Grim Tuesday Part 3

Leaf smiled. "Not second sight. Just good hearing."

"Thanks," said Arthur. He ran and wheeled the bike over to the garage door. The lack of an automatic opener puzzled him for a second, till he worked out he had to push the door up himself.

"Hey, Arthur!" Leaf called out as he got on the bike. Her voice was so weak that it came out a little louder than a whisper. "Promise you'll tell me what this is all about."

"I will," replied Arthur. If I get the chance.

Chapter Four.

Arthur pedaled furiously, coasted till he got his breath back, then pedaled furiously again. He wasn't sure that he actually would get his breath back, as that familiar catch came and his lungs wouldn't take in any air. But each time he felt his chest stop and bind, there was a breakthrough a moment later and in came the breath. His lungs, particularly the right one, felt like they were made of Velcro, resisting his efforts to expand them until they suddenly came unstuck.

He tried not to look at his watch as he cycled. But Arthur couldn't help catching glimpses of its s.h.i.+ning face as the minute hand moved so quickly towards the twelve. By the time he got to the high chain-link fence around the old Yeats Paper Mill, it was 11:50. Arthur only had ten minutes, and he didn't know how to get through the fence, let alone get under the old mill whatever that meant.

There were no obvious holes in the fence and the gate was chained and padlocked, so Arthur didn't waste any more time looking. He leaned Ed's bicycle against the fence, stood on the seat, and pulled himself up on one of the posts. Despite being scratched by the top strands of old, rusty barbed wire, he managed to swing himself over and drop to the other side. At the bottom he checked his s.h.i.+rt pocket, to make sure it hadn't been torn off with the Atlas inside. He'd lost it that way before and he was not going to lose it again.

"Underneath underneath," Arthur muttered to himself as he ran across the cracked concrete of the old parking lot towards the ma.s.sive brick building and its six enormous chimneys. No paper had been made at the Yeats Paper Mill for at least a decade, and the whole place had been set aside for some sort of development that had never happened. Probably a shopping mall, Arthur thought sourly.

There had to be underground storage or something here, but how could he find a way down?

Wheezing, Arthur ran to the first door he could see. It was chained and padlocked. He kicked it, but the wood held firm. Arthur ran along the wall to the next door. This one looked like it had been opened recently, and the chain was loose. Arthur pushed it open just wide enough to squeeze himself through.

He hadn't known what to expect inside, but he hadn't thought it would be a huge open s.p.a.ce. All the old machinery and huge piles of debris from former internal walls had been pushed to the sides, leaving an area about the size of a football field. Light streamed down in shafts from the huge skylights and many holes in the tin roof.

In the cleared area, a strange machine squatted. Arthur knew instantly it came from the House and was not a relic of past papermaking. It was the size of a bus and looked like a cross between a steam engine and a mechanical spider, with eight forty-foot-long, jointed limbs that sprouted from a bulbous cylindrical body a boiler with a thin smokestack at one end.

The limbs were made of a red metal that shone dully even where the sun did not fall, but the boiler was a deep black that sucked up the sunlight and did not reflect it.

There were several huge bottles of the same black metal near the spider-machine. Each one was taller than Arthur and easily three or four feet in diameter.

Arthur sneaked across to a pile of debris and took another look. He couldn't see anyone, so he slinked along to the next pile and then the next. When he was level with the machine, he was surprised to see a very normal-looking office desk next to it. There was a giant plasma screen on the desk, and a PC beneath it. Arthur could see a green activity light flas.h.i.+ng on the PC, de-spite the fact its electric lead was coiled up on the concrete floor, not plugged into anything. He could also see something on the screen. Graphs and rows of figures.

Arthur was just about to creep forward for a better look when a Grotesque walked around from the other side of the boiler. Arthur wasn't sure if it was one of the two he'd seen before. Whoever it was, it was no longer disguised in a modern suit. Its leather ap.r.o.n had what looked like scorch marks all over it, and numerous tools were sticking out of the pockets on the front.

Arthur ducked down behind some fallen bricks and froze. The Grotesque sang to itself as it picked up a huge pair of long-handled tongs from the floor and went over to the dark bottles.

"Double, treble, quadruple bubble, watch the stock market get into trouble"

Using the tongs with much grunting and shuffling, the Grotesque picked up one of the huge bottles and slowly maneuvered it over to the boiler. It put the bottle down for a moment to open a hatch almost at ground level directly below the smokestack. Then it drew out gloves, a tightly fitting hood, and goggles with smoked quartz lenses from inside its ap.r.o.n. It put these on, picked up the tongs again, and used them to lever the bottle into a position where its neck fitted into the opening in the boiler.

Then it spoke. Three words in a language that Arthur did not know. Words that sent a s.h.i.+ver through the soles of his feet and up his spine. Words that caused the heavy wax seal on the bottle to shatter and release the contents into the boiler.

The contents were Nothing. Arthur saw a dark, oily waft that was both liquid and smoke at the same time. Most of it poured into the boiler, but a few tendrils escaped, winding back towards the Grotesque, who stepped smartly back. It dropped the tongs and drew a glittering blade of crystal that crackled with electric sparks.

The Nothing that had escaped began to eddy and spiral, taking a definite shape. At first it looked like it would become some sort of animal, something tigerlike, with clawed paws and a toothy mouth. Then it changed to become a human shape, but one with bunched tendrils instead of hands.

A Scoucher!

The Grotesque sheathed its crystal blade and eased one of the many rings it wore off its middle finger. As the Scoucher's shape became definite and it lunged forward, the Grotesque flicked its ring. It struck the Scoucher in the face, and once again Arthur heard the sizzling sound. A moment later, the Scoucher was gone, and the ring bounced on the floor with the clear bell-like sound of silver.

The Grotesque laughed and bent to pick it up. Arthur chose that moment to run to the next pile of debris. Instantly, the Grotesque swung around, its crystal blade in its hand once more. Arthur instinctively flinched, but the Grotesque did not rush over to attack. Instead it smiled and flourished its hand at the machine.

"So the Master of the Lower House has come to see my strange device. I presume you require a demonstration? A little foretaste of what is to come at twelve o'clock?"

The Grotesque strode to the side of the machine and turned a large bronze wheel. A shriek came from the boiler, rising in intensity with each turn of the wheel. Smoke suddenly poured out of the smokestack. Weird smoke that was gray and slow and thick, pitted with tiny specks of intense blackness. As the smoke rose and the shrieking grew louder, the arms of the machine rose high in the air and began to jerk and jitter from side to side.

Arthur looked around frantically. Whatever the raa-chine did, it would be bad. He had to find the way into the House!

"Oil up fifteen percent!" shouted the Grotesque and it spoke another word that made Arthur feel suddenly ill. In response, the spider-arms stopped for a moment, then began to dance in a rhythmic, mesmerizing pattern. As they moved, sparks fountained out of the pointed ends of each limb, leaving luminescent aftertrails across Arthur's eyes. Bright trails that were vaguely reminiscent of mathematical formulae and symbols, though not ones that Arthur recognized.

On the plasma screen, the graphs suddenly disappeared, replaced by a spinning breaking news logo. It was replaced a moment later by the face of a TV network woman, with the words sudden oil shock scrolling across the screen. Arthur couldn't hear her over the shrieking machine and the whirr and buzz of its arms, but he could guess what she was saying.

The Grotesque's bizarre machine had somehow sent the price of oil up fifteen percent.

"What stocks does your father own?" jeered the Grotesque. It took a piece of paper out of its ap.r.o.n pocket and looked at it. "Oh, I know. Music Supa-Planet, down fifty percent!"

Again it spoke a strange word that sent a ripple of pain through Arthur's joints. The spider-arms stopped at the word, then began a different dance, tracing out their strange formulae in patterns of light.

Arthur shook his head to try and clear the aftereffect of the bright sparks and the words. On the second shake, he saw something. A little door at the base of one of the huge paper mill chimneys. A metal inspection hatch that was slightly ajar.

The chimneys go below the surface. That has to be a way down.

He ran towards the hatch, with the Grotesque's voice echoing all around, even above the shrieking engine.

"Northern Aquafarms, down twenty-five percent!"

Arthur reached the inspection hatch. As he pulled it open, the shriek of the engine suddenly stopped. He glanced back and saw the Grotesque staring at him malignantly.

"Go where you will, Master of the Lower House. The Machine merely pauses for want of fuel, and I shall soon supply that!"

Arthur shuddered, bent his head, and climbed through the hatch. He was only just inside when the Grotesque shouted something, another word that made Arthur's teeth and bones ache, and slammed shut the hatch behind him, cutting off all the light.

In the brief moment before the door closed, Arthur saw that the chimney was at least thirty feet in diameter, with well-worn steps that circled around and down. In the total darkness, Arthur descended by feel, careful not to commit his weight to a step until he was sure it was there. Not for the first time, he wished he still had the First Key, for the light it shed and many other reasons.

Finally he reached the bottom. It was slightly flooded, water coming up to Arthur's ankles. The river was close by here. He was probably below its level, Arthur thought uneasily. It didn't help to think of the river suddenly breaking in, not here in the absolute darkness.

But there had to be a way out, a way into the House. Didn't there? Arthur began to think that he had been lured into a trap. Maybe this was just a chimney and he'd been led into it like a complete fool.

Maybe the Grotesque is going to let more water in. Is it already rising?

Arthur began to edge around the walls, feeling with his feet and hands. He was starting to panic, and the cold water was not helping his breathing. He could feel his right lung seizing up, the left laboring hard to make up for its companion's failings.

His hand touched something sticking out from the wall. Something round, about the size of an apple. Something smooth and soft. Wooden, not brick.

A door handle.

Arthur sighed in relief, and turned it.

The door opened inwards. Arthur stumbled in, tripping over the lintel. His stomach somersaulted as he continued to fall.

Straight down!

Just like the last time he'd entered the House, Arthur was falling slowly as slow as a plastic bag caught on a summer breeze through darkness.

But this time he didn't have the Key to get him out of this strange in-between place that was neither his own world nor the House. He might fall forever and never arrive anywhere Arthur gritted his teeth and tried to think of something positive. He had held the First Key. He was the Master of the Lower House, even if he'd handed his powers over to a Steward. He felt sure there was some remnant magic in his hands, which had once wielded the Key.

There has to be some residual power.

Arthur thrust out his right hand and imagined the Key still in his fist. A s.h.i.+ning Key.

"Take me to the Front Door!" he shouted, the words strangely dull and flat. There was no echo in this weird s.p.a.ce, no resonance of any kind.

Nothing happened for a few seconds. Then Arthur saw a very pale glow form around his knuckles. It was so dark it took him a little while to work out what it was. The light comforted him, and he tried to concentrate on it, willing it to grow stronger. At the same time, under his breath, he kept repeating his instruction.

"Take me to the Front Door. Take me to the Front Door"

His wrist clicked as his hand moved away, tugged by an unseen force. He felt the direction of his fall change from straight down into a shallower dive.

"Take me to the Front Door. Take me to the Front Door. Take me to"

Far off, a tiny light caught Arthur's eye. It was too far away to be more than a luminous blob, but Arthur felt sure he was headed towards it, that it would grow and grow until it became a huge rectangular shape of blinding light.

It bad to be the Front Door of the House.

Chapter Five.

To Arthur's considerable relief, the light did grow and it did look exactly like the Front Door. Only this time he was approaching very slowly, so he had enough time to prepare himself for the shock of falling through to the other side to the green lawn of Doorstop Hill, in the Atrium of the Lower House.

Once he was there, he figured it would be relatively easy to get to Monday's Dayroom. Arthur wondered if it was called Arthur's Dayroom now, or the Will's Day-room, or something else completely different. In any case, he would find the Will and Suzy there, and together they would work out what to do about Grim Tuesday and his minions.

Arthur was still thinking about that as he drifted gently towards the Door, when he was unexpectedly thrust forward by a tremendous force. Completely unprepared for what felt like a giant whack in the back, he tumbled end over end and crashed headfirst into the bright rectangle of light.

For an instant Arthur felt like he was being turned inside out, everything twisted in impossible and painful directions. Then he bounced on his feet on the other side and crashed down onto his hands and knees. Jarring pain in both told him he had not landed on soft gra.s.s. It was also completely dark, without even the soft glow of the distant ceiling of the Atrium, and certainly no elevator shafts illuminating the scene. Even worse, there was smoke everywhere thick, cloying smoke that instantly made Arthur's lungs tighten and constrict.

Before he could begin to feel around or even cough, someone grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him up and back. Arthur swallowed his cough and instinctively screamed, a scream that was cut off as some kind of fluid enveloped him. He started to choke, thinking that he was in water, but a solid clap on the back stopped that and he realized that whatever the fluid was, it wasn't water and it wasn't getting into his throat and nose. A moment later he was out of it and could feel air again. He had pa.s.sed through some kind of membrane or fluid barrier.

Wherever he was, everything looked extremely blurry and there was too much color, like he was standing with his nose pressed to a stained-gla.s.s window where the colors kept mixing up.

"Relax and blink a lot," instructed whoever was gripping his shoulders a calm, deep male voice that sounded vaguely familiar. It only took Arthur a second to remember whose it was.

The Lieutenant Keeper of the Front Door.

Arthur blinked madly and tried to relax. As he blinked, the colors settled down and the blurriness eased, at least when he was looking straight ahead. It was still very blurry to either side.

"Are we inside some sort of multicolored gla.s.s ball?" Arthur asked after a moment. They certainly were inside something spherical and there was light s.h.i.+ning into it, light that kept s.h.i.+fting around and was diffracted into many different colors.

"We are in a temporary bubble inside the Door itself," explained the Lieutenant Keeper. He let go of Arthur, stepped in front of him, and saluted. As before, he was wearing a blue uniform coat with one gold epaulette. "One that lessens the effect of the Door on mortal minds. Now, we only have a brief respite before you must go through to the Far Reaches "

"The Far Reaches?" exclaimed Arthur in alarm. "But I wanted to go to the Atrium of the Lower House."

"The Front Door opens on many parts of the House, but the door you entered in the Secondary Realms leads only to the Far Reaches and the Grim's railway station."

"I can't go there!"

"You must go there," declared the Lieutenant Keeper. "You have already gone there. I s.n.a.t.c.hed you back, but I cannot keep you inside the Door for any great length of time. You must go where you are going. That is the Law of the Door."

"But" Arthur struggled to think. "Okay, if I have to go to the Far Reaches, can you send a message from me to the Will or Suzy, in the Lower House?"

"That part of the Will is called Dame Primus now," said the Lieutenant Keeper. "I am afraid I am not allowed to send unofficial messages to her or anyone else. I can hold a message for someone, but I cannot pa.s.s it on unless they inquire whether I have one."

He unb.u.t.toned part of his coat and reached in to withdraw a watch. It played a haunting melody as he flipped open the case and gravely studied the dial.

"Two minutes, then I must return you to the Far Reaches."

"Can you give me a disguise?" asked Arthur desperately. The Lieutenant Keeper had helped him before with a s.h.i.+rt and cap, so he didn't stand out in the Lower House. Arthur would need a disguise even more in Grim Tuesday's domain.

"That I can do. I hoped you would ask."

The Lieutenant Keeper reached out through the glowing walls of the sphere. When he pulled his hand back he held one end of a clothesline. He reeled it in. As the pegs dropped off, various items of clothing fell into Arthur's lap, including a faded pajama-like top and pants, a strange hooded cape of some rough material the color of mud, and a many-times-patched leather ap.r.o.n.

"Put the work suit on over your clothes," instructed the Lieutenant Keeper. "You will need layers for warmth. Roll up the cape for later."

Arthur put on the pajama-like top and trousers, and then strapped on the ap.r.o.n, which was very heavy leather. As instructed, he rolled up the hooded cape. It was very thick, and difficult to squash down. Arthur didn't recognize the material.

"Stabilized mud," said the Lieutenant Keeper as Arthur looked down on a rolled-up cape that was a quarter as big as he was. "Inexpensive and it offers sufficient protection against the Nothing rain in the Pit. While it lasts."

"Nothing rain?" asked Arthur. He didn't like the way the Lieutenant Keeper said the Pit either. He remembered that the Atlas had called it a huge sore in the foundation of the House.

"The Pit is so vast that clouds form partway down and there is constant rain," said the Lieutenant Keeper as he reached back out through the barrier and retrieved a pair of wooden clogs stuffed with straw.

"The rain concentrates the Nothing pollution that pervades the Pit and carries it back down. Hence the name."

"But what is the Pit exactly?" asked Arthur. All he knew from the Atlas's earlier reference was that it was some sort of giant mine, and a danger to the House.

"Unfortunately, you will soon see for yourself. I fear you will have difficulty staying out of it. Once in, you should escape as quickly as you can. Now put on the clogs. Keep your socks. They are not so different as to attract notice."

Arthur slipped off his comfortable, arch-supported, computer-designed sneakers and put on the straw-stuffed wooden clogs. They felt loose and extremely uncomfortable. When he stood up he couldn't take a step without his heels lifting out.