Number 14 Glossop Terrace

Sophie and Tom had always said that there was something odd about number 14 Glossop Terrace. It could have been its outward appearance or just its old age charm, but whatever it was, appealed to the young couple and so they decided to make an offer to the estate agent, Mr Bradley of Bradley, Young and Elder, a long established firm in Hastonbury.

“It was owned by a Mr. Greerson,” said Mr Bradley, when Sophie and Tom called to enquire about the property.”He died in the town hospital about two weeks ago.”

“Uhhh!” said Sophie. “I didn’t know someone had died there.”

“Not in the house, Mrs Blake,” assured Mr Bradley, “although he was found in a pretty bad state in the house, before being transported to the hospital.”

“Sophie, Sophie,” whispered Tom. “Hastonbury is an old town; most of the houses have experienced deaths in them. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“The reason for the quick sale,” continued Mr Bradley, “is that Mr Greer’s nephew who has inherited the property, has to get off back down south. He has his own business and doesn’t like to be away from it for too long.”

So an offer was made and after a month of anxious waiting, Mr Bradley rang Tom to confirm that they were now the owners of number 14 Glossop Terrace. “It will need some decorating and some of the carpets will need to be replaced, but it is a sound piece of property. May I on behalf of Bradley, Young and Elder, wish you every happiness in your new home.”

It was a wet, windy day in November, when Sophie and Tom moved into number 14 Glossop Terrace and to cap it all the removal van was late in arriving, having mixed up the directions given to them. So it was early evening and beginning to get dark when the Blake’s furniture and possessions were carried into the house. Sophie stood with a cloth and wiped down the articles as they were carried in through the front door by the removal men.

“Miserable day, mum,” sympathised the older of the two men.”You have some really nice pieces, sorry that we were late.”

Sophie just smiled sweetly and shook her head as yet another article of furniture arrived through the door covered with rainwater.

Then, they were in, with the front door shut and the removal van gone. Tom decided to light a fire in the lounge in honour of their first night in their new house. He collected some old newspapers, sticks, a scuttle full of coal and after making up the constituents, lit it with great aplomb.”There you go, Sophie,” he called out. “Alpha male make fire!”

The paper caught and soon the sticks were catching alight. Tom carefully placed some lumps of coal into the areas of flame with the fire tongs and then sat back on his haunches to await the expected conflagration. But, instead of a roaring fire, Tom was suddenly enveloped in clouds of smoke which poured out of the chimney into the lounge.

Sophie ran in and demanded to know what was happening. The room was fast filling with smoke.

“Open the front door Sophie!” cried Tom furiously flapping his arms in a futile attempt to get the smoke to go up the chimney. “I’ll have to let it go out.” He then removed as many bits of the unburnt coal as he could.

As their first evening drew to a close both Tom and Sophie felt close to tears, admittedly, although the wallpaper had been destined to be changed, they had hoped that it would do until they had saved up some more money. Number 14 Glossop Terrace had drained both their savings accounts. But, now it would have to be done as soon as possible as the escaping smoke had stained the walls with soot.

“We will have to get the chimney swept,” said Tom as he comforted his wife. “There must be something stuck in it. Come on, love, let’s go to bed. Everything will look better in the morning.”

The next morning Tom visited his bank to discuss the possibility of obtaining a small loan to tide them over. It would allow them to get the lounge redecorated and buy some paint for some of the woodwork in the house. As Tom and Sophie had bought the house, they were able to use it as collateral and Mr Thompson, the bank manager was more than happy to help them out.

Mr Grant, the painter was contacted and after coming round to give Tom and Sophie an estimate for the work, promised to start by the end of the week.

On the Friday of that week, Sophie answered the door to the painter who began to carry in his paint, brushes, dust sheets and other items that he would require. Needing to go down the town to do some shopping, Sophie looked into the lounge where the painter had begun to remove some of the wallpaper. “I have to go into Hastonbury, Mr Grant. I won’t be long. Have you everything you need?” enquired Sophie.

Upon being assured that he was ‘fine’, Sophie left to attend to her errands.

It was to a very different person that Sophie returned, when she arrived home. Mr Grant was standing outside the house looking very shocked and as she approached him he blurted out, “I can’t work in there Mrs. Blake. I’m sorry. It gave me a right turn, I can tell you!”

Sophie was puzzled as to his demeanour, “What has happened, Mr Grant? You look like you have had a shock. Won’t you come inside and let me make you a cup of tea?” But, without more ado Mr Grant rushed to his van that was parked at the roadside and drove quickly away.

It was a tearful wife that Tom found when he arrived home that evening. Sophie was sitting at the kitchen table holding a handkerchief to her face. She was sitting in the darkness and was the first thing Tom saw when he snapped on the light. “Sophie!,” he cried. “Whatever is wrong? I wondered where you were when I arrived home to find the house in darkness and the front door unlocked!”

“Oh, Tom,” she wailed. “Our lovely house…”

Leading him through to the lounge, Sophie switched on the light to show Tom the extent of Mr Grant’s work.

“What, the…!” said Tom angrily surveying the room.

The exposed plaster walls had strange symbols drawn on them. In fact some of the figures had been cut into the plaster due to the ferocity of the inscribing. Suns, moons, pentagrams and other astrological and geometrical signs covered all four walls and with the arrival of evening the room had acquired a strange eerie ambience.

Tom swore loudly and grabbing his coat and car keys left the house, roared off down the street in his car and returned an hour later carrying two large pots of emulsion and polyfilla.

“This is the work of children!” he declared to Sophie. “I’ll take care of it. Just make me up some sandwiches and a flask of tea and leave me to sort this out!”

All evening and into the ‘wee’ hours, Tom worked tirelessly. Sophie knocked on the door to tell him she was off to bed and she heard a grunt of approval from within the room. “Don’t work too late sweetheart,” she called. “I don’t want you overdoing things.”

Next morning Sophie awoke to find Tom lying sleeping next to her. She had no idea when he had come to bed and carefully got out of bed without disturbing him. Making her way down the stairs she approached the lounge and pushed the door open.

Tom had filled the scars and had applied a coat of emulsion on all four walls totally covering the strange symbols and signs. Now the room felt as if it had been sterilised with bleach, such was the whitened glare from the walls.

Feeling a hand on her shoulder Sophie turned, expecting to see Tom, but when she saw no one behind her, she suddenly felt very cold. The feeling of having been touched still lingered and she quickly left the lounge wondering if her imagination was playing tricks with her.

The next few weeks passed peacefully. Mr Grant returned reluctantly after Tom had explained what he had done to the lounge walls and soon the room was redecorated and with the addition of new furniture looked marvellous. The chimney had been swept before Mr Grant had returned and now a fire could be lit in the lounge without causing any disastrous effects.

Sophie began to paint various parts of the house herself and soon number 14 Glossop Terrace took on a pleasant aspect both internally and externally after Tom applied two coats of white paint to the outside walls, thus brightening up the house.

As the New Year approached Sophie began to notice little oddities within the house. Often she would put her set of keys on the hall stand and later discover that they had been moved. Thinking initially that she was becoming forgetful, it wasn’t till Tom remarked that he had lost his keys that morning. “I am sure I left them on top of the television,” he said looking all about the room.

“There here, Tom,” called Sophie from up in the bedroom. “They were on your night stand.”

Sophie brought them down to him and he accepted them with a slightly mystified air. “I’m damn sure I didn’t take them upstairs!” he said angrily.

The next strange thing was a sound that she heard in the early hours of the morning. It often woke her up and she found it difficult to return to sleep. The noise was like a guitar or a harp string being plucked and being allowed to vibrate until the string stilled. “Do you hear it?” she asked Tom one morning after she had had another disturbed night, but he always slept soundly and would probably sleep through cannon fire.

One morning having been awoken by the strange sound, Sophie got up to go to the bathroom. As she proceeded along the upstairs hall, she thought that she heard movement downstairs. Thinking it was just a passing car’s headlights on the downstairs wall she continued to the bathroom. On the way back she looked down the stairs and was taken aback to see what looked like a large shadow in an area where she was sure she had never seen one before. Wishing to check it out, Sophie descended the stair and slowly approached the dark shape. As she got near, it simply faded away leaving no discernible trace of itself. Shaking her head angrily, Sophie thought that she had been imagining things and returned upstairs she got back into bed and fell into a deep sleep.

The next week passed in a flurry of cleaning, dusting and painting and soon the house’s interior shone like a new pin. Sophie and Tom hung pictures on the walls and new curtains at the windows. They would collapse into bed at the end of a day feeling absolutely exhausted and slept soundly. Number 14 Glossop Street was already for the coming year.

One day when Tom was at work, Sophie was sitting downstairs when she heard a noise from the bedroom. Rising, she made her way up the stairs to see what had caused it. As Sophie entered the room the bedroom door suddenly banged shut behind her and she was picked up and raised into the air and then spun. She had never felt so powerless and rather than fighting against the force she relaxed as much as she could and after a couple of spins she was dropped unceremoniously onto the floor. Sophie was winded and lay still, scared of what else might happen, but all was still and silent. When Tom came home he found his wife in the kitchen looking very scared. She recounted what had happened in the bedroom and he instantly went upstairs to investigate, but found nothing amiss.

“Are you sure of what happened, love!” asked Tom gently, conscious of the shock Sophie had experienced. “Maybe a draught blew the door shut…”

“Oh and then the draught lifted me into the air, did it?” said Sophie angrily.

Two nights later Sophie woke and lay on her back looking into the dark. She felt relaxed and knew that she would have no problem getting back to sleep. She heard a car drive up the road passed their house, the glare of headlights momentarily lighting up the bedroom ceiling. Suddenly she saw something sitting in the top corner of the room. It looked like a round ball but on its surface was what looked like, a pair of red gleaming eyes. It sat perfectly still, which Sophie found so terrifying that with a scream she lunged over to the door and flicked the light switch down, flooding the bedroom with light.

“What is it Soph?” asked Tom, sitting up in bed and blinking his eyes in the glare.

“There was some sort of creature sitting up there,” she said nervously, indicating the ceiling.

“Are you sure that you weren’t dreaming?” Tom asked.

“No, I had been lying awake and a car passed lighting up the room. That was when I saw it!” Sophie replied angrily.

“What did it look like?”

“It was shaped like a …ball of sorts, but it had a pair of eyes on the outside.”

“Well,” said Tom quietly. “It’s gone now. How about we try and get some sleep?”

The following week was the beginning of Tom’s firm’s annual two week holiday and  Sophie was looking forward to a trip to the nearby seaside resort of Skegness. She and Tom had booked into a hotel for ten days when they could relax and ‘let their hair down’.

The car was packed up and the luggage put into the car’s boot and after turning the front door key Sophie and Tom made their way out of Hastonbury. The road trip would take them two and half hours travelling at a leisurely rate. They intended to arrive at the hotel in time to sign in at 3 o’clock in the afternoon and after a spot of tea and biscuits, have a walk along the promenade.

Sadly, the rain was quite heavy when they eventually arrived at Skegness and after parking the car and making a mad dash into the hotel, Sophie and Tom found themselves in their hotel room looking down at the wet streets and buildings of the seaside resort.

“Never mind, Soph,” said Tom. “We have two weeks and I am sure the sun will shine tomorrow.”

The next day the couple woke up to find the sun shining in a blue sky with white fluffy clouds. They washed and dressed and after a hearty breakfast of bacon, sausage and eggs, proceeded towards the shore. There were quite a few people out enjoying the sunny day and the streets were quite busy with cars and vans.

Eventually Sophie and Tom reached the promenade and bought two ice cream cones from a an ice cream seller who had his counter under a large striped umbrella. The ice cream tasted lovely and the couple could feel the warm rays of the sun on their backs. The sea was a deep blue and the water glistened and sparkled as the tide moved in and out. Several seagulls hung in the clear air screeching as they flew.

“Oh, look Tom,” said Sophie. “A fortune teller, let’s get our fortunes read…please!”

Inside the tent was very hot and smelt a bit, but there they found Madame Gazza looking the part, in a colourful dress and hair wrapped in a golden turban. On the table in front of her lay a pack of Tarot cards and a very shiny crystal ball.”Please sit,” Madam Gazza said indicating two chairs that sat by the table. “Now what can I do for you?”

Sophie giggled, “I would like you to read our fortunes please.”

Madame Gazza looked at her angrily, “It is not funny, you know. I am the genuine article.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you,” said Sophie contritely.

“That’s alright,” said the fortune teller. “It’s just I get a lot people in here who think it is just nonsense. Now would you like the cards or the crystal ball?”

Turning to Tom, Sophie said, “I think I’ll have the cards, what do you think?”

Tom grunted and held his hands up, “Whatever…”

Madame Gazza handed over the Tarot cards to Sophie and asked her to shuffle them. After she had thoroughly mixed the cards, she handed them back. Madame Gazza began to lay them out on the top of the table.

The first card showed a building being struck by lightning. The next displayed a figure with horns on its head. The third card was seven vicious looking swords. Madame Gazza raised her eyes and looked worried. “These are strange cards,” she muttered. The following three were a mixture of discs and wands and the final one was the Death card. Sophie audibly gasped when she read the inscription on the card. “That’s a skeleton, isn’t it?

“Now, you mustn’t worry, the Death card is representing a change and not as it seems, threatening.” Madame Gazza purred.

“So what do you see in my wife’s cards?” asked Tom leaning over and putting his hand on Sophie’s shoulder.

The fortune teller looked at Tom, “She is in a lot of trouble, but I see that something will change her fortune, eventually,” she said in a sepulchral sounding voice. “Will I read your fortune now, sir?”

“Yes,” said Tom attempting to alleviate the mood with a smile. “Could I have the crystal ball please?”

“As you wish said Madame Gazza collecting the cards up. She carefully picked up the globe of glass and after rubbing its surface with a soft cloth began to gaze into its interior. Tom could see nothing in the crystal, but as he watched the fortune teller’s eyes began to widen. Suddenly she stood up and in a high voice shrieked, “You must go home now. I see a fire and destruction. You must go now or it will be too late!”

Tom pulled some notes out of his wallet, but Madame Gazza refused them and standing up she came round the table and began to push them out of her tent. “Go! Go now! Or it will be too late!”

Tom and Sophie were stunned. They began to walk towards their hotel in silence and upon reaching it, they went to reception and after explaining that there had been a family emergency and that they would have to leave immediately. The manager was sympathetic and offered them a refund for one of the weeks and after packing up their belongings Tom and Sophie climbed into their car and set off home to Hastonbury.

All the way back, both Sophie and Tom wondered what was awaiting them. A burnt out shell of a house, maybe there had been a gas explosion?  The miles rolled by and soon they reached the outskirts of the town. As they drove up their street they were both shocked to see police cars with their lights flashing red and blue, sitting outside 14 Glossop Terrace!

Pulling up short of the melee of vehicles, Tom jumped out and approached one of the policemen. “What has happened? I am the owner of the property. Who is inside my house?” he  said loudly. Tom could see that all the lights were on in the house and the sound of a woman shrieking was coming from inside.

“I wish we knew, sir,” said the policeman politely. “Your neighbours called us when the screaming started. Where have you come from?

“My wife and I have been holidaying in Skegness,” Tom said.

“It’s lucky you came home when you did, then. We were about to make a forced entry.”

“There is no need, I have the keys here.”

Tom made to go up his path to the door, but the policeman pulled him back, “Better we go in first, eh, sir?”

As the two policemen gingerly made their way towards the house the woman’s screaming reached a crescendo then suddenly stopped and all the lights in the house switched off plunging the building into darkness. There followed an eerie silence as the front door was carefully opened and the police entered.

They seemed to be inside for ages, but, eventually emerged and one of the policemen beckoned to Tom to come up to the house

Turning to where Sophie sat in the car, he opened the car door and said, “You stay here, I’ll check everything is alright.”

When Tom later emerged from number 14 Glossop Terrace he wore a strange look on his face. Sophie climbed out of the car and walked up to meet him. “What is it Tom? Has the house been vandalised?” she said in a very worried voice.

“No…” began Tom. “It’s just one room that seems to have been affected.”

“Which one, oh, Tom, is it bad? Will it need urgent attention?” Sophie wailed as she followed her husband into the house. He led her into the hall and into the lounge where she gazed about her in horror.

The symbols and shapes were back and as before several had been gouged into the plaster. The room stank of sulphur and there were several stains on the walls that resembled blood.

“Oh, Tom, our lovely room. All your hard work!” Sophie said collapsing into a chair. “Who did this?”

A police sergeant knocked at the front door and came into the lounge. He gazed about him in shock. “Please don’t touch anything, I have contacted the Scene of Crime Officers and they will need to check everything, including those stains. They may be human. Are any of the other rooms affected?”

Tom felt as if he was in a nightmare and shook his head slowly, “No, sergeant it is just this room.

Tom and Sophie stayed in a hotel until the police had carried out their investigation. The light switches had been dusted for prints but all that turned up were Tom and Sophie’s. The blood was found to be animal’s and the paint that had been used to make the symbols was concocted from a mixture of animal blood, human urine and cow’s milk. The police were mystified and the incident remained as an open case.

Gradually Tom and Sophie got the lounge back to something, although not cosy and welcoming, at least liveable in. Whenever either of them entered the room, they felt a shiver of trepidation at what they might see, but all was quiet and peaceful and after the windows had been open for a while, the sulphidic smell abated.

One night when Tom was working late, Sophie had decided to sit up and wait for him to come in. The television was showing a film that she had seen when a teenager and she wanted to watch it to see if it was as good as she remembered. Making a cup of tea and cutting herself a piece of cake, she carried it through to the lounge and settled herself in front of the television. Outside the wind had risen and it wailed round the house. Every so often Sophie could hear rain striking the windows, it was a thoroughly horrible night.

Half way through the film, Sophie heard a loud bump from upstairs and muting the sound she listened for a repeat of the sound. All she could hear was the wind and the rain, but every so often she could detect a scratching. Thinking it could be some branches being blown up against the house, she didn’t feel worried, but she just wished Tom was at home.

Then all at once again she heard the bump from above. It sounded like something had fallen over, but she knew that there was nothing upstairs that could fall over and she felt a sensation like chilled water running down her spine. Something was upstairs! Slowly getting to her feet Sophie made her way into the hall and looked up the dark staircase. “Is there anyone there?” she shouted. “I’ve rung the police, they’ll be here soon!” Her cry was answered with silence interrupted every so often by the gale.

Flicking on the stair light, Sophie began slowly to climb up the stairs, halfway up the light went out in the whole house and she was left standing in the dark. Looking about her fearfully, she detected a small ball of light slowly drifting down the stairs towards her.

As it approached it began to expand and by the time it was three feet away it had gained the form of some sort of creature. It had the head of a cat with long vicious looking teeth, the body of a spider, complete with eight hairy legs and the feet of a horse. Sophie was petrified and felt her sanity slipping away. She had to be dreaming, she thought rationally, but as if by way of confirming its existence, one of the spider’s legs touched her on the face. With a scream Sophie turned and ran down the stairs hanging tightly onto the banister as she descended. She charged into the kitchen and banging the door shut propped a chair against the door knob to stop it opening. A large thump sounded as the creature struck the door again and again. Soon the wood began to split and Sophie knew that it was going to gain entry – very soon.

“In the name of God go away!” she screamed and suddenly a hush fell.

This was where Tom found his wife when he arrived home at midnight. He knocked on the severely damaged door asking if she was alright. Sophie took the chair away, opened the door and fell into her husband’s arms. He supported her as they made their way to the lounge. “What the hell happened, Sophie?” asked Tom angrily. “Were you attacked?”

Sophie lay on the couch and wondered where to start. “Something appeared on the stairs and I managed to get away and lock myself in the kitchen, but it began smashing into the door.” She whispered.

What sort of thing appeared?” said Tom gazing about him.

“This sort of thing!” roared a bellowing voice, and the hybrid monster appeared in the centre of the lounge.

“What the….!” screamed Tom falling back into an armchair and gazing horrified at the creature.

“You are here to obey and honour me!” the beast growled. “Your predecessor raised me from the pit and then foolishly died. You two will take his place!”

“The hell we will!” roared Tom making an attempt to rise, but some force kept him and Sophie pinned down. They both struggled futilely, but did not succeed in getting to their feet.

“Oh you will or strange and horrible things will begin to happen to you!” the creature said with a sneer. “Now down on your knees before me!”

The force that had frozen them now forced them off their seats and onto their knees where they bent low before this denizen of Hell.

“That is better,” It roared. “Now the next time I appear, I expect you both to do this without me having to force you…or there will be repercussions!” And with a puff of foul smelling smoke the creature vanished.]

Sophie was distraught; Tom had to put her to bed as she was crying inconsolably with the fright and fear of a future subjecting themselves to a monster. Tom held her until she fell into a troubled sleep and then went back downstairs. He attempted to boil the kettle for a cup of tea, but found the fuses in the house had all blown and the milk in the fridge had soured. As he changed the fuses and re-established the lighting he heard a harsh voice whispering close to his ear saying, “This is just the beginning. Worship me and all will be well!”

Tom sat in the lounge holding his head in his hands. This was to be their dream house, where they were to be happy…and safe. He had failed Sophie, he thought dismally. They would have to leave the house and move somewhere else, but what of the creature? They would be just condemning some other couple to a life of hellish servitude. There was no escape from the situation, they were trapped.

A knock sounded from the front door and wiping his eyes he went through to the hall and upon opening the door found a small Chinaman standing there. “Yes, what can I do for you?” asked Tom.

“It is I that can do something for you, sir,” the Chinaman said bowing to Tom.

“Sorry…I’m kind of busy just now. We don’t need anything that you are selling,” Tom began to shut the door.

“You are having problems in your house?” the man asked politely.

“How do you know…” Tom said pulling the door open. “Please come in. I hope you can help, my wife and I are at the end of our tether.”

The small Chinaman came in and went straight into the lounge. He looked up at the walls where Tom knew the symbols had been drawn. “I sense that this is the…how should I put it, centre of activity.”

Tom flopped into a chair, “Yes, this is where it all started.” And he went on to tell about the drawings and scores that had been made on the lounge walls.

“Have you seen anything?” the Chinaman asked.

Tom laughed, “Only one of Satan’s henchmen. And I can tell you he is mighty frightening!”

The Chinaman pulled an envelope from his inside pocket. “I have been picking up disturbances in the ether and have traced them to here at number 14. You have an infestation of the worst type, sir.”

“Yes, but what can we do about it?” Tom said looking about him, scared now that the evil entity would return.

“You are safe just now, sir. The creature sleeps the sleep of the evil dead. This is why we must plan for its removal now. Unfortunately, It was called up by incantations and all we can do is try to imprison it for as long as we are able.”

All afternoon the Chinaman whose name, Tom discovered was Lin Chien, worked, mixing powders that he had brought in from his car that was parked outside Sophie came downstairs later on after having had some sleep. She was startled to find Lin Chien in the kitchen and after Tom had explained to her that he was there to help she became upset. “What if this makes everything worse, Tom?” she wailed. “This thing is powerful!”

“Please Mrs Blake do not worry yourself,” said Lin Chien. “We will defeat it.”

Later that evening Tom and Sophie sat attempting to relax in the lounge, knowing that at any moment the creature may appear. Lin Chien had moved outside the house, but was watching through one of the windows in the lounge. He sat ready and prepared.

The first intimation of the monster’s approach came with the sickening smell which suddenly permeated the room. Sophie began to gag and Tom felt distinctly nauseated.

A small globe of light appeared, hovering at the centre of the room. It began growing until the loathsome creature stood before Tom and Sophie. Instantly they fell on their knees before the disgusting hybrid. “That is better!” it roared. “You are quick learners.”

“Sir,” Tom cried out. “you are all powerful and know all things. Would you answer a question for me?” Tom knew that Lin Chien had told him that he must involve the creature in an endless cycle of calculation, to reduce its awareness. He remembered something that Mrs Peabody, the Maths teacher, had told him in Secondary school.

The beast looked down at its crouched subject, “Yes, but nothing frivolous!” It growled.

“One of the symbols used to invoke your majestic presence was the geometrical symbol ‘pi’.

It is a very long number, but as with all fractions it must begin to repeat somewhere in its answer. Can you, with your superior intellect, tell me after how many decimal places it occurs?” Tom waited after asking the question, unsure as to whether this would bring down the beast’s wrath upon his head.

But instead of anger the beast sounded pleased, “so you recognised the mighty symbol pi, did you? Of course I will tell you when the number begins to repeat, just give me a minute.”

Then all fell quiet in the room as the great hybrid began to compute. Its outline became hazy and swirled like a smoke as it  put Its unholy power to work.

Tom jumped to his feet with a shout, “now Lin Chien, bring it in now!”

The Chinaman ran in through the front door into the lounge holding a small box in his hands. The lid which appeared to be a mirror was open. As he neared the tenuous figure of the creature, Lin Chien uttered a command and the substance of the smoky looking monster was sucked into the box. As the last of it vanished, Lin Chien snapped the lid shut. “The beast is trapped,” he said. “The interior of the box is all mirrored. It has everywhere to go but nowhere!”

Somewhere out at sea off Skegness, the tug, the ‘Saucy Mary’ rolled from side to side in the water. Tom, Sophie and Lin Chien stood at the stern of the boat and looked out over the waves.

“This is not forever, you realise?” Lin Chien said sadly. “It is only a temporary solution of about one thousand years or so. The evil will return as the incantation wears off.”

Tom shook the Chinaman’s hand and said, “I hope the Earth will be more equipped to take on something of this proportion by then. Thank you again my friend.”

Then Sophie lowered the small box into the cold sea and released it. It settled down into the water then with a small splash vanished into the depths to lie undisturbed, hopefully, for one thousand years.