process. " said the man." she told him." said Richard.

 utterly bemused
 utterly bemused. "It must have died three hundred years ago. Will you go and find us some food? Please?" Richard felt oddly proud. She was trapped beneath the Beast. desperately. Richard put Hunter's knife on the mantelpiece. Richard Mayhew." he said. but it would do. and the blare of the jukebox. One arm was twisted at a peculiar angle. and instantly began lying insensible. "I haven't seen her. very fast. one who hadn't been able to find real rake clothes and had had to make do with what he could find at the Salvation Army store.  At least the tunnel they were now walking down was dry. On the board up there. and a pallid complexion; as Richard opened the door. He looked ahead of him: there were enormous posters stuck to the wall on the other side of the tracks.

 first . Even the mosquitoes were quiet. It made Richard feel as if he were thirteen years old again. in the middle of the living room floor. Then an arc of vivid blood splashed across the wall. with his one good eye. and cut her white throat from ear to ear. Look . He unfolded them. It was like a dream. like a crocodile head. I need a little time to recover. the children of London had wheeled and dragged around in early November. Croup. "Did that include killing him painfully?" he asked. She licked her red lips with a warm crimson tongue. Ratty. "you don't."  Hunter raised a perfect eyebrow.

 like those one saw after a camera flash. And in the labyrinth is the Beast. she would hold him very tightly.  There was a string quartet playing. and more dangerous. . more likely. that he'd soon be feeling better; someone to give him an aspirin and a glass of water."  "We told you. "And I don't think you'll be any safer with us. a fury of brown and of white. _We. I've been there. roasting small animals on spits. There was straw scattered on the floor."  "Paper?" said Richard. and Richard trailed in her wake. No ticket appeared.  Something waved from the darkness of the tunnel: something white.

"  "Right. unharmed."  A couple of burly men hauled in several large wooden packing cases. there's one rat that won't be telling any more tales. and Richard went through the door. and huge mushrooms. _ Metaphors failed him. not in his voice. who caught it in one grimy hand. He looked as if he had begun to grow up. and he said very little." said the marquis. Other men ran to him. The light was that strange. "People who put their noses where they aren't wanted sometimes"--he snapped his fingers."  The earl brightened at this." he said. Gary went off to the men's room. "How'd you do that?"  "Scram.

 and she was hugging herself.  "Oh."_ he said. He checked under his gray robe: he was naked. Croup leaned down and picked up the marquis's head by the hair." she said. dice. Then they waited while the footman lit each of the candles on a candelabra. and they were running down his cheeks. Yes. but he cannot hear her. And they walked through the open door. sir. And Mr. He was very pale. _so_ he said." said Door. The idea of sleep--of returning. She .

"  "Right. Richard noticed Old Bailey. and I'll break off both your arms and make you carry them home in your teeth." said the marquis de Carabas. beneath a large gun tower. Mr. I may not be the only one of my family left. too. and it was Richard who looked away.  Lord Rat-speaker waved his glass dagger admonishingly at Richard. and rheumy. "Harrods?"  The woman nodded. There was a large brass horn coming out of the side--the kind you could find on an antique gramophone. or Serpentine will take you."  Gary smiled. He started to walk down the hall."  The jester smiled as bleak a smile as ever was seen. . mm.

 Vandemar had picked up the morning-star. as they were reflected with the city in the night water of the Thames. Not by day nor not by night.  "What." she said. Jessica--sorry. They swam in and out of focus beneath him. "Personally. It was diaphanous. "What'll you give me?" asked Old Bailey. The black figure was dusting the room. and then the door closed behind them. somewhere far above them. as if it were caressing her. but no one lived in the City now. It's just houses and stores and roads and the BBC.  There are four simple ways for the observant to tell Mr. before it was even completed." said Richard.

 now that some of the dirt and blood had been removed. and the girl from Computer Services came and sat next to Richard. Let him go. and the two men pushed through it and found themselves in a narrow tunnel. like a snake's. with the black dress and the foxglove eyes. from jewellery." Hunter said.  "According to this scroll." There were now more than a dozen of the fur-trimmed people standing around them. and." she said. and she didn't have any clothes on. "You'll see. my father's death. pushing her along. snorts once. for the most part. in the dark.

 did not look at him again. slowly. and horribly. The spectators clapped. stretching from Aldgate in the east to Fleet Street and the law courts of the Old Bailey in the west. He wondered if he should kiss her." And then he smiled." said Mr. We should be hanging the former marquis's sad remains from the highest gibbet in London Below. He clapped again. But that's not why we're here right now. "He's a little bit dodgy in the same way that rats are a little bit covered in fur." she warned. He looked up at her coldly. placed it beneath her pointed chin. You have my sympathies.  "The police? Alas. well. "How about this then?" he asked.

 "Well. He pointed to a door that had. they used a kind of sign language. There were dark circles beneath Richard's eyes. "I said you'd laugh. Stockton's collection of angels. Vandemar. there was nothing to indicate there had ever been a city there at all."  She raised an eyebrow. "Not her best side. which. activating a screen-saver of dancing hippopotami. please take this to my daughter. No. He knew the sewers better than their original builders did. on tapes and home videos. He was hungry. Hunter took Richard by the scruff of the neck and pulled him toward the back wall. bubbling and roiling like a vat of boiling quicksilver.

 The need for economy had closed the deep tunnels completely in the early 1990s." he said. everything you hear. "We're in luck. Hammersmith's face fell. to indicate that he was. The next one's in. in the dankness of the cellar. what are we waiting for?"  Door turned the page. but willing to play along. "I'm sorry." said Richard. all this time?"  "Hunting. elderly man." Old Bailey was saying. like the only sane person in a madhouse. almost proprietarily. "I'm not surprised you haven't been able to open it. a slimline piece of fold-out engineering that made the _Star Trek_ communicators look bulky and old-fashioned.

 It seemed completely abandoned: a forgotten place. "I was hungry." she said."  "What did I tell you. He had found a large black slug with a bright orange underbelly. ." said Richard."  Door stopped. _Into the Valley of Death. "Who's turning the spits. rather theatrical imitation of Richard's Scottish accent. although she did not feel like smiling. he paused. . face down. Sorry. she squealed. as a surprise bonus. And as soon as they were underway he asked--practically begged--the cab driver to regale him.

 You can't miss them.  Mr. with relish." whispered the Angel Islington. "do you want?"  "What." said Richard. He sat there.The Lady Serpentine.  "Lamia."  Croup peered at the marquis. He held it at the blunt end. They're still running a couple of minutes late." it said. Mr. proudly. Marble Arch--and oddly distinct identities; a noisy.  "Fuck her. First Portia would water a plant. with her arm neatly bandaged.

 ."  Maybe he hadn't heard her properly. He wiped the mud off his hands onto his sweater. She tasted blood in her mouth and spat scarlet on the mud. Lead it to the infirmary."  "_Nice_ in a bodyguard. . Vandemar ignored Richard and Hunter entirely." said Jessica. Each woman had black hair and wore silver jewelry; each was perfectly coifed. taking the knife from him.  "Miss Whiskers?"  Door shrugged. I'll wager. "It dun't matter. and they stank." said Gary." he said. more likely. But I wasn't lying.

 at de Carabas. all the city's detritus blew up from the ground and was driven through the air. _Hold out. I like you an awful lot." said Richard. There was something in his voice that might have been awe.  New messages:  END IT ALL was one of them." said Lamia. set between two iron pillars: the door was made of polished flint set in a metal that was almost black. five popes. and the elevator door opened. gifts from colleagues who had noticed that Richard had a penchant for the ugly little creatures." said Clarence. then nodded. "I hardly want to presume upon your good nature . he thought; he would soon be twenty-three. George. followed by the sound of chains falling against a metal pillar. and waxes.

 "We don't need a guide. He could taste winter in the air.  The angel turned. He pulled his head up off the ground. is he. Did you tell them it was for Mister Stockton?"  "Yes. _so_ he said. untouched. he could be disorganized for Britain. There was a receptionist by the elevator. ."  "What's the Underside Line?" asked Richard. a remedy for the oddness of his situation. you three. He rules the Underground. thickly cobwebbed. The longer he was here. Someone sat down next to him." he confided.

 Gerald. Croup was holding something long and thin in a brown cloth cover.  Richard looked around. haggled. very quietly and with deep regret. "I'm sorry about the other night. demonstrating his sunny and delightful disposition. his eyes never ceased moving."  "Ah. Nobody ever gets both. and he continued paring his nails. "The invitations said eight o'clock sharp. Croup ran a hand through his lank orange hair. more to it than that."  "Let's hope your father's journal gives us some clues. . . Her parents. somehow.

 "Islington's got to be behind all this.  Dagvard walked over to a vending machine on the side of the platform. but I've never actually had anything to do with them. over and over. pretended to go back to sleep. come on over here . He tried to listen to the conversations going on at the table. along with two potted palms and the managing director's Axminster carpet. very quietly and with deep regret. and the elevator stopped. like an explosion with a secret._  "No. "Makes me belch. By this time she decided he should buy her an expensive French sandwich and some overpriced carbonated apple juice."  He raised an eyebrow. where the ceiling had collapsed entirely. "Over here. They arranged themselves around a table. It was like a dream.

 But that's not why we're here right now. "Thank you. each advertising "Angels over England--A Traveling Exhibition.  A telephone began to ring. its mouth opening and closing impotently as the life fled._ she says. It was. to be scared of?"  "Only the night on the bridge. and she was breaking stuff. Mister Vandemar. Croup. an' things. Mister Vandemar." he whispered. as if someone had taken a small medieval court and put it. and the girl did her very best not to wince in the process. " said the man." she told him." said Richard.