CHERUB: Divine Madness - Robert Muchamore Page 0,55

tiny mind.’

James tried to work out what he should do. There was part of him that wanted to behave until he knew the lie of the land, but on the other hand Rat clearly wasn’t your average brainwashed Survivor brat. He might make a useful ally.

‘Go on then,’ James said. ‘We’re not gonna get in trouble, are we?’

‘Don’t be an idiot all your life, James. I’m gonna be standing right alongside you. I’ve done this a million times.’

James let Rat take him a few metres back along the corridor. He opened a door into a wiltingly hot room, which contained a huge water heater, with pipes and gauges running in all directions.

Rat whispered as he headed towards a table in the far corner, ‘Keep your voice down.’

He clambered on to a table and signalled James to follow. James stepped up and turned to the wall. There was a metal grille in front of his face, which Rat was already staring through. James put his eyes up to the holes and gasped.

‘Isn’t that awesome?’ Rat whispered.

James was looking into a steaming shower room, packed with the girls who lived in the dorm across the hall. They were laughing, shampooing their hair and rubbing soapy hands over themselves.

‘Oh,’ James grinned, as his mouth dropped open.

‘Told you it was worth it,’ Rat whispered.

‘Totally worth it, dude. I want to stay here for the rest of my life.’

There was so much female flesh on display, James couldn’t keep his eyeballs fixed in one place.

Suddenly, Rat smashed his hand against the grille and shouted out, ‘Perv alert!’

Before James knew what was going on, Rat had jumped off the table and was heading for the door. He’d unscrewed the grille in anticipation of the prank and it clattered down inside the shower, causing a flurry of screams and a mass exodus of girls.

James jumped off the table and lunged for the door. Rat had pulled it shut and as James grabbed the handle he heard the unmistakable sound of a key turning in the lock.

‘You butthole,’ James shouted, kicking the door hard. ‘Let me out of here. I’ll smash every bone in your body.’

James panicked as he looked around and realised that escape was impossible. A bunch of girls were shouting abuse from inside the shower room, ‘You’re gonna get punished for this, pervert.’

Thirty seconds later, someone was banging on the door. He recognised Georgie’s voice.

‘Open up this instant.’

She pounded again and James tutted at Georgie’s apparent lack of brainpower. ‘Do you think I’d lock myself in here?’

This triggered a pause in the noises coming through the door, before Georgie erupted into a bellow.

‘Rathbone Regan, get out here.’

When there was no reply, she shouted again. ‘Don’t make me come into that shower and drag you out.’

James heard a kerfuffle through the door. It sounded like Rat had been bundled out into the corridor by some of the other boys.

‘Was it him?’ Georgie demanded.

Normal kids wouldn’t have grassed, but Survivors are taught that the Devil will get them if they lie to a superior.

‘We saw Rat with the new kid, Miss.’

‘He came running into the shower half a minute ago.’

Rat started screaming at his roommates, ‘You snitch-assed motherf—’

‘Rathbone,’ Georgie shouted. ‘You’re in enough trouble. Do you want me to soap your tongue as well? Where is the key?’

Rat’s response to this demand was a giant raspberry, blown into the palms of both hands. ‘I don’t care what you do to me, fat-ass. You don’t own me.’

‘Miss, we’ve got the key,’ another boy said. ‘It was under Rat’s dirty shorts.’

The key turned. Georgie grabbed James by the collar of his shirt and shoved him up against the corridor wall. The floor was covered in puddles, where various dripping boys had scrambled in and out, but Rat was the only one left. His hair was foamed up with shampoo, and he wore nothing except a towel around his waist.

James shot Rat an angry look, before speaking to Georgie. ‘Miss, he tricked me into it.’

‘I know he tricked you,’ Georgie nodded. ‘I know he locked you in there, but look at the size of him. He didn’t put his arms around your waist and stand you on the table, did he?’

‘No, Miss,’ James said weakly.

‘I want you both to shower and wait downstairs for the service. You can expect to be severely punished.’

‘What about breakfast?’ Rat asked.

‘Tough.’

James stepped into the bedroom, which was muggy from the steam escaping the showers. The other boys were either in the final stages of