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world. We’re the ones who protect people from being Monstered,’ he said eagerly. ‘I love Hunts – but then, I am a hunt captain, so you might not want to take my word for it. Sometimes new kids are a bit freaked out. But you’ll come to love it.’ Mac seemed excited just thinking about it.
    Jasper wondered how you could ever enjoy hunting something that wanted to hunt you.
    â€˜The other cool thing about Hunts is that they’re done in teams of kids. No teachers,’ Mac continued. ‘And certainly none of the thug brigade.’ He gestured towards the prefects.
    â€˜Who are they?’ squeaked a small boy with mountains of curly blond hair. Jasper hadn’t even seen him there, quivering in the next seat. The boy’s green smock said WARF. He was so small he was easy to miss.
    â€˜I’m Jasper,’ he said, feeling sorry for the little kid.
    â€˜Um ... Bertie,’ the small boy whispered, looking down at his smock. ‘Bertie Warf.’
    â€˜Well, Bertie Warf,’ said Mac, ‘those thugs are prefects. They’re not monster-hunters. They’re all from the other Monstrum House – the actual military school. Those kids who didn’t get on the plane with you are stuck there, saluting and drilling their way through school. In their final year, the biggest and dumbest of them will come here and join the thug brigade. But they won’t go on Hunts.’
    â€˜But they look like they’d be good at hunting. They’re huge,’ said Jasper, thinking they’d be much more use than weedy Bertie.
    â€˜No way,’ said Mac. ‘To be a monster-hunter, you need certain characteristics. For a start, you have to be able to think for yourself. It’s not just about muscle. We were selected to come here because we have what it takes, and they don’t. Anyway,’ he continued, ‘they’re all older than us – sixteen or seventeen, usually – and their brains are so small they can’t see monsters anymore. In fact, they don’t even know monsters exist.’
    â€˜How can they be at a monster-hunting school and not know monsters exist?’ scoffed Saffy.
    â€˜The teachers make sure they don’t find out,’ said Mac. ‘The prefects think this is a school for serious troublemakers and that they’re here to keep the kids in line. This is like their tour of duty or something. They’re sent work from the other school, about war tactics and military stuff. The rest of the time they’re just the teachers’ guard dogs.’
    No wonder they look so nasty , Jasper thought.
    â€˜They’re not very bright,’ Mac went on, ‘but you should still watch out for them. Especially that one,’ he said, nodding towards the head prefect who was coming closer. ‘They can all get you into trouble, and they do work closely with the teachers.’ Then he called out, ‘Isn’t that right, Bruno? You lot love the teachers.’
    The head prefect sneered. ‘Shut it, Mac. You’re already on eighteen penalty points. Just two more and you’re up for a punishment. Don’t tempt me.’
    Mac grinned, but didn’t push it. ‘We get penalty points whenever we do something wrong,’ he explained. ‘Twenty points and you’re punished – with something like the Blibberwail.’
    Mac waited until Bruno had moved further away. ‘You will all get to go on Hunts. Unless the teachers decide you don’t have what it takes to hunt monsters. If you’re no good, you’ll be shipped back to the first Monstrum House, and we’ll see you in a couple of years dressed in camo gear, and thick as two bricks.’
    Jasper decided he would definitely rather be with kids like Mac than kids like Bruno.
    â€˜What I don’t get is, if this place is for real, how have they managed to keep it secret?’ asked Saffy. ‘We can write home –