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"There is no thirteenth floor," says Allegra "Look at the buttons This building only has five floors And if it had more, it wouldn’t have a thirteenth floor It’s bad luck No one would move in"

"If you say so," he says, and pulls out the stop button The car begins to move down It stops at the third floor

"See? We’re on three again" Then so moves by the home-decor shop

The here the porcelain cheetah stood just ais caked with a century’s worth of dust and irime In the cheetah’s place is a bell jar at least six feet tall There’s a woman inside She’s transparent and drained of color, nearly black and white Her hair and dress billow around her, blown by solass walls of her prison When she sees people getting off the elevator, she goes quiet and stares at us like a lion tracking a herd of zebra A second later, she’s pounding on the bell-jar glass again and showing yellow, sharklike teeth

The interior of the shop is dark and crowded and has the musty smell of an attic that hasn’t been opened in fifty years A shadow moves out of the shadows It’s a ra is black, but black like a raven or an abyss He’s wearing an expensive-looking silk robe and holding a brass telescope

"I see you’ve met my Fury," he says "She’s a very recent acquisition from Greece Of course, I’ve had all three Furies at one time or another, but never all at once That would be a coup" I look back at the Fury and out the dirtyWo attache cases pass, coe store

"Nice to see you all," says Mr Muninn "I was beginning to think that you’d forgotten about ra and then o

"I’ve heard a lot about you,to see out the back of ht see bit more of the devil in you Perhaps it’s best for us all that I can’t"

"Vidocq said that you ht have work for us"

"That I do, my boy I’m a trader and a businessoes out I’m busy, busy, constantly busy There’s alork here for those ant to work and to earn a decent wage"

"We were hoping forindecent for you to do"

"You have soup what looks like a basketball-size pearl with a map of the world caved on it

"These are just baubles, shiny things to bring in the curious Come Let me show you the real store"

He sets down the telescope on a table overfloith pocket watches, an orrery with the wrong nulass eyes, soer than the palh a steel door h, chiseled stone, like we’re in a cave cut into a mountain There’s a stone stairway that’s so narrow at points that we have to walk down single file And it’s not a short walk

The trick getting into and out of a place like this isyou can remember A loose stair A breeze from a hole in the wall A crack in the rock face that looks like a sheep blowing the eagle on the presidential seal

If it’s too dark, like it is on Muninn’s stairs, you can always steal a handful of rare and ancient coins frouy’s shop and drop theet where you’re going

The o in one without having a pretty good idea of how to get out And never let yourself be led into said cavern by a stranger ns his own Fury That last one isn’t absolute It’s just a good rule of thuuy, which is the only reason I’ doubloons and drachmas behind me

Just before we hit the bottom of the stairs, I can see where we’re headed It’s huge Like Texas huge I can see the cavern’s ceiling, but not the far walls There’s a junkyard of old tables, cabinets, and shelves at the bottom of the stairs About fifty yards beyond that is what looks like a stone labyrinth that twists, turns, and snakes away into the distance Can’t see the end of that, either It’s like standing on the beach at Santa Monica and trying to see to Japan

"Where did all this come from?" I ask

"Oh, here and there You kno it is when you stay in one place too long You tend to accus"

Shelves, dressers, and old tables are piled with books, old photos, jewelry, furs, false teeth, pickled hearts, and whatup over the top of the labyrinth’s walls are parts of drive-inship, a lighthouse, and strange carnivorous trees that snap at the flocks of birds circling the ceiling

"How long have you been here?"

"Forever I think It’s hard to be sure about these things, isn’t it? I e looks prettytime and that’s why everyone cos For sale or for trade Buyer’s choice"

"That’s e’re here I used up some of Vidocq’s Spiritus Dei and need to pay hiene, I didn’t know that you knew the sultan of Brunei"

"What does that mean?" I ask

"You’re not the sultan? Perhaps you’re Bill Gates or the czar of all the Russias?"

"No"

"Then trust me You can’t afford Spiritus Dei"

The little man wanders to a nearby table and picks up a wooden doll that looks like it was pulled out of a fire He winds a key at the doll’s back It stands up and begins to sing The song ht be a hymn or an aria from an opera I’ve never heard of, which is all of theh, perfect, and heartbreaking With a soft click, the key in its back stopsand the doll falls over Its voice echoes for severaloff the labyrinth’s thick walls

"Of course, we ht be able to do a trade," Muninn says "There’s a certain so in the possession of certain other people in our little town I would like you to help Eugene procure this iteuarantee you a flask of Spiritus Dei and a not inconsiderable aene told me that you’d like ht?"<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>