by Z. Fraillon
Felix sighed and nodded.
Jasper scooped a jar full of toilet water into his drink bottle, reminding himself not to use that bottle again.
‘Why did you just do that?’ Saffy asked, scrunching her nose at Jasper’s dripping hand.
‘It’s all part of the plan,’ he grinned, rinsing his hands. ‘And now for the Spiderman webshooter waiting for us in the storeroom,’ he added, flicking water at Saffy and Felix.
‘Yeah, right,’ said Felix, shutting the door firmly behind them. Saffy gave him a look.
‘Just in case it, you know, comes up again,’ he said.
There was a queue of kids waiting to file into the storeroom.
Felix was ahead of Jasper in the queue. ‘Uh, Jasp,’ he said, peering into the room. ‘It’s not exactly what you were hoping for.’
‘This is it?’ Saffy muttered as she entered the room. She picked up a box of rubber bands. ‘What are we meant to do with these?’
Other kids were grabbing whatever they could carry, and shoving it all into their packs.
‘Do you think any of this will come in handy?’ Felix whispered, shuffling through a box of rulers.
Jasper shook his head, ‘I didn’t see Mr Golag carrying any rulers with him.’
The other teams in the room were whispering to each other too: ‘… like the prefects used. If we aim right, we could hit its weak point without getting right up under its stomach,’ Jasper overheard someone say.
‘Did you hear that?’ Saffy asked Jasper behind her hand. ‘What do you think they mean?’
‘Don‘t worry about it. They’ve got it wrong,’ Jasper whispered. ‘The button is the flush button. I’ve seen the monster, Saffy. Come on!’
Saffy spied a net shoved into a corner, and Felix gave Jasper the thumbs-up as he spotted a sack on the floor.
Jasper grabbed a box of matches, some towels, three torches and a handful of paperclips, not really sure if any of it would be useful.
‘Come on, let’s get going,’ he said to Felix, who was pulling something off the wall. ‘We still need to find some chicken.’
They made their way quietly down to the kitchen. The door was locked. Jasper took two of the paperclips from his bag. He stretched them out and wriggled them into the locks. There was a soft click, and the door swung open.
‘Looks like you might’ve done that before,’ Felix said.
‘Maybe a few times. How do you think I ended up at this school?’
It only took them a few minutes to raid the kitchen, adding a stash of chocolate bars marked teachers’ supplies to the mountains of chicken they had found. They huddled around the wood-fire oven, getting warm and shoving chocolate into their mouths.
‘Why do they have a pizza oven, when all we get to eat is tasteless mush and stale bread?’ said Saffy, looking around.
It was a good point. Who was eating pizza around here?
No wonder the teachers and prefects don’t eat in the food hall with us, Jasper thought.
He started rummaging through the pantry. There was everything needed to make good, tasty, real food. Sugar, flour, cocoa, rice, pasta, fruit, vegetables, and spices that Jasper had never heard of.
Then a large brown sack in the corner of the room caught Jasper’s eye. The sack had a label that read TO BE INCINERATED. He wandered over and opened it.
And when he saw what was inside, he reckoned he could actually feel his blood beginning to boil.
11
‘What is it?’ Felix asked, peering over Jasper’s shoulder.
Jasper was fuming. He felt so mad he could hardly speak. ‘Letters,’ he finally spat out. ‘Our. Letters. Home.’ He could feel his breath tightening as his anger bubbled up.
‘It’s a good thing I never bothered to write any, then,’ Saffy said. ‘Not that my parents would notice. They’ve probably forgotten that I exist by now and are off on another trip overseas.’
Saffy’s parents were high-powered executives who had dumped her in boarding schools her whole life. But when Jasper thought about his own mum, and of all the letters he’d written her over the months, he felt betrayed.
The truth was, he had gotten used to life at Monstrum House. For once in his life he was actually enjoying school. He had great friends. It was exciting to catch monsters. Somehow he had started to like it here.
But this changed everything. It was a slap in the face. He knew the teachers at Monstrum House weren’t exactly nice. But this was just cruel.
‘Are you OK?’ Felix asked quietly.
‘No, not really,’ Jasper replied.
Felix and Saffy looked anxiously at one another. Felix’s family wasn’t much of a touchyfeely letter-writing type. In fact, Felix was nearly as scared of his brothers as he was of monsters.
‘They’ve been lying to us,’ said Jasper flatly. He realised that for six months, his mum had had no idea how he was – or even where he was. She had told him to write whenever he could!
Jasper hadn’t written the truth about Monstrum House in his letters because he didn’t want to worry his mum. But now she would be worried anyway. He looked away. He didn’t know if the others would understand.
‘This stupid school has taken every single letter we’ve ever written, and burnt it,’ Jasper fumed. ‘They don’t care about us. No matter how many monsters we catch.’
Jasper grabbed a can of dog food from the bottom of the pantry and threw it into the very back of the pizza oven. ‘Let’s see how their pizza tastes when that explodes,’ he said.
But even the idea of the teachers eating dogfood pizza didn’t make him feel any better.
Saffy laughed. ‘Of course they don’t care about us. The teachers hate us, didn’t you notice?’
‘Jasp, they make us hunt monsters,’ said Felix. ‘Monsters that could kill us.’
‘All we’ve got,’ said Saffy, ‘is each other.’
Jasper didn’t know what to do. He didn’t feel like doing the Task anymore.
‘Come on, Jasper. We have to use our heads,’ said Saffy. ‘Once we get through this Task, we’ll go on a Hunt! The outside world! We’ll be out of here for good. And then you can go home, not just write.’
‘Fine,’ said Jasper. ‘We’ll do the stupid Task and catch the Grubbergrind. And then I’m going to poke it with sticks until it’s really angry. And then, I’ll put it in the teachers’ bathroom.’
Saffy grinned appreciatively.
‘As long as it doesn’t kill us first,’ said Felix.
‘Well,’ Saffy said, clapping her hands. ‘Now that’s sorted, let’s go catch a monster.’
‘Where are we going?’ Felix complained, as Jasper led them around the back of the mansion and along the border of the forest.
‘Trust me,’ Jasper said.
Felix muttered something under his breath. Jasper ignored it and led the way around the back of the school at a run. They had wasted precious time in the kitchen and their whole plan would fall apart if they didn’t get to the monster first.
Given it was a trained monster, Jasper knew that the teachers wouldn’t have too much trouble catching it. But he loved the idea of Stenka being surprised by a nipper-ended tentacle when she was washing her face. Their team could score some seriously good points by being the first to catch the monster, but by letting it go, Jasper would show the school that he was done with the whole stupid place.
‘Jasp,’ Saffy asked as they jogged, ‘are you sure you know where you are going? It kind of looks like we’re heading towards the kennels.’
Jasper smiled and stopped at the ring of trees that wound around the dog kennels.
Felix leant against a tree and stared at Jasper. ‘The kennels?’ he asked. ‘Is that where the stormwater drains are?’
Jasper shook his head. ‘Not quite.’
Saffy caught on first. ‘A dog? You’re getting a dog? I think you’ve finally flipped.’
Jasper motioned for her to keep quiet. They could hear Mondrag swearing loudly as he bang
ed a hammer. It sounded like he was fixing something around the back of the kennels.
‘It’s not just any dog, all right?’ Jasper whispered.
The dogs were all locked in their kennels. Sniffer dogs to the left, guard dogs to the right. The sniffer dogs were mostly spaniels and wagged their tails happily as the three walked past. The guard dogs weren’t quite so happylooking. A few of them began growling.
‘Sssshhhh,’ Felix hissed, making more noise than the dogs. They all froze. The hammering had stopped, and Mondrag had stopped swearing.
12
Jasper listened intently. A dog barked.
‘Quiet!’ Mondrag’s voice boomed from around the back and the dogs all fell silent.
Felix let his breath out slowly.
One of the guard dogs came towards Jasper, wagging his tail in greeting. ‘Hey, Woof,’ Jasper whispered. He grabbed a paperclip from his bag and fiddled his way into the lock on the cage.
‘Keep watch,’ Jasper whispered to the others. He knew Mondrag couldn’t be far away. ‘Come on fella, we’re breaking you loose.’
‘Psst – Mondrag’s coming!’ Saffy said just as the lock clicked open.
There wasn’t time to make it back to the cover of the trees. They flung themselves into the cage with Woof, trying to flatten themselves against the wire. Jasper glanced up and saw Mondrag turn the corner. They were stuffed. Just a few more metres and he would be on top of them.
The door to the kennel was still ajar. There was no way that Mondrag would walk past an open kennel, especially an open kennel with a dog and three students inside.
‘Aaaargh,’ Mondrag steamed. He was only two kennels away. He must have seen them. ‘Stupid hammer!’ Then he spun on his heels and headed back the way he’d come. ‘I must have left it back at the fence.’ Mondrag’s mutterings disappeared around the corner.
Wordlessly, the kids leapt to their feet and raced out of the kennel. Woof followed them to the safety of the trees. No-one could believe their luck.
‘We were so close to getting …’ Jasper looked up. A dark shadow was blocking their path. ‘Caught,’ he finished.
‘Good morning, gentlemen, young lady.’ Principal Von Strasser loomed above the students. He was sitting on his huge grey horse, with a purple cape tied around his head in a sort of makeshift headdress. If he’d been carrying presents, he would have looked like one of the three wise men from a Christmas nativity scene. The horse snorted steam into the icy air, and pawed at the ground.
‘Busy morning?’ Von Strasser enquired.
‘Ah, yes. Quite.’ Saffy replied. ‘We’re on our first Task. You know how it is,’ she added, as though she was talking to an old friend rather than the principal of Monstrum House.
Von Strasser was rarely seen. Sometimes he took a class – but Jasper, Felix and Saffy hadn’t spoken with him since their first days at Monstrum House. Occasionally they would see him watching from a window – the silhouette of his plumed hat and cape impossible to mistake – but other than that, it was as if he wasn’t really there.
‘I was thinking of having a spot of lunch myself,’ Von Strasser said. ‘Perhaps some pizza – followed up by a chocolate bar or two.’ He looked at Felix. ‘You seem to have a bit of something on your lip there, Mr Brown.’
Felix turned a deep red and wiped the chocolate from his face.
‘The oven makes a lovely pizza – usually.’ Von Strasser looked directly at Jasper. ‘but today it smelt a little unusual.’
Jasper could feel his cheeks flush. And then he remembered the letters. He refused to feel guilty – not after what the school had done. ‘I’m sure it will taste great,’ Jasper replied steadily.
Von Strasser nodded slightly. ‘Well, my door is always open. Feel free to drop in for tea and a chat, any of you. I always think it’s best to get things off your chest – saves stewing apples. Unless of course you are cooking an apple pie. Then you need stewed apples.’ Von Strasser looked thoughtful. He was seriously weird.
Saffy nodded. ‘We’ll keep that in mind.’
Von Strasser suddenly looked surprised to find himself in the forest talking to students. ‘OK, well, cheerio,’ he chirped, reaching down to give Woof a pat on the head, before prancing away on his horse.
‘Do you reckon he really is nuts?’ Jasper asked once the horse had disappeared from sight.
Felix shrugged. ‘I don’t know. He certainly seems to know what we’ve been up to – but then, what was all that about stewed apples?’
Saffy was too busy laughing to answer.
‘At least he didn’t say anything about us dognapping Woof,’ Felix said, patting the dog.
‘Right,’ Saffy said, composing herself. ‘Task time,’ she ordered. ‘Jasp – here’s where you reveal your amazing plan for getting us down to the sewers.’
‘Right,’ said Jasper. ‘Well, the thing is – I reckon that Woof and I, er, understand each other …’ he trailed off, looking sheepish.
Jasper couldn’t help but notice that Felix and Saffy looked rather sceptical.
‘That’s your plan?’ said Saffy. ‘Talk to a dog?’
‘Woof,’ Jasper said, ignoring Saffy and looking the dog in the eye, ‘We need to get underground – into the sewers. We’re looking for the toilet monster.’ Jasper gingerly opened the bottle of toilet water he had saved, and let Woof have a sniff.
Saffy groaned. ‘Is that why you’ve been carrying toilet water around? I can’t believe –’
But Saffy didn’t get to finish her sentence. Woof growled and sniffed the ground. He paused, one paw held in the air as he sniffed the wind, then raced into the forest.
Jasper smiled and charged after him. He could hear Saffy and Felix close behind him. Good boy, Woof, Jasper thought proudly.
Chasing a dog at top-speed through the undergrowth of an icy, snow-covered forest was hard going. Jasper could feel his feet slipping and Felix was wheezing loudly. Jasper hoped he had his asthma puffer with him.
After ten minutes of solid running, Woof stopped. Jasper, Felix and Saffy were all bent over with their hands on their knees, desperately trying to catch their breath.
‘This place is seriously spooky,’ Felix wheezed, as he pulled out his asthma puffer and sucked deeply. ‘Monsters that eat you, teachers who know what you’re thinking, prefects who terrorise you, and a dog that understands English.’
13
Jasper looked around him. They were standing in front of a fence with a sign that said: EXTREME DANGER – RAPID FLOODING – DO NOT ENTER. It was a part of the forest that none of them had seen before.
‘We can’t go down there,’ said Felix pointing to the sign. ‘Look.’
‘Rapid flooding?’ scoffed Saffy. ‘There’s not a cloud in sight.’
She was right. For once, the sun was out. The air was cold and crisp, and the snow lay on the ground, glinting white in the sunlight.
‘Let’s do it.’ Jasper pulled a set of bolt cutters out from his pack.
‘Where did you find those?’ Felix asked in amazement.
‘I thought they might come in handy,’ Jasper replied, cutting through the wire. ‘You wait here fella,’ Jasper said to Woof with a pat.
On the other side of the fence was a deep, dark ditch. It had a pipe leading underground. ‘That must be the stormwater pipe,’ Jasper said. ‘Now our only trouble is going to be finding the pipe that leads to the sewers.’
‘I might be able to help with that,’ Felix said, taking his turn at looking smug. He pulled a blueprint for the underground pipe network out of his pocket. ‘It was stuck on the wall of the storeroom. ‘Well,’ he shrugged, ‘Stenka did say we could take anything.’ He grinned and Jasper clapped him on the back.
‘Cool,’ said Saffy approvingly.
‘So why are we standing out here looking at the pipe?’ Jasper said, pulling apart the wire on the fence, and clambering through. Saffy followed him, but Felix kept staring at the sign.
‘Because it says extreme danger,�
� he called.
Saffy and Jasper just smiled. ‘Come on, you know you’ll miss us. And you’ll be all alone out here … ’ Saffy called back.
Felix took a deep breath and followed the others towards the pipe.
When Jasper thought of what was lurking somewhere in these pipes, he felt a familiar buzz mixed with an inkling of fear.
It was dark and wet in the stormwater drain.
And it really stank. Jasper’s feet were soaked with stuff he didn’t want to think about. He wished they had thought of gumboots.
As Felix had the blueprints, he led the way through the maze of pipes, his torch flashing off the walls around them. Rats scuttled near their feet, screeching if anyone came too close.
‘I hate rats!’ Felix moaned, sloshing through the water, trying not to step on any. Jasper crept up behind him and squeaked loudly in his ear, making Felix drop his torch into the water.
‘Uh-oh,’ said Jasper, rescuing the torch from the stinky water. He tried it, but it was dead.
‘Good one, Jasper,’ said Saffy. ‘Now it’s even harder to see what’s coming. Here, Felix, have mine.’
The further in they went, the worse the smell became.
‘That pipe there –’ Felix shone the torch down a pipe that lead back towards the school. He looked at the blueprints. ‘I’m pretty sure that’s the one that leads to the sewerage system. It smells bad enough.’
They all had their faces covered with their sleeves. It didn’t do any good.
Jasper tried to build a mental image of the school grounds and the pipes they had passed so far.
Hang on … Pipes! Jasper had an idea. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it before.
He stopped walking. The others stopped too, Felix nervously shining his torch along the walls. ‘You know all this water has to go somewhere,’ said Jasper.
The others looked at him blankly.
‘Well, obviously,’ said Saffy.
‘I mean, somewhere outside the school,’ Jasper replied.