Monster: The perfect boarding school thriller to keep you up all night

Monster: The perfect boarding school thriller to keep you up all night
C.J. Skuse

Every girl at Bathory School has heard stories about The Beast. No one believed they were true.Until Now.'Grisly, nail-biting fun!' - Lovereading4kids.co.ukAt sixteen Nash thought that the fight to become Head Girl of prestigious boarding school Bathory would be the biggest battle she’d face. Until her brother’s disappearance leads to Nash being trapped at the school over Christmas with Bathory’s assorted misfits.As a blizzard rages outside, strange things are afoot in the school’s hallways, and legends of the mysterious Beast of Bathory – a big cat rumoured to room the moors outside the school – run wild.Yet when the girls’ Matron goes missing it’s clear that something altogether darker is to blame – and that they’ll have to stick together if they hope to survive.

C.J. SKUSE is the author of the YA novels PRETTY BAD THINGS, ROCKOHOLIC and DEAD ROMANTIC. She was born in 1980 in Weston-super-Mare, England. She has First Class degrees in Creative Writing and Writing for Children and, aside from writing novels, lectures in Writing for Children at Bath Spa University where she is planning to do her PhD. C.J’s fifth novel THE DEVIANTS will be published by HQ in 2016.

For Jamie, he is my brother

I said there is no other

‘Hell is empty. All the devils are here.’

The Tempest,

William Shakespeare

Acknowledgements (#ulink_09d674a3-1879-5bdc-b8cf-4a724ab02262)

Jenny Savill at Andrew Nurnberg Agency for your belief when I needed it most.

Anna Baggaley, Sarah Reader and everyone at HQ for your ceaseless support, editorial advice and general love for my little Monster

All my family, friends and early readers—my sister Penny Skuse, Matthew Snead, Laura Myers, Di Toft, Rachel Leyshon and Barry Cunningham. Thank you for all your advice and encouragement.

Hestercombe House and Gardens—a constant inspiration to me. This time round, Bathory School in the flesh.

Connie Bowler—for your very helpful reminiscences about boarding school life.

Judy Wasdell—for having a dog who habitually sniffs out spines.

All the UKYA book bloggers who follow me on social media and regularly spread the word about my books.

As always, a soundtrack of artists helped me knit and unpick this book every step of the way: Aiden, Alice in Chains, Gabrielle Aplin, Avicii, The Bangles, The Beatles, Birdy, Eminem, 5 Seconds of Summer, Foo Fighters, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Ellie Goulding, The Heavy, Hole, Keane, Jay-Z, Linkin Park, Marilyn Manson, My Chemical Romance, Nirvana, Paramore, Rage Against the Machine, Royal Blood and Slipknot.

And to anyone who has screwed me over, rejected me or even just mildly pissed me off in the last thirty-odd years—you helped too. A lot.

Table of Contents

Cover (#u7e9d546b-e64d-5592-a076-cc2a39b0f52c)

About the Author (#u9019c6ff-544e-5d6d-9061-8e05782847f7)

Title Page (#ubc4ab0a3-3a69-52a7-bc8c-d6e7d32a0157)

Dedication (#u090f283b-7be5-5ee1-a8db-a9b542947b69)

Epigraph (#u39bcffc1-916a-596e-882c-c0f94acb9656)

Acknowledgements (#u000797d9-7305-5b07-ad1e-9319c8e78a22)

1 I, Monster (#ud74626de-1283-5659-8515-dc0a07b8ff32)

2 The Devil Inside (#u08dc7d53-f4ca-5fa2-891a-5f9501dddaa1)

3 Insidious (#ue5dc2446-304c-5d07-ac6a-2929590483c9)

4 Jeepers Creepers (#udb9cbe04-fd39-5aaa-8d76-c406714fe90d)

5 Dead and Breakfast (#ubc65e156-60ab-5b75-a25b-db07a1895477)

6 The Thing (#u3ce68ddf-233f-5878-bc24-8bc4092b51af)

7 Saw (#u9c8e3e48-c285-51e7-ae9d-a4f0a09a91ea)

8 Scream (#litres_trial_promo)

9 The Hunger (#litres_trial_promo)

10 Village of the Damned (#litres_trial_promo)

11 Near Dark (#litres_trial_promo)

12 Bride of Chucky (#litres_trial_promo)

13 Black Christmas (#litres_trial_promo)

14 The Vanishing (#litres_trial_promo)

15 Psycho (#litres_trial_promo)

16 Dead of Night (#litres_trial_promo)

17 The Cabin in the Woods (#litres_trial_promo)

18 Don’t Look Now (#litres_trial_promo)

19 Hellraiser (#litres_trial_promo)

20 Daughters of Darkness (#litres_trial_promo)

21 The Omen (#litres_trial_promo)

22 Possession (#litres_trial_promo)

23 Let the Right One In (#litres_trial_promo)

24 Resident Evil (#litres_trial_promo)

25 The Silence of the Lambs (#litres_trial_promo)