The Trail of Terror lay just ahead. Jasper could see the door. He knew that inside, they’d not only find their greatest fears, but possibly also a whole bunch of monsters that wanted to kill him. He took long, deep breaths, psyching himself up to be bait.
‘Come on,’ Boris moaned. ‘You’re taking so long!’
Jasper looked at Felix. ‘I think I liked him better in prefect mode,’ he muttered. ‘And Saffy, the dog drool you put all over me has dried now, so it won’t be any use. But I’m very sticky and stink like a dog. Thanks a lot,’ Jasper finished.
Saffy had decided to cover Boris and Jasper in dog drool in case the monsters ran them down. ‘Better safe than sorry,’ she said curtly.
They had collected as many flasks of dog drool as they could carry from the Species Studies classroom. Saffy and Felix had flasks all around them. If Jasper and Boris could make it to the end of the corridor, they’d be fine.
‘Remember,’ Felix said, ‘if you can hear the buzzing, then it’s probably too late. You’ll have to tempt the drones out without leaving it for too long. Can you do that?’
‘I think so.’ Jasper looked at Boris. He was a bit worried that Boris’s monster side would get the better of him and he’d completely freak out. Jasper at least had some practice in controlling his whispering, but Boris didn’t. There was a good chance his whispering would lead him straight into the path of the monsters. ‘If you hear me say run, then run.’
Boris smiled. ‘No worries.’
‘Break a leg,’ Saffy said, shoving Jasper down the hallway.
Jasper and Boris jogged down the corridor. They had no idea how close they had to be for the monsters’ antennae to sense them. Jasper hoped the plan worked. Otherwise, they were total goners.
They stopped at the door to the Trail of Terror. A sign on the door read, ‘Do not enter. Class 2B test.’
Jasper crouched, ready to run at the slightest sign.
He closed his eyes and listened. At first there was nothing. But then the whisper started racing through his head. The words were so quick that Jasper couldn’t catch them. Jasper tried to stay calm as they became louder and louder. He pictured a blank piece of paper in his mind and tried to see the words on it.
KLUUSS ... NAAOOO. KLUUSS ... NAAOOO. NAAOOOO. NAO!
Close now! Jasper jumped up. ‘RUN!’ he yelled, dragging Boris to his feet. Jasper couldn’t hear any buzzing, but he knew it wouldn’t take long. They raced down the hallway. A bang from behind made Jasper glance over his shoulder. The drones had burst through the door.
Then Jasper heard the buzzing. Four seconds. They were almost at the end of the corridor. Jasper could feel the wind from the drones’ wings as they sped towards him. He got to the corner and dived around it. Boris flew on top of Jasper, knocking the wind out of him.
From underneath Boris, Jasper saw the drones freeze mid-flight and collapse on the ground.
There was muffled cheering and Boris clambered off Jasper, who tried to suck some air into his lungs. If Boris had stayed on top of him for much longer, Jasper was sure he would have suffocated.
‘One, two, three, four, five!’ Felix crowed as he counted the frozen drones.
‘That was awesome!’ Saffy exclaimed. ‘This dog drool stuff is great. If only all monsters had this as their weakness, Hunts would be a cinch!’
‘Easy for you to say,’ Jasper wheezed. ‘You just have to spray ’em.’
‘Not quite,’ Saffy replied. ‘That was the easy bit. Now comes the hard part. The Trail of Terror.’