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‘Hello, my boy,’ he said ‘Let’s have a bow for Mister Monday’

Arthur stared at hien deprivation Hallucinations

A rip his head and bob it forward several times, as Sneezer made him bow to the man in the bath-chair The shock and unpleasantness of the touch h and lose all his hard-won control over his breathing Now he really was panicking, and he couldn’t breathe at all

‘Bring hih, he leaned over the side of the bath-chair as Sneezer dragged Arthur effortlessly over, using only two fingers to pick the boy up by the back of his neck

‘You’re sure this one will die straight away?’ Mister Monday asked, reaching out to lift Arthur’s chin and look at his face Unlike Sneezer, Monday’s hands were clean and his nails tririp, but Arthur found he couldn’t move at all, as if Mister Monday had pressed a nerve that paralysed his whole body

Sneezer ruo of Arthur’s neck He pulled out half a dozen scrunched-up pieces of paper, which hung in the air as if he’d laid theh theainst Arthur’s cheek The paper shone with a bright blue light and Arthur’s naold

‘It’s him, no doubt at all,’ said Sneezer He thrust the paper back in his pocket, and all the others went back in as if they were joined together on a thread ‘Arthur Penhaligon Due to drop off the twig any ive hio of Arthur’s chin Then he slowly reached inside the left sleeve of his silk robe and pulled out a slender metal spike It looked very much like a thin-bladed knife without a handle Arthur stared at it, his en Somewhere in his head, under that fuzziness, the panicked voice that had told hiain

Run away! Run away! Run away!

Though the weird paralysis frorip did not lessen for a th to break free

‘By the powers vested in ements entered into in the blah, blah, blah,’ muttered Mister Monday He spoke too quickly for Arthur toHe didn’t slon until he reached the final feords ‘And so let the Will be done’

As he finished, Monday thrust out with the blade At the sarass Monday laughed wearily and dropped the blade into Arthur’s open hand Instantly, Sneezerso hard that the metal bit into his skin With the pain came another sudden shock Arthur found that he could breathe It was as if a catch had been turned at the top of his lungs, unlocking theently ‘He has to have it all’

Monday peered across at his servant and frowned He also started to yawn, but quashed it, taking an angry swipe across his own face

‘You’re very keen for the Key to leave my possession, even if only for a fewelse out of his other sleeve, but now he hesitated ‘And to give me boiled brandy and water Too much boiled brandy and water Perhaps, in ht’

‘If the Will finds you, and you have not given the Key to a suitable Heir –’

‘If the Will finds me,’ mused Monday ‘What of it? If the reports be true, only a few lines have escaped their durance I wonder how much power they hold?’

‘It would be safer not to put it to the test,’ said Sneezer, wiping his nose on his sleeve Anxiety obviously made his nose run

‘With the coht live,’ observed Monday For the first tiht in his bath-chair and the sleepy look was gone from his eyes ‘Besides, Sneezer, it seems odd to me that you of all my servants should have come up with this plan’

‘How so, sir?’ asked Sneezer He tried to sly, but the effect was repulsive

‘Because generally you’re an idiot!’ shouted Monday in a rage He flicked a finger and an unseen force struck Sneezer and Arthur, sending theaue with the Morrow Days, aren’t you? You and that Inspector, and the Will safe as ever? Do you expect to take over an to advance upon the bath-chair With each step, his voice changed, beco into the distance Trumpets sounded as he trod, and Arthur saw letters of sharp black ink form upon his skin The letters danced and joined into lines of type that rushed across Sneezer’s face like living, shining tattoos

‘Into the trust of ood Monday, I place the administration of the Lower House,’ said both the type and the boo voice that came out of his mouth, but was not Sneezer’s ‘Until –’ Arthur couldn’t believe the languid Monday couldobject that he pointed at Sneezer as he shouted deafening words that sounded like thunderclaps, the vibration of theround where Arthur lay

There was a flash of light, a concussion that shook the earth, and a stifled screah Arthur did not knoho it came from, Sneezer or Mister Monday

Arthur shut his eyes When he opened theain, Monday, bath-chair, and Sneezer had disappeared, but there was still black type running in a thread through the air,too quickly for him to read the words The letters twirled above Arthur into a spiral, a ind of shiny letters So heavyhim sharply on the head

It was a book, a slireen cloth Arthur absently picked it up and slid it into his shirt pocket He looked up and around again, but the lines of type were gone They had slowed down just long enough for him to make out only four words: Heir, Monday, and The Will

Arthur could see Mister Weight towards hi yhty