Locked In by Z. Fraillon Page A

great building, isn’t it?’ said his mum in a voice that was way too bright.
    An old stone mansion rose up before them, its turrets reaching into the sky. Flags flew from the turrets, and the plate-glass windows twinkled in the sun. ‘It will certainly be a change from our flat, anyway,’ she said. ‘It looks like something out of a fairytale.’
    Jasper didn’t reply. He knew that fairytales weren’t real. The school was impressive, but there was something mean about it too. As soon as they drove through the iron gates with the school emblem above them, Jasper felt trapped. He shuddered.
    â€˜It won’t be so bad,’ said Jasper’s mum. ‘It may look strict, but you will get to learn all sorts of new skills. Things you would never have dreamt of. And it’s only for a year. Maybe you’ll even like it. You might decide that you want to stay longer.’
    There was no chance of that. A military school was not Jasper’s idea of fun. But he supposed that was the point.
    The car pulled up and Jasper looked at the mansion through the window. ‘Next birthday, I’ll be happy with a book,’ he said dryly.
    His mum grinned. Jasper had almost died when he heard that his first day at Monstrum House fell on his thirteenth birthday.
    â€˜At least the uniform’s cool,’ his mum said.
    The Monstrum House School
for Troubled Children

    Jasper didn’t point out that anything she thought was cool couldn’t actually be cool, but he had to admit, it was the best uniform he’d had so far.
    â€˜Black trackie daks and a brown hoodie!’ his mum said. ‘You can’t get better than that.’ She reached over and gave him a big goodbye hug. ‘See you in a year. Your sisters and I will miss you. Make sure you write whenever you can.’
    Jasper nodded and gave her the card that he had made the night before. She always had sore feet, so he’d drawn a cartoon of her on the front, relaxing with her feet in a tub of water.
    â€˜Oh, Jasper. It’s more perfect than you know,’ she said as her eyes welled up. She was being really weird. ‘Be good, won’t you?’
    Jasper forced himself to grin as he grabbed his backpack and got out of the car. He hated to see her blubbing. ‘Don’t worry, Mum, I’m always good,’ he said as he waved goodbye.
    â€˜Trust me,’ she smiled through her tears, ‘it will be ... an adventure. Just, please , be careful,’ she said, looking him straight in the eye.
    As soon as she was out of sight, Jasper let the smile fall from his face. Some adventure, he thought.
    His guts clenched tight again. He wasn’t nervous. He’d changed schools so often that he didn’t get nervous about going to a new one.
    But his guts were definitely telling him something – this school was different.

2
    Jasper wandered over towards the mansion where the new kids had gathered. They were all trying to act cool about this being their new home, but no-one really looked happy.
    Two teachers stood with the new arrivals. The first teacher was chatting to the students. She looked normal – not like the kind of teacher Jasper expected to see at a military school. But the other teacher was dressed in a sharp military uniform with shiny buttons. He said nothing.
    Jasper stood next to a girl who looked about a year younger than him. She seemed to be completely unfazed, maybe even bored. He wondered what she had done to get sent here. She didn’t look like a ‘troubled child’.
    â€˜Maybe selling my parents’ car while they were on one of their trips overseas wasn’t such a good idea after all,’ the girl sighed to Jasper.
    â€˜It depends,’ he replied, trying to hide his surprise. ‘Did you get much for it?’
    â€˜Nearly forty grand,’ she said.
    Jasper was impressed. ‘Forty grand? What did you spend it on?’ He couldn’t