The Treatment: the gripping twist-filled YA thriller from the million copy Sunday Times bestselling author of The Escape

Stuart steps closer as Abi lets me go and I brace myself. What’s with all the bloody hugging? But he doesn’t embrace me like I’m some long lost relative. Instead, he nudges my shoulder with a closed fist and says, ‘Drew eh? Cool name,’ in a thick Scottish accent.

‘Nice to meet you, Drew,’ says Destiny. She’s got a neck tattoo, a septum piercing and long black dreads that are curled into a bun on the top of her head. She shoves her hands into her pockets as she speaks. Finally, someone who doesn’t invade my personal space.

‘Abi, Stuart and Destiny work here,’ says Mrs H. ‘Officially they’re known as support assistants but everyone here refers to them as “the friends”. They’re responsible for your mental, physical and emotional health and well-being whilst you’re in the acclimatization phase of your stay at Norton House.’

‘Anything you want –’ Abi beams at me ‘– just ask us.’

‘Can I have an iPad and the Wi-Fi password, please?’

She laughs as though it’s the funniest joke in the whole world but Mrs H. isn’t amused. ‘You won’t have any contact with the outside world for the duration of your stay, Drew. There are a number of other rules you’ll need to abide by but we won’t worry about that now. You’ll find a welcome pack on your bed when I show you to your dorm.’

Dorm? I have to share with other people?

‘You’ll get on great with your roomies,’ Stuart says. ‘Some of the kids make lasting friendships.’

Yeah, right. Not if you’re Charlie. Zed told me he wouldn’t talk about who he met or what happened at Norton House. Instead, he’d trot out the same stock answer: ‘I will forever be grateful to the staff at Norton House for pointing me in the right direction when I didn’t even know I was lost.’

I zone out as Stuart continues to waffle on about friendship and sharing and trust. Beyond the two large picture windows on the other side of the room is a large stretch of lawn. Beyond that, about five hundred metres away, a row of conifers bend and sway in the wind. My stomach clenches as I spot the twenty-foot iron fence that runs around the perimeter of the school. The plans I printed out are over thirty-five years old. If the basement of Norton House has been renovated along with the rest of the building, I’m going to have to find a way to get over that fence instead.

‘Right then,’ Mrs H. says, tapping her foot impatiently. ‘We’ll just do a quick suitcase search and then I’ll show you the rec room.’

*

As I follow Mrs H. across the library, I’m flanked by Abi and Destiny. Stuart walks behind us, dragging my suitcase. Abi went through it and confiscated my e-book reader, two packets of gum, three bars of chocolate and some nail scissors. I wanted to grab everything she’d taken back off her but I didn’t move a muscle. I was too busy praying she wouldn’t ask me to take off my boots so she could search them too.

Mrs H. slows to a stop as she approaches the wall of books on the far side of the room and reaches for the card on the end of her lanyard. There’s another small black box to the right of the door, tucked in between two books on one of the shelves. Three red lights flash at the base.

‘You’re going to like this,’ Abi says as Mrs H. holds her card up to the black box.

There’s a click, a clunking sound and a door-shaped section of the bookshelf swings open.

‘Holy f–’ I press a hand to my mouth, not because the bookshelf contained a hidden door but because I’m hit by a wall of noise as it swings open. Beyond the door is an enormous room, cathedral-big, and it’s teaming with kids. There’s a sea of blue on the floor – a carpet the same shade as Abi’s sweatshirt – broken up by huge circular rugs in red, yellow and green.

Across the other side of the room, there’s a huddle of kids my age, sitting on red beanbags on a red rug. They’re wearing headphones, gripping games controllers and staring at half a dozen flat-screen TVs mounted on the wall. To my left, there’s a yellow rug where a bunch of kids are lounging around on sofas shoving popcorn into their mouths, headphones clamped over their ears, as they watch TV. Beyond them, the rug is green and there’s a pool table, air hockey table, table football game and a huge electronic basketball game. Everywhere I look kids are laughing, chatting, squealing, playing and screaming. It’s like an enormous teenaged crèche.

‘Wonderful isn’t it?’ Mrs H. says, completely misreading the expression on my face. ‘We’re very proud of our recreation room. We deliberately don’t have photos of it on our website because, if we did, every kid in the UK would want to come here.’

‘Yeah,’ I say, but I’m not really listening. I’m staring at the boys playing PlayStation in the red zone. A spotty blond-haired guy is sitting in the same beanbag Mason slouched against in the video they sent Mum. Logically I know he’s not here. Mrs H. has already told me he’s in the pre-treatment unit, but that doesn’t stop me scanning the faces of all the boys in the room.

‘What do you think?’ Stuart asks from behind me. ‘See anything that appeals to you?’

‘It looks like my worst nightmare,’ I say truthfully. ‘Where do you go if you want to be alone?’

Destiny laughs softly.

‘We don’t encourage our students to isolate themselves,’ Abi says. ‘But if this is all a bit too noisy for you there are other options.’ She points at a line of doors on the wall directly opposite. ‘Through there you’ll find a café, a bowling alley, a cinema, a gym and a swimming pool.’

‘A swimming pool?’ I stare at her in astonishment. ‘You’re kidding me?’

She smiles. ‘We’re not joking when we say we want your stay to be as enjoyable as possible, Drew.’

‘But … where are the classrooms?’

‘There are classrooms at the rear of the building. You’ll only have three hours of lessons a day and one hour of individual therapy every couple of days. The rest of the time is your own.’

‘What about the kids in pre-treatment?’ I ask. ‘Have they got something like this?’

Stuart shakes his head. ‘No, the pre-treatment wing is quieter. Students are encouraged to use their time there for quiet reflection.’

‘Can I go there now?’ I ask and everyone laughs.

‘Your time will come, Drew,’ Mrs H. says. She indicates to Stuart to pull the door to the library closed, shutting us in the rec room, and then points to her left. ‘I’ll show you to your dorm now.’

Chapter Fifteen (#ulink_c53fe8aa-ace0-534e-ab47-3700aa1784dd)

We leave Abi, Stuart and Destiny in the rec room and head towards the large glass double doors on the left of the room. The wheels of my suitcase squeak as I drag it along behind me and several of the boys playing pool stop and stare as we pass.