Nightmare Academy

Chapter One

Monster in the Model 3

On most days, Charlie Benjamin was pretty sure he was the loneliest kid on planet Earth. He went to school by himself in his home on a quiet street inside a gated community. Although the houses all looked nearly alike on the outside, there were several different models a buyer could choose from.

The Benjamins lived in a model 3.

"The model 3 is the superior model," Charlie's father frequently told him. He was an exact man with the exacting name of Barrington. "The 1's are obviously prototypes—less said about the 1's, the better. The 2's, however, are what happens when you rework something too quickly. You often take two steps backward to take one step forward. Which brings us to the 3's—the simple, solid, dependable 3's."

The model 3 was Charlie Benjamin's prison.

At thirteen, he was short for his age, with unruly sandy-colored hair, dark brown eyes, and a spray of freckles across his nose and cheeks. His elbows and knees were remarkably unscabbed and he had virtually no bruises, thanks to his well-mean ... read full excerpt from: Nightmare Academy (AER) ebook