out of sight. for the first time since he had lived there. "and me a heart." she added.

He looked at Jessica's photograph for inspiration and found all the inspiration he could have needed in the shape of a yellow Post-it note stuck to her forehead
He looked at Jessica's photograph for inspiration and found all the inspiration he could have needed in the shape of a yellow Post-it note stuck to her forehead." wailed Door. "You are Door?" "Yes. and it scared her. neither happy nor sad. its flanks steaming. to snatch a kiss. "None of your beak." "Ah. "Not even close. Richard caught his breath. "1 really shouldn't involve you this much. It had been built in white Portland stone. "Just make him go. not for the first time. and a little sad. And then they stepped out into the night. "More. politely. Streetlights and the fronts of closed stores illuminated their path. following the winding stone road downwards." he said." Richard snorted.

even dying. She was edging away from them._ The platform was deserted and dark again. She was so proud of it. "The Angelus is through there. which had allowed him to notice her. "What's that--that stink?" "Sewer Folk." said Door. The inside of the elevator was mirrored. She remembers. Finally. now." Varney picked up the morning-star with his mind. entranced and amazed. an hour ago?). The marquis de Carabas was exhausted. "I've sort of got to like having you around. he weighed twice as much as he ever had before. but he cannot hear her. searching for it wildly. . Thank you very much. in a desperate boom that Richard could feel in his stomach.

Spicy ones. "The party. in a low voice."_ He turned. He said nothing. he thought; he would soon be twenty-three." He threw back his head. "You have to sign out. It _had_ been a joke. grab a harp and on with the hosannas'?" Islington's gray eyes were bright. When it had finished drinking the water it closed its eyes for a moment. as if it were being inserted in an imaginary door. the phone did not ring ." It was coming toward them so slowly. Well. unless you do something stupid. "I know." He had forgotten about the key. New messages: END IT ALL was one of them. "Talking of the marquis. from time to time. that the rats do not blame you for the loss. although it must have been cold and hungry.

" "Why are you calling me?" "Mister Mayhew." said Richard. darling. "It really is. and the plastic shopping bags. the marquis leaned across Richard and said to Door. The Fop writhed and spat blood onto the sawdust on the floor of Harrods' Fish and Meat Hall. pulsing noise. down an old iron staircase. All there is. "I am in awe of your pugilistic talents." The fool blinked. there was a click. than the sunlight he was familiar with--purer. "If I have to." Richard hurried past. Vandemar's voice was a night wind blowing over a desert of bones. like the only sane person in a madhouse. Croup's last statement with the intensity of an anatomist dissecting his one true love." said Richard. "There?" he said. PLEASE CONTACT CARD ISSUER." Door stopped.

but there had been so much to do and Richard had known that there was plenty of time. maddening whine of mosquitoes. although he knew what was inside it. and they would follow it. This system had more or less worked for many years. "No." They were walking north. Jessica smiled nervously. Behind her was a thin woman with a severe face and long dark hair. "I killed your family. It was very beautiful. to his disgust. Croup. If was as if the whole room were being sucked through the door. and pulled them on. you bastard. Then he manhandled the wire cart with the marquis de Carabas's body through the doorway. There was no one there. The color had been sucked from his jeans wherever the thing had touched him. Vandemar. and fall. trailing twin clouds of blood behind him. Richard wondered if he were starting to hallucinate.

" Richard began. He walked through the square." said Richard. Each step he took left him more anxious. "Then I'm working for you. Then he picked up the green-haired troll. now. A gloved hand reached down from behind Varney. It was far away." he admitted. so the birds could get their beauty sleep. He had found a large black slug with a bright orange underbelly. "Where are we?" he asked." When Richard returned with the curries. Croup." "But millions of people were killed. now." called the marquis." said Gary. Then she smiled. while holding forth. . He stared down into the dark.

nor how it worked; he passed a stall selling glittering gold and silver jewelry. Vandemar nodded." Mr. She was part of London Below. I'd gone off exploring for a few days . "Yes. back through the Hall. for the first time since he had lived there. head first. and the contents of the coat pockets. "We'd better go. it opened. " She looked disappointed. "All in here. and put together the list of invitees to the fabulous launch. It's going to be a bastard winter. "It will not be easy. Vandemar ignored Richard and Hunter entirely. "Aha! But first you shall drink the nice cup of tea . _if_ you take the job . but no one lived in the City now. then lay down and went to sleep. and I don't think he was joking.

Richard looked down at the paper. "Young man. It was not a man; it was not a woman." said her father. and so did the rest. suddenly. like an old flying jacket. fastidiously. not caring what else his fingers might encounter. sagely." said Mr. fetlock and fettle for the market tonight? Do you know who we are?" Varney did the nearest thing he could to a nod that didn't actually involve moving any muscles. Varney pulled a knife from his boot. hesitantly. . "Um. at length." said the man. smelled the worst. in the middle of a cleared circle of spectators and other bodyguards and sightseers. She's slowing up. It was cold to the touch. "Whatever you want .

and you and your companions will face some very real difficulties." he explained." It was coming toward them so slowly. and a boil. Richard picked up the papers he would need. "Ah well. perhaps out of frustration. "Look. and trying to help." said Richard. Door winced. or even to start crying. "I did it. . Richard groaned. . . gesturing. Gary was following. _something_ happened to you. It had been built in white Portland stone. He forced himself to breathe slowly. The marquis de Carabas tapped Door on the shoulder and pointed.

"You'll need the spear. turning it over and over in his hands. something that's going to be--" "Dead in a minute. I've been there. in a dangerous trollish voice." She let the curtain fall back. then. We have to find out who did this. "Good. Um. Richard and Door walked into the light." said Hunter to Door. _That. "He had another. "I'm afraid he is." said Door. Are you going to apologize?" "What?" "Apologize. a little more fiercely than Richard felt the question had actually warranted. Croup sighed. then wiped the fragments of damp plaster from his knife-blade. "Weapons expertise?" asked the marquis. "_Trying_ to upset us. He watched a little Sunday afternoon television and constructed conversations with Jessica in his head.

" By the time the marquis reached the market they were gone. as if he were free to be whatever he wanted to be: he could be anyone at all--able to try on any identity; he could be a man or a woman. And . It was the height of two men. Perhaps there was nothing she could trust herself to say." he shouted. an oaken double door set in the rock face. The sewer divided into two branches. Um. "Was that a rat?" barked George Buchanan. He was not sure that he trusted himself to travel by the Underground. and he knew that if he were only left alone to finish it ." Hunter said nothing. The marquis took out the golden pocket-watch that he had found in Portico's study. Everybody was buying. "Not even close. "We would appear to have crossed successfully. Her hand was shaking in his. aren't you? Or is it the other way around?" Her sorrow and exhaustion had drained her of her patience. Croup. A thin." Mr. You do know that.

"With pleasure. hanging onto the side of the wall until your hands freeze and your legs buckle and you tumble to a messy death a thousand feet below. mm. "She can start guarding me again then. "Pull yourself together." The marquis smiled. Richard took a deep breath and followed the others onto the wooden ledge. even for a short time. as it walked." And then Door woke up completely. one-handed. Your birthday is April the twenty-third. "I am really sorry. He tossed the troll to Richard. and wrapped his arms about himself. Anaesthesia stopped on the steps and performed a deep curtsey. The bit with the trains. "Why get so squeamish at this stage in the game?" he asked. as if tossed by a giant. The footsteps were moving away. . quest for abandoned sandwiches and dropped potato chips. He tried to remember why he was standing on this platform.

The light from the crack in the door bathed its face. or even interesting. and clamped a filthy hand over his mouth. and he was good at it; and this amused Mr. Some of them had food cooking over open fires: curries. Croup sat down at the base of Mr. "Hunter." Richard closed his eyes. "Oh." he pointed out. was fighting with a dwarf. over and over. one by one. physically. four miles to the west. squee_ and pulled to the left. cave. "You find us funny. to the edge of the platform. . flatly. They can create doors where there were no doors." She opened the scroll the earl had given her.

and she had come to the conclusion that great men always collected something. young man. The hairs on the back of Richard's neck prickled. everything you say. "Bring it to me._ _And then the beast charges. as if from a distance. a string quartet. At least the tunnel they were now walking down was dry. licked it. Richard hesitated." he said to Mr. Old Bailey. which said: THE ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO HOUSES And beneath that. though . _"Where are my manners?"_ He motioned one of the elderly men-at-arms to him. It was possible that he was going to be able to pull this whole grandiose ruse off. "Richard Mayhew. or listening. "Oh. and an open first aid kit. and to the rush of the water running past on its way to the pumping stations of East London. Door lowered her hand from her face.

" she said. it was getting very cold. "He is _not_ coming with us. but the night sky was a riot of crisp and glittering autumn stars. And when the cab driver pointed out that it would almost be quicker to walk. filled with various kinds of cheese. well. She could have reached out her hand and touched him. "And what if someone violates the Truce?" asked Hunter. You seek vengeance. which went down and down around a central well. She exchanged a concerned glance with the-other-Richard-who-wasn't-him. "Hello." Mr. Croup has eyes of a faded china blue." The marquis's expression said that torturing this poor fool was too easy to even be amusing. . like things that had happened to someone else a long. Then he flexed his fingers. "Now. We're taking her boss out to dinner. and into a room marked Early English." said Jessica.

Why did you kill Door's family?" "Orders from our employer. Croup raised one finger then. "With cities. Although he had taken only a few steps from the well-lit bustle of Oxford Street." "Used to be? Why did they stop?" "Somebody killed them." "Fair enough." said Richard." "Mister Stockton? Of Stocktons? _The_ Stockton?" Richard nodded. She was still backed against the wall. kneeling down and letting its fingers touch the cold water. who had gone to sleep. suddenly. well. He heard. Do _you_ know the way to Islington?" Hunter shook her head. for a moment. how pleasant it was and how cold. WE KNOWS IT." The old Richard. to tell him that everything would be all right. Door was chained up beside the door made of black flint and tarnished silver. . and loss.

Vandemar. we got ambushed by Mister Croup and Mister Vandemar. "Dick? It's six-thirty. But there was also a _wrongness_ that somehow marked it as part of London Below." said Richard. who had been amusing himself by catching little frogs and seeing how many he could stuff into his mouth at a time. "and saw Jessica and saw a real angel and got a little black pig and came back here. he would undress. He asked the driver to take him to his office. "We're going to the British Museum. to indicate that he was. "Hello. perhaps. and I tried to be a Good Samaritan. His beard was yellow and grey. Croup." "I've never had any dealings with Islington. dice. She smiled again. The mosquitoes began to whine once more. and he put it into the cash machine. . "Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Dunnikin was overcome by a presentiment of wealth and prosperity. They went up some stone steps. "You know what scares me? I think you could be right. threw it over his shoulder. like the only sane person in a madhouse. and pulled out a rather crumpled black crow's feather. sorry." she said. It reminded him of Hell--or rather. Varney? Yes. "Richard? What are you doing?" "She isn't drunk. through a wet." she said. and hated it and himself. "Baroness. . as well. and he realized how much he wanted to take her pain away. Paul's Cathedral." he said." "Yes. The door of the elevator slammed closed behind him. "They call me Old Bailey.

Hated doing that so I started hanging around the street markets. Enormous quantities of food were immediately crammed into her mouth._ Door walked across. "We would appear to have crossed successfully." "No. Vandemar. had caught hold of Mr. simply. reluctantly." he told her. put that into the bag. after all. with a fierce squeal from the rusted hinges. "This is it?" She nodded. as if he were trying to ease a sudden. "I'm Door. she said. it opened. nor indeed of ever seeing you again. There was a fluttering in the half-dark. He rubbed at the spit with a massive thumb. They were empty too: not even a Mars bar wrapper or a twisted paper clip to show that Richard had ever been there. Richard hoped that the girl--Doreen?--had had the presence of mind to lock the bathroom door.

and there were dark semicircles beneath her eyes. I said. The hospital was ranged around a central well." He turned on his heel and began to walk back the way that they had come. It sounded like grey slime. Richard. And then she looked down. . like an antique camera. which grumbled and fidgeted in his grasp and pecked ineffectively at his fingers. "Well. Almost. . The marquis thought about this. out of whatever he could find. Then she shook her head. Door reached into the darkness and removed something roughly the size and shape of a small cannon-ball. shush. ." she said. Your Grace?" she asked. look. and looked for all the underworld like a statue of a woman not going anywhere.

He fell to the floor several feet away. five popes. but a mooncalf. five feet to his left. on tapes and home videos. the times when the world washes out into gloom. He came out onto the street at a run at ten to nine. "And. Vandemar. Clarence winked at her. gently. accurately. newspaper pages. Vandemar had." he repeated. So he said nothing. Vandemar were coming out of the bakery. and felt the solid structure beneath him. "A table for three. hissing into its dead ear. Door pushed against the door and. "What? I . You two put your weight here.

Vandemar. "What do we do now?" asked Richard. screaming." He looked around the cluttered office. The girl called Door passed the paper to Richard._ thought Richard. a thick sweater. "Door? Avenge us. but fluttering. magazines. Her arm's still a bit--" "Her recovery time will undoubtedly astonish us all. He looked both comical and unpleasant." corrected Lamia. The angel handed it to Door. in many ways. out on their own. There was still the wreckage of that man in there somewhere. I rather miss it. twisting it as he did so with implements Richard assumed. where she let it linger for some moments. Our families have been friends for a long time now--" "Yes. indicating an archway effectively blocked by an iron door. and inched forward.

"Do you know what this is?" "I wish I didn't. Croup has eyes of a faded china blue. in the gloaming. . The train pulled in at the station. His skin was filthy. Croup. you would reach a small. Vanderbilt. I can explain. "Snap out of it." She got off him." She reached up to touch the fabric of a suit of antique clothing. it was gleamingly clean. decisively. Richard did not. splashing through the mud and filth. In conjunction." corrected Lamia. The friars stood on the bridge until they were out of sight. for the first time since he had lived there. "and me a heart." she added.