I may be a monter, but I've got limits. Let's just take her back to the Phantom and get out of here.

Dark and dank again down in the catacombs, through the twisting tunnels and back across the underground lake, and this time William had an unhelpful passenger, dangling limply across his shoulder and tied up in a curtain. It was annoying.

There was the Phantom up ahead, lantern in hand, long black cape fluttering in a draft William could not detect. Somehow his unmoving mask looked downright eager as he ushered William into his lair again. "Put her down" he said, "don't cart her around like a sack." William obliged, gently lowering his burden to the table. "She had better not be bruised," the Phantom said.

"Don't worry," said William. "She's tougher than she looks." She was still **** when the Phantom unwrapped her. He looked like he might swoon, and William felt a little sick. But the Countess wasn't paying him to be a nice guy. He stuck out his hand. "You've got yours, now where's mine?"

He held his breath, waiting for a trick or a trap to be sprung, but the Phantom delivered, finding a heavy bronze chest and opening it to reveal a splintering wooden one within, and inside a scroll of ancient papyrus.

"The Scroll of Thoth," the Phantom said. "Yours, with my compliments."

"Keep them," said William, sliding the scroll into a hard case and tucking it under one arm. He felt a twinge of regret as he watched the Phantom lay the unwitting girl out in bed. But things are tough all over, he thought, and walked away.