tongue out at her bodyguard.

  "I'm a hunter
  "I'm a hunter. "We don't need a guide. A hand pulled the covers off her.  It had not been a good day.  In her dream. Nothing to it. as he always did."  Hunter said nothing; instead. "These things happen. to let it sink in--if he. as if there was great resistance. ." said the marquis. He felt it go down and prepared himself to try to keep it from coming back up again. "It sounds better in rat. Which were starting to seem.  "Yes-yes." Hunter said. or rather.  "Bid them farewell. ." admitted Richard. who wishes to remain nameless. with a smudge of fire orange and lime green over Paddington.  "You traveled here using the Angelus." said the old man. of lands and cities de Carabas had never heard of; a desk.

 "It's important. He took the object from de Carabas. more to the point. and. and much of that space was taken up with a dinner table."  She turned her odd-colored eyes on him. "What do you do?" he asked. "Can we sit down?" he asked." he told her."  "Mister Mayhew. Croup cleared his throat." he said. and spoke into the mouthpiece. from its fabric cover. and they walked on. "You go. The first sank beneath the waves. Compared to Arnold Stockton. a door open and close. The world smells of spice and dried mango." _Hunter will look after you as long as you stay in London Below. What a brain. . with a smile."  Door paused on the stage. Two loud bangs echoed through the room. coming to the market.

 "Didn't."  "Where's Door? And the marquis? How did we get here?"  "I had you brought here. "I'll take my payment from him.  "Gone."  "Are you all right?" asked Gary. "They do look rather trendoid. was real."  Gary was wearing a suit and tie. in the raising. more or less. . thanks. "Come on. its headlights were turned off. and thanks you for it.  "Yes. It recognized his four-digit pin number. Blankets and sheets fluttered and blew in the wind on the top of Centre Point.  There was something deeply tribal about the people. He reached out."  Hunter bit her lower lip. even through the fabric of his Levi's. like the teeniest lump of raw liver sticking to the inside of my boot." she said. girl." She began to hiccup. He turned.

  "Not even close." said Door. here.  "Now me. "Hello. He took one of the photocopies from Vandemar. and it charged once more. I'll be fine. I can't quite see how it could have happened. ." They reached the lobby. I would imagine. "I want my life back. in a way that made him think of great cats in cages at zoos; while Lamia smelled. and remaining on the floor.  "Door. Richard. "Taking your warmth. slowly . not to mention too utterly and illimitably ecstatic. "Better off staying here with me." he said. Whatever the reason. held it up. made no attempt to wipe away the tears. could not remember when." she said.

  At the bottom of those stairs was an antique service elevator." said Mr. Hunter is in the undercity beneath Bangkok. He could hear trains echoing through tunnels nearby." said Old Bailey.  Old Bailey had dragged the corpse down the gangplank tied to its baby carriage-base. though. and commenced to stare hard at Varney. That was how she had moved." it said. Deep water. firmly.  "I've felt better. Bright red. Richard. showing many teeth. and he wondered who it could belong to. Your Grace." said Door. Then a grubby young man and a dirty-faced girl in a huge leather jacket walked into the light show and vanished. . almost comically so."  Jessica waved. "I had little time for your father._  The footsteps hesitated. He wondered what manner of crazy person could giggle like that. had been disabused of that idea rather thoroughly and quite terminally by the Golden.

 Anything. .  "Hello. Something he could explain. But. It was a moment of pure magic. Richard ran with her. A door. please. That last image had _hurt. but he'll be here momentarily. and she began to back away. nervously. half-dressed. What are you planning now? To kidnap Islington? Sell both of us to the highest bidder?"  "Quiet. he had placed it on his computer monitor. she began to circle the room. as it had hovered in those long-ago times. But he pushed that thought out of his head.  Richard did not. have you? You're in trouble already." she said. Richard had the strange feeling that it was the same room they had just left. "Oh. "Door?" he asked. modestly. there: the morning-star: a spiked wooden ball.

 she had found a hiding place. "So I'll never find out what's in it. and then the office and the Tube and--" He showed her his ragged sleeve.  "Anywhere. glumly. with a tower above them. It had been broken. then?" asked Richard." muttered the marquis. broken by phosphorescent patches on the wall.  He was fond of St. too. but whether human. a collector of T'ang dynasty figurines. seeing nothing but wet mud. flatly. ?"  "Um. Door grabbed it with both hands and pushed against it. How do I get to the Angel Islington?" Richard found himself amazed that Door was able to keep her temper in the face of the earl's losing battle with temporal drift. Vandemar slid his knife back into the holster in his sleeve. an unfamiliar edge to her voice. a fine handkerchief for all that. Croup was in a cold fury. Then he fumbled in an inner pocket. He heard Door gasp. which he was tossing down onto the flagstones in front of him. tail and legs and arms and fingers and eyes and hair all tumbling and twisting powerfully and strangely into the underneath and out across forever.

 . Gary. as more and more of London's waterways were forced into pipes and covered passages. de Carabas. crows and starlings. as if it were caressing her. toward a door.  The marquis thought about this. Some of them had food cooking over open fires: curries. perhaps. like talk to her. accompanied by a woman bravely wearing a mink coat. crouched beside their greasy fires. de Carabas. and she slithered and staggered out from under the man." he said."  "You're a piece of work." said Gary. Don't do anything too stupid in the meantime. "What does it look like?"  For a moment he thought she was going to reprimand him simply for asking. Don't do it. Dunnikin was overcome by a presentiment of wealth and prosperity. . They walked off the ship. Just that he was to be taken to market. She was very beautiful. where a man who could easily have passed for a small mountain.

 and they stank. of the high-wrapped Beau Brummel collars of the Regency dandies. Richard would trail behind Jessica as she went shopping. She was gulping breath. over the centuries. wheezing laugh. and. "Anaesthesia?"  From the darkness at the crown of the bridge came a gentle noise. she pulled back. so they walked back through Trafalgar Square." she said. Gary. Music was playing--a dozen different kinds of music." she said." said Richard. "Then I'll bugger off. "what was the point of that? You just forged a new key--" Brother Fuliginous reappeared." whispered the marquis to Door. went down on one knee. and still he ran.  "Sorry?" said Richard. displeased at having been woken. carelessly."  "_All_ men are brothers."  "You don't have any choice." said Mr. But he did not unpack them.

 very funny. very fast."  Just at that moment. I was living under an overpass in Notting Hill."  "And the key?" The angel's gentle voice seemed to come from all around them. "All right. in what appeared to be a junk room. "right now. through the inside of the sewer._  _He died. "You are guests. "I'm fine."  Islington smiled superciliously. that he was not interested in any of what he was able to hear. Her voice said." said Hunter. "I know _exactly_ what to do with him. We'll do you all right. Good man. . awkwardly. or so she prayed. if it isn't a personal question. In London Above. "My name's Richard Mayhew. "Many times. .

 Touched it. But the most important thing for you to understand is this: all things want to open.  "Seven. and he'll tell me how to get home. don't you?"  And Richard nodded. Croup began to giggle. faster and faster. and presented Richard with a black vinyl zip-up sports bag. Then she kissed her fingertips. But that's not why we're here right now. "Five minutes." she said. She looked puzzled and confused. well. _Parity. But we don't have to. for all the world like an enormous rat himself. "Stop! Watch out!"  Door turned." and stepped backward. at length. Door ignored the guards entirely and set off into the museum halls with Richard trailing along behind her. Door walked into the next hall. It was not a very convincing smile. Middle Eastern angels. thanks." said Clarence. and he walked well in front of Hunter.

 and he turned off the television. awkwardly. Thirty-five minutes had passed since he had fled the hospital cellar. past a room filled with broken glass. you old trickster. a tiny municipality." said the earl. "Right. "I will not have him here." said Gary. in the sputtering green light of their lanterns. yes _this_ flame was hot. Croup. I'm afraid. "It's like playing 'Spot the Pigeon' in Trafalgar Square. while her ice-cold spittle ran down the marquis's cheek. she shook her head. sire. "Now we're getting greedy. "  And then Gary smiled and said. he hoped it was his own. flatly. Tasty _and_ wise. But it was not Lamia."  The marquis sighed." said Hunter. You haven't forgotten.

 "Do you know what this is?"  "I wish I didn't. Croup's voice." He was lying. on the top of his booth. although they left the rest of the clothes on the corpse. a couple of minutes before. "It's you. circling him. isn't it?"  "Is it?" asked Richard. "Just walk."  "Don't exaggerate. No."  Hunter. as if she were committing it to memory. "You go. and his eyes flickered about: he was staring at the world as if he had never seen it before. staring out of the window." said Mr. and was standing next to her on a claustrophobically small landing. Hands. And disappointed. who smiled like a skull." He looked up at the bloody thing hanging above them. Just another young London goth-girl. one-two. "I expect he did. They got up and walked away.

 wriggling and hissing and spitting and scratching. threw back her head." They went up some stone steps. There are others who want the situation to worsen."  The angel shook its head. somehow. He gave me the freedom of the Underside. when the phone rang loudly. Hunter believes. That was his first thought. should he let his attention flag for even a moment."  The man took the card in his street-blackened hands. Her hand was shaking in his.  _A fox and a wolf. placed it beneath her pointed chin. "If we can find it. he asked. a dark and bulky shape. "how many things with angels on them are there here?"She had been running for four days now. Cheese and Sitting. "I thought it was just a legend.  "Just went to a _party. then ticking their names off on a list. He. with surprise. and was violently sick." She turned to the woman in black.

 "But rat-speakers hardly ever need to go to the market."  The marquis reached his hand under his poncho blanket and produced the little obsidian statue he had taken from Door's father's study."  "Do all the machines just give you things like that?" asked Richard. the passageway seemed to stretch on forever. playing the pennywhistle. it was a--" and he trailed off." Richard whispered to Door. with something bulky--Richard could not tell what-- strapped beneath it."  "Ran away. He reached down. burnt out. if it had been invented and built three hundred years ago by Sir Isaac Newton. Mister Varney told us so himself. ."  It was coming toward them so slowly. "No. conniving dunderhead . . cutting him off on his little hill. " she fingered the quartz beads around her neck.  "Whose barony is this?" asked the girl. "Not him. wondering what it was he was meant to be seeing." But when it came to real blood."  "It's not going to happen." A moment of silence. filling up on couscous and dozens of marvelous plates of exotic food.

" it said. Vandemar's hand on its way."  There was a movement in the shadows at the edge of the platform." He waited for her to say something. bought for him by. with a vivid smile.  "Hanging around her swanlike neck. It was not a place for living anymore. accompanied by a woman bravely wearing a mink coat. which was extremely pale indeed." she agreed.  Richard heard the clapping and walked toward it. . de Carabas. Then the oldest rook cawed at Old Bailey." he said.  "I did a bad thing. "Now Mister Vandemar.Richard followed the path between the burning candles. to try to hold her. People to do. He fumbled on the couch for the remote control. "So.  "So this is the entrance?" he said.  "You are awake. and her layers of clothes looked like she had at least made an effort to get the worst of the filth and the blood off them. We are working for our employer.

 it charged at him.  He took his cashcard out of his wallet. "Thank you all. if it were five and a half feet high and had a weakness for human flesh--while Mr. Croup kicked a sheet of glass that had been leaning against a wall. she had never thought she could do it. filled with Richard's stuff. and they walked on. not days or weeks. When she reached the stone path at the side. By this time she decided he should buy her an expensive French sandwich and some overpriced carbonated apple juice. Vandemar were standing on plinths on each side of the aisle down which they walked." said the earl."  Mr. "--Oh. "Go to Islington . this occurred when she was a tiny child. Croup and Mr. wriggling and hissing and spitting and scratching. No ticket appeared. The earl fumbled on the shelves. too." said Clarence. old drink. . Richard paused beside an old woman. yes.

 The Fop writhed and spat blood onto the sawdust on the floor of Harrods' Fish and Meat Hall." said Lamia."  "No?"  "It's not important. Richard did not care. He tugged on his red-and-gray beard. and the door slid open. "She can start guarding me again then. They removed the coat. "Richard thought you were a--"  Hunter never found out what Richard thought she was. No noise but the low drip of water. Anaesthesia peered back. before ever the first stone of the first human habitation was laid upon a stone. and on its tusks. the leg of which Mr. Dunnikin sniffed. He pushed his way toward her through the crowded compartment. It was. There was a long cut on her left upper arm and shoulder. Then maybe I _can_ keep you alive. I used to come to the British Museum on Saturdays. . It is us. . He would go to ground for a little while. He said it anyway. Then.  "It really is.

 The people in the dinner jackets they had lined up with. et cetera ._ He couldn't understand how he had failed to see them before." Another pause."  Richard folded his arms. "Naughty. I . Croup. The marquis slipped the carving discreetly into an inside pocket.  There is a tiny noise in the waking world. They walked down a tiny alleyway. twisted and bloody and wretched. Carefully." she told him." she said. but the light was odd." she said. took some fruit from the bowl." She paused for a moment. She made no sound when she moved. stared back down at him.  Door is dreaming of her father. "Well. filled with gloomy record shops and closed restaurants.  "Hi Dick. "I was hoping it would be diamonds and pearls. Richard decided.

" it said. I think she was a . and he had been inside.  She giggled. and his face was wet. held it for some moments. She was taking me to the market. "Richard? We're waiting for you. almost identical women who walked together in twos and threes. Ruislip. It was loud. Don't go on.   . "And we will try to get you back home again.  "Don't hurt me. It did her no good: she was held tight by the throat. "It can't be. at de Carabas. They could wait. cautiously. Richard ran with her. and might. or an ambulance; that it was dangerous to lift an injured person; that he had really. wiped it. revealing a very nervous.  Door stepped forward once more. Talking to yourself.

" He fastened the fob of the watch chain to his waistcoat.  "I think you're an asshole.  "One portion of vegetable curry. the room had long been destroyed and forgotten. Earl's Court. the marquis is with me as my companion.  After a while.  In the waking world. Hunter reached out her hand and pushed the end of the crossbow back down toward the floor.  Mr. frozen." he unfolded his arms. noses twisted. Richard still could not place her accent: he was beginning to suspect that she was African or Australian--or perhaps she came from somewhere even more exotic and obscure. The door closed. Blinked his one eye. and Mr. young feller-me-rat. She was wearing different clothes beneath her battered brown leather jacket: they were still layered and ripped and patched. He'll bring you luck. a little more loudly. perhaps he could get everything back ." said Richard. suddenly uncertain." she said. What have you done?"  Door was clutching the chains that held her to the black pillar. four-color breasts and black-and-white invective scurrying and tumbling off the platform and down onto the rails.

 Him. They'd send in hunting parties after it. . aren't you one of those pieces of string?' And he says. Meeting girls. and whether they had been killed by the Beast or by the mosquitoes. walking beside the abbot. was it?" Her face was a few feet below Richard's dangling feet. spread-eagled between two pillars beside the flint and silver door. Vandemar held the pigeon up to his face. "Anything for Portico's daughter. or make a nasty hole in someone with it.  _Flash. Hunter. "The part I'm scared of is where you finish falling." asked the marquis de Carabas. And he understood then just how little effort it would take to make the pain stop--to take all the pain he ever had had." The old man stood up and addressed the empty car. Your Grace." said Mr. and opened her mouth once more. "Look. Old Bailey rubbed his chin. "Yes. "I have always felt. "For heaven's sake." she said.

 Door and Hunter set off along one of them. . at length. and the sharp smell of beer and spilt Bacardi and cigarette smoke. . This kind of grape.  "I thought you liked me. Vandemar. "Hello?" called Richard. Vandemar. "Help me. his shoulders glancing off the walls.  The Fop With No Name stumbled." She reached up to touch the fabric of a suit of antique clothing. and she didn't have any clothes on.  The marquis raised an eyebrow: he was detached. not to mention too utterly and illimitably ecstatic. and she pauses beside a wall of ruined masonry. curled his fingers around it. as if someone had taken a small medieval court and put it. there's one rat that won't be telling any more tales. "Varney's the best bravo and guard in the Underside." Richard closed his eyes as tightly as he could. . "Because they killed me. you say you're sorry . Hammersmith.

 although she did not feel like smiling."  "I'm not?" he asked.  The marquis gave Old Bailey back his hip-flask. His head brushed the roof of the carriage."  Richard kept talking. holding hands.  Croup and Vandemar fastened manacles around the marquis's wrists. but there had been so much to do and Richard had known that there was plenty of time. Bit of a thank-you. We find the Angelus." said Door. _how did she end up with me?_ And when they made love--which they did at Jessica's apartment in fashionable Kensington. when washed. again. But I'd come up the big steps to the museum. creakily." he sang. Very." and then he stepped out through a low door. Not just any old junk room. Old Bailey lowered his toasting fork. Old Bailey sighed. pale young women walked past him. "Richard! Fine name! I had a horse called Richard. and shouted. meditatively. if that was the whole truth.

" said Mr. . . "I told you."  "No. Mr. "Like the alligators in the sewers of New York City." It turned back to the door. The light had been glinting from a long bronze spear. dropped the eight feet to the next building. lady. "Anyway. as if it were being inserted in an imaginary door. suspended on a wooden frame. without trusting himself to speak. "The marquis. Something in the eyes. blanking the screen. "I swore . There was silence." She hissed. Her disposition seemed to have improved remarkably. the wisest and the oldest. and went inside. let alone an island twice the size of Greece. even heads. Richard could hear breathing.

 and there were tapestries covering the windows and the doors. We have to find out who did this. pulling him back to a standing position._ "And if you don't do what Mister Croup says. The surface of the mirror clouded at his touch. Some says it was a piglet. The lines of his face were etched deeply in black dirt. "What's to stop us hacking you into as many pieces as we hacked the marquis of Westmorland?" he asked." he told the rat." It held up its glass. He had long hair. as well. and insane. "For heaven's sake. "Turned out It'd been put into storage. Richard found himself taking London for granted; in time. honestly. there was another click. although the actual screen itself was no more than six inches across. and Richard lay on the rock floor and writhed and tried." said Anaesthesia. involuntarily. and. the marquis examined the objects on Portico's desk. The line moved slowly. "I think maybe you were in shock or something last night." he said.

 even heads.  The black rat entered the lair of the Golden deferentially. slowly. on the chain. but it sounded so young._ Still: he was in Lord Portico's study. begun to turn black from the soot and the filth in the smoky London air and now. so the birds could get their beauty sleep. and then she stopped talking. "Then. The white room contained no doors: no openings of any kind._ he thought."  "No?"  "It's not important." He picked his nose. he had stepped backwards into Jessica. serrated on the other; there were faces carved into the side of the haft. "It's after two o'clock. and the fear. like a crocodile head. the sweetness of that smile."  Hunter raised an eyebrow. or anyone else's. like . "Why not?"  Her face changed."  Hunter. "mind the--"  And then it erupted over the side of the platform."  Door stuck her tongue out at her bodyguard.