Taken Over (6 page)

He started silently down the tunnel. He knew he'd be in serious trouble, but he
had
to find Boris.

Jasper knew exactly where the tunnel would take him. It ended not far from the forest, around the back of the school.

There was a little door at the end of the tunnel that led outside.

And then Jasper remembered that the last time he'd used this tunnel, the door had been covered in a plant that looked suspiciously like ivy.

10

Jasper opened the small door and scraped away the screechwort surrounding the door. He tried to tap into his whispering to find out if the swarm of killer monsters was near by. But he couldn't hear anything, not even a low buzzing sound. Jasper decided this was a good sign and crawled out of the tunnel. An ice-cold wind whipped around him.

Find Boris and get back.
That was as far as Jasper's plan had got. But now he realised that Boris could be anywhere. On guard duty near the fence, in the school herding students, collecting dog drool. Jasper might never find him.

A cheer rose up from around the other side of the school. Jasper listened, catching sounds of excitement in the wind. Had the swarm of monsters been caught already?

Jasper edged his way around the side of the building. The wind picked up the snow, making it impossible to see. Something crackled unpleasantly in his pocket.

‘Crcckasper! Crccckom in! Crrkover,' Saffy's tinny voice echoed from Jasper's hoodie.
The
walkie-talkie!
Jasper realised. It actually worked. Jasper pulled the squashed tin can from his pocket.

‘Ow!' he yelped as an electric shock shot up his arm. Saffy obviously hadn't perfected Functional Fixedness yet. ‘Saffy? Come in. Saffy? Over.' Jasper held the walkie-talkie gingerly between his fingers.

‘Where arckre you? Crrkover,' Saffy replied.

‘At the edge of the forest. I'm in the rim of trees opposite Light Tower 3. I'm on my own.

Over.' Jasper had no idea how much of the message Saffy could hear. He waited anxiously for a few minutes.

Then a rock hit Jasper painfully in the back of the neck. He turned to see Saffy and Felix grinning at him. ‘I knew you had to be close,' Saffy waved the walkie-talkie at Jasper. ‘They only have a range of thirty metres.'

‘I can't believe you actually made a –' Jasper stopped short. He was staring at Felix, who was munching slowly on a bar of chocolate. ‘Where did you get that?'

‘They brought us some chocolate to keep us feeling good,' said Felix. ‘Just like on a Hunt. They had wheelbarrows full of the stuff in the courtyard.'

That explained the cheering Jasper had heard.

Felix grinned, his teeth coated in chocolate. ‘Pockets are full.' He shook his hoodie.

‘Can I have some?' Japser pleaded. Felix threw him a bar.

‘What's going on?' Saffy asked Jasper. ‘Señor Hermes sent the thug brigade after you.
All
of them are looking for you. Even Boris came asking. He said to tell you to turn yourself in.'

‘If the other prefects get hold of you, you'll wish you were caught by the monsters,' said Felix.

‘We knew we had to find you,' Saffy explained. ‘So we said we'd go out and gather screechwort for the big nest.'

‘The what?' asked Jasper.

‘The big nest,' Saffy repeated. ‘It was my idea – to, you know, entice the monsters into the assembly hall. I figured that if we got a huge pile of screechwort and put it all together in one place with heaps of fearful vibes, what monster could resist? This way, we bring the monsters to us, rather than us going to them. And then we trap them,' she finished. ‘Where have you been? And what have you done?'

Jasper had a lot of explaining to do. But he shook his head. ‘We have to find Boris. He's in danger. I'll tell you on the way.'

Saffy nodded towards the fence line of Monstrum House. ‘Boris said he would check out the perimeter,' she said, leading the way. ‘Now start explaining.'

Jasper took a deep breath. ‘OK, well, you know last year, when Von Strasser mentioned that thing about people who'd been bitten by a monster?' Jasper couldn't meet his friends' eyes. He really hoped this wouldn't change things between them. After all, he was about to tell them that he was part-monster.

‘Yeah …' Saffy prodded.

‘Well,' Jasper paused, ‘it's like, um, I mean, ah …'

Felix started laughing. ‘We already know, don't worry about it.' He thumped Jasper on the back.

Saffy shook her head. ‘You could have dragged it out a bit, Felix,' she huffed.

Jasper stopped walking. ‘Hang on, you know, about me being a Whispered?'

Saffy and Felix nodded. ‘It was
so
obvious,' Saffy replied. ‘We just wanted to see how long it took for you to tell your best buddies. Speaking of which,' Saffy turned to Felix, ‘you owe me ten bucks. He told us way sooner than you thought he would.'

Felix mumbled something under his breath.

Jasper felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. ‘So, you don't care?'

‘Duh,' Saffy said. ‘To be honest, I'm kind of jealous. I'm considering getting myself bitten so I can have some super-duper monster-hunting edge as well.'

‘It's pretty cool,' agreed Felix. ‘But I think I can do without getting bitten.'

They were almost at the fence line. Jasper thought he could make out Boris by the fence, but it was getting dark. The last thing he wanted to do was waltz up to one of the other prefects and get dragged back to Señor Hermes, while Boris was left in danger of being killed by a Skrinkerscreech.

Felix froze. ‘Hang on. You shouldn't be out here, Jasper!' he said. ‘And Boris? You think he's a Whispered too?'

Jasper nodded.

‘What's going on?' asked Saffy.

‘Skrinkerscreeches,' Felix said. ‘They are particularly vicious and kill other monsters anywhere near their nesting place. Which means the Whispered are all in trouble.'

Jasper looked at Felix in awe. He suddenly realised why Felix was having extra Species Studies classes. He really did have a brain for this sort of stuff.

‘You need to get inside.' Felix looked terrified. ‘Their antennae are really powerful. They'll sense your monster side in no time.'

Jasper didn't need reminding. ‘Which is why we need to warn Boris. Now.'

11

Felix and Saffy crunched through the snow towards the prefect, while Jasper hung back. Jasper hoped that Saffy had some more of the cancel cards with her. Students weren't supposed to venture this far from the school unsupervised. If the prefect turned out to be anyone other than Boris, Saffy and Felix would get in trouble – but Jasper would be delivered straight back to Señor Hermes.

The coast was clear.

Saffy stuck two fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly for Jasper. He emerged from the trees, and Boris strode purposefully towards him.

Jasper smiled. ‘Thank goodness it's you.'

Boris sighed. ‘Sorry, mate,' he said, then threw Jasper into the snow, knocking the wind out of him.

‘You are now under prefect arrest. You don't have to say anything, but anything you do say may be given in evidence. You don't have the right to do anything except what you're told. If you do not comply, this may be a painful experience,' Boris recited.

‘Boris, listen!' Jasper wheezed. ‘I can explain! But you have to let me go!'

Saffy and Felix were standing with their mouths hanging open.

Boris shook his head. ‘I'm afraid I can't do that. As much as I would like to help you out, I have my orders. And my orders clearly state to apprehend you and take you back to the mansion using any force necessary.'

Saffy held up her hand. ‘OK, OK. You don't have to disobey your orders. But you can still let Jasper go.'

‘I'm not stupid,' said Boris.

Saffy didn't seem convinced about that, and Jasper hoped that she wouldn't argue the point. ‘I know,' she said instead. ‘But your orders said “by any force necessary”, right?'

Boris nodded slowly.

‘Well, if it isn't necessary to use
any
force, then you could let him go, couldn't you? If he promises to go back to the mansion with you?'

Boris thought about that for a few moments.

‘If you try to run, I
will
chase you down,' Boris warned.

Jasper nodded. ‘I promise, no running.'

Boris let go of Jasper's arm and helped him to his feet.

‘Let's go,' Boris commanded, shoving Jasper towards the mansion.

‘Gladly,' Jasper said. ‘This is why I had to escape from Señor Hermes, so you and I could go back to the mansion together.'

Boris stopped walking. ‘That really doesn't make sense.'

Jasper looked to Saffy and Felix. He had no idea how to tell Boris that a swarm of monsters was out to kill him. Well, to kill them both, really, but Jasper was trying not to think about that bit.

Saffy took control. ‘Boris,' she said seriously, ‘you know about monsters, right?'

Boris looked at Jasper. ‘They know?'

Jasper shrugged. ‘Of course. They know all about it. They even know you're a Whispered.'

Boris stared intently at Jasper. ‘I told you not to –'

‘The problem is,' Saffy interrupted, ‘there's like this whole bunch of flying monsters. And they're in the school to lay monster eggs. Which is why we are all trying to catch them. But, er …' she tried to smile reassuringly. ‘If they come near you, they'll kill you.'

Jasper thumped his head. ‘Nice,' he said to Saffy. ‘Like that's not going to freak him out.'

But strangely, Boris didn't look scared. His face had taken on a stony expression.

‘It's because of the monsterness in your body,' Felix tried to explain. ‘Their antennae sense monsters, and … Boris?'

Boris's eyes had glazed over. He wasn't listening.

Jasper took over. ‘You need to come back to the school with me. All the Whispered are camping out in a room back at the mansion. The monsters can't get to us there, but they
can
get to us here, so we should probably move. You know, before they sting us to death.'

Boris shook his head, but started towards the mansion. ‘No can do. I will escort you back to the mansion. But I will then continue with my guard duty as ordered.'

‘
This
is why he's a prefect,' Felix whispered to Jasper. ‘He's obsessed with following orders. It's just not
right.

' Boris was striding towards the school.

But Jasper wasn't giving up that easily. ‘Boris! Listen! They'll take back their orders as soon as they know you're a Whispered –'

Boris stopped so suddenly that Jasper smacked painfully into his back. Jasper was really beginning to wonder whether Boris shoved bricks down his top. The prefect turned around and stuck his finger in Jasper's face.

‘No!' he said forcefully. ‘We don't tell anyone! Anyone! Understood?' Boris's left eye had begun to twitch, and the veins in his forehead were popping out. Jasper heard Felix whimper softly behind him.

‘OK, sure,' Jasper said, holding up his hands. ‘But please,
please
stay in the school. If they find you, the Skrinkerscreech will kill you!'

Boris shook his head. ‘Thanks for trying to protect me. But I promised to do my duty and to obey every order I am given. And that's what I will do. It's what I
have
to do.'

Jasper kicked a mound of snow in frustration. ‘But you were only given those orders because no-one knew you'd be in danger! If they knew ...'

But Boris had already started off towards the school again, dragging Jasper behind him.

Felix started after them. ‘You tried,' he said to Jasper.

Jasper shook his head. ‘Fine,' he fumed. ‘If you are that stupid and stubborn, then fine. But I'm going to tell Hermes. And if you get kicked out or whatever, at least you'll be alive.'