Arthur and the group walked, following the white light that illuminated the path. As the light died down, the surroundings became completely visible. The four stepped into Arthur's house and rang the doorbell. Bob answered the door. Dusk used the Fog of Unconsciousness as planned. The same was done to Michaeli, Eric, and Emily as well. It felt really bad to see them unconscious. However, as of now, it was the only prudent course of action possible. Explaining would cost a hell a lot of time, which they couldn't afford to lose now. All of his family, except Erazmuz, was on vacation. They had two months left to back to their usual activities.

Arthur carried Eric; Dusk carried Bob, and the two others carried Michaeli and Eric respectively. When they stepped outside, Arthur willed himself to reach the House. The exterior aspect of the House that manifested, shimmered into visibility. As he touched the wall of the House, the veins in the bricks began throbbing like fluid conduits. The bricks parted to reveal a familiar pathway. As they reached the end of the pathway, they stopped. This time, Arthur managed to remember correctly that the Postern was above and not below. Below was the deep chasm, which would lead to the Front Door.

They checked their wings once more, and flew above, to the circular door of light, that grew bigger and bigger as they flew towards it.


It was decided to keep them unconscious, until the entire House-fiasco-thing got over. Nothing harmful would happen to their bodies or minds, while in the Lower House. Yet, Arthur had tapped all of them with the First Key (after getting the Hour Key back) and willed it to protect their minds and bodies.

A Commissionaire Sergeant and the Will approached him.

"Sir, Pravuil entered the fifty-hundredth floor when you were away. The intruder alarm pointed to his location" said the Sergeant.

The Will took over. "As soon as I set my eyes upon him, I used the Hour Key to reverse your blessing with the Minute Hand. After that, he was forced to flee. Regrettably, the Sergeants could not capture him fast enough... He had the Fifth Key with him, using which he teleported away."

"The Fifth Key?" Arthur asked.

"Yes. He works for Friday. That much is certain. Anyway, the point is moot. He will no longer be able to enter the Lower House via the Improbable Stair, as we have removed his authority inside our demesne."

"What about the Front Door?" asked Arthur.

"The Front Door is the most secure entry point in the entire House. In addition, it is also the official entrance to each demesne. Without proper identification, one cannot use the Front Door to go anywhere. And after going through the Front Door, the security officials of each demesne check their denizenship, purpose of visiting, etc. The Lieutenant Keeper will not allow unlawful travelers. Pravuil's use of the Front Door will be limited to other demesnes."

"Can't we prosecute this Friday or Pravuil for illegal entry?" whined Arthur.

"I looked it up in the House Registry. Pravuil is not in the apparatus of the Middle House. i.e. He is not Friday's Dawn, Dusk or Noon or in Dawn's corps of Inspectors, Noon's servants or Dusk's Midnight Visitors. If he is a lesser official, we cannot prosecute Friday, as she will deny all involvement. We can only prosecute Pravuil. But he seems to have covered his tracks well enough." said the Will.

"Now, onto more pressing matters. Have you thought of a way to solve our financial problem?" asked the Will expectantly.

"Hmm..I was thinking about that", replied Arthur, while sipping some orange juice. You said that our coin was the Roundel. So, the Lower House mints Roundels from gold, right?"

"Yes" replied the Will, getting a small idea about what he was thinking.

"Is there a difference between House gold and gold in the Secondary Realms?" asked Arthur.

Now the Will understood exactly what he was thinking. "No, Arthur. In every demesne of the House gold, silver and copper are the only metals used to mint currency. The reason, is that, these are the only metals that cannot be created by any form of House sorcery. Even Grim Tuesday, whose key helps to shape Nothing into a desired object, cannot create these metals. Just as mortals arose spontaneously from the fluff of life, these metals are formed without the direct intervention of the Architect. Counterfeiting is not possible with House currency."

"There are three huge asteroids in the universe. Each one is made of pure gold, silver and copper respectively. Once they were formed spontaneously from Nothing, the Architect enchanted them to be inexhaustible and indestructible. i.e. No matter how much gold or silver or copper is taken from there, the asteroid's metal simply gets reformed immediately. Corresponding to the exact demand for each currency, exact amounts of these metals from the three asteroids get transported into the respective offices of each demesne"

"And, don't even think about looting from the other Secondary Realms, Arthur." said the Will, which was exactly what Arthur was thinking about. "Saturday will know, and she will take you to the Court of Days if you 'extract' more than seven drubuchs weight of gold."

"Alright, alright." Arthur was now severely irritated. His ideas were deemed useless.


Lord Tuesday, sat in his study aristocratically, drinking his tea and reading the morning newspaper The House Trumpet. "Lord Tuesday is awarded the title the Richest Denizen of the Millenium" Other articles read, "The Most Valued Currency-The Noble", "The Richest Demesne-The Far Reaches". Lord Tuesday set down his newspaper with a graceful ease, and smiled. The Rightful Heir and the freed portion of the Architect were quite cut off from the rest of the House. They were in for a surprise.


All the Days except Monday were seated in a round table. It had been century since the Architect left.

"I don't know what she is playing at. She said she had grown tired of the world. I thought she would have dissolved herself in the void, by now." said a fairly tall woman in a blue dress studded with diamonds and decorated with diamond-like patterns.

Lord Sunday's instincts and Lady Saturday's unequaled sorcery were indicating that some amount of the Architect's essence was moving towards the House.

"I'm not sure, Miss Friday. But if she wants us to abdicate, I don't think we have much of a choice. She is, after all the First and the Greatest Nithling. Even a small portion of her cannot be destroyed." said Lord Tuesday, twirling a sweet-smelling a rose in his hands, a rose from Earth.

"Choice or no, we will not be allowing her to push us around. You haven' t forgotten that we are not Denizens anymore, have you?" asked Sunday.

All the Denizens nodded with unmistakable pride and happiness. They were not like Mister Monday, a puppet created by the Architect from Nothing,…well, no more. The Denizens in each of their Demesnes were special. They were not like the Denizens of the Lower House, who could only copy the Architect. Not anymore.

As soon as the Architect had left, each Day, except Monday had tried without the other Days' knowledge to free the Old One individually, something which the Architect had explicitly forbidden. When Lord Sunday's attempt failed, the Old One informed him that all the other Days had tried as well. When Lord Sunday contacted all the other Days, and informed this, they were surprised. Each one had thought that the others would frown upon the action. A new trust was built between them, something which was never possible when the Architect was here.

All the Days, handed over their Keys to Lord Sunday. And Lord Sunday tried to free the Old One with the combined power of all the Keys. Even then, the Old One could not be freed. The Old One assured them that they tried their best. But Sunday and Saturday were not assured. They contacted the Mariner and the Piper as well. With the combined effort, the Clocks, the Drills that tortured the Old One, and the Chains that bound him were broken, and atlast the Old One was free! He left with the Mariner and the Piper to live in the Secondary Realms. Lord Sunday returned the Keys to the respective Days. With Saturday's help, they did something that changed their very nature which the Architect had imposed upon them. They came in control of their own destinies.