Please review, especially if you think there's something I could improve.

Once again, anything you recognise isn't mine. Alas.

Some of the extra line spaces I put in the last chapter to denote a larger breakappeared as only one line. Next time I'll put some stars, or something.

I come round slowly. I'm too warm. A fire blazes uncomfortably close in front of me. Sweat drips down my face. The flickering firelight, coupled with the pain in my head, makes me feel sick. I try to move, to look anywhere but at the flames. I can't. My hands are tied, bent around the back of the chair.

Somewhere behind me the Keepers who were downstairs are arguing. As the fog in my head clears I can make out what they're saying.

'… need that Stone!' That's the woman. She's shrill with rage.

'You don't have to tell me again.' This voice is Artemus. The others sound angry but he's worried.

'He must have hidden it somewhere.'

'He wasn't in the room long enough. She knocked him out before he even knew where it was.'

'Someone took it. If it wasn't the Master Thief, who was it?' Sarcasm drips heavily from Artemus' words.

'I don't know. The straw around it was burned, and the crate was nailed shut, like it had never been opened. It just doesn't make sense.'

'He didn't take it.' This is a new voice. It's a young woman. She sounds like she's been drugged. Her voice is high pitched and singsong and disturbingly familiar. Maybe she got hit on the head too.

'Who did?' Artemus makes his voice gentle. I hear movement and a noise as he sits on something.

'It was taken into Second Level,' says the girl.

The Keepers make shocked noises. 'Impossible!'

'Nobody in the City has that kind of power.'

'It's too unsafe.'

I crane my head for a better look. I can make out a bed, with some bare feet at the end. Artemus, sitting on the side, blocks my view of the occupant.

'He's awake,' says the girl. She must have exceptional hearing.

The Keepers crowd round me.

'What are you doing here?' asks Artemus. As if he needs to ask. Why do I ever go anywhere?

'Why should I tell you?' My words are slurred. The effort of talking worsens the pain in my head again but I grit my teeth against it. You need all your wits about you when you deal with Keepers.

Artemus is about to reply when the female Keeper grips his arm.

'Every second takes the Stone further from us. We need his help.' She hisses like an angry cat.

Artemus scowls. He doesn't like being told what to do.

'I need to hire you, Garrett,' he says. 'I need you to steal something for me.'

I stay silent. I don't know where this is going but I know I won't like it.

'We need the Star Stone.' He stands aside and I can see the girl lying on the bed. She's wearing the dress of a Keeper apprentice. It's stained and creased. She's around seventeen, pale ash blonde hair that needs washing and almost white skin with a bluish tinge. She looks unhealthy. Is the Star Stone some kind of magical healer? If so, I could do with it myself.

'This is Caern. She's one of us, as I'm sure you can see. She's in danger, and she needs the Star Stone. If she doesn't get it, she will die.'

'Why is this Stone so special?' I ask. Maybe if I keep him talking I can get my hands loose. The rope in my wrists is soft. It feels like the cord used to tie back curtains.

'I suppose I'd better tell you the whole story.' Artemus takes a breath to begin but the female Keeper interrupts him.

'We don't have time for this!'

'If I don't explain it to him, he won't help us on principle. Keep quiet and let me tell this story.

'As you know, Garrett' – he appears calm but I can tell how badly he wants this over with – 'Keepers create glyphs which they can use for almost any purpose. But to create a glyph requires a great deal of power, the raising of which can be quite hard to master. Once an apprentice reaches a certain level they are taught how to create glyphs. I believe you left us before you reached this stage of your training.

'But it isn't always easy. In the vast majority of apprentices, the process of raising power is controlled by the conscious mind. But occasionally, one comes along who cannot stop raising power, one whose subconscious is in control. Over time they draw so much they become charged with it. Left unchecked the power would eventually burst out of them. The release could level a whole section of the city. Usually these unfortunates are identified and die quickly.'

This doesn't quite add up, but I don't comment.

'Caern has this flaw. We were all resigned to the fact that one day soon her power would grow too much and she would have to die. But then we heard that a Star Stone had been discovered.

'We could use a Star Stone to drain power from Caern, allowing her to live far longer. But the Stone has been taken.'

'It went into Second Level,' says Caern. Her voice is more urgent now, and stronger. Sounds like she's coming around too. Putting this together what Artemus has just told me, my tired brain realises that she's the one who got inside my head. It's not a surprise any more that she did it so expertly, considering how much Keeper power she could have inside her.

'Please,' she takes Artemus' hand. 'Let me go after it. There's no point sending the thief. He'd be lost in Second Level. I can follow the Stone, find out where it's gone. I'm the only one who can get it back.'

I agree, but not aloud. Sounds like they need a magician, not a thief.

Artemus scowls. 'We can't risk you.'

Even semi conscious, I can see the flaw in that logic. If she's going to die anyway, why not let her take the risk? There's something not right here.

'Fine,' she says. She sounds like a spoilt child just told she can't have a new doll. 'I'll send him in.'

I have a sensation that I'm falling back through the chair, and then I land on my backside. Quickly I look about. This new room is a copy of the room where the Keepers are, but here I am alone. I hear a noise and look up.

Above me I can see the Keepers looking at me through a hole in the ceiling. They tower over me like giants. The edges of the hole are insubstantial. When I try to focus on them they writhe away. They begin to draw together as though pulled by a drawstring.

Artemus throws something through before the hole closes. It lands with a clink beside me. He looks apologetic. 'To help with your rent,' he says. There's a cry from one of the other Keepers and he turns back. I manage to make out the words 'She's gone' before the portal vanishes.

I want to curse, but when I feel the weight of the purse Artemus threw me I bite it back. If I get out of here alive I've got enough to keep me for at least four months. If I get out of here alive at all.

There's only one door out of this room, so I take it. I don't have much idea what to do, but I have one lead. The room the Star Stone was stolen from is the only place that might hold a clue.

'You're right.' I spin around.

Coming from the room I have just left is a woman. It takes me a couple of heartbeats to realise it's the Keeper apprentice. I start to laugh. She's wearing exact copies of my clothes. Her left eye glows green in the shadow of her brow. She's copied my mechanical eye.

'What are you laughing at?' she snaps. ' If it's good enough for you it'll do for me.'

'Can you get me out of here?' I ask. After the terrible start to the evening so far there's only one answer I want to hear.

'You do something for me and I'll do something for you. I need that Stone and if you don't help me find it I'll leave you here forever.'

That wasn't it. I grab her wrist hard. She cries out but I don't loosen my hold. 'Wrong answer. I'm leaving. Now.'

She draws her head back and spits in my face. I hate Keepers.

'We're going upstairs' – no sooner has she said it than we're in the attic room. There's no sense of movement, no lights or portals. She simply says it and we're there – 'Let's get to work.'

I can see the crate the Star Stone was in. Here, unlike the first time I saw it, the lid is off. Straw is scattered on the floor. Some amateur thieves just don't know how to do a neat and precise job. From where it was runs a silver thread. It's faint, like a moonbeam. She sees it and lets out a whoop of joy.

'Ha! Amateurs!' she cries. 'This should be easy!' She sets off down the stairs at a run. I jog to keep up. I hope this place is as empty here as it was in the real world.

We make the City streets without slowing and head for the Docks. I'm starting to feel the strain of this running but she isn't even breathing hard. How is she doing this? She stops unexpectedly on a corner and I run into her back.

'Shut up,' she whispers. I open my mouth to tell her where to go but a sound cuts me off. There's something around the corner, and it's got a tread heavier than a guard going to work. It snorts like a horse and I press myself into the shadows.

'This place is full of them.' She's looking round the corner but her voice sounds as though her mouth is right next to my ear. 'Dark sorcerers use this place to draw power for their spells, and they create those things as guards.'

I peek round the corner too. Facing away from us a hulking shape, indistinct in the shadows. I can make out enough to know we're finding another way. It's as tall as a rearing bear and half again as wide. The top half of its back is wet fur but its legs are scaled and silvery. A long tail hangs in the air behind it, flicking back and forth like a snake. Steaming breath wreathes around. I can't see its face. I pull back.

'The trail goes that way, past that thing,' she says. 'If we leave it now to find another way we might not pick it up again.'

'Can't you magic us past it?' If ever there was a time her tricks would be useful, it's now.

'Afraid not. They're sensitive to power. It would be on us in an instant.'

I search my pockets until I find my last flash bomb. 'Ready to run?'

'Wait!' She snatches it off me and the bomb shimmers. In the street beyond the creature growls and I hear it move this way.

'Now!' I cry.

I throw the bomb into the street and pull back so I'm not blinded too. But instead of the expected flash there's a noise like lightening striking and a wave of hot air. The creature screams like a pig and the acrid stink of burning fur makes us choke.

Neither of us run. She must have known what was going to happen. I'm so surprised I stay where I am. This woman is going to get me killed if I keep slipping up like that.

She saunters out into the street, past the smoking heap of flesh. She seems casual but she gives it a wide berth and doesn't look at it. I can't help myself. I have to look. When I get near it I think she had the right idea. Whatever she did to my flash bomb turned the creature inside out. Steaming guts quiver at my feet. I hurry on, swallowing hard.

We enter South Quarter. I look longingly at my apartment but I don't let her see me do it. I don't want her turning up on my doorstep when this is all over.

She pauses by the fountain. The silver line loops around the stone bowl several times. I don't like this, so close to my home. There's a sharp metallic tang in the air. I look closer. The fountain is full of blood. Glowing shapes like twisted glyphs are barely visible beneath the surface. Caern peers in.

'A spell was worked here. Someone was brought into Second Level and was sacrificed.' She shudders. 'We're definitely tailing a sorcerer. He's trying to stop us following.'

'Urrrrgggnnnnnhhhhh…' The sound tails off and I hear raspy breathing and a limping, dragging step and smell the sweet tang of rot.

'Zombie!' She cries. 'He must have been left as a trap!'

The zombie rounds the corner. He skin is shrunken, dry parchment stretched across bones visible through torn holes. One eye is gone. I notice he's wearing black gauntlets inscribed with symbols. They are out of place, new and whole, unlike their wearer.

'He rotted quickly.' I say. I know it's a strange thing to notice, but it's better to think about that than to realise I have no holy water, no more flash bombs, no oil and no fire arrows.

When you are unarmed and faced with a zombie the best thing is to run. They can't keep up with a running man. I turn and flee in the direction of the Docks without a word of warning, thinking that it will take him even longer to catch me if he catches Caern first.

I know what you're thinking. I'm a coward. I just left a lady in the path of a zombie alone and unarmed, hoping she would slow him down. What sort of despicable lowlife would do that? But I don't care. If she can't watch out for herself she shouldn't be here. That's the law of the streets. I know these aren't ordinary streets, but here the rules are even more important.

Behind me I hear the quick patter of Caern's footfalls following me. I remember I need her to get back to reality and I am relieved.

By the time we reach the Docks gate we've left the zombie far behind. We run in. It seems strange to be here and unable to see a single soul. The Docks is usually full of life. There's always a whore on the corner and a sailor throwing up in a doorway or using it as a toilet. But we are the only people in sight.

The silver trail turns right and quickly left, down a narrow alley.

The Docks are deadly silent, but the smell here is as strong as ever. Briny salt air battles with the sharp tang of emptied chamber pots and leather tanning. Behind me Caern gags and coughs.

'Don't come here often?' I say.

'No,' she croaks. I chuckle to myself. I need something to laugh at tonight.

A wooden door blocks the trail. I put out a hand to open it but the Keeper snatches it away.

'You can't go in there. Can't you feel it?'

I shake my head. I wish she'd be more specific.

'Instead of having a reflection here, this house is in our Level and Second Level at the same time. A sorcerer lives here, and for the house to be here this solidly he must be within right now. If he knows you're coming he'll be ready and you'll be dead before you know it. You have to leave.'

I can feel that last part well enough. 'So I could get back through there?'

'If his minions didn't get you first. I know you think you're a master of avoidance and stealth and so on, but you aren't ready for what you might find in there.'

I've had enough of this woman. She lets herself into my head without asking, knocks me unconscious, sends me into another world, talks to me as though I'm completely ignorant and now she insults my professional skills.

'Goodbye Garrett,' she says. 'Thank you for your help.' She hands me a purse. I would tell her that Artemus already paid me, but I feel I've earned this. She puts a hand on my chest and pushes me. Hard. Taken unawares I fall backwards.

I land on my own bed. It takes me a second or so to realise that's where I am but there's my wanted poster staring down at me, and there's the candlestick on my table I took as a memento from the Keepers when I left. Undoubtedly, I'm home

I'm relieved to be home but I am troubled. Artemus was behaving oddly, even more so than usual. I know he wasn't telling me the whole truth.

How did Caern know where I lived? And why did she disobey Artemus by following me into Second Level? No Keeper apprentice disobeys Artemus. When she first appeared she replied to something I had only thought, but she hadn't intruded on me the way she did before.

I take off my cloak and boots, and store my equipment away. I sort out enough money to pay three months of rent and put it in a separate purse. It never pays to let the landlord know how much money I have. He might decide this place is worth more than I currently pay.

The night is warm, so I take off my shirt and hang it over the end of the bed. I lie down, pull my blanket up to my waist and close my eyes.

My last thought is of the Star Stone. If I can steal it I can sell it to Perry's buyer and make even more money out of this.

Tomorrow night I'm going back to the Docks.