ever says anything.â Now Grimshaw came to think about it, that seemed like a really good character trait. He paused for a moment, trying to find the right words to express the boyâs oddness. It was as if he was somehow more linked in to what was going on around him. Take the way he had shouted a warning to Jon Figg
almost before the chain of events had begun
. As if he had sensed or seen something ⦠Grimshaw hunched his shoulders and gave up.
âAnd heâs kind of small with thick white hair and hazel eyes,â he said instead.
âHmm. Odd colouring, certainly.â
âAnd heâs called Fish.â
âFish?â
âYes! Fish. That swim in the sea.â
âOh! Fish! Thatâs a funny name. Why do they call him that? Is it his real one?â
Grimshaw shrugged. Frankly, he didnât care. Theboy was just a name on his Litany. Unlike his mother, who had turned out to be quite interesting, with her admirable behaviour in the face of disaster.
âQuite a little character! Itâs almost a shame ⦠Oh well, the woman disturbed me â¦â
âGood thing too! You were bored silly.â Grimshaw wrinkled up his nose disdainfully. âAnyway, I gotta go.â
Lampwick scowled. âYou can retell it all when you get back then. Thereâll be plenty of time.â
âYou said it,â muttered Grimshaw. He twiddled the hands of his watch, hoping that Lampwick wouldnât see what he was doing and cotton on to the fact that Grimshaw wasnât going to leave Limbo just yet.
The only way for a curse demon Avatar to get into Limbo from Real Space was to set all the dials on his chronometer to zero and return to his Architect. In a way, Lampwick was Grimshawâs gateway into the grey world. But once he had crossed over, he could travel around Limbo by setting the geography hands to a place and leaving all the other hands on zero.
Mrs Jones had stopped running, which meant that Grimshaw could go and do the boy. But Lampwick wasnât to know that Grimshaw wasnât going to do the boy
right now
. Instead, Grimshaw was going to visit his friend Tun. He wanted to tell Tun all about the wonderful moment of BOOM! and how it had made him feel.
So he pressed the send button and disappeared from the crypt.
10
HORSEMEN
Tun was rarely with his Architect these days. This was because his Architect thought that Tun was creepy and said that he would rather be on his own than be stared at by a mad bathrobe whoâd make Death look like Santa Claus. Secretly, Grimshaw thought the description was a good one.
As a result, Tun had a habit of roving around Limbo more than curse demons usually did. This meant that it could take Grimshaw a little while to find him, and sometimes he failed to track his friend down at all. To his dismay, this was turning out to be one of those occasions. When he had nearly exhausted all the usual places, he tried the Lock-Out Club in London, Limbo. Tun didnât often go to the Lock-Out Club because he wasnât very keen on company, but it was worth a try.
Heads swivelled in his direction as Grimshaw popped into existence in the middle of a group of second-rate demons who were hanging out in the club lounge. If there had been any conversation, it died on the spot.
âItâs that odd little creature again,â said one in a voice like broken glass. âThe one thatâs always in the books.â
Books in Grey Space might look dull on their outsides, but even Limbo couldnât control their insides, which had a half-life all of their own. The Lock-Out had a library, which was one of the reasons that Grimshaw liked the club best of all the curse demonsâ meeting places. Well, the only reason really. The Lock-Out Club chairs were like slippery rocks, having left all their squashy comfort back in Real Space, and there was never a fire in the fireplace because fire didnât work in Limbo. But the library,
almost before the chain of events had begun
. As if he had sensed or seen something ⦠Grimshaw hunched his shoulders and gave up.
âAnd heâs kind of small with thick white hair and hazel eyes,â he said instead.
âHmm. Odd colouring, certainly.â
âAnd heâs called Fish.â
âFish?â
âYes! Fish. That swim in the sea.â
âOh! Fish! Thatâs a funny name. Why do they call him that? Is it his real one?â
Grimshaw shrugged. Frankly, he didnât care. Theboy was just a name on his Litany. Unlike his mother, who had turned out to be quite interesting, with her admirable behaviour in the face of disaster.
âQuite a little character! Itâs almost a shame ⦠Oh well, the woman disturbed me â¦â
âGood thing too! You were bored silly.â Grimshaw wrinkled up his nose disdainfully. âAnyway, I gotta go.â
Lampwick scowled. âYou can retell it all when you get back then. Thereâll be plenty of time.â
âYou said it,â muttered Grimshaw. He twiddled the hands of his watch, hoping that Lampwick wouldnât see what he was doing and cotton on to the fact that Grimshaw wasnât going to leave Limbo just yet.
The only way for a curse demon Avatar to get into Limbo from Real Space was to set all the dials on his chronometer to zero and return to his Architect. In a way, Lampwick was Grimshawâs gateway into the grey world. But once he had crossed over, he could travel around Limbo by setting the geography hands to a place and leaving all the other hands on zero.
Mrs Jones had stopped running, which meant that Grimshaw could go and do the boy. But Lampwick wasnât to know that Grimshaw wasnât going to do the boy
right now
. Instead, Grimshaw was going to visit his friend Tun. He wanted to tell Tun all about the wonderful moment of BOOM! and how it had made him feel.
So he pressed the send button and disappeared from the crypt.
10
HORSEMEN
Tun was rarely with his Architect these days. This was because his Architect thought that Tun was creepy and said that he would rather be on his own than be stared at by a mad bathrobe whoâd make Death look like Santa Claus. Secretly, Grimshaw thought the description was a good one.
As a result, Tun had a habit of roving around Limbo more than curse demons usually did. This meant that it could take Grimshaw a little while to find him, and sometimes he failed to track his friend down at all. To his dismay, this was turning out to be one of those occasions. When he had nearly exhausted all the usual places, he tried the Lock-Out Club in London, Limbo. Tun didnât often go to the Lock-Out Club because he wasnât very keen on company, but it was worth a try.
Heads swivelled in his direction as Grimshaw popped into existence in the middle of a group of second-rate demons who were hanging out in the club lounge. If there had been any conversation, it died on the spot.
âItâs that odd little creature again,â said one in a voice like broken glass. âThe one thatâs always in the books.â
Books in Grey Space might look dull on their outsides, but even Limbo couldnât control their insides, which had a half-life all of their own. The Lock-Out had a library, which was one of the reasons that Grimshaw liked the club best of all the curse demonsâ meeting places. Well, the only reason really. The Lock-Out Club chairs were like slippery rocks, having left all their squashy comfort back in Real Space, and there was never a fire in the fireplace because fire didnât work in Limbo. But the library,
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