He gazed at the cellar door now, ablack square in the shadowy archway under the stairs, and felt his heart startto pound. He thought again of the book he’d flicked through in the secret room,with its diagrams of tortuous contraptions, and knew why he’d heard such painedscreaming. He was sure Professor Jareth was down there somewhere – how could hepossibly leave her in the jaws of some terrible device? She’d been kind,helping Ophelia get Vita Dantis, and seemed to know an awful lot aboutcombating the Curse of Og. He wondered if she could even help him understandWilliam Whitebeam’s journal.
Bill crossed the hallway andapproached the cellar door. He pulled back a bolt that clanged noisily and triedthe handle. It was locked. Then he noticed a long brass key hanging on a hookin the darkest recess under the stairs. He tried it in the lock and it turnedwith a click. He pushed on the handle. The door opened...
Bill looked into the darkness and listenedfor anything that sounded like a distant scream or moan, but there was onlysilence. He took a deep breath and stepped through the door into a small room.He could just about see a flight of stairs leading down into total inkyblackness on the far side. He groped around for a light switch but couldn’tfind one, so he reached into his pocket and pulled out the torch. As he wavedit around the beam cast eerie shadows on the brick walls.
Bill put the journal on the floor andapproached the stairs, feeling cold air waft out of the darkness. He was veryreluctant to go down into what looked like a black pit, but took a deep breathand stepped down onto the first step.
He kept going, taking one careful stepat a time. Eventually he came out into a cold cellar. The torch didn’t showmuch of anything but he managed to pick out a line of arched columns and a fewwooden chests. He had no idea how large it was because he could only see a fewfeet ahead. There were gas lights on the walls but he decided not to try andlight them.
Then Bill heard a strange voice,disembodied, floating in the darkness.
“Leave us...” it moaned.
The voice was soft and rather quietbut made his flesh creep. He felt an overwhelming urge to turn and run back upthe stairs but forced himself to stay where he was.
“Leave us...” it moaned again.
He shone the torch and gazed intentlyto where he thought the sound was coming from and saw the faint glow of a tinyspot of light, puncturing the all-pervasive darkness. Bill shuffled towards thelight, hoping the voice belonged to Professor Nox – but it didn’t sound likeher.
“Hello,” he said tentatively.
“Please! No more...”
Bill kept moving forward and the lightgrew stronger. An object appeared out of the darkness, eerily lit by the torchbeam. It was a wooden table and on it was a pair of pliers covered in driedblood. Next to the pliers were a number of pointed teeth, also matted withdried blood. Bill gazed at the teeth with fascination and horror.
“I can't do it again...”
The voice was so close it made Billjump. He lifted the torch and saw something that made him gasp. It was a youngwoman – her nightdress was spotted with black stains and her arms wereoutstretched and tied to a large crucifix. The halo of light around her headwas dim and broken.
“Lilith!” exclaimed Bill, rushingforward. “What have they done to you?”
“No more,” moaned Lilith.
He pointed the torch up at her faceand could see it was swollen and covered in dark bruises. The horns on her headwere only faintly visible and her skin was white and streaked with blood. Billhesitated. She was in the grip of Og but surely she was much too ill to thinkof trying to curse anyone. And how could she possibly bite with a mouth sodamaged...
“Let me get you down from there.”
As Bill fumbled with the ropes hethought of the Vita Dantis back at Arthur’s house and was annoyed withhimself for not bringing it with him. It was a long way back and he wasn’t sureif he was strong enough to carry Lilith. Eventually he managed to untie her andlift her down. Her body felt cold and hard. She sat on the floor for a while,her legs tucked up against her chest, touching her mouth and sobbing.
“My beautiful teeth... they took outmy teeth,” mumbled Lilith.
“I'm going to get you out of here.”
“Thank you. I thought I was going torot down here.”
“You’re free now.”
“I want to go home. I want mum anddad.”
“We'll leave soon, but I need to findProfessor Jareth. Do you know where she is?”
“In there,” she said, pointing a paletrembling hand.
Bill shone the torch and peeredthrough the gloom. He picked out a metal construction that looked like a pillarbox. He moved forward to get a closer look. Its surface was flat, featurelessand felt icy cold to the touch. He noticed a horizontal slot like a letter boxat eye level. Bill craned forward to take look into the slot and got a bit of ashock. Staring back at him was a pair of yellow eyes.
“Who’s in there?” said Bill.
The eyes darted around for a momentbut then fixed themselves on Bill.
“Who’s in there?” he said again.“Professor Jareth?”
“Pull the lever,” said a weak voice.
“What?”
The voice suddenly became moreforthright. “Don’t just stand there lad, open this blasted thing up.”
Bill search the box and noticed it washinged on the left and had a stubby lever on the right. He pulled the lever andheard a click. The door began to open. Inside he noticed the lid was lined withdozens of sharp metal spikes. They’d penetrated poor Professor Jareth. She wascovered with regularly spaced wounds full of dried black blood and looked olderand more decrepit than ever. Bill grabbed her as she collapsed into his arms,then carried her over to where Lilith was sitting.
“They had someone else,” she said, “anolder man.”
“That was the
