Arthur nodded and yawned. He turned back to say good-bye, mainly to Suzy, and was surprised to see everyone kneeling on the grass.
"Good-bye!" Arthur called out. He hesitated, then bowed. They all bent their heads while remaining on one knee. Arthur's heart sank. He didn't want to say good-bye like this. Then he saw Suzy raise her head. She winked and smiled and rolled her eyes at the company she was in.
"Good-bye, Monday's Tierce," said Arthur quietly.
"See you," said Suzy. "Watch out for them Morrow Days." "Good-bye, everyone!"
"Good-bye, sir!" chorused Dawn, Noon, and Dusk, and all the assembled Denizens behind them.
Arthur waved again, then turned and followed the Will back through the door into Monday's Dayroom. All the steaming mud had disappeared. Now it looked like the interior of an old house, or maybe a museum.
"This way, please," said Sneezer, taking them up a stairway and down a very long corridor. Arthur and the Will followed the butler into a library, a very comfortable-looking one, about as big as the one at Arthur's school, but with old wooden shelves and several comfortable-looking armchairs.
"I have taken the liberty of placing your clothes behind that shelf, milord," said Sneezer as he rapidly applied a cloth and a brush to Arthur, magically removing the mud.
"Oh, yeah, thanks," said Arthur. He looked down at his strange clothing and a faint smile crossed his face. He didn't want to go back in a nightshirt without underpants.
It only took Arthur a minute to get dressed. Though his school clothes were pressed and cleaned, the labels and the waistband from his underpants were still missing. That would be a tough one to explain to his mom, he thought.
He took special care to take the Nightsweeper from his coat and put it in his shirt pocket, wedging it tightly so it could not fall out. The little horse whinnied quietly, but seemed quite comfortable.
When Arthur emerged, Sneezer was waiting.
"I believe this is yours, milord," said Sneezer, and he plucked a volume from a small ivory-fronted shelf next to one of the chairs. He gave the book to Arthur, then went to pull on a bell rope in the corner. A bell boomed in the distance as he tugged the rope. A few seconds later, it was answered by a deep rumbling. The floor shivered under Arthur's feet, and one entire wall of bookshelves rolled back to reveal a strange seven-sided room. In the center of the room seven grandfather clocks were set facing one another, their pendulums making a collective swimmy sort of thrum that was like listening to your own heartbeat with your fingers in your ears.
Distracted for a moment, Arthur didn't look at the book. When he did, he realized it was the Compleat Atlas of the House.
"But this isn't mine," he protested to the Will. "You should have this. I can't even open it without the Key."
"It is yours," boomed the Will. "You have borne the Key long enough that some pages will open to your hand. You will also need this."
She reached into her sleeve again and pulled out not a handkerchief, but a red lacquered container about the same size as a shoe box. Arthur took it and tucked it under his arm.
"What is it?"
"A telephone," said the Will. "You may have need to speak to me, should the Morrow Days prove less kind than we might hope. Or if I need your counsel."
"I don't want it," said Arthur stubbornly. "You said I could have five or six years!"
"The telephone will not be used save in the most dire emergency," replied the Will. "It is insurance against perfidious fate, nothing more."
"Oh, all right!" said Arthur. He tucked the box under his arm and paced angrily next to the Will. "Now, can I finally go home?"
"I do beg your pardon, milord," said Sneezer. He had gone inside the room and was moving the hands of the clocks around. "This is rather complicated, but it will only take a moment."
Arthur stopped pacing. Once again he checked his pocket to make sure the tiny black horse was still there.
"Ready!" pronounced Sneezer. "Quickly, quickly, get in before the clocks strike!"
"Good-bye, Master," said the Will. "You have shown great fortitude and proved, as I fully expected, to be a most excellent choice."
She gave Arthur what was clearly meant to be a small push towards the clocks, but actually sent him flying across the room and almost into them. Sneezer caught him, spun him around, and set him in the middle, caught between the clocks. Then the butler leaped out of the circle.
The clocks began to strike. The room wavered around Arthur, as if a heat haze had sprung up. Arthur dimly saw the Will waving her handkerchief and Sneezer saluting. The clocks continued to strike, and a familiar white glow spread all around.
Just like the Improbable Stair; thought Arthur.
He stood for a while, wondering what was going to happen next and where... and when he was going to come out.
I guess I should have told Sneezer exactly what I wanted. Not that it matters. As long as I can get the Nightsweeper going...
The white light pulsed and began to close in around Arthur on three sides. But on the fourth side, it stretched out, making a kind of narrow corridor. Arthur hesitated, but as the light continued to press in, started along it.
He seemed to walk for a long time and was starting to get worried. He even briefly contemplated opening the red lacquer box and calling the Will. What if something had gone wrong with the Seven Dials? What if Sneezer was a traitor like Pravuil, in the employ of the Morrow Days?
Arthur fought back his fears once again and kept walking. Eventually the white light began to fade and he could make something out. A different sort of light. Yellow, not white. He could hear things too, distant sounds coming into the silence. A helicopter, far off, and distant sirens. And he was having a little trouble breathing. Not a lot, just a little, a minor catch to his breath.
The white light disappeared completely. Sunshine hit, and the sound of the city under quarantine. Arthur screwed up his eyes and shielded his face with his hand. He was standing on a suburban street. Outside a house with a newly painted garage door.
Arthur dropped his hand and looked. The House had disappeared, and once again he could see the normal buildings that had been there before. In the distance, a plume of black smoke rose to the sky, with helicopters buzzing around it. Sirens wailed in symphony all around.
He saw a car approaching fast down the road and crouched down behind a small shrub, which offered very little camouflage. But the car was coming too quickly to find a better hiding place. Even if it was the police, Arthur hoped they would simply take him to East Area Hospital, and he would still be able to send the Nightsweeper out from there.
Then he recognized the car. It was his brother Eric's old blue clunker, heading fast for home.
Arthur stood up and waved. For a second it looked like Eric hadn't seen him, then the car screeched to a halt, blowing smoke from its rear tires. Eric didn't normally drive like that, but then this was no normal time.
"Arthur! What are you doing here?" shouted Eric, sticking his handsome blond head out the window. "Get in!"
"Going home," said Arthur as he ran across and climbed in. "What are you doing here?"
"I was at a one-on-one master class at the city gym," said Eric as he put his foot down again. "Then we heard there was a fire at the school. I headed over there right away but got turned back and told to get home within thirty minutes. They're going to shoot all unauthorized vehicles and pedestrians after two o'clock! It's total quarantine!"
"Is Mom okay?" asked Arthur. "The others? What time is it?"
"I don't know," said Eric, shaking his head. He was in shock, Arthur saw. He hadn't even asked how Arthur got out of school. "Time? Uh, one thirty-five. We'll make it easily."