Neverwhere

There was a waterfall to the left of them; clear water ran down the rock and collected in the rock-pool. To the right of them was a door, set between two iron pillars: the door was made of polished flint set in a metal that was almost black.

“You really claim to be an angel?” Richard asked. “I mean, you’ve actually met God and everything?”

Islington smiled. “I claim nothing, Richard,” it said. “But I am an angel.”

“You honor us,” said Door.

“No. You do me much honor by coming here. Your father was a good man, Door, and a friend to me. I was deeply saddened by his death.”

“He said . . . in his journal . . . he said I should come to you. He said I could trust you.”

“I only hope that I can be worthy of that trust.” The angel sipped its wine. “London Below is the second city that I have cared for. The first sank beneath the waves, and there was nothing I could do to prevent it. I know what pain is, and loss. You have my sympathies. What would you like to know?”

Door paused. “My family . . . they were killed by Croup and Vandemar. But—who ordered it? I want . . . I want to know why.”

The angel nodded. “Many secrets find their way down to me,” it said. “Many rumors, and half-truths, and echoes.” Then it turned to Richard. “And you? What do you want, Richard Mayhew?”

Richard shrugged. “I want my life back. And my apartment. And my job.”

“That can happen,” said the angel.

“Yeah. Right,” said Richard flatly.

“Do you doubt me, Richard Mayhew?” asked the Angel Islington.

Richard looked into its eyes. They were a luminescent gray, eyes as old as the universe, eyes that had seen galaxies congeal from stardust ten million, million years ago; Richard shook his head. Islington smiled at him, kindly. “It will not be easy, and you and your companions will face some very real difficulties, both in the task, and in the return. But there could be a way that we can learn: a key to all of our problems.”

It got up, and walked over to a small rock shelf, where it picked up a figurine, one of several on the shelf. It was a small black statuette depicting some kind of animal, made of volcanic glass. The angel handed it to Door. “This will bring you safely through the last stage of your journey back to me,” it said. “The rest is up to you.”

“What do you want us to do?” asked Richard.

“The Black Friars are custodians of a key,” it said. “Bring it to me.”

“And you can use it to find out who killed my family?” asked Door.

“I hope so,” said the angel. Richard finished his glass of wine. He felt it warming him, running through him. He had the strange feeling that if he looked down at his fingers he would be able to see the wine glowing through them. As if he were made of light . . .

“Good luck,” whispered the Angel Islington. There was a rushing sound, like a wind soughing across a lost forest, or the beating of mighty wings.

Richard and Door were sitting on the floor in a room in the British Museum, staring up at a carved painting of an angel on a cathedral door. The room was dark and empty. The party had been over for a long time. The sky outside was beginning to lighten. Richard stood up, then leaned down, and helped Door up.

“Black Friars?” he asked. Door nodded.

He had crossed Blackfriars Bridge, in the City of London, many times, and he had often passed through Blackfriars station, but he had learned by now not to assume anything. “People.”

Richard walked over to the Angelus. He ran a finger down its painted robe. “Do you think he can really do it? Get me my life back?”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing. But I don’t think he would have lied to us. He is an angel.”

Door opened her hand, looked at the statue of the Beast. “My father had one of these,” she said, sadly. She put it deep in one of the pockets of her brown leather jacket.

“Well,” said Richard. “We’re not going to get the key back by lollygagging around here, are we?” They walked through the empty museum corridors.

“So what do you know about this key then?” asked Richard.

“Nothing,” said Door. They had reached the main doors of the museum. “I’ve heard of the Black Friars, but I’ve never actually had anything to do with them.” She pressed her fingers against a seriously locked glass door, which swung open at her touch.

“A bunch of monks . . . ” said Richard, thoughtfully. “I bet if we just tell them it’s for an angel, a real one, they’ll give us the sacred key, and—and throw in the magic can-opener and the amazing whistling corkscrew, as a surprise bonus.” He began to laugh. He wondered if the wine was still affecting him.

“You’re in good spirits,” said Door.

He nodded, enthusiastically. “I’m going to go home. Everything is going to be normal again. Boring again. Wonderful again.” Richard looked at the stone steps that lead up the British Museum, and decided that they were made to be danced down by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. And seeing that neither of them happened to be available, he began to dance down the steps, doing a Fred Astaire impersonation, while humming something approximately halfway between “Puttin’ on the Ritz” and “Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails.” “Ya-ta-ta-da-da-ta-ta-ya,” he sang, soft-shoeing down the steps and up again.

Door stood at the top of the steps, staring at him in horror. Then she began to giggle, helplessly. He looked up at her and doffed his imaginary white silk top hat to her, mimed tossing it high in the air, catching it, and putting it back on his head.

“Twit,” said Door, and smiled at him. In response, Richard grabbed her hand and continued dancing up and down the steps. Door hesitated for a moment, then she, too, began to dance. She danced much better than Richard did. At the bottom of the steps they tumbled, breathless and exhausted and giggling, into each other’s arms.

Richard felt his world spin.

He felt her heart beating against his chest. The moment began to transmute, and he wondered if there was something he should do. He wondered if he should kiss her. He wondered if he wanted to kiss her, and he realized that he truly did not know. He looked into her amazing eyes. Door put her head on one side, and pulled free. She pulled up the collar on her brown leather jacket, pulled it around her: armor and protection.

“Let’s go and find our bodyguard,” said Door. And they walked away together, down the sidewalk, toward British Museum Station, stumbling only a little from time to time.