‘Saffy,’ said Felix, ‘you still haven’t told us how you got that cancel card.’

Saffy ignored Felix again and turned to the noticeboard. ‘The second announcement was that now we’re in second year, we’ve all been put in individual tutorials depending on our strengths,’ she said. ‘They’re twice a week, after our Rest and Relaxation class.’ Saffy pointed to the noticeboard. ‘Better find out where we’re supposed to be.’

Jasper searched the notices for his name. He found it, held with a drawing pin that looked as though it was crying out in pain. Jasper hoped that didn’t say anything about how painful his tutorial would be. Next to his name, he read: Memory Modification – Room 13.

Jasper frowned. Memory Modification. He thought he’d heard Von Strasser mention it before, but he had no idea what it was. He felt a bit let down – he’d been hoping for Mental Manipulation with Mr Golag. That was his best subject. He wondered if he could switch.

‘Cool! Functional Fixedness!’ exclaimed Saffy. ‘Just wait, I’m going to invent the coolest gadgets ever. James Bond, eat your heart out. Once the secret service sees what I come up with, they’ll be begging me to work for them.’

Jasper could see the plans already forming in Saffy’s head. If anyone could invent a cool spy gadget using only old bits of rubbish, it was Saffy.

Felix found his name and groaned. ‘Please let this be a mistake,’ he said.

‘What is it?’ Saffy asked.

‘Species Studies.’ Felix shook his head in despair.

Jasper laughed. ‘Lucky you!’ he teased. ‘You get extra one-on-one classes twice a week with Stenka!’

Felix looked pained. ‘But we’ve all got Species Studies later. I’ll have double Stenka! Why me?’

‘Because it’s what you’re good at,’ said Saffy. ‘Hey, without you, we never would’ve passed the Task last year,’ she reminded him. ‘What about you, what are you supposedly good at, Jasp?’

Jasper shrugged his shoulders as Saffy found his name on the board.

‘What’s Memory Modification?’ she asked. ‘Is that like some sort of Mental Manipulation stream? Sounds cool.’

Jasper shrugged again. He’d started private classes with Señor Hermes last year to help control his monster side. All the Whispered kids at the school did them. The classes were secret,so Jasper wondered if Memory Modification was just a code name. Maybe he just had a class with Señor Hermes.

‘Don’t know,’ said Jasper. ‘But whatever it is – I guess I’m about to find out.’