Chapter 1

Peter winced as he touched his nose. He looked just as bruised as he thought he would be. He didn't understand it, they didn't steal anything from him and if it weren't for the group of people who turned down Barlow Road at 3am on a Wednesday morning, the men would have continued beating him and most likely he would not be standing in front of his mirror Wednesday afternoon. The whole event was weird. They didn't ask him for any money, and the two men wore clothes from the nineteenth or eighteenth century. He was lucky he wasn't hurt more; just a few bruises and no broken bones. Maybe they beat him for the thrill of it or had gotten him confused with someone else. Peter led a boring life and had never done anything to merit a beating. It didn't matter though, he was safe now, or so he thought.

Peter continued to poke and prod his face, investigating his face when Schuh (pronounced shoo) appeared in the doorway of his bathroom. It took a few minutes for Peter to notice this strange girl, but when he saw her in the mirror above his sink he dropped the razor he was holding in surprise. He turned around slowly hoping the figure was a figment of his imagination. But she was still there.

Schuh was very petite and was unusually pale. She looked like her skin had never seen the sun. This was true, she had only been up to London over once and it was dark then. She wore a big dress which looked as though it came from the same era as the men from the previous night. Her brown leather shoes were caked in mud and her brown dress was slightly less dirty but still looked like it hadn't been washed in months. Her skin and hair were equally dirty. Peter thought he could see honey blonde hair, but he couldn't really tell under the dirt. She was beautiful, even under all the mud and dirt. Although she was petite, the dress she wore accentuated the few curves that she did have. She wore a tight bodice that was low cut and pushed out her small breasts ever so slightly. It hugged her chest tightly before poofing out at her hips.

"Don't be scared Peter. I am here to help you." Her voice was soft and matched her appearance. Although she looked fragile and child-like something about her frightened him. He couldn't quite place the feeling or what caused it, but it may have been the lifeless look in her grey eyes which stared at him coldly.

There was something else about Schuh's appearance which struck Peter as odd; she looked very similar to him, as though it could have been related. Although her skin and eyes made her look odd, she had a similar stance and shape to Peter. He thought it was a coincidence at the time, but Schuh knew much more than Peter did, she knew it wasn't a coincidence. She knew he was in serious danger and more importantly she was the only thing that could keep him alive.

If it wasn't her similarity to the men the night before, Peter would have thought she was crazy. It was the style of clothing that made him think she knew about last night. However, he didn't know if she was actually here to help him or not.

"How can I believe you? There is no reason why my life would be in danger, is there?"

"I don't have much time to explain, I don't even understand it all myself. You are in danger though, because of who your mother is —"

"What do you know about my mother?" Peter interrupted her. He barely remembered his mother. He had been taken away from her when he was about six. All he had been told was that she was not mentally fit to take care of him. When he was eighteen he had tried to find her, but couldn't find out anything about her, so he just gave up.

"I knew her. We just don't have time to talk about her now. Those two men who almost killed you last night killed her and they want to kill you too." They want to kill me as well. Schuh thought to herself. "They are named Crespin and Vodder."

Schuh didn't really understand what was happening. She just knew that for whatever reason her mother was dead.

Peter wasn't sure if he should trust Schuh or not, but he glanced out the window and saw Crespin and Vodder approaching his house. He knew that his only chance was to trust Schuh. Luck may not be on his side the next time.

Schuh squeaked and began muttering to herself in German. "Scheiße, scheiße, scheiße ... was kann ich machen? Ein Messer ... ein stock ... ein gewehr..." Peter couldn't hear most of what she was saying, but he could understand part of it. His mother had spoken German to him when he was little, so he could remember some words. It sounded as though Schuh was looking for something that she could defend herself with.

Schuh didn't want to have to bring Peter into London Under, but now she saw that she would have no choice if she wanted them to live. She quickly grabbed Peter's hand and led him out the back door where she had entered. This meant that if they were quick the two men would never notice them when they entered the front door.

The small girl walked over to one of the manholes and lifted the lid to one side. Peter was puzzled as to why she did this.

"Just jump down." She instructed.

"There is no way I am going down there." Peter began to think this girl was crazy. If it weren't for the men he saw approaching his house he would've gone back to his bed and read a few stories by his favourite authors on lush.

"I live down there, that's London under. It's the real London, and it's much safer down there."When Peter made no indication of moving, she jumped into the manhole. "Are you coming down or not?" She called from the bottom. "I don't know why you just don't do it. You have about ten seconds until Crespin and Vodder cut out your spleen."

"What the hell" Peter thought. He had nothing better to do this weekend or anytime in the future for that matter. His girlfriend had just dumped him, he didn't really have any friends, he was in debt and his job sucked. He had nothing to rush back to. So he just went for it, and jumped into the manhole.

"I know of a place where we can hide until we figure out what needs to be done." Peter didn't know how far below London he was, but it was very dark. Schuh was glad to get back to her world. She was in no hurry to return to London over. She completely understood why her mother had left that world.

The first tunnel they walked down looked exactly like what you'd expect a tunnel underneath London to look like. It was dark and went on for ages. Peter couldn't see an exit but Schuh knew the area well and after ten minutes of fast paced walking and stepping over rats she turned left into another tunnel which Peter hadn't noticed.

"You live down here?" Peter tried not to breathe through his nose. The stench was appalling. The tunnels were damp and there was mould everywhere. He couldn't believe a girl would choose to live in a place like this.

"Yes. I've told you, it's London Under. This is just the beginning. There's a whole city under here. You'll get used to it though."

"Have you always lived down here?"

"Yes, I don't like London Over. My mother was born in Berlin, and then she moved to London Over before finding London Under." Schuh didn't want to give Peter anymore than the cliff notes for the time being. She had other things to think about, like what exactly her mother was doing to get killed for. She knew she had to get to her house in order to find her mother's diary and have a chance at discovery what all of this mess was about.

Peter walked a few steps behind Schuh. He was beginning to become accustomed to the dark and was able to see the outline of her petite body, her hips swinging as she walked. He wanted to reach out and draw her towards himself. He wanted to sweep her hair away from her neck and gently kiss it. Those were crazy thoughts. They barely knew each other and she looked so young. She couldn't have been much more than sixteen.

As they continued through the tunnel, they began to see more people. The most modern piece of clothing Peter saw was from the nineteenth century. It was as though this place was stuck in the past. It wasn't really though. Time was just irrelevant in London Under, it's like it didn't exist. There were no ages, no dates, no birthdays, no night and day, time really didn't matter.

Peter nearly tripped over a black lump in the floor, which he had assumed were rubbish bags. The lump stood up and was a man which resembled Fagan from Oliver twist. He wore a long black coat with pieces of fabric dangling off of it. He was even dirtier than Schuh. He grumbled something at Peter before returning to his original position. They passed many more people who were dressed in similar attire; men in top hats and women in big dresses. They passed market stalls and little houses. It astonished Peter how such a city could exist under the streets of London without anyone from the above world knowing.

Peter had trouble keeping up with Schuh. She was walking much more quickly than he was, so Peter had to concentrate more on keeping up with Schuh than surveying his bizarre surroundings. He had to dart around the masses of people as it got more crowded as well as dodge the mounds of trash on the floor. He had tripped a couple of times, but Schuh still wouldn't slow down for him.

They soon turned away from the main town and walked away from the chaos of the people. They reached a small brown brick building which was in ruins. It looked as though there had been a fire or a small explosion. There was only half a roof over the two storey building. The shutters were once white but had been dirtied and were hanging off the windows threatening to fall to the streets below in any minute. Schuh walked into the house through the front door way where the front door had once been. There really wasn't a need for a front door any more, it would have been possible to enter the house through the numerous gaps in the walls where bricks had either fallen away or been stolen.