Taken Over (4 page)

Jasper stared at him.

‘The Golagster told me you were well set with your Mental Manipulations stuff. So I said we should see if you could handle some Memory Modification. This class is, like, super-duper Mental Manip. Plus, 'cos you were done by a Scrambler, you should be right on the money, 'cos Scramblers get into people's heads, yeah? You in?'

So Saffy was right. Cool.
Jasper found himself grinning. ‘All right!'

‘Right on, man.' Mr Z nodded his approval.

He plucked a few notes on his guitar. ‘Try whistling me a tune.'

Jasper tried to think of a tune but his mind was blank. ‘I can't think of anything,' said Jasper.

Mr Z peered at Jasper over the top of his sunglasses. He played a little ditty on his guitar.

While Mr Z played, the theme from
Sesame
Street
popped into Jasper's head. He shrugged and started whistling.

Mr Z lay back in his beach chair and grinned. ‘That's it, man!' he cheered. ‘That's your tune!'

‘What's that mean?' asked Jasper. ‘How does it work?' He was a bit worried that ‘his tune' was from a little kids' TV show.
Why couldn't
I have thought of something cool, like ... like ...

But even now, nothing was coming to him except
Sesame Street
.

‘Dude,' said Mr Z. ‘It's like, you can use Memory Modification to help people forget the bad vibes. If you get your tune right, you can, like, cover over the bad with the good. So fears just vanish away. They float off into the sunset. It's deep.'

That sounded awesome. But Jasper had another question. ‘Why are you so different from all the other teachers here?' he asked. ‘I mean, have you been bitten, like the rest of them? 'Cos you don't seem to have much of a monster side.'

Mr Z laughed. ‘Hey, dude. I was done by a Scrambler like you. I've got a monster side, but it's all about making peace with it, yeah? My monster side loves getting into people's heads, and I can use that in my job. I'm in control of the whispering. I can twist it around so that instead of driving people crazy, I'm like, helping them forget their fears. It doesn't have to be a bad thing, yeah?'

Jasper was starting to agree. He licked his lips and started whistling again, with Mr Z joining in on the guitar. Jasper hadn't felt this good in ages. They worked on Jasper's tune until the gong went for the end of class, interrupting them mid-chorus.

‘Oh, man,' Mr Z shook his head sadly. ‘That gong is such a downer.'

‘But – I feel like I only just got here!' said Jasper.

‘As far as you can remember,' said Mr Z with a wink. ‘Good going, Jasperlator. Till next time. Yo.'

7

Jasper stepped out of Room 13 on a high. But as soon as he checked his timetable, his heart sank. Species Studies with Stenka. He didn't want to be late. He ran towards the Species Studies classroom, turned a corner and crashed head-first into someone rushing from the other direction. He was knocked to the ground. The ceiling swirled, then everything went black.

‘Jasper? Can you hear me? Are you OK?' The voice sounded as though it were coming from a long way away.

Jasper's head pounded. He groaned and opened his eyes. Boris was peering anxiously down at him.

‘Yeah, couldn't be better,' Jasper managed to gasp. He felt as though he'd just walked into a bus.

Boris helped Jasper to his feet.

‘Why were you in such a hurry?' Jasper asked, gingerly feeling the bump on his head with his fingertips.

Boris shook his head furiously and clamped his lips shut.

Jasper looked at Boris. He knew that look. Total fear and disbelief. The look that every first-year had on their face when Principal Von Strasser showed them the Blibberwail on their first day, as proof that monsters existed. ‘You've seen one, haven't you?' asked Jasper.

Boris's eyes narrowed. ‘Seen one
what
?'

‘You know what. A monster.' Jasper hoped he was right about Boris or else he'd sound like a complete loony.

Boris turned pale. ‘No, I didn't. Because I couldn't have. Because monsters aren't real. Because if they
were
real, and if they were here, then Bruno would've told me, and, and there is all this whispering all the time, and … What is this stupid place anyway?!' he exploded.

Jasper nodded. ‘Yep, you saw one. Don't worry, the panic eases off soon. The best thing to do is just accept it.'

Boris's eyes were darting all over the place. ‘But it was so horrible. It had this long tongue and three noses. And why was the Principal taking it for a walk
on a leash
?'

Definitely the Blibberwail,
Jasper decided. ‘It's a trained monster. It lives in the basement, but every now and then Von Strasser takes it out for a walk. That's one of the ways he makes it less monsterish, so he can train it. By being nice to it,' Jasper explained.

Boris looked completely confused. It all sounded perfectly normal to Jasper, but then, he
had
been learning about monsters for the last year. There was no way Boris could understand it all in one go.

‘OK, first off,' said Jasper, ‘monsters
are
real. Everyone knows that as a kid. It's just that when people get older, they stop seeing them. It's all to do with shrinkage – of the brain,' he clarified.

Boris was breathing in short, sharp gasps.

‘When you get older, your brain shrinks. And that's why most people can't see them anymore. But
you
can still see them, and you're older.'

Boris was pacing up and down. ‘This is just too weird. There's no way ...'

Jasper wasn't sure what to say next. When Señor Hermes had told him about the whispering last year, he was completely freaked out. And he still didn't really want anyone to know about it. But if Boris was a Whispered too, then he had to know about it, or he'd become a monster himself.

Jasper took a deep breath. ‘You said you can hear whispering. So I think you might've been bitten by a monster. When you were a kid or something,' Jasper said slowly.

‘I don't know what you're talking about,' said Boris.

‘If you
were
bitten by a monster,' Jasper continued slowly, ‘then you're like me. A Whispered. It means that you have this stuff called monsterness inside you and –'

Boris clapped his hand over Jasper's mouth. ‘Stop,' he said. ‘This can't be true.'

Jasper shrugged. Boris slowly took his hand away.

‘Look,' Jasper tried again. ‘You've been hearing some creepy whispering, right?'

‘Yeah, maybe,' said Boris quietly. ‘But I don't know what it's saying.'

‘That's the first stage. Whispering is the first monster characteristic to develop. You've got to learn to control the whispering. If you don't, you will turn more and more, well, monsterish.' Jasper tried to look reassuring, and not to think about what might happen in the next stages.

‘Monsterish?' asked Boris, his face turning even paler.

‘Yes,' said Jasper. ‘You're kind of … becoming a monster. The whispering you can hear is your monster side trying to guide you. But you can control it.'

'Contol. Right. Good,' said Boris, trying to gather himself together. ‘I'm good at control. So, what do I do? Push-ups? Sit-ups? Marching? I'll walk all night if I have to.'

‘You'll have to talk to Señor Hermes. I'll take you there. And maybe we should tell Stenka too,' Jasper conceded.

Boris shook his head. ‘No way.
You can't tell
anyone!
' he said forcefully. ‘I can't go to one of your teachers. I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to know about the whole monster thing. None of the other prefects do. The teachers will kick me out for knowing about it. It'll be the end of the line for me. My family would never understand. They would kill me. They'd never talk to me again. I would be homeless. I would –'

Jasper held up his hand to stop Boris mid-panic. ‘OK, I get it. But I'm sure they won't kick you out.' Yet, even as Jasper said it, he had to wonder. The whole reason the prefects were there was because they
couldn't
see monsters. They couldn't be scared or affected by them. Maybe Boris could become a student? Although he
was
pretty old. His brain must have started shrinking already. Jasper didn't meet Boris's gaze.

‘Can't you help me? You can hear the whispering too, right?' Boris was looking desperate.

Jasper wanted to help, but he was only just learning how to control his own whisper. He didn't know if he could help someone else. ‘You know, I'm really not that good at it. You would be much better off –'

Boris punched the wall in frustration, leaving a large fist-sized hole next to Jasper's head.

‘Sorry!' Boris gasped. ‘I've never done that before! I just feel so, so frustrated and angry! See? That must be my monster side! It's coming! It's getting worse! Aaaaargh!' Boris punched another hole in the wall. ‘Yikes!' he yelped. ‘I did it again. I'm really, really sorry! You've gotta help me. I can count on you, can't I?' Boris pleaded.

‘OK! OK!' said Jasper, looking at the two holes in the wall. It didn't look like he had much choice.

8

‘Dog drool,' Stenka pointed to the large flasks of murky liquid stacked along the wall.

Jasper collapsed into the comfy couch next to the fire. Felix put down the flask in his hand.

‘Gross!' Felix whispered, wiping his hand on his hoodie.

‘At this moment, the prefects are tempting every single dog on campus with pieces of steak, and carefully collecting their saliva,' Stenka explained. ‘I imagine they are looking for someone to assist them, so if I were you, I would tread very carefully.' She peered around the class of students. No-one moved.

‘McPhee!' she barked. Jasper flinched. ‘Can you tell me
why
the prefects are collecting dog saliva? And keep in mind, the wrong answer will be rewarded with an hour of drool-collecting.'

Because that's all they're good for,
was the first response that entered Jasper's head. But since coming to Monstrum House, Jasper had learnt not to act on impulse. Not all the time anyway. ‘Because that is the Skrinkerscreech's weakness?' he suggested.

Stenka looked disappointed. ‘Exactly. Dog saliva has the ability to freeze a Skrinkerscreech solid. As of now, you are all required to wear your hunt belts, and to carry a flask of dog drool with you at all times. It is not to be taken off. Not in the shower, not in bed, not anywhere. Anyone found without their drool will be
severely
dealt with,' she added with menace.

‘To catch the monsters before the queen lays her eggs, you will all need to be at the top of your game. As I haven't seen the top of anyone's game in the last year, I hold grave fears for the success of this mission. So listen.'