They made their way over to a batteredwooden table in the corner and sat down.
“Drink?” said Frank to Bill andArthur.
“Pint of heavy,” said Arthur.
The closest Bill had got to drinkingalcohol was when Arthur and his family had invited him to the Unicorn for lunchand a glass of shandy one Sunday afternoon. He’d kept it a secret from hismother because he knew she’d have forbidden it. For the first time in his shortrecollection, Bill felt like a rebel.
“A pint of heavy for me too please,”he said, wondering what ‘heavy’ was.
“Are you going to Fresher’s Fair onMonday?” said George.
“I’m hoping they’ve got a film club,”said Arthur. “I love Rita Tushingham and Shirley Anne Field.”
“Tasty birds yeah. I run the filmsociety with my girlfriend. I tried to get Fellini but we mostly do musicals.”
Frank arrived back from the bar ladenwith beer on a tray. A glass of thick foaming brown liquid was placed beforeBill and he took a tentative sip, unsure if he actually liked the taste.
He looked up and saw Frank staring athim. “What you joining Bill?” he said.
Bill remembered what his mother toldhim about the Choral Society, but he didn't want to join this, it soundedcreepy. “I was told to join the Choral Society, but I'm not too sure.”
“What?” said Dean. “They’re allbible-bashing loonies. You’re not one of them are you?”
“No,” said Bill not sure if he was orwasn’t. He knew his mother was very keen on the bible.
Frank looked directly at Bill andunnerved him a little. “I'll make sure you do the right thing,” he saidcryptically.
The boys sat for a while chattingabout silly things and joking around. Bill eventually got to the end of hispint and realised his head was swimming. He was about to say he couldn’t drinkanother drop when another pint of beer was placed in front of him. Forcing thegloopy brown liquid down his throat – mainly because the other boys seemed tohave no such trouble, in fact they were positively enjoying the evil brew – hemanaged to get half way through when his stomach wretched and he knew he wasabout to be violently sick.
“Got to go the toilet,” he saidjumping up.
“You alright mate?” said Arthur.
“Looks a little green around thegills,” said Dean laughing.
Bill made his way quickly across thepub, pushing through the crowd with his hand clasped tightly over his mouth. Hewent through an archway at the far end of the bar and into another set ofrooms.
As he opened the door to the gents anolder man with a pipe and flat cap was coming out. Bill barged right into him.He looked at the man to mumble a quick apology and got the fright of his life.The man was surrounded by a halo of shimmering light and Bill found himselfstaring deep into a pair of glaring yellow eyes. A vicious animalistic presencealmost overwhelmed him and he let out an involuntary whimper. The man gruntedhis disapproval, mumbled something about rude kids and quickly stepped aside.
Bill dived into the toilet, stuck hishead down the nearest lavatory and was copiously sick. After spending a whilerecovering – groaning and wiping his cold clammy head with a handkerchief – hewent to wash his hands. Trying to compose himself, he put on his glasses andlooked in the mirror at his pale face and wondered what was going on. Whoexactly were these yellow-eyed creatures? Why were they stalking thepub? Why did no one else see them? Bill knew he had to suppress any whimperingor scared looks. He thought that if he gave them away they might attack. As hedried his hands he noticed they were trembling quite badly.
Bill came out of the gents verycautiously, looking left and right to see if he could spot any beasts. Over ina small side room he saw Lilith and Ophelia sitting at a table having a drink.He couldn’t help but stare at Ophelia’s beautiful face and her figure-huggingblack dress. He saw Lilith turn and notice him, say something to Ophelia thenbeckon him to join them. Bill went over, grinning at the girls, realising hestill felt ill and was blushing quite severely.
“Hi there,” said Ophelia. “Still gotthe Arddhu clothes. Like it.”
“Hello there,” said Bill. His mindwent completely blank, so he gazed at her dumbly for a few seconds.
“Out for a drink?” she said.
“I tried this stuff called heavy. Ican see why it’s called heavy. Very heavy, very heavy indeed. Yes... Well...Right...”
Bill suddenly became tongue-tied. Ashis brain scrambled to think of something to say he remembered Ophelia’s book,about the girl who lived in Underwood. “That book of yours is very interesting.Brimstone Manor and all that.”
“You really think so? I read somemore, you know. Lord Percy came to find her at Briar Cottage but she hid in thehay loft, wouldn’t see him. She was ashamed of what she’d become.”
“Ophelia!” snapped Lilith. “We don’twant chit chat. Remember?”
Ophelia checked herself and her mannerbecame more formal. “Of course... Would you like to come to a moot?”
Bill looked directly into Ophelia’slarge eyes and gulped. “What's a moot?”
“By the Gods, you're so green! It's avery special sort of party,” said Lilith. “There’s a rather cool moot tomorrownight and we would very much like you to come.”
Bill was amazed. “Me?”
“If I wanted someone else then Iwouldn’t be asking you, would I?” Lilith looked at Ophelia and rolled her eyes.
“Well no... yes. I’d love to come.”
“And you can bring your little friend,the Crocodile fan.”
“Arthur. Well, yes. I’m sure he’dlove to come.”
Bill tried to imagine what a studentparty would be like. As far as he could recall, which wasn't very much, he’dnever been to a party before. When it was Miss Spital's birthday a couple ofmonths ago she'd brought him a cup cake, but he guessed that didn't reallycount. A proper student party would have loud music, a little bit like themusic he heard Arthur playing in his room, and lots of drinking beer, like thisheavy stuff, and crazy dancing. He imagined himself dancing with Ophelia thenrealised he didn’t know how
