Drowned Wednesday(87)

‘Because there isn’t one, or because of something else?’ asked Arthur.

‘There may be an exit,’ said the Carp. ‘But this room is strangely twisted and I simply have not had time to work out its exact place within the fabric of the House. I doubt anybody could, save the Architect herself.’

‘The Atlas!’ cried Arthur. He reached down into his boot and pulled out the green book. ‘Can you use the Compleat Atlas of the House?’

‘No,’ said the Carp.

As it spoke, there was a commotion near the door out to the Moth. Arthur jumped up onto Catapillow’s blanket box to see over the heads of the Denizens. Sunscorch, who had been handling the last few stragglers, was just inside the door.

‘A piece of the sky’s fallen in!’ he roared over the hubbub. ‘And the sea is starting to turn like water going down a plughole!’

‘There has to be a way out!’ said Arthur. He held the Atlas and focused all his attention on it.

‘Arthur —’ said the Carp.

‘Not now!’ hissed Arthur. His knuckles were stark and white against the green book, he was gripping it so hard. ‘I’m concentrating!’

‘Arthur —’

Arthur ignored the Carp and concentrated on his question.

Where is the way out of this room back into the House?

The Atlas stubbornly failed to open. Without a Key, it just would not respond.

‘Arthur!’ roared the Carp, so loud that Arthur’s ears rang. ‘I cannot use the Atlas, but I can help you use it! Place your right hand against the glass of my jar!’

Jebenezer held up the jar and Arthur slapped his palm against the glass. The Carp came right up against it, puckered up, and kissed the side of the jar against Arthur’s fingers three times. Each time it did, it shone more brightly, some of the light travelling through to bathe Arthur’s fingers.

‘Ask your question!’

Arthur took his hand away and gripped the Atlas again, repeating his question, willing the book to open with a determination that shut out everything else around him.

Nothing happened for three seconds, just long enough for the Carp to start to say, ‘We must have —’

Then the Atlas exploded open. Arthur fell off the blanket box, but was so hemmed in by Jebenezer, Suzy, Leaf, and other Denizens that his feet didn’t even touch the floor.

Arthur didn’t notice. He was watching the perfect, though rapid, penmanship of the invisible writer in the Atlas. Words spread across the page, Arthur shrieking them aloud as he read.

‘The chief clerk’s office of the Blue Moon Company’s Second Counting House has been twisted seven turns sideways and inclined twelve degrees to the impossible, due to incompetent renovation. There are three means of egress from within the office. One is to the ship Moth, through the former front door. The second opens on the Void of Nothing, and has been sealed under the floor ten paces to the left of the front door. The third opens in the ship telegraph turret of the Blue Moon Company in old Port Wednesday, and is located through the mirrored back of the former records safe, now in use as a wardrobe —’

‘No!’ yelped Ichabod, but his voice was drowned out by the surge of Denizens towards the wardrobe.

‘Hold!’ roared the Carp. ‘Followers, link arms!’

‘Moths, stand still!’ roared Sunscorch.

‘Mantises, hold yer ground!’ shouted Pannikin.

‘And may be activated by peeling off the wallpaper backing,’ finished Arthur. He slapped the Atlas shut, jumped down, and wormed his way between the Denizens to the wardrobe. It was a huge oak-panelled affair, easily ten feet high and fifteen feet wide.

‘Ichabod!’ called Arthur. ‘Is there any trick to going in?’

‘No, sir,’ said Ichabod stiffly. He had managed to appear at Arthur’s elbow, unruffled and calm once more. ‘Simply walk through. But if I may remove the Captain’s clothes before they are trampled —

’ He was interrupted by a very loud cracking sound, and the floor shivered under Arthur’s feet. He didn’t wait to hear any more from Ichabod, but strode straight at the mirror.

The inside of the wardrobe was bigger than the outside. There were racks of clothes against the side walls, and shelves of boots, shoes, and accessories. The rear wall was wallpapered with a simple blue flower pattern, and had a chaise lounge against it, next to a small table with an open book of fashion plates on it.

Arthur hurried over, shoved the table and book aside, and pulled the chaise lounge away from the wall. Then he reached up and pulled a loose corner of wallpaper. It came away easily, revealing a mirrored surface underneath. Arthur ripped some more, and then Suzy and Leaf and Jebenezer and even Ichabod were there pulling at the paper as well.