You enter
the passageway with apprehension. Your only source light is the golden
glow of Tatiana who is in the lead of your little group. You follow her
a ways into the passage when you hear her hiss, "Remember, hand at the
level of your eyes!"
You comply, but before long your arm tires. You follow the fairy through
several twists and turns. While rounding one corner you feel something
warm scurry across your feet. You shudder to think what it might have been
and press on. Before long you feel several more little bodies run across
your feet. Suddenly, Tatiana cries, "Get down!"
The three of you lay as still as possible on the ice like stone
floor. A shadow passes near you, so close that you can almost feel the
material of its cloak against you. You try not to breathe. A vague memory
of a passage from "Phantom" comes back to you as you see the shadow keep
close to the walls, sometimes kicking them when it comes to corners.
You all stand up again. Tatiana shake as she lets out a sigh
of relief.
"All clear," she declares. No sooner than the words had left
her mouth, her eyes grow wide in horror. You and Michael turn to see the
cause of her reaction. You wish you hadn't.
A face of fire is coming towards you. It comes towards you at
a man's height, but without a body!
"Stay still," hisses Tatiana. That's no problem as fear has paralyzed
you all.
It keep coming closer until you can clearly see its features.
* The eyes are round and staring, the nose a little crooked and the mouth
large, with a drooping, semicircular lip- a little like the eyes, nose
and mouth of the moon when it is blood red. How could that red moon glide
through the darkness at a man's height, with nothing to hold it up, without
a body to support it- apparently at least?... And what was causing
that scratching, squealing, that it brought with it?*
The face comes closer and closer. The three of you flatten
yourselves against the wall as you feel little waves of sharp biting teeth
pass over your feet. By now you've forgotten to keep your hand at the level
of your eyes and you try to brush the teeth away.
The face turns to and speaks, "*Don't move! Don't move! And whatever
you do don't follow me! I'm the rat-catcher. Let me pass with my rats.*"
The face of fire passes in front of you and disappears into the
shadows. You let out the breath you've been holding and turn to say something
to Michael only to find that he is no longer there. Neither is Tatiana.
Fear grips your heart with an ice cold hand. Where are they?
To see what happened to Michael, go to #21.
To see what happened to Tatiana, go to #22.