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"You never toldI like to talk about"

"I’m very sorry that happened to you," said Addison "Was that woman back there--was she the one who kidnapped you?"

Eo I’ve blocked out the worst of it, including my abductor’s face But I know this If you’d left me alone with that wo her life"

"We’ve all got deainst a boarded , a sudden wave of exhaustion breaking overhad we been awake? How many hours since Caul had revealed hih it couldn’t have been more than ten or twelve hours Every le and terror without end I could feelkeeping an to fade, I did, too

For the merest fraction of a second, I allowed my eyes to close Even in that slim black parenthesis, horrors awaitedupon the body ofoil Those sa as it sank into a boggy grave Itsbackward into a void, gutshot, screa I had slain ; others had risen up quickly to replace them

My eyes flew open at the sound of footsteps behind me, on the other side of the boarded-upI hopped away and turned Though the store looked abandoned, so out

There it was: panic I ake again The others had heard the noise, too Acting on collective instinct, we ducked behind a stack of firewood nearby Through the logs I peeked at the storefront, reading the faded sign that hung above the door

Munday, Dyson and Strype, attnys at law Hated and feared since 1666

A bolt slid and slowly the door opened A faed the coast clear, then slipped out and locked the door behind him As he hurried away in the direction of Louche Lane, we consulted in whispers about whether to go after him Did we need him anymore? Could he be trusted? Maybe andin that shuttered storefront? Was this the lawyer he’d talked about seeing? Why the sneaking?

Too many questions, too many uncertainties about him We decided we could hostly in theStreet and the wights’ bridge Not wanting to risk another unpredictable encounter, we resolved to search without asking for directions That becans, which were concealed in the ht, dangling from the tops of lampposts, inscribed into worn cobblestones underfoot--but even with their help, we took as ned to drive those trapped inside it in again elsewhere Streets that curved so sharply they spiraled back on themselves Streets with no name--or two or three None were as tidy or tended to as Louche Lane, where it was clear a special effort had beenenvironment for shoppers in the market for peculiar flesh--the idea of which, now that I’d seen Lorraine’s wares and heard Eet a handle on the Acre’s unique geography, learning the blocks less by their names than by their character Each street was distinct, the shops along the to type Doleful Street boasted two undertakers, a medium, a carpenter orked exclusively with "repurposed coffinwood," a troupe of professional funeral-wailers who did weekend duty as a barbershop quartet, and a tax accountant Oozing Street was oddly cheerful, with flower boxes hanging frohterhouse that anchored it was an inviting robin’s-egg blue, and I resisted an odd io inside and ask for a tour Periwinkle Street, on the other hand, was a cesspit There was an open sewer running down its center, a thriving population of aggressive flies, and sidewalks that overfloith putrefying vegetables, the property of a cut-rate greengrocer whose sign claiain with a kiss

Attenuated Avenue was just fifty feet long and had only one business: twosnacks fro for handouts, and Addison veered off to snuffle around their feet for droppings I was about to call after him when one of the men shouted, "Cat’sback on his own, tail tucked between his legs, whiain …"

We approached Sot, the more the block seemed to wither, its storefronts abandoned, its sidewalks e with currents of ash that blew around our feet, as if the street itself had been infected by soht, and just before the bend was an old wooden house with an equally oldits stoop He swept at the ash with a stubbly broom, but it piled up faster than he could ever hope to collect it

I asked hi the broom to his chest as if afraid I’d steal it His feet were bare and black and his pants were sooty to the knee "Soo to hell"