The Professor held a small ebonycontainer. She opened it and showed it to the others. Bill, Arthur and Opheliastudied the inside of the velvet lined box. There was a row of six glass phialswith a long needle lying across the top. The Professor handed the box toOphelia, who tentatively pulled out a phial and removed the stopper. The clearliquid inside made her nose twitch with its acrid smell.
“How can she drink it when she’sasleep?” said Arthur.
“You don’t drink it, you inject it,”said the Professor, attaching the needle to the end of the long plastic tube.
“Pour that in there,” she said toOphelia, indicating the silver bowl on top of the box.
Ophelia poured the liquid into thebowl. It began to heat up and swirl down a tiny hole in the centre. The liquid creptalong the plastic tube until it stopped at the needle.
“Now for the tricky part,” said theProfessor.
She pulled back the bed sheets,revealing Lilith in her nightdress, with tangled hair and blood smeared aroundher neck and on the pillow. Her cheeks were white and waxy and her face lookedstrained, like she was in the throes of some nightmare.
Professor Jareth gently stuck theneedle into a vein in her arm. Lilith’s eyes flicked open and she sat boltupright with a terrible glare of anger.
“Try to stay calm,” said theProfessor. “The horrible voice will subside, I promise, after you ingest the VitaDantis. Fight the hunger! This is most important. Fight it with all yourpower!”
Lilith looked shocked when she saw theneedle sticking out of her forearm. With a loud screech of revulsion, sheyanked it out. “What makes you think I want to be like you, you broken down oldhag?” she hissed as she jumped up out of bed.
“But you must take it,” said theProfessor, shocked at Lilith’s reaction. “it’s-”
“For scared little cowards, desperateto conform! Got to fit in! Can’t be noticed! I have no intention of hiding mygift. It’s glorious!”
Lilith clenched her fists, lifted herhead and let out a guttural growl. To Arthur it sounded like nothing more thana young girl showing off, pretending to be dangerous and daring, but to Bill,who perceived Bestia Marcam, it seemed impossible that a human beingcould make such a terrible sound. He took a few steps back. The halo around herhead began to glow with a dazzling intensity, her ears were long and pointedlike bats wings, and her skin was alabaster white and red veined. The sight ofa pretty young girl transformed into such a beast repulsed and shocked Bill.
The Professor picked up the longplastic tube and found the needle on the end. She reached forward and tried toinsert it back into Lilith’s arm. “Please, let me help you,” she said.
Lilith grabbed the Hex Box from thebedside cabinet and swung it at the Professor, who staggered back with bloodpouring from a wound on her forehead. She fell to the floor unconscious.
“Lilith!” exclaimed Ophelia, gazing indisbelief at the Professor’s slumped body, then said to her friend, “Do youknow what you’re doing? You’re possessed! You have to fight it!”
Lilith gave her a mocking smile.“Ophelia, my Dark Pagan sister! You of all people should understand.”
“I don't want to be like you anymore.”
“But it’s what we’ve always wanted.All those clothes we bought, the jewellery, Rowena’s journal, the sacrifice!You don’t know how glorious it feels to be consumed by Arddhu Og! If you didyou’d be happy for me.”
“Lilith, you need to take themedicine, please put that needle back in your vein!”
“I can hear a voice, even now, at thismoment. It's calling me to make you join us.”
Ophelia shook her head slowly. “You’recrazy.”
“But my dear deluded sister,” saidLilith with a strange smile, “we’re in this together. We are going to be hiswitchy girlfriends, the two of us. Don't you love him?”
Lilith moved slowly forward, advancingtowards Ophelia.
“Leave me alone!”
Within an instant Lilith latched hermouth onto Ophelia’s throat and was drinking her blood. She lifted her head andmuttered a strange incantation. Ophelia’s eyes fluttered. She went limp,powerless to resist.
Bill and Arthur rushed forward andtried to pull Lilith away, but it was impossible. Lilith lashed out with an armthat seemed to grow stronger by the second. She grabbed Arthur by the scruff ofthe neck and threw him hard onto the floor. Bill tried to pull at Lilith’sshoulder, but it was like a pillar of rock. He looked on in absolute horror ashe saw a halo of light begin to form around Ophelia’s head, saw her eyes turnfrom soft brown to a milky yellow, saw tiny red veins spread like a spider’sweb across her frightened face.
Lilith released her grip and Opheliafell to the floor unconscious.
“I’ve never felt more alive,” saidLilith with a look of triumph. “And now I must go to join Percy, the bringer ofOg to Earth!”
She rushed off so quick she seemed tovanish before Bill eyes as the door to the room was slammed violently shut. Heturned and looked despairingly at Ophelia, asleep on the floor, her head bathedin an ethereal light. This couldn’t be! At that moment, staring at Ophelia’spale waxy face with its web of tiny red veins, he knew her loved her.
*
Lilithcame out of Connaught Hall. A group of students – who’d been out for a drink atthe Drunken Duck – didn’t know what to make of her. She was bare foot, in hernight dress, with blood smeared across her face. She looked wild-eyed andangry. When they asked what was wrong she sneered and hissed at them.
A girl put a hand on her shoulder andasked if she’d been in an accident. Lilith shoved her so hard she fell onto thefloor. Then she barged her way through the crowd, knocking two burly lads flaton their backs, and set off running, disappearing
