There was a hammering on the door,which made Bill jump. He heard Frank’s voice outside.
“Get up. There’s an urgent meeting.”
Bill was tempted to ignore him androll back to sleep but he remembered Frank was huge and didn’t take to kindlyto being messed about. He got out of bed and dressed as quick as he could. Heopened the door as he was putting on his glasses and saw Frank’s chubbyfeatures glaring at him.
“You’re been summoned to the chapel toattend a meeting this morning. Inspector Ferret’s going to question you. He’sbuilding identikit pictures of the two girls we’re after.”
Frank hammered on the door to Arthur’sroom and waited. There was no reply so he hammered again, much louder. “Are youup?” he bellowed.
He heard a voice from inside. “I amnow. Hang on a second. I’ll just get dressed.”
Bill looked at Frank, who was scowlingin a very threatening manner. He seemed to be in a particularly bad mood today.
“Why do we need Arthur?” said Bill,hoping to get his friend off the hook.
“As your little friend has also seenthe girls, Inspector Ferret wants him to come as well.”
Bill nodded.
The door opened and Arthur appeared,wearing a black denim jacket with a CND badge. “I am debating growing a beard,”he announced, “to make chicks think I’m bohemian and sophisticated.”
Bill looked at Arthur’s chin. It wassmall and pink and sported a sprinkling of short wispy hairs. “It’s gettingthere.”
Arthur stroked his chin and grinned,but then his face fell when he noticed Frank.
“Hi Frank. I didn’t expect to seeyou.”
“The police want to question you aboutthe girls. You have to come with me.”
“Sure,” said Arthur a littledubiously, giving Bill a secret what-the-heck’s-going-on look.
Bill shrugged.
“Come on,” said Frank sternly, “wecan’t be late.”
They went downstairs and heard lots ofchatter as they approached the common room. People were coming in and outthrough the main exit. Frank’s two friends Dean and George appeared. Frankgrinned when he saw them, his mood immediately lifting.
“You two wait here,” he hissedquietly, then went to join his friends.
Arthur and Bill watched them chattingand laughing. A moment later they went off, disappearing into the crowd withDean waving at a couple of girls.
“Are we really going to waitinghere?” said Arthur.
Bill walked slowly forward and peeredinto the common room. The place was full of people talking and drinking coffeebut he couldn’t see Frank.
“Let’s go,” he said.
They darted through the exit and ranacross the lawn outside. It was a warm cloudless morning and the majesticstonework of Conatus College, set back across the grass, almost glowed in thesunshine.
“Where we going?” said Arthur.
“Anywhere that’s away from Frank.”
They trotted across the lawn and wentthrough a stone archway at the back of the college. After trotting round thequadrangle, they went through the main entrance, up the long driveway and outon to the street. They stopped to catch their breath.
Arthur gave Bill a puzzled look. “Doyou mind telling me what’s going on?”
“Frank took me to a house, the home ofa really creepy man called Doctor van Devlin.”
“Why did he do that?”
“I met Professor Nox there. He said Ican see the Mark of Arddhu Og, apparently.”
“Arddhu who?”
“Arddhu Og. Some evil pagan god.”
“Honestly? We’re back to pagan huntingagain. That’s cool man.”
“Apparently that’s what all the halosand yellow eyes are about.”
“And where does Frank come into it?”
“The Choral Society are part of it. Iwas told he’s my new best friend and he’s going to stick to me like glue.”
“He gives me the creeps, the big oaf.How are we going to shake him off?”
“I don’t think we can shake any ofthem off. I’ll have to go and see Professor Nox every day.”
“What?”
“I have to go to his rooms at seveno’clock sharp. He said he’s going to apply some sort of medical treatment tobring back my memory.”
Arthur raised his eyebrows. “I don’tlike the sound of that. What sort of treatment?”
“He said hypnosis, psychotherapy andsome medicine and injections. He said what I had locked up in my head was veryimportant. But what could I possibly know?”
“You’re not actually going to thisdude’s rooms are you?”
“I don’t have a choice. Remember whatmother said? If I don’t see Professor Nox then she’ll take me out of universityand force me to stay at Brimstone Manor. I don’t know what to do.”
“We’ll think of something,” saidArthur, who couldn’t think of anything at all.
They crossed over, walked past thelibrary and followed the road for a few minutes as it cut through tall stonebuildings. It turned left and ran down towards the river Midden. They passed asquare Georgian building set back behind irons railings. This was Virtuscollege – renowned for its sporting achievements in rowing. Further along andover another road they went through a gate into Bankside Park – a wide grasspromenade that ran alongside the river. It was quiet with a scattering ofpeople on picnic blankets or riding bikes along the promenade. Down by theriver was a long low wooden boathouse, where a group of young men were pushinga rowing boat out from a jetty.
Bill looked idly round and spotted alone figure dressed in black, sitting under a tree and reading a book.
“Hang on, isn’t that-?”
“Yes it is,” said Arthur. “One of thecrazies we’re trying to avoid.”
“It’s Ophelia,” said Bill with a shygrin.
“Haven’t we have had enough hasslefrom mad people today?”
“Remember what Frank said, were weregoing to help with identikit pictures? They’re looking for her, and Lilith.Professor Nox wants to question her at Brimstone Manor. Beryl said she’d doanything to get answers. I think she’s in grave danger, maybe even for herlife. We’ve got to warn her.”
“Aren’t we in enough trouble?”
Bill wasn’t listening. He made his wayover to Ophelia in a state of nervous anticipation. “Hi,” he said.
Ophelia looked up from her book andwas surprised. “Bill! It’s you and you’re okay! At least, I hope you’re okay.How’s the stomach? I’m sorry about Lilith
