Locked In Read Online Free

to come,’ Von Strasser boomed. ‘You have felt them in the shadows, waiting for the moment to attack. You’ve felt them under the bed, waiting for you to fall into the deep sleep that makes you defenceless.’
    Jasper was beginning to feel uneasy. Not quite scared, but close.
    Von Strasser stopped and pointed his finger abruptly at the students. ‘You feel them just before they attack. An ice-cold chill runs down your spine when they are close.’
    Jasper was feeling that chill as the principal spoke. And he couldn’t pretend it was just the cold this time.
    And then Von Strasser uncovered the cage.
    The thing inside snarled, tearing at the wire bars with its horns and fangs, and flicking its long sticky tongue at the terrified students. Its nostrils flared wide, and it let out a piercing screech that shook the windows and split Jasper’s eardrums.
    Saffy gasped.
    Jasper took a step back in horror.
    No-one could say that monsters didn’t exist anymore.

5
    â€˜A Blibberwail,’ said the older boy who was sitting opposite Jasper and Saffy. He wore a red hoodie with the school emblem and the words Hunt Captain sewn across the front. The younger kids huddled around the table, trying to hear what he was saying.
    The food hall was packed with kids chatting noisily and picking at their dinner of stale bread and mouldy cheese. The new students had been assigned seats next to older kids, who wore red or blue hoodies depending on their year level.
    The prefects paraded up and down, speaking quietly into their radios at regular intervals. None of the kids seemed to take much notice of them. There was no sign of teachers anywhere, but Jasper got the unpleasant feeling they were watching all the same.
    â€˜It was a Blibberwail in that cage,’ the older boy continued. ‘I’m Mac, by the way.’
    â€˜I’m Jasper, and this is Saffy,’ Jasper spoke up. The boy seemed nice – nothing like the prefects at least. It had been a very strange day and it was good to talk to someone who knew what was going on.
    â€˜At a normal school,’ Mac continued quietly, ‘you get punished with detention. You know, sitting in the library for an hour, or cleaning up the school grounds during lunch.’
    Jasper thought of the masses of detentions he had been given at his old schools.
    Blibberwail

    â€˜But at Monstrum House ...’ Mac paused as the head prefect came closer to their table. Mac obviously didn’t want him to hear what he was saying. The prefect looked about sixteen and had a scar running down the right side of his face. He sneered and kept walking.
    Mac leant in more closely. ‘At Monstrum House,’ he repeated, ‘a punishment could mean getting locked in the basement for three hours in the middle of the night. With a Blibberwail.’
    â€˜Yeah, right,’ scoffed Saffy. ‘Like they could do that. There are laws against stuff like that.’
    But after what they had seen of Monstrum House so far, Jasper wasn’t so sure.
    â€˜Seriously,’ said Saffy, ‘this is all a wind-up, right? I mean, that ... that ... thing isn’t really kept in the basement, is it?’
    â€˜I’ve had a few punishments down there,’ Mac smiled. ‘If you end up in the basement with the Blibberwail there are two things you can do. The first is to try to catch it, and keep it caught until your three hours are up. The second is to hide, and hope its three noses don’t sniff you out.’
    He’s for real, Jasper thought in amazement.
    Mac went on. ‘I’ve tried both of these, and neither of them is much fun. That Blibberwail is really hard work.’
    Jasper shuddered. There was no way he wanted to earn a punishment.
    â€˜Von Strasser said something about hunting?’ Jasper asked Mac.
    Mac smiled again. ‘It’s what we’re taught to do here – how to track down and catch monsters in the outside