Sucked Under (4 page)

‘Never assume I'm safe,' Jasper replied. ‘I'm not that stupid.'

Señor Hermes looked Jasper in the eyes.

‘That is the first rule,' he said seriously. ‘But the second rule in my class is that you must do as I tell you.'

Your class?
Jasper thought.

‘Yes, this is a private class. Now close your eyes.'

Jasper's arm was still aching. He rubbed his shoulder and sighed. He sat down in front of Hermes, and closed his eyes.

He felt Señor Hermes' fingers brush across his eyelids. Jasper began to shake. He couldn't help it. His whole body was shaking as though he had been shoved into a freezer.

‘The whispering will come,' Señor Hermes explained quietly. ‘It will come, and you will control it. You have a strong brain, but it needs to be taught how to understand the whispering.'

Jasper opened his eyes. ‘Hang on. The whispering? You can hear the whispering too?'

Hermes cocked his head to one side. ‘I'm sorry, Jasper. Most of my students are older than you. I can see I am going too quickly. Whispering doesn't usually develop until students are at least in their second year and have a better understanding of monsters. Let me explain a little before we begin. Yes, I can hear the whispering, but I can't hear what you can. I can hear whispering of my own. All the Whispered can. There are quite a few of us, you know.'

Jasper's jaw fell open. ‘The Whispered?'

‘That's the name for people who have been bitten by a monster,' Hermes said simply. ‘Like you.'

7

Jasper couldn't believe what he was hearing. ‘I haven't been bitten by a monster! I mean I've been Monstered here at school but –'

‘No, no. A monster bite is different,' said Señor Hermes. ‘You were bitten by a Scrambler, species Vernonvex, I believe. It happened when you were a small child.'

‘But … what?' asked Jasper. He'd never felt more confused.

Señor Hermes looked at Jasper and sighed. ‘Let me start from the beginning,' he said, settling into his seat. ‘You see, monsters are full of monsterness.'

‘
Monsterness
?'

‘Yes. Monsterness is what makes a monster a monster. When monsters hatch, they are like relatively normal creatures. They might look like a spider, for example, or an octopus. But monsterness causes them to mutate and form monster characteristics.'

‘OK,' said Jasper, trying not to look surprised to hear that monsters
hatched
. Right now, there were more important things to find out. ‘But what has this got to do with the whispering?'

‘Ah, well, the thing about monsterness is that it can be
transferred
,' said Hermes.

Jasper didn't like the sound of that.

‘You see, when a monster bites someone,' Hermes continued, ‘some of this monsterness is
transferred
to its victim. A bit like the way germs might be transferred from an animal bite. You are
infected
, in a way. It's a very slow process, but the whispering you hear is essentially the start of ... How can I put this? … It's the start of you becoming a monster.'

‘I am be-be-becoming a monster?' Jasper stuttered.

‘Precisely!' said Señor Hermes. ‘And you have started to hear the whispering because your monsterness is excited by the environment here at Monstrum House. Anywhere cold, dark and scary will cause it to grow inside you. Any negative experience – such as the painful tagging you just had – will make it stronger.'

‘I am a
monster
?' asked Jasper again.

‘Well, a part-monster at most, I should think,' said Hermes. ‘But it's not all bad – it can even be used to your advantage. Whispering is the first monster characteristic to develop. It is like an antenna into the monster world. For a monster-hunter, that can be an invaluable tool.'

Jasper shook his head. He didn't really get how it could be an ‘invaluable tool'. He felt like he was hyperventilating. He wished he had Felix's asthma puffer with him. ‘Wolfman, I'm like Wolfman,' he mumbled, ‘or a vampire, or a ... a ...'

‘Keep calm,' said Hermes. ‘Let me finish, and then you can decide whether you need to panic.'

‘Need to panic?! Are you mad? You just said I'm becoming a MONSTER!'

Jasper was feeling giddy. He didn't want to become a monster. Surely the teachers would have some medicine, some antidote?

‘I'm sorry, Jasper. This isn't a mistake and there isn't any antidote.' Hermes looked Jasper in the eye. ‘The harder you try to block out the whispering, the louder it becomes, yes?'

Jasper nodded.

‘What you hear is the voice of the monster you
could
become. It's not a real monster. It's your own monster side trying to speak to you and guide you into the path of monsters. It's a whisper now, but ignoring it will make it shout to be heard.'

He paused. ‘You already feel excited when you are around monsters, don't you?'

‘I feel a kind of … buzz,' said Jasper. ‘I get excited. Something clicks. One minute I'm scared and the next, I kind of just know what to do.'

‘You see – that is your monster side becoming excited. But you can
use
that on a Hunt!'

Jasper was shocked. If the reason he got a buzz hunting monsters was because his monster side was developing, was it really a good idea to be going on a Hunt?

Señor Hermes continued. ‘Left untreated, you will gain more monster characteristics and, eventually, become more monster than human. But if you learn how to
understand
the whispering, you can use it. I will guide you through the principles of doing so.'

‘Now, when the whispering comes,' said Señor Hermes calmly, ‘I want you to see the words you hear in your mind. Then I want you to look at each word carefully, and try to make sense of it.'

Jasper felt uncertain, but he closed his eyes and let Señor Hermes' fingers brush over his eyelids again. The whispering rose up inside his body. It was strong, and kept getting louder.

JAAA … SPEER! NAAOO. KOOMM FREEE ...

‘What is it saying?' Hermes' voice broke through the whispering, and a blank piece of paper appeared in Jasper's mind.

JAAA … SPEEEER!

The word formed on the page in front of Jasper. The letters were spooky and ancient-looking, but he recognised the word straight away.

‘My name! It's my name!'

‘Good, next word!'

NAAAOOO.

The letters appeared again.

Naaaooo. Naao. Nao.
Each of the words Jasper tried was crossed out on the page. He looked at them again.
Now
.

‘Now? I think it says now!'

‘Keep going, Jasper!' said Hermes.

KOOOOMMM FREEE.

Koom. Kom. Com.
The words were crossed out.
Come?

‘I think it's come. Come free.'

The finished words lined up neatly in Jasper's mind: ‘JASPER. NOW. COME FREE,' he read.

‘It wants to be free,' said Hermes. ‘Now control it. Tell it no!'

‘No!' shouted Jasper. And the inky words faded away on the page, until there was nothing left.

Jasper couldn't believe it. The whispering had listened to
him!

When Jasper opened his eyes, he saw Señor Hermes sipping at a mug of hot chocolate. ‘It took you a while, but with practice it will get easier.

Soon you will have the ability to understand the words within seconds.' He popped a marshmallow into his hot chocolate. ‘Hot chocolate?' he asked, pushing a mug towards Jasper.

Jasper drank it in one go. Neither of them said anything for a while.

‘Was that some sort of mind reading?' Jasper asked finally. ‘I mean, because I was reading stuff in my mind.'

‘In a way,' said Señor Hermes. ‘But you were only reading the words you already hear, in your own mind. You are learning to understand your monster side.'

My monster side. Oh yeah.
Jasper sighed.

‘Having a monster side does not make you a monster. The monsterness does not have a body, or a form. It is simply the essence of a monster. Little more than a voice at this point.' Señor Hermes looked at Jasper and smiled. ‘You are far from alone, you know. Many people have quite advanced monsterness, and still control it successfully. Why else do you think the teachers here are so scary?' he winked.

Jasper nearly choked on his marshmallows. ‘You mean – the teachers have
all
been bitten?'

‘Yes, we have. I am sure you've noticed that Mr Golag, like most monsters, can't stand bright lights, Von Strasser is slightly Scrambled, and Stenka loves nothing more than to frighten people,' he said. ‘But we all have complete control of our monster side.'

Jasper looked closely at Hermes. He didn't
seem
very monster-like.

There was a sharp rap on the door and Stenka marched into the room. ‘Sorry to interrupt your cosy chat,' she sneered. ‘What is your opinion, Hermes? Do you think it is too late?'

Jasper thought he could detect a note of hope in her voice.

‘I don't think so,' said Hermes. ‘There are no monster characteristics other than whispering at this stage.'

‘Very well,' said Stenka. ‘He will do.' She yanked Jasper out of the room and marched him through the maze of corridors.

‘I have told the others your strange behaviour was a side-effect of being tagged,' said Stenka when they reached the doors to her office. ‘They believe you have been to see the nurse. We are going to keep it that way. Understood?'

Jasper nodded. He wasn't sure he wanted to tell Saffy and Felix about the whole ‘being a monster' thing, anyway. They were his friends, but maybe this would change things. They were supposed to be monster-
hunters
, not
monsters
.

Jasper still had a thousand questions on his mind.

‘Questions will have to wait,' said Stenka. ‘Because now it is time to Hunt.'

8

Stenka swiftly led Jasper, Felix and Saffy out of her office and down the hallway.

‘Are you OK?' Felix whispered to Jasper as soon as Stenka was far enough ahead. ‘You were gone for, like, two hours. We had to wait in Stenka's freaky office the whole time!'

‘It's a long story,' Jasper mumbled.

‘That was a cracker of a slap,' said Saffy.

Jasper grimaced. ‘Tell me about it, my jaw is still aching.'

‘Well, to be fair, you were lying on the ground, twitching and squeaking like a guinea pig,' Saffy smiled. ‘I was about to pour cold water on your head, but the slap worked.'

Jasper hoped she was joking. He'd heard the whispering ever since he started at Monstrum House, but he'd never had a fit like that.

Stenka turned on her heel. ‘Enough chitter chatter. Get a move on.'

Jasper saluted Stenka behind her back.

‘I saw that, Mr McPhee. Don't think getting accepted to go on a Hunt will get you out of trouble,' she growled.