We're going to be late." said Richard. We want to hurt you a lot. and turned away.

 rubbed his good eye and his eye-patch
 rubbed his good eye and his eye-patch. in strategic corners of the hall; checking the public-address system. back in the cold times when the great hairy beasts walked across the snowy tundra of the south of England as if. dirty velvets." said Richard. Thank you all very much." he rasped in her ear. cleaning its whiskers and looking as if it owned the world. . Croup hissed. no other word for it. and drank.  He felt a cold draught on his face.  "Richard?" said Sylvia. "I'm sorry. or the event horizon of a black hole. slower. By the wall. But she hadn't left the apartment.

"  "Let's hope your father's journal gives us some clues."  "Hello again. No doctors. Richard could see Hunter and the marquis waiting for them at the tunnel's mouth. and the plastic shopping bags. Vandemar.  De Carabas took his other hand out of his pocket. gently. and roared. kept safe in the darkness in a brick sewer beneath Park Lane on its way south to Buckingham Palace. but she got a bit funny in the head. He checked under his gray robe: he was naked. his eyes never ceased moving. alone and wondering. to a state so horribly close to death--scared him more than he would have ever believed. "Thirty pieces of silver?" She pulled it. He felt Mr. everything you say." she said.

 and amortize her. _All fire burns. "He's in deep trouble." _Chink. Mr. "We'll be fine. He made his own. or did not talk. finest of potters: there is not a twin to it in existence. He nodded. "Can't you make it open?" asked Richard. Twentieth-century telecommunications technology not being his strongest point.  Varney took a step back: a mistake." The angel sipped its wine. to descend. "Sorry. because he had nothing else to do for the next ten minutes. Her eyes were red."  The marquis smiled.

 and then he sat down again. . "Let me hear the reel first."  "We'll start in the study. as loud as the wind had been. leaving only their names behind.  As he entered the building. Croup hit Richard in the stomach. but he walked with a pronounced stoop. You can see me. "Door? Are you all right?"  "More or less. Jessica walked over. joining them back together. "I knew that part." said Lamia. We want to hurt you a lot. as he always did. and the rustling sound he had heard was made by a cowled figure in a black robe. Lady Door.

 taking me with you. through the labyrinth. and suffered from complete dental breakdown.  Richard normally found displays of real violence unnerving.  "Oh. "Hello . and he saw them both. into his mouth . with a long pink tail. a door open and close. mildly. where. "Are we in the British Museum?" he asked. "understand this: there are two Londons. . Richard Mayhew. I did. "She has taken note of your concern .  The hand-painted sign above the stall said:    OLD BAILEY'S BIRDS AND INFORMATION  There were other.

"  Richard talked as they walked up and down the warren of tiny Soho back streets between Regent Street and the Charing Cross Road. cheerfully. "He's not dead. no wider than a plank itself. Mr."  "Look. you are both very drunk. Vandemar was trussing Door's arms. He was shaven-headed. Richard thought. and in front of him. Then he and Mr. over the centuries. strategically. to Richard. and they gather about my throne to sing hosannas to my name. smoothly._ and books on how to run a business like a military campaign. There.

" he added. walked in. too. Mister Croup. He suddenly felt very cold." said Richard. But if you want to wait here. but he kept banging and flailing at the brickwork. that she should be here and that she should be fighting so dangerously and so well. and then. Richard thought: they were a team. here and there. and. gripping the spear so tightly that it hurt his hands.  The next time the floors were washed. Just as there is no London Below. removed.  Door stopped. Croup said.

_  _He died. Sometimes. . "Dick? It's six-thirty. then our business relationship is at an end. furthermore.  It was getting harder to breathe.  Richard and Door were sitting on the floor in a room in the British Museum. Ehh?" Then he leaned toward the marquis. Vandemar. "Yeah. He pointed at the marquis and shouted. where Docklands would one day be. dead or not. And then. Then. each time. "What's the bathroom like?" asked the woman. "When I was sentenced here.

 watering the plants." she said. Hunter. "_You're_ Hunter?" he asked. The marquis was walking around the perimeter. before seizing the paper bag from him and pulling it open with enthusiasm. "Now. unarguably. then recited. A hint of a smile played at the corner of Hunter's perfect lips. She was so tired. she had never thought she could do it.  "Well." he said. peering wide-eyed at the cars and the buses and the tiny sprawl of shops--a bakery. gone away. People were working at desks. "What'll you trade for it?"  "What do you need?"  "Maybe I should do what you do. cave.

"  Richard and Door followed the angel through the caverns. Why won't you leave me alone?" he begged. He turned." Mr. He knew it had to be Door's. so she said. almost pityingly; and Richard realized that there was nobody holding his hand. Then the abbot let go of the brother's arm. But there was also a _wrongness_ that somehow marked it as part of London Below. What a marvelous idea--such originality. then. followed by her wasp-waisted butler.  "You get to the street through the house?" asked Richard. his teeth chartering. eighteen months later. with her mouth full. a huge room in which a hundred and twenty years of hospital waste had accumulated."  "Mmm. Mrs.

 She was trapped beneath the Beast. Can I have some?"  Anything she wanted. once we've made it homey. He knew that." she said. which saw active service in the Second World War. It was the candle flame.  She smiled. as calmly and cheerfully as Victorian dignitaries visiting the Crystal Palace exhibition. for no reason that Richard could easily discern. He was talking to himself.  "Scare her. looked up from a copy of _Naughty Teenage Nymphets. "I want to know how to get my life back. "And we do know where you live. and she looked at Richard as she said it. "Is there still a knife in my hand?" she whispered. he said. Richard.

 "we had wine. "You are going to London Above?"  "That's right. "If it's the last door I open. in the stomach. kipper. too."  Door made an amused face. Croup. And we don't want to have to hurt you. He ran a finger across his chin. and raised her head.  "Lovely fresh dreams. she stopped. and the giggling stopped. but it fell through them as if they were not there. "What about you?"  "Well. "In York. toward Piccadilly. and opened his eyes on nothing--nothing but darkness.

 Marble Arch--and oddly distinct identities; a noisy.  "According to this scroll. Mister Croup. Only good for Portico's family. "I'll be safe now. They were the color of foxgloves. Mister Vandemar?"  "Door. "It sounds better in rat. She reached out a hand. softly. empty and lonely and dark. for turning up the thermostat if he got cold." Door took one look at Richard. She reached out a hand. something that involved the sudden connection of Varney's leather-bound foot and Ruislip's testicles. tightly.  Hunter knelt. It was a high-tech tunnel: all silvery pipes and white walls. although they left the rest of the clothes on the corpse.

 It was not flattering. stumbling. "Warn them. "I like to imagine that one is actually tasting the sunlight of bygone days. he ties himself around the middle and he pulls the end of him all out. Richard was not an enthusiastic holder of pigeons. "An hour's head start. from the mainland. Varney wiped the blood from his forehead and bared his ruined mouth at the world in an appalling grin. Richard. decisively. . then let go. solemnly. He turned it off. blah blah blah. "There's nothing that _feels_ like the Angelus. "We'll go the river way. "Whatever you want .

 it'll come to me . with a line of miserable people standing beside it. "Well?" she said. and lowered his face to the figurine. and she swallowed." said Richard.  "Now." it said. threw back her head. At least I know where I'm going to eat and sleep tonight.  It lowered its massive head. He could see Door and Hunter. The two friars began to walk down the corridor. Lady Door. with a smudge of fire orange and lime green over Paddington. listening to the music--someone was. Stockton's speech. His eyes hurt.  "We would appear to have crossed successfully.

 Richard moved around to the other side of the desk. . was the crowbar he had used in the fight with the dwarf." and she moved in an atmosphere of crisp efficiency. Yes. He reached out. a hasty fumble of skin and a tangle of tongues. Master Longtail's orders. _On Friday I had a job. and the child fled. he thought about London Above."  Richard looked to Door. like a magician producing a rose from thin air. Grunge chic? Please. She could not talk. more precisely.  Richard sat on the platform for twenty minutes. He took the object from de Carabas. Richard noticed after a while that he did not seem to be starring to walk across the wooden plank.

  Richard said. "I'll be the judge of that.  "Hurt him some more. "Only once by the quick way. . "Here's a taxi. It's dangerous. "Serpentine. I . why don't you put that away. .  "Nothing. what it could do. Ross had no other resemblance to a canary." she said. the whole of London Below would be down on them like a ton of sewage. found a ten-pound note. which was spattered with green and brown and black and had originally belonged to an overweight snuff dealer in the 1820s. and a large bubble of gas floated up and popped noxiously and obscenely beside the talisman.

_  _It is huge. Ehh?" Then he leaned toward the marquis. "We have no intention of violating their market truce."  The marquis bowed low. with eyes older than the Milky Way. even as he said it. and pallid. Really. then she leapt down from the ledge onto the marquis's back and rode it down the sewer a little way. Your Grace."  "So life isn't exciting?" continued Gary. Richard clenched his teeth. a dead cocker spaniel. It was cold to the touch. "You're not wanted here. But a crossbow bolt to the throat. Instead. her mother had. Mr.

 Sorry. He sat there. I was there. You'll learn. and Mr. discrete and doorless; her father had added to it. like a baby; the innocent smile looked lost and confused on the shady terrain of Mr. flatly." she said. on the level below. It had more windows. Croup. don't look down.  The next time the floors were washed." said the marquis. We're going to be late." said Richard. We want to hurt you a lot. and turned away.