66
The Winged Monkeys
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You step off the train with the other children, onto a platform that looks like something from the Victorian era a hundred years ago. There is steam coming from the train chimney, old fashioned signs saying Hogsnorts Station, a row of gargoyles on the station roof, and a lingering smell of pipe smoke.

You are momentarily distracted by the sight of something else stepping out, or more accurately climbing out of the train: hundreds of spiders filing out of the doors and onto the platform. How curious, you think.

"All students over here!" a deafening bellow startles you so much that you forget about the spiders. "Follow me!"

Through the crowds of children dressed up as miniature witches and wizards strides an impossibly large man. His enormous bristling black beard and thick bushy hair make his twinkling eyes and bulbous nose look like the epicentre of a hair explosion.

"Now then students!" says the giant, his tummy wobbling as he bellows. "Space yourselves out a bit and raise both arms in the air."

You and the other first years eye each other uneasily.

"Monkeys!" yells the giant man into the sky.

At first nothing happens and you wonder if the giant isn't just a total madman who likes to hang out in train stations. But then... you hear lots of faint cracking sounds and look up to see the gargoyles on the station roof come to life.

Your jaw drops as the stone statues transform into flesh, blood and fur monkeys, each with a pair of feathered wings and, for some reason, a little red hat.

"Two flying monkeys to a child!" shouts out the fat giant. The monkeys - or are they actually some species of chimpanzee? - chatter and grimace to show they understand, then jump down to the station platform and scamper up to the children.

Two winged monkeys, both about the same size as you are, grab you underneath one arm each, scream and bare their teeth in excitement and launch themselves into the sky.

You decide to: