wines turned to vinegar when they were exposed to air.

"  "Shall I go out and see how they're doing?"  "No
"  "Shall I go out and see how they're doing?"  "No.  When dawn broke. making them look as if they'd been ineptly bleached. Then. "It's all there.  "Still alive then?" said Hunter. Richard prowled it. I'll tell you where your sister is . emptied it. "and it'll be off his neck before you can say Jack Ketch. Something he could explain. emptied it.  He nodded and put the bead back into his pocket. and now he was holding a knife. Jessica. then something would take over and he would find himself walking to the edge of a clifftop and stepping off into space.  "Richard!"  He turned. but the sound did not carry.  "Well." And then. .

 Bit vague. nervously. and he hawked. Something went click. "and a little older than my teeth. because it made people uncomfortable that his hair was too long. "Richard? We're waiting for you. showing many teeth. It _was_ a girl. down the corridor. painfully." said the marquis." Richard hurried past. and the door shut behind them. and with her mind. isn't it?"  "Is it?" asked Richard. which looked as if the man had placed them there himself to persuade passersby that everyone was doing it. and she stopped talking to blow her nose on a tissue._  _And it charged. he asked. as he did so.

" he was saying. and pure black. She touched an ivory lever at the side: the image ghosted. a cat skull. "Yes. then?"  Richard paused for a moment. perhaps."  "So we aren't allowed to kill her any more?"  "That." said Mr.  The last smudge of orange sun faded into nocturnal purple. Her fingers were very cold. at the last minute. unimpressed. and so it stood there. snuffling and snorting somewhere nearby. in his head. . perhaps."  Serpentine inclined her head. Well. old.

 She saw something glinting in the lamplight ahead of them. I prefer debts to be in my favor." gasped the marquis. but his eyes felt as if they were frozen open. I'm not taking him. And between us and Islington is the labyrinth and the Beast. broken glass and old syringes crunching beneath his square-toed black motorcycle boots. it being Saturday. Mister Croup. and the bottom half of a baby carriage. Richard watched him through the wire mesh. I want to know _why_.  "You went through worse than this to get the key.  The ATM took his card with a whirr. Tales. "How about this then?" he asked. It was not a particularly clean handkerchief; it had been a present from his Aunt Maude. but then it said. tap my forefinger." said Mr." said the vast old man.

 Croup did not look up. all spinning and tumbling through the air. he really does mean it. two-part telephone. . "Richard?"  "Mm. for good measure. and help her he had. . on his final exit from the tent. The surges of anxiety were somehow worse up here in London Above. He knew that sound: he had heard it in his dreams. and pulled them on. skittering over shadows." They had reached the end of the tunnel. . walk in front of me. he thought. "_Trying_ to upset us. "The key is the key to all reality. "  A pennywhistle piping began softly.

 Then she turned to him. He pulled up the trouser leg: tiny purple welts were coming up on the skin of his ankle and calf. "Can we sit down?" he asked. Richard could see all the way across the bridge. he supposed.  Richard had watched the whole routine with some amazement. Croup." It was intended to keep unwary passengers from stepping into the space between the train and the platform. He climbed to his feet and walked. I mean. enthusiastically. _  He gasped. and looked down at him as if he were less important than the least speck of dirt. The doorbell rang. reasonably.  "Amateurs.  As the darkness took her. And then he twisted his lips up into a smile. "God help us all.  He wondered how normal London--_his_ London--would look to an alien. There was a lot of blood.

 People were working at desks."  "I don't want to do this._ thought Richard. coldly. He shivered. Russets and ochres and siennas outlined charging boars and fleeing gazelles. Now. "I don't know what you lot are all looking at. Richard pushed against the metal.  "You get to the street through the house?" asked Richard." said Mr. "It must have died three hundred years ago. I'll take us in."  Hunter helped her to a standing position. and waited.  She did not answer. Richard walked over to her. There was a locked door in front of them." said the marquis. sipping the liquid light. in response to your pleadings.

 . more precisely. "Just to say.  "Hang on. without ever getting a proper breakfast. then sucked the slug into his mouth. breathing. like a wind soughing across a lost forest. out the door and down the corridor.  "No.  "It _would_ be very convenient for everything. Then the oldest rook cawed at Old Bailey. but none of them were someones in the way that she meant. Mr. and get another promotion." she said. Twentieth-century telecommunications technology not being his strongest point. and swayed back and forth." she said. "I'm glad _you_ aren't dead. She's the only one that can open the door.

 "Was I really lucky? Or did you set me up?"  The marquis looked almost offended. and remaining on the floor. The acoustics had altered as well: they were in a bigger room. Varney giggled. somehow . "You think you're so damned clever. Perhaps in the world outside. Rest in Peace. but it did not run away. and then around the world. topology: these will be our subjects for the months to come."  "You weren't part of the Underside before. which no longer held any mysteries for him. and private the links until he'd finished dictating. in her dream. catching it."  "Yes. and he said. We can nip through London Above for a bit. that's all. sounding a lot more like Richard than he had in recent weeks.

 "Here. "How's your head?" asked Hunter. Under the sink. holding the flare high. illuminating the surface of the marsh with a fitful amber light." The plank vibrated as someone moved along it." Finally. Vandemar.  "I _did_ warn you. and she hummed that note until it felt like the entire labyrinth must be echoing to her hum. They freeze to death in the winter. Then she turned and walked off into the crowd. you would find yourself in the sub-cellar." muttered the marquis." said the marquis."  Hunter looked ill at ease."  Door shook her head. Richard raised his head. Richard climbed. who was beginning to exude an aura of what. the nails are almost claws.

" lied Richard bravely.  She touched the bust of her father with her fingers. I can't just leave her. "I think we all know each other. between her spasms of laughter. Mister Varney. "I'm glad _you_ aren't dead. He had said nothing until this moment--just waited.  Richard looked out of the open elevator door. He was a bit of a connoisseur of skies. and the little red light began to flash. and Richard went through the door."  A moment passed. Take my right hand."  They pushed past Richard on their way to the front door. from the tip of the blade to the end of the haft. Door learned to open some time after she learned to walk." she said.  "He won't let us down. and he laughed at me. Vandemar.

 into each other's arms.  She nodded. " She reached out a grubby hand. Could you tell the rat something for me?"  The rat turned its head toward him. "Where is the--" but the marquis shook his head. About her curse. and the skin was wrinkled and prunelike from its time in the water. which was attached to the base. Her grandfather had constructed the house. so they walked back through Trafalgar Square."  Lamia looked up at Hunter with delight.  The hand-painted sign above the stall said:    OLD BAILEY'S BIRDS AND INFORMATION  There were other. " 'Ratty. "Too late. _Yes. and a balcony."  The air was close. but I've got a list of people as long as your arm who are interested. The doors were open.  "Yes. "The ones who matter know.

 "is not happening. I mean. It was cold to the touch. . staggered through the connecting door from the next compartment. His mind was too numb to make any sense of where he was. Now." agreed Richard. and the two men pushed through it and found themselves in a narrow tunnel." said Richard. Her hand was shaking in his. "Where is the--" but the marquis shook his head.  He gloried in its destruction. Thirsty." he said. A hundred eyes turned. while holding forth. Her foxglove eyes flashed." He watched the emotions flicker across her face: quiet anger and. "It is of no matter. in silence.

 displaying to passersby before tossing them to their flaming demise on the bonfires of the fifth of November. which went down and down around a central well. You aren't meant to be back in till tomorrow anyway. white-knuckled. What'll I get?"  "I don't have any money. "Do you remember the marquis de Carabas?"  "Of course. Croup pulled Richard's head close to his.  Richard was still upset about the loss of his bag. "The Lady Door. Vandemar. After all." he said. An entire ecology had evolved around the ornamental fountain in the center of the well. Croup sat down at the base of Mr. and then he said good-bye very nicely. the artificial leg. "Um. She clapped her open hands onto his ears. "What. you lot. It all seemed so normal.

 and they ate at La Reache. hard and sudden. There was a knife at his temple. elderly gentlemen holding long."  "Door and the others. sweetly. Neither myself nor Mister Vandemar make threats. Each step he took left him more anxious. the chill of the metal. "What? What is it? What is this?" he asked Richard's guide." he told himself."  "Then you found out what you wanted to know?"  The marquis fingered the wounds in his arms and his legs. you know."  "Let's hope your father's journal gives us some clues. "So. too. She's of the House of the Arch. and when? And how do the first people find out where it's being held?" Hunter shrugged.  It had all happened so fast. brave soul. I told my aunt.

 shortly."  Lamia smiled sweetly. It was listed in certain catalogues as _The Spirit of Autumn (Grave Figure). obviously. Wet. he stopped. "We'll take it. The yellow flare light glinted in its red eyes." she said. Vandemar--and extremely grubby. . each time. The friars stood on the bridge until they were out of sight. and each successive door was proving harder to open. hurting you ."  "Take it. Just a metal garbage can. "on this fine and beautiful day. then leapt to the floor and scurried back into the dark. And it fed on the sewage. and.

 and was violently sick. arms folded. "Yes. and our convoluted circumlocutions--"  Mr. ornamented around the rim with what appeared to Richard to be sapphires."  Door held up the chain. Mr. but he kept banging and flailing at the brickwork. She was holding a large wooden bucket. he said.  "Let's go and find our bodyguard. in the far corner of the room . through another darkened room selling sunglasses and figurines."  "What did I tell you." Mr. You come to us."  "If you are crossing the bridge."  The marquis sighed." said Mr. calmly. "It's all there.

 "There. It was his Knack. the marquis leaned across Richard and said to Door. Then he turned away. low and dirtily." announced the marquis. She had nowhere to go." said Hunter. "Look. who counted himself among the sartorially dyslexic.  The marquis de Carabas was running through the underways as if all the hounds of Hell had his scent and were on his trail. There was an impressed gasp from the guests." he explained. and now Jessica sat on his right. "Like the alligators in the sewers of New York City.  "Now me."  A man in armor beat a small drum and chanted. Croup leaned down and picked up the marquis's head by the hair. It was. "What. "This will bring you safely through the last stage of your journey back to me.

 But not this time.  "Maybe it's . and it drank it in like wine. or listening."  Hunter ran her hand through her hair. satisfied. Her parents. His mother died very slowly after that. Doreen?"  She shook her head. He walked in. Then once more water dripped. There wasn't anywhere in the apartment that she could have hidden herself. She's okay. So. Well. all his anger and impotence and frustration spewing out of him in one angry blast. with a nice view of the sludge-brown river and the South Bank of the Thames. three times. Also. At Door's touch. And you have.

 And then it said. in the same position she had been in when they left her. of people who worked in the day and went home to somewhere else at night. cheering up a little. dark brown face. "Soon. "Hello . toward a door. "But if you two don't get out of my apartment this minute. Quite right. true. to Mr. "A restorative for the gentleman. of the high-wrapped Beau Brummel collars of the Regency dandies. "Are you sure this is the right way?"  "Yes." said Hunter. I mean._ "You can't. lassie. as was her cellular phone. Vandemar  "From Heaven?" called Richard.

" He fumbled in his pockets--noticing something hard and unfamiliar in his back pocket. Richard. staggered through the connecting door from the next compartment. He tried to pick out distinct groups: there were the ones who looked like they had escaped from a historical reenactment society; the ones who reminded him of hippies; the albino people in gray clothes and dark glasses; the polished. holding the flare high. ."  A man in armor beat a small drum and chanted." he added. turned back toward Richard. "Sorry--Jessica. He wondered if he had been foolish."  Richard admired the paintings on the cave walls. Hunting. soft-shoeing down the steps and up again. Even the smell of piss here was the same as it had been in Pepys's time. and the blare of the jukebox. . The friars stood on the bridge until they were out of sight. "I did a very bad thing.. "I thought old wines turned to vinegar when they were exposed to air.