‘Never gave me nuthin’,’ mumbled an unseen voice. Arthur looked down at the chair Leaf had just left and saw Suzy there, hunched over under the table. She was eyeing Dame Primus’s foot and holding a large darning needle. She grinned at Arthur and stuck the needle in, but it had no effect. Tiny letters moved apart to allow the needle entry and then a savage red spark shot along the metal.
Suzy dropped it and sucked her fingers as the needle became a small puddle of molten steel. Arthur sighed and gestured at Suzy to come and sit next to him. She shook her head and stayed where she was.
Even though Leaf hadn’t seen Sneezer move, he was already at the door when she reached it. She was about to go through when Dr Scamandros scurried over and put something in Leaf’s hand as she went past.
‘You’ll need this,’ he whispered. ‘Won’t be able to see the House without it or find the Front Door. Dame Primus is a bit impatient – not intentionally, I’m sure.’
Leaf looked at what he’d given her: an open leather case that contained a pair of gold wire-rimmed spectacles, with thin lenses that were heavily cracked and crazed with tiny lines. She snapped the case shut and slipped it into the tight waistband of her breeches.
‘This way, please, Miss Leaf,’ said Sneezer as Scamandros ran back to his place at the table. ‘Will you be requiring clothes more suitable to your own Secondary Realm and era?’
‘If you’ve got something, that’d be great,’ said Leaf, who was wearing a wide-sleeved cotton shirt and blue canvas breeches, the basic uniform of a ship’s boy from the Flying Mantis. She hadn’t even started to think about how to explain her clothes. Explaining why she hadn’t been to see her parents, aunt, and brother in quarantine for at least sixteen hours was going to be hard enough.
As she left, Leaf heard Dame Primus say something to Dr Scamandros and then launch into a speech. She sounded like a politician in a televised debate, wary of her opponent’s delaying tactics.
‘I trust, Lord Arthur, that we may now proceed as you have requested, with the Agenda rearranged in order of importance.’
‘Sure,’ said Arthur wearily, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the Spirit-eater, this ‘Skinless Boy’ who was pretending to be him. What was the creature going to do? His parents would have no idea. They’d be helpless, and so would his sisters and brothers. The thing would take over their minds and then … even if the Spirit-eater was destroyed and Arthur could go back, he might not have a family anymore.
Something penetrated Arthur’s thoughts. Dame Primus had just said something. Something very important.
‘What was that?’ he asked. ‘What did you just say?’
‘I said, Lord Arthur, we now suspect that the Morrow Days’ misgovernance is no accident. They have been influenced or induced to behave as they do, with the ultimate aim being the complete and utter destruction of the House – and with it, the entirety of creation.’
‘What!?’ Arthur jumped out of his chair. Everyone looked at him, and he slowly sat back down again, taking a deep breath to try and slow his suddenly speeding heart.
‘Really, Lord Arthur, must I repeat myself again? If the Morrow Days are allowed to continue as they are, there is a great risk the entire House will be destroyed.’
‘Are you sure?’ asked Arthur nervously. ‘I mean, Mister Monday was really lazy, and Grim Tuesday wanted to make lots of stuff and own it, and Wednesday … she couldn’t help being a total pig. That doesn’t mean they wanted to destroy the House.’
‘In every case, the Trustees have put the House at risk,’ said Dame Primus stiffly. ‘Mister Monday’s sloth meant the Lower House did not properly transport or store records, so it is even now impossible to ascertain what has happened to numerous Denizens, parts of the House, important objects, millions or possibly trillions of sentient mortals, and even entire worlds in the Secondary Realms. There has also been considerable interference with the Secondary Realms, most of it via the Lower House.
‘Grim Tuesday’s case is even worse, for in his avarice, he mined so much Nothing that the Far Reaches of the House were in danger of inundation by Nothing. If the Far Reaches had fallen into Nothing, it is quite possible the rest of the House would have collapsed as well.
‘Drowned Wednesday failed to stop the Border Sea from breaking its bounds and now it extends to many places it should not, allowing passage to and from the House for those able to pass the Line of Storms, and impinging on areas of Nothing, again weakening the fabric of the House.’