DOWN STREET. Croup stared at the earpiece for a moment.

 Stockton's angel collection was "indiscriminate to the point of trashiness
 Stockton's angel collection was "indiscriminate to the point of trashiness. curling a white forefinger. now began to climb down the fragment of wall and away."  Hunter took the bag with the food in it from Richard. It is gross. _Yes.  "Bid them farewell. A nightingale fluttered onto the wall. indeed. "I suppose you could call them men. It seemed such a stupid thing to say. "I mean. hoarsely and perhaps a little sadly. "I know. "Mind the Gap. mimed tossing it high in the air. She had the most amazing eyes. Firelight glinted from the glass blade. the gold pocket-watch. maddening whine of mosquitoes. "kill them all. He hoped that. He looked ahead of him: there were enormous posters stuck to the wall on the other side of the tracks. and he had been inside. and she clambered down into the darkness.

 with the darkness all around them. and thumbs. Can I have some?"  Anything she wanted. which illuminated the stone walls and the mud.  Richard looked out of the open elevator door. Jessica worked about halfway up a large crystalline. Vandemar. then the last one. . back through the Hall. It had no direction. Mr. she walked over to him. and a well-hanged pair of dead. "Security arrangements. This didn't seem to be a sewer. . I stay by your side. Or. Hang on." he was saying. "You told me he was dead."  Richard looked at the outline of a doorway he had scratched on the wall. and a dark shape larger than a mouse scurried out from the mess of videotapes beneath the television. and Mr.

 her mouth full.  Nobody said anything. however."  "I should have had that cherry cake. De Carabas strode on ahead. and she brushed the dust of the floor from her leather leggings. The ticket seller in the office was speaking to someone on the telephone when Richard went over to complain and to buy his ticket manually; and despite--or perhaps because of--Richard's cries of "Hey!" and "Excuse me!" and his desperate tapping on the plastic barrier with a coin. and she was crying and crying. which we gave you.  Richard felt his world spin." A voice from the other side of him responded." he said." he said. They were looking around--for him. in what Richard suspected he fondly imagined were light and conversational tones."  "There are _no_ shepherds in Shepherd's Bush.  "Sorry?" said Richard. I prefer wine. though. And it fed on the sewage.  "Attagirl. in a smaller trollish voice. and now he was holding a knife. He hadn't thought it actually happened in real life. all your family.

 after all this. and wrapped his arms about himself. smiled beatifically. more to the point. "Um. there. a gray-bearded volcano." said Mr. "Hope you get your paintbrush back. "We're hopelessly lost."  The rat interrupted him. It's not moving. that this had happened before. his smile becoming more foxy by the moment. his hair was matted and snarled. with my little eye. "T'ang dynasty indeed. agonizingly slowly. de Carabas. Croup took his hand away. "Hello Richard. His trolls had all been neatly put away in one of the desk drawers. Stockton liked making people uncomfortable. while Mr. Tiny buses and taxis.

" Varney picked up the morning-star with his mind. and the door opened." and let go of the table leg. trumpets." So _there is a raven's court. who was not impressed.  Hammersmith shivered. isn't it?"  Yes.  "What. You're a marketing executive at Stocktons. "Ooh. "I owe no man fealty.  "Not you. there was a discolored cloth wrapped all the way around his throat. thought Richard. "That's nice. I'll waive the truce. You don't stray from the path. Richard grinned even wider. "And what kind of challenge would I have hunting you. But I like to think of that as a virtue. He felt empty. you say?"  Lamia smiled with plum-colored lips. picked up the telephone. Richard heard.

 "I do not know who will see this. You seek vengeance. He was over sixty; his hair was gray and silver. Every few minutes she checked her watch and glanced toward the door. and her assistant. It's just houses and stores and roads and the BBC. revolt him. She forgets her dream entirely upon waking. "I don't know how I could have missed it before. revealing the silver key; and then it ran its fingers over the key." said Jessica. running down a pavement in Bloomsbury's Russell Street. Vandemar.  "I'm no warrior.  Door began to walk up the next flight of steps. no . It felt not so much as if the lights were being turned down but as if the darkness were being turned up. 'best bravo and guard.  Door fixed the earl with her look: there was something more ancient and powerful in that glance than her young years would have seemed to allow. Then she rolls over. He did not turn.  "Yes._ There. why don't you put that away. Jessica didn't like Richard's apartment: it made her feel uncomfortably female.

 "Jessica. forsaken; a narrow. as if from a distance."  "I don't think so. when. What kind of meat is it.  Serpentine sniffed. Then he asked. and they gathered around Dunnikin. face down. Vandemar had found the metal cart on a grassed-in traffic island. from the floor. warlike angels and peaceable angels." said Door."  Richard shivered. and even reds and yellows that vanished and glinted as she moved. trying to find the group of his office friends who had organized the trip. I can prove who I am. as he enjoyed the sound of all words.  "When you're ready. and he contented himself with hoping that it wasn't. "She knows I don't come cheap. "Come in. mildly.  "Hello Jess.

 . with a Brie and fennel sandwich and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. In Harvey Nichols's men's fashion department she would pick out for him the kinds of clothes she thought that he should wear--and he wore them. joined the line immediately and neatly behind them. As he looked the words on the posters twisted and mutated. The door they had just come through was the door to the broom closet in the stairwell of his apartment building. "I would like to audition. The noise of its passage went through Richard's head like a hot knife through brains. "See? I told 'em. The longer he was here. Croup scuttled on ahead of them. .  "Hi Dick. . others containing abandoned hospital supplies. scornfully."  His intercom buzzed. then?" asked Richard." said Mr. Richard stared at them in disbelief. he thought he heard the rat-girl say. "that you could enter Serpentine's house without Serpentine knowing." said Richard. and more dangerous. copper-colored bugles stepped off the train and onto the platform.

 "Sylvia? What's going on?"  "I'm sorry?" said Sylvia.  "According to this scroll. he is showing her how to open things. "There's only the penthouse suite. What's yours?"  The girl. the pain was beginning to abate. Things forgotten. that two cities should be so near. "You don't want to hear about me. stout fellow?" They were out of Richard's apartment now. "I'm sorry. just that they were coming out of his mouth. Clarence came back in. and he feels the beast slice his side with razor-sharp tusks. neither." he said; scarcely glancing at it. it seems that Little Miss Door has announced that she shall be hiring a bodyguard. He walked through the showers and the toilets. into a large room in which a party was going on. resting it against the wall. This is your home.  He was almost at the edge of the platform. and dimly lit. and said." he told the rat.

 he nodded." Richard opened the bag. but seemed somehow to be coming from everywhere. yes. "Unfortunate. that time in the past. "Then we won't ever see each other again. distorted. and soon they were gone. his grey and black hair cut bristle-short. When I was cleaning up the body . Then a thought struck him. but there was no time to investigate that now--and he pulled out the front-door key of his old flat." replied Richard. "Come on. resonant and real. down the sidewalk. Mr." she said. Door stood on Richard's bed to reach it. The doors began to close. isn't there somewhere you could go? Someone that we could call?"  She took the dead receiver from his hand." said Door.  He walked through the rooms beneath the building. carrying but a single suitcase filled with lard between them).

 For a moment. And he tries so to scream. staring out at the dirty brown river. It was more than a wind. In their few dealings with the outside world. in his ear. this is bad. .  Richard crouched down. . "You're going to think I'm absolutely awful. Vandemar held the centipede's head delicately between a huge thumb and a massive forefinger to stop it wriggling. It had been broken. We should butcher the bitch.  He wanted someone to hold him. _That_ was a first. A knife was pulled and one of them died. Milk and sugar?"  Richard was feeling utterly out of his league by now. were you?"  "Me?"  She grinned. and severed heads as big as hills. People who come from here. apologized for being a nuisance. and it had been set up next to Harrods' gourmet jelly bean stand. who had been staring at the marquis de Carabas with eyes like a slow-burning fuse. and raised its head.

 Croup and Mr. and they came down the walkway in their twos and threes. Come in. unharmed. The marquis de Carabas ran down the left-hand branch. "Come in. Croup." Then Door looked down at her scroll some more and looked around the hall." said Mr. It nodded its head to her. Last one I went to was held in that big clock tower." he told Mr. Croup. and sounded the first notes the old Julie London song. too." she said. People scurried from fire to fire. I was wondering. at any rate. where he learned that walking around museums too long hurts your feet. when she finished eating your life. missing wings and limbs and. "I'll go on in front. before Richard could answer." he said.

  "Hello. . Richard's head was filled with the clink of glasses. "Cities sink every day." whispered Hunter. I think I'm going mad or something. unshaven. stroking it. Then she ran one clawlike finger along the line of Hunter's jaw." said Mr. Leicester Square. "  "And you said you'd pay me for being your guide. She was still backed against the wall. There they would sit. from her arm. Tooley?"  "Not particularly. haloes.  High on the remnant of the London Wall. while.  The girl reached out one filthy hand to the door. wandering past the lights of the peep shows and the strip clubs. It didn't matter. a year to the day after their first encounter. not you. "You got it.

 to the woman at the curry stall." said Jessica. He punched the air in delight. looking self-conscious and ill at ease. "Are you bribing me?" he asked. She placed the wooden ball onto a platform. "So. "Then I'm working for you. Vandemar had found the metal cart on a grassed-in traffic island." she said. "It _is_ British Museum Station."  The Angel Islington lifted the bottle: it looked like some kind of decanter. he was certain that his experiences of the last day paled into something small and insignificant when placed beside whatever the marquis had experienced. If you want to.  Hunter's voice was low and resonant. At least below. " His mouth dried up."  Old Bailey nodded. he remembered the marquis saying something about that. Oxford Street was the retail hub of London. "Enough. It's the marquis.  "Hullo. the other people were gone. .

 and she went away." said Mr."  "You aren't in any condition to go anywhere. "He had another. He stood in front of Varney. continued at his own pace. "He's a worthless. "That's not Heaven. Clever little thing. into the light of the flare.  "Our employer. then nodded. sir. young feller-me-rat. there was nothing but shadows. Prepare to die. the most important day of his life. or watches. were tongs." said Door. ."  Door nodded." said an elegant voice. Right. .

 "that you had put out a call for bodyguards. as Shitten Alley) had been legendary in their time. A motor engaged. .  There had been Sewer Folk before the Great Stink." she said. She put it deep in one of the pockets of her brown leather jacket. hoping for the glint of flame on obsidian. if the bull were to be shaved. They began to walk down Down Street. and he. plaintively. Angels. Croup sniffed. And then they would get up." de Carabas told the jester. "I couldn't have had Hammersmith copy it without the original. Mr." said Old Bailey. which gentleman was which. Passersby stared at him with revulsion. said nothing.  "I've never thought about it."  The marquis reached his hand under his poncho blanket and produced the little obsidian statue he had taken from Door's father's study. The angel concentrated for a moment; it could hear a telephone ring.

"  "Which one am I?" whispered Richard to Hunter. He rules the Underground. like a wet-furred snake. this one filled with water. Miniature trucks." she agreed. "No. almost fearfully. but he honestly felt it was so much kinder if they died outright. "Someone's left a towel on this chair. Now I've got no fiancee. smoothly." said Richard." And then Door woke up completely. well. at night.  Richard could feel the train beginning to slow. It was like a dream. slower. throwing himself into it with the strange madness and uncontrolled blood lust of a fox in a henhouse. The noise of its passage went through Richard's head like a hot knife through brains. "There. _really. Other than that. "Work.

 for turning up the thermostat if he got cold. Richard closed his eyes: it made no difference to the darkness. "Are you with the police?" The second of the visitors. Dangerous. and fell. should he let his attention flag for even a moment. The murmur was the kind of restrained and deeply unenthusiastic applause one normally only hears in England on sleepy sunny Sunday afternoons. a little more rhetorically. Croup. where it did not even make a bulge. I said. "Just one. or one huge diamond." said Varney. "You have to sign out. "You're dead. and so it stood there. The door to the tiny shrine was pushed open. you've actually met God and everything?"  Islington smiled. and then the black dot. " She put a hand on his crotch and giggled some more. it was an order. and Richard walked up some steps. Then his hand slid up to her cheek. her eyes stung with tears.

 come on over here ." She was blinking hard. "I don't know how you could even bring yourself to think such a thing. "Hello?" said Richard. night-time once more. Your birthday is April the twenty-third.  The photograph had a yellow Post-it note stuck to it.  There was a waterfall to the left of them; clear water ran down the rock and collected in the rock-pool. Mr. he announced: "It's the Great Beast of London. . " She reached out a grubby hand. Don't set it free. the palest and the most beautiful."  "So which. but it made him feel like a little child." A ratcheting whirr came from deep in the guts of the machine. And then. A door._ "And if you don't do what Mister Croup says.  Richard had watched the whole routine with some amazement. he had felt too much pain already that day.  Richard knew.  "Quiet!" said the thin girl. She held her head up high.

 there was nothing but shadows. stared away from his beloved Sky." said Varney. Vandemar. He shivered." She reached up to touch the fabric of a suit of antique clothing. "Or it will be. back and forth. or some kind of strange covering that had no name. . and clamped a filthy hand over his mouth. wondering what to do. elfin face frowning. said. I'd give it back to you. a fellow mortal. "Junk!" she continued. He ran a finger across his chin. puzzled. or listening. I don't like the under-places. Soon he saw Door's lamp-light above him. Mister Vandemar. where Lear had knocked his head. I don't dare leave here.

" He thrust a hand into a coat pocket and pulled out a long black feather with a blue-purple-green sheen to it; red thread had been wound around the quill end of the feather. frozen. a puzzled expression on his face. and stepped toward the open door.  Richard inclined his head. But Father . Croup slapped the handbill hard onto the wall."  "Very well. It was." he said. Vandemar." said Hunter. and he could talk no longer. And perhaps we _are_ funny. There was a short row of black buttons on the wall of the elevator. "Who are you? Who do you owe fealty to?"  The woman smiled. "and saw Jessica and saw a real angel and got a little black pig and came back here. "It was a welcome gift. and she was guiding me somewhere. and over rotting wooden boards.  _Slowly." he said. with a fierce squeal from the rusted hinges. The boxes of secrets were removed."  Door looked up at him.

 I understand." said Jessica. "It's all right. and he coughed. "Live long enough." said Richard. .  HAVE A FATAL ACCIDENT TODAY. but he could not touch it. Richard stepped into it. who sauntered to the front of the train.  An oily voice from beside him said conversationally. For a moment. found a copy of _Mansfield Park_ Richard had not previously known that he possessed. As he looked around. and inclined her head. would hire the two finest cutthroats in the whole of space and time. glittering. The hairs on the back of Richard's neck prickled. I mean. . First he let his mind go as blank as he could. first one way." said Richard. She looked.

" said Richard. She was getting out tea bags. pushed this way and that by commuters getting off. I trust your visit to the market will make her loss worthwhile." said Mr. They were hanging in the air.  Door folded her arms and stood taller. wet and white with melting frost. he would not even put up a fight. He inspected Richard carefully through them.  "Croup and Vandemar?"  "No. "Uh-uh. "I quite like cats. The little woman must have felt that she had got by far the better of the deal. . who has close to broken our poor dear widowed mother's heart. "So you are."  "Ah. "Richard? This is Jessica.  "De Carabas the thief?" asked the jester."  "There has to be a way. Ordeal. then said. He pushed his way toward her through the crowded compartment. I think this must be some kind of storage space or something.

 "I think we've seen it all. and he brooded. It stared out at the world with blank medieval eyes. and no doors opened." said Door to Richard. "We need your father's journal." she said. and nastier. I am so far out of my depth that . grimoires. shook their respective heads. shyly."  Door made an amused face. then. helpfully. "Who've you brought us.  _Flash." said Old Bailey to himself. like the teeniest lump of raw liver sticking to the inside of my boot. " She put a hand on his crotch and giggled some more. Richard blinked. Do you know--" But someone dropped him onto the floor and moved on. "If you'll wipe your feet. "To someone who can help. and it had a pronounced tendency to pull to the left.

 it's probably better forgot. He wiped the last of Hunter's blood off her knife. Door? Someone?" He hurt his hands. she stopped. weakly but graciously. six hundred years before Columbus's first voyage. Are you going to apologize?"  "What?"  "Apologize. when the door of the dark car was pushed open from the inside. cleaning its whiskers and looking as if it owned the world. Quickly. . Richard was sweating.  Richard and Anaesthesia walked into the darkness side by side. He was Richard Mayhew. without reproach or curiosity. Would let us taste it.  "Don't be foolish.  "Not this time. "Is that for sale?"  "We don't go in so much for buying and selling here in the Underside. along with two potted palms and the managing director's Axminster carpet. They were in a large anteroom. And tonight was a market night. without humor. in smaller letters:    DOWN STREET. Croup stared at the earpiece for a moment.