Arthur Penhaligon has assumed the role Master of the Lower House and the powers of the First Key. He has cured the Sleepy Plague by releasing a Nightsweeper and now is ready for some well-deserved rest. What else could he be needed for? Plenty, it seems, when the Will calls upon Arthur's assistance early Tuesday morning.

Arthur is told that Grim Tuesday has found a loophole in the Agreement and has laid claim to the Lower House and the First Key as payment for debts owed by Mister Monday over the last thousand years. The Will tells Arthur that he must come to the House and stop Grim Tuesday before he takes over Arthur's newly acquired position and the world. Arthur is furious at having to enter the realms of the House again so soon and is baffled when the connection to the red old-fashioned telephone the Will gave him is cut off because his credit is being revoked by the Court of the Days. He then observes two Grotesques of Grim Tuesday putting up a magical SOLD sign outside his family's home. Arthur learns that he must get to the House by noon before his life in the Secondary Realm is ruined.

Arthur discovers that getting into the House will not be easy this time around. While looking for a visible entrance, he notices some sort of Nithling lurking in a garden across the street. Arthur is wary of the thing and decides to look it up in the Atlas. He reads that the strange creature is not just any Nithling but a Scoucher that soon chases Arthur and tries to attack him with its deadly tentacles. Arthur hears his friend Leaf call his name and hides in her house when she notices the Scoucher following him.

The two friends hide in the garage while they try to find some silver to vanquish the creature. They are able to defeat the Scoucher with a medal but not before Leaf is seriously injured. As Arthur applies first-aid, Leaf tells him how to get into the House through a dream she has. Arthur is worried about Leaf's condition but she convinces him to leave, knowing that help is on the way. With only minutes to spare, Arthur heads over to the old mill that Leaf described.

Once inside the mill, Arthur sees that a Grotesque is up to no good and has to fight him in order to get inside the House. He manages to do so and notices that much has changed since the last time he was there. The Lieutenant Keeper of the Front Door helps prevent the boy from having an asthma attack and tells him that he must go to The Far Reaches in order to reach Grim Tuesday's domain. Arthur doesn't want to go, but the Lieutenant is persistent and helps disguise the boy as an indentured Denizen. All indentured Denizens work in the terrifying place called the Pit.

On the journey towards the Pit, Arthur meets a Denizen named Japeth, who tells him about the life of indentured Denizens and the system they work in. Arthur becomes anxious at the thought of having to work alongside Grim Tuesday's train as an indentured servant. He grows tired and Japeth stays behind to help him as the rest of their group continues traveling to the Pit. Arthur's friend Suzy Turquoise Blue shows up along the railway in a stolen wheel contraption. Suzy informs her friend that they have to use ascension wings to get out of the pit and climb across the ceiling of the Far Reaches in order to get to the spire of Grim Tuesday's Treasure Tower and find Part Two of the Will.

Suzy and Arthur arrive at the Tower but not without some frightening encounters involving Nothing and a meeting with one of Grim Tuesday's eyebrows named Soot, who only wants to get to Tuesday's treasure. The friends are wary of him, but with Soot's assistance they get into the Tower. Suzy and Arthur continue their search with the help of a strange mariner named Captain Tom Shelvocke, who claims to be one of the sons of the Architect and the Old One. The trio then travel to the Sun to retrieve Part Two of the Will on an island by way of a magical spaceship.

However, there are many dangers that still await them. Will the second part of the Will be retrieved and can Grim Tuesday be stopped? What is the hideous surprise that lurks in the shadows of Nothing? Will Arthur ever make it home in time to save his family? These and many other questions are raised in this entertaining and intriguing novel, Garth Nix's second installment in his Keys to the Kingdom series.

   --- Reviewed by Sarah Sawtelle (SdarksideG@aol.com)

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