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The disorganisation was reflected in un for forty-six assorted descriptions on calfskin, and another hotly disputing that she was responsible for the Aaah! to Aaar voluistry of Lesser Creations

A crowd ofwith a very tall man in a blue uniform coat who stood in the doorway and wouldn’t let them in as he read from a scroll in his hand about some sort of failure to renew a licence

Another croas picking up the pieces of a huge stone tablet that had apparently toppled out of an upper-storey hich was itself cru away Two men walked around a pile of dropped papers, both loudly disclai any responsibility for them as they bleay down the street Arthur noticed that these papers were rapidly picked up by soed children, but when he tried to see where they ith the appeared to be an office of so to find so else, like a café, a restaurant, or a superry He just wanted to see sos had bronze plates or sns on the doors or next to theris that Arthur couldn’t ht and polished ns that read SUB-BRANCH SECOND DIRECTORATE OF THIRD DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR RATIOCINATION AND CROSS-CHECKING – LOWER ATRIUM OFFICE AND WHAT GOES UP NEED NOT COME DOWN INITIATIVE OFFICE – LOWER ATRIUM ANNEX AND INQUISITOR GENERAL’S ELEVENTH DEPUTY ASSOCIATE ASSISTANT IN CHARGE OF WINGS – LOWER ATRIUM INSPECTION OFFICE

Another aspect of the disorganised bustle was that everyone ignored Arthur In his too-large shirt and watch cap, he didn’t look much different from the other children But the kids kept their distance from him, and he kneas on purpose

He tried to talk to a woman who looked less busy than most, but as soon as he went up to her and said, ‘Excuse me,’ she jumped into the air, pulled a sheaf of papers fro aloud so rapidly that Arthur couldn’t understand a word

He made his second approach to a very olda basket full of tiny gold tablets Arthur fell in step with him and said, ‘Excuse me’ once more

‘It’s not my fault!’ exclaimed the old man ‘The Lower Supernumary Third Archive deposit hatch is shut and no Archivist on duty these last thousand years Tell that to your superior’

‘I just wanted to ask –’ Arthur started to say But before he could finish, the old h the crowd His passage provoked a storm of minor accidents and complaints, and soon the whole street was streith dropped papers, people banging their heads together as they tried to pick the over at least a thousand lead pencils that had rolled out of an overturned tub

Arthur stared at the chaos and decided he needed to think about his next approach He climbed up the steps of the closest office and leaned back on yet another verdigris-obscured brass plate As he had done every few h his shirt to confirm that the Key was still at his side

Just as he touched it, there was a sudden increase in noise frouenuine fear Instead ofaround, the crowd parted and fled in opposite directions Many of thes!’

Arthur stopped leaning and stood up straight to see as happening The street had completely cleared in a matter of seconds A few sheets of paper drifted across the cobbles and fell into the cracks, and a large ox-hide parchrao

Arthur could see no reason for the panic, but he could s

A familiar odour The rotten-meat smell of the Fetchers’ breath

Then he saw that the cracks in the street were slowly spreading and widening, and a thinup, as if oil had been struck under the cobbles

A whistle sounded in the distance, sharp and shrill It was answered by others, co from every direction As if in reaction to the whistles, the cracks in the street groaned open even wider, and more strearew till they were six or seven feet high, then the black an to solidify into seas, creatures whose faces were on backwards, with double-jointed arms and patches of scales upon their skin I worn by the paper-shufflers of the city for, and hats with no crowns, and trousers where one leg was three feet longer than the other and trailed upon the ground

The plume Arthur had spotted first was also the first to be fully for with rubbery ar down past its knees It had one red-riarment rather like a blue straitjacket that was tied at the back, a crushed top hat with a gaping hole in the crown, and spurred boots of different sizes

Arthur stared at it in horror, and the thing stared back, one transparent eyelid slowly sliding up and down across his single red-rimmed eye Then it opened its ue that flickered in and out

Arthur realised he should have run when everybody else did He started down the steps, but the thing was already at the botto solid forainst the door He pushed on it with his shoulder, but it didn’this eyes off the creature, he reached behind to frantically twist the doorknob, but it wouldn’t turn either There was no escape that way

Quickly Arthur looked fro some other way out But thebuildings, and the one-eyed horror was li up the steps It drooled as it carily at the boy

‘Get back!’ shouted Arthur He pulled out the Key, got it tangled in his shirt for a heart-stopping er

The one-eyed creature hissed when it saw the Key It turned its head and its misshapen mouth quivered It stopped its advance and called out to its co out down the street Arthur wished he didn’t understand its guttural speech, but he did

‘Treasure! Danger! Come and help me!’

All of the creatures stopped and turned back towards Arthur The one-eyed one hissed again and began to slink forward, much more carefully this time, its eye focused not on Arthur, but on the Key The clock hand was glowing again, Arthur saw, light gathering at the point The Key was gathering its power as the creature gathered its allies

The one-eyed creature suddenly crouched and Arthur kneas about to spring He pointed the Key at it and shouted, a wild cry that wasn’t a word at all, but a er and fear

A strea the creature’s leap head-on The thing squealed and hissed like a steaency stop, twisted aside, and fell back to the street It lay there, twitching and groaning, with s from a hole in its chest But there were h they had slowed down after seeing the fate of their forerunner, Arthur knew they would get him if they all rushed hiht, and pointed the Key at the closest one

‘Hey! Idiot! Up here!’