddenly wi
de awake. There were a million questions he wanted to ask.
‘Do you know what happened? When I was bitten, I mean.’
‘It was a nasty event. You were four at the time. You woke in the night for a drink and you stumbled upon a Scrambler who was stalking your younger sister. You leapt to her defence by jumping on the monster’s head. In the process, you were bitten. It showed some strength of character, to attack a monster at such an early age. Most four-year-olds would have been terrified.’
‘But why can’t I remember it? It seems like the kind of thing I wouldn’t forget in a hurry.’
‘You were traumatised to say the least. We sent a Memory Modifier to work with you for a while. While posing as your postman, he managed to transform your memory of the incident until it was nothing more than a nightmare. It’s what we do in the most serious cases.’
‘A Memory Modifier?’ Jasper asked.
‘Yes, Memory Modification is just one of the careers that Monstrum House sets you up for upon graduation,’ said Von Strasser. ‘However, that is a rather rare career path. Most, like your mother, do something more closely related to Hunting, such as Tracking and Trailing.’
My mother? Surely Jasper had misheard him. But Mum is a garbage collector.
‘Not exactly,’ said Von Strasser. ‘Your mother actually works for our Tracking Department. She’s a Senior Tracker. We provide the garbage truck as a cover. But rather than collecting rubbish, she is actually tracking monsters through dark streets in the early hours. Pretty nifty, no?’
‘Tracker?’ Jasper whispered in disbelief. For some reason the idea that his mum worked for Monstrum House seemed crazier than the idea that he was becoming a monster. ‘Does she know? About me, I mean? And the bite?’
‘Of course! That’s why she wanted you to go to Monstrum House – to learn how to use it.’
‘She wanted me to go to Monstrum?’
‘Well, when you kept getting expelled for mischievous behaviour she could see that your Scrambler side was getting a little out of hand.
She knew it was necessary. It’s sometimes hard to accept that your children are old enough to be sent out hunting monsters. But she knew you’d love it. She knew you’d be a good hunter.’
‘But isn’t it a bit strange? You know, hunting monsters and being one as well?’
‘No, not at all. And you’re not a monster. Problems only start if your monsterness takes over. But if you learn to control it – as Hermes is teaching you – you’ll see how helpful it is.’
Something was still bothering Jasper. ‘Principal Von Strasser,’ he said. ‘Is the buzz I feel when I hunt … OK?’
But before Von Strasser could answer, Felix stumbled into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes.
‘What’s all the noise?’ Felix yawned. He opened his eyes and yelped when he saw Von Strasser.
‘We’re, er … having a meeting,’ said Jasper.
Felix’s yell woke Saffy, who looked equally surprised to find their principal on a horse in the kitchen in the middle of the night.
‘I thought teachers couldn’t come on Hunts,’ she said bluntly.
Von Strasser balanced the tea cup on the horse’s head, and then reached under his helmet and pulled out a teapot. He refilled his cup and placed the pot back under his hat.
‘I am not on the Hunt. I am merely having a last-minute tete-a-tete before you go on the Hunt. But I have five minutes left, so … any questions? Now is the time to ask.’
‘Yeah, I have one,’ said Saffy, looking wide awake. ‘What happens to the monsters? After we catch ’em, I mean? Stenka says they can’t be killed. So what happens?’
‘We change them,’ Von Strasser replied. ‘You hunters use a monster’s weakness to catch it.
The weakness stops the monster, so it is no longer an immediate threat. But a caught monster is still a monster, and so it must be changed.’
‘Yeah, but how?’
‘Yes. How?’ Von Strasser looked lost in thought. ‘Oh right, well, let me just say that monsterness is emphasised by certain environments,’ said Von Strasser. ‘Monsters thrive in cold, dark, scary places. If a monster is taken out of this environment for a long period of time, their monster characteristics eventually diminish.’
‘So what environment do you put them in?’ Saffy persisted.
‘There is a room at Monstrum House. We keep it warm and cosy, filled with light, music and general happiness. The monsters are placed in this room and pampered. They are fed well, patted, read to, played with, and so on. And gradually they lose their monsterness. They become ordinary creatures. At this point, they are re-housed back into the community.’
‘You mean, back into the normal world?’ Felix stammered.
‘Precisely,’ Von Strasser replied. ‘When monsters first hatch they are quite ordinary creatures. Perfectly harmless. Their monster-ness comes from a plant that they eat when they hatch.’
‘Hang on. They hatch from eggs?’ asked Saffy. Jasper remembered how Hermes had mentioned that earlier.
‘Yes, and, as you may have noticed, monsters are not the most loving creatures. So instead of feeding their young, they leave their eggs in a nest made from a plant that provides all the monsterness their hatchlings need to turn into monsters. The plant is called a birth plant. The monster hatchlings, with nothing else to eat, start eating their nest, which is jam-packed with monsterness. This plant causes them to form monster characteristics. They grow, mutate and become monsters. Quite remarkable.’
‘So, you can reverse that?’ asked Felix.
‘Yes, indeed, Mr Brown. Birth plants grow in the coldest, darkest, least hospitable places.
By providing a warm and loving environment, the monster characteristics will lessen, and lie dormant.’
‘But what would happen if, like, a person ate the plant?’ asked Felix. ‘Would they turn into a monster?’
‘No,’ said Von Strasser. ‘There is only one way for people to turn into monsters.’
Jasper’s stomach leapt. Felix looked from Jasper to Von Strasser, and back again.
‘You don’t mean to say it’s true?’
‘What? What’s true?’ asked Saffy.
‘My brothers told me about these monster-people –’ Felix began.
‘They are not monster-people,’ cut in Von Strasser. ‘Rather, people who have been bitten by a monster. And yes, there are many of them.
You would never know who they are, because they’re fantastically capable of controlling any monsterness. Most find it an advantage when hunting.’ Von Strasser didn’t even glance at Jasper.
Felix gasped.
Jasper wasn’t sure if he’d ever be able to tell his friends his secret. He felt very alone.
‘What’s the advantage they have?’ Saffy asked.
‘Well, it greatly improves your monster awareness. The monsterness is excited by contact with monsters. It often will guide the bitten person towards other monsters – which can be an advantage in a Hunt.’
‘So … you have to be bitten to be one of these people, right?’ asked Felix, looking nervous.
‘Yes,’ said Von Strasser with a small smile.
‘And you, Mr Brown, have been spiked by a Bogglemorph and sucked by a Cranklesucker, but you have not been bitten.’ He pulled out his pocket watch. ‘I am out of time. And now it is late. I must sleep.’ He lay down on his horse and started snoring.
Saffy snorted back a giggle.
‘He’s seriously weird. What do we do?’ Felix whispered.
Von Strasser’s hand rose mid-snore and he clicked his fingers. Instantly the lights went off, leaving them in darkness.
Jasper felt his way around the kitchen table and turned on the light. But Von Strasser and his horse were gone.
12
‘Wakey wakey!’ Mac chirped.
Jasper felt like he’d only just closed his eyes.
‘Noooooo,’ Felix moaned, pulling the pillow over his head.
Saffy sighed and pulled the cov
ers up.
Mac walked casually into the bathroom, returning with a bucket.
Jasper leapt out of bed. ‘I’m up!’ he squealed. He knew what was in the bucket. His mum had found this an effective method of getting him out of bed when he lived at home.
Saffy followed suit. Felix, however, still had the pillow over his head.
‘One, two, three!’ Mac warned. He pulled the covers back, and tipped the entire bucket of icy-cold water over Felix.
Felix screamed.
Jasper and Saffy rolled about on the floor, laughing.
‘Come on – there’s breakfast on the table. Then it’s time to show you lot around,’ Mac grinned, throwing Felix a towel.
Felix’s scowl vanished at the mention of breakfast. ‘Is it as good as last night’s dinner?’
‘It is last night’s dinner,’ Mac replied. ‘I hope you’re in the mood for melted chocolate sundae, because the chips aren’t so good cold.’
Jasper frowned at the food on the table.
‘I thought we were supposed to have good food to keep us extra happy on the Hunt.’
Mac smiled. ‘It’s still better than the food back at Monstrum House, and anyway, the only other stuff we have here is some flour and a couple of eggs. But there is some milk for tea or coffee – oooh, I could even do a chocolate milkshake!’ Mac grabbed a sundae and started scooping the chocolate sauce off the top.
Saffy grinned. ‘Pancakes, anyone?’
Jasper dropped his spoonful of sundae.
‘Definitely,’ he said.
Felix nodded eagerly. ‘Good one,’ he said, with his mouth full of sundae.
Mac settled himself down on the couch.
‘Right, you start cooking, and I’ll go over the plan. Jasper – you’ll be the target.’
Jasper wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that.
‘You’ll swim out into the deepest and darkest part of the lake. At dusk. When you get there, pretend to get tired. Try to imagine what it must feel like for a normal kid. Try to feel some fear. But also ... keep a lid on it,’ Mac warned.