after the screams she was mad as well.
She ran. Tried to catch her, but she ran faster than I. She went deeper than I ever had or have since, and
for all I know she's still running and still going deeper."
"You said she'd be dead by now," Cadge said. Harry nodded and sighed again. "And I'm sure she is.
But still I wonder, and hope."
"But what is the Hour of Screams?" Jazz asked. "You say spirits, but what spirits?"
"Old London," Harry said. "The restless spirit of the old city, wailing in grief. In pain too. No one
knows for sure, not even I. But perhaps it's the remnants of London's past not yet at rest: people, places,
events, dark deeds, and there are plenty of those. The tiring soul of one of the world's old-est cities."
"What does it have to do with the... the echoes we've heard?" Jazz asked.
Harry studied her. "Perhaps nothing. And perhaps the Hour's what happens when the whispers wake
up for a bit."
"Maybe it's just the sound of trains in the distance," Jazz said.
Cadge laughed. "If you'd 'eard it, you'd never say that."
"It's not just a sound," Harry said. "You mustn't listen, that's true enough —choose a song now, Jazz,
and cover your ears and sing it when you know the Hour's coming. But it's everything else besides: the
smell of age, the sight of weary shadows, the taste of rot, the feel of the scream rushing past your skin, the
wind as though it wants to carry you away."
"But it doesn't last an hour?"
Harry shook his head. "Sometimes only seconds."
"Just feels like an hour," Cadge said. "Here we are. The way down."
They had reached the end of the desolate tunnel, and Cadge aimed his torch at a rough hole in the
wall to their left. It had been hacked into the concrete rather than formed, and there was a metal frame that
held a heavy grille gate bolted in. The gate seemed to be closed, but Harry stepped forward and shoved it
open. It creaked.
"Another way back to the United Kingdom?" Jazz asked.
Harry smiled. "There are several," he said. "It wouldn't do to live somewhere down here with only
one way in or out."
Why not? she wanted to ask. But maybe she'd had enough information for now.
The Hour of Screams...
She'd seen things down here, heard them, and out of everyone she seemed to see and hear the most.
What that meant for her when the Hour of Screams came, she really didn't wish to know.
Maybe it would be best if she did not hang around long enough to find out.
The remainder of their descent passed in silence. Cadge went first, moving smoothly and easily along
the flashlit tunnels, ducking under pipes and sidestepping pools of stag-nant water that reflected rainbows of
grease. Jazz followed, marveling at Cadge's dexterity and grace. He was a natural down here.
Harry Fowler followed them both, trusting them to guide his way with their flashlights, and Jazz
wondered how long he had been down here. He must have a history, a pro-fession, perhaps a wife and
children somewhere above, tales to tell, people to avoid, crimes to forget, or destinies yet to fulfill. He was
much older than all of them, and older people had more to tell, and perhaps more to fear.
Like Mum, she thought. She always feared more than me. Tried to make me as scared as her,
but it took this to make that so.
They heard sounds in the distance, and Jazz froze at every one. But Cadge did not, and Harry
always calmed her with a smile or a shake of his head. They knew the sounds of the Underground, which
belonged and which did not.
Jazz knew that she had a decision to make. The time would come for the Hour of Screams to storm
through her new home. She had to decide whether to wait for that to happen. And if she did wait, she had
to decide whether she would choose a song to sing or open up her senses and listen.
In the final short tunnel that led to the shelter, Jazz paused. Cadge went on before her and Harry
stood beside her, looking down.
I'm being watched, she thought, but she could not say that. "Need a minute."
"Of course," Harry said. "Cadge and I will ensure there's food being prepared. Time alone to think is
good, Jazz girl. Time alone is fine. Part of the reason I came down here in the first place was for time
alone."
"Don't get much of that now," she said, smiling.
Harry smiled back and shook his head, and she saw something then that didn't surprise her
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