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Prologue

THE BLOOD RED, spike-covered locory blasts as it wound up froh the stea from the deep mines far below

For over ten thousand years, the Pit had been dug deeper and deeper into the foundations of the House Gri, fros could be h to the endless abyss of Nothing, it would destroy theed and that particular shaft closed off

There was also the constant danger of attack by Nithlings, the strange creatures that were born fros cale, fearsome monster that would wreak enormous havoc until it was defeated, turned back, or escaped into the Secondary Realms

Despite the danger, the Pit grew ever deeper, and the shafts and tunnels that preceded it spread wider The train was a relatively recent addition, a mere three hundred years old as time ran in the House The train took only four days to travel from the bottom of the Pit up to the Far Reaches There wasn'thad eaten away inal domain within the House

Very few ordinary Denizens ever rode the train Most had to walk, a journey of at least fourthe service road next to the railway The train was only for the Grim hies were razor-spiked all over to prevent hitchhikers, and the conductors used steaet on Even an almost-i a blast of superheated stea time and be extraordinarily painful

Flying would be far faster than the train, but Gris his attracted Nothing fros to for that the Grim himself had to quell

The train whistled seven tiside the platform Up Station had been built by Grirand station on some world in the Secondary Realms

It had once been a beautiful building of vaulting arches and pale stonework But the coal ses and factories had stained the stones black The pollution fro the stone with tiny holes, like a worm-eaten wooden ship The station only stayed up because Grim Tuesday constantly repaired it with the power of his Key

Gridohtful Heir ten thousand years ago, but instead chose to keep, in defiance of the Will left by the Architect who had created the House and the Secondary Realms

Griht about the Will It had been broken into seven fragments had been hidden away across the vastness of space and the depths of timent himself, the Second Clause of theWill, and had once been sure that no one else would ever reach it

But now he had learned that the first part of the Will had escaped It had found itself a Rightful Heir, and that heir had unbelievably ed to vanquish Mister Monday and assume his powers

That meant Grim Tuesday would be next As he stepped off the train, he scowled at the open letter he held in his gauntleted hand The e to the Far Reaches aiting now, expecting a reply

Griain The heir was a boy naon, a boy fro of those in the Secondary Realiven birth to many of the artists and creators whose work Grim Tuesday copied Huifted result of all the Architect's aeons-old seedlings, the only creatures anywhere, in the House or out of it, who rivalled Her in their creativity

The Griain and crushed the letter He did not like to be reood look at anything original, he could s in interesting ways But he could not create anything entirely new himself

'Lord Tuesday'

The greeting caers Denizens of the House, but not like the ones in the Far Reaches They stood head and shoulders above the soot-stained, Nothing-pocked servants of Grireat bronze-bound barrels of Nothing brought up fro would be used to make raw materials like bronze, steel and silver, which would in turn be transforoods in Gri would be used directly by the Griically fashion the exquisite items he sold to the rest of the House

The Gris and badly mended leather aprons, and were hunched and slow and beaten-looking The antly in their shining black frock coats over snohite shirts, their neckties a sohter than their silken waistcoats Their top hats were sleek and glossy, reflecting and intensifying the pallid light frohts that lined the platform, so it was hard to see their faces

Grim Tuesday snorted He was pleased to see that he was still taller than the h they were at least seven feet tall His servants were generally twisted and foreshortened by their exposure to Nothing, but Grim Tuesday was not He was thin in the fashion of sohty river He scorned fancy clothes, preferring leather trousers and a simple leather jerkin that showed the corded old-banded gloves of flexible silver loves, whether he orking or not

'I have read the letter,' grumbled Grim Tuesday 'It matters not to me who rules the Lower House, or any other, for that matter The Far Reaches are mine and so they shall remain'

'TheWill –' 'I've taken care of my part, and far better than that sloth Monday,' interrupted Grim Tuesday 'I have no fears on that score'

'The writer of the letter does not think so'

'No?' The Griain, and the scars where his eyebrows once were met above his nose 'What do you know that I do not?'

'We know of a way that you can strike at the Lower House and thisArthur Penhaligona loophole in the Agreement'

'Our Agree anything that would letWednesday or that fool Friday encroach upon my preserves?'

'No, noIt is a loophole only you can exploit The Agreement forbids interference between the Trustees and their properties But what if you had a lawful claim to the Lower House and the First Key? Then it would be your property, not another's'

Gri If he could find a way to say this Arthur owed hi, then he could take the First Key as the payment There was only one probleainst Arthur

'The forross of er asked in reply