The man did not truly stand in the street; he did not stand anywhere. He was the voice in Van Bam's head, the ghost that haunted the corridors of the Nightshade, the spirit who had at one time had been the Resident of Labrys Town. He was forever remembered as Gideon the Selfless, and he appeared to Van Bam exactly as he had the night he had been killed, forty years before.

'Why didn't you tell Captain Jeter the truth?' the ghost of Gideon demanded. 'Why not tell him that a Genii has returned?'

'You know why,' Van Bam replied. 'The very mention of Fabian Moor would send the denizens into a panic.'

'And rightly so.' Gideon watched as two nurses emerged from the hospital, ending their shifts for the night. They walked through Gideon, briefly disturbing his image, and he turned to watch them leave, unashamedly admiring their figures.

He turned back to Van Bam with lust in his eyes. 'But I think inducing panic will soon be the least of everyone's worries, don't you, my idiot?' He chuckled unkindly.

For forty years Van Bam had tolerated Gideon's voice in his head, and the ghost rarely made his point quickly. It was far easier to accept his incongruous manner than to battle against it.

He sighed and took a few steps closer to the former Resident. 'Gideon, there is something I do not understand.'

'Oh?'

'Fabian Moor is a Genii, a creature of higher magic – what possible use could he have for a magicker? Why did he abduct Marney instead of killing her?'

Gideon shrugged as if he didn't much care. 'Your guess, I suspect, is as useless as mine. Though we have always had our theories about Moor.'

Van Bam nodded. 'Let us hope that Charlie Hemlock will provide some definite answers.'

'If he's still alive.' A look of dark mirth came over Gideon's sharp features. 'Oh, by the way, I like Clara. She's a little ugly for my tastes, but when a whore earns the name of Peppercorn ...' His grin was unfriendly.

Van Bam held in check a sudden and unexpected need to protect the changeling.

Gideon said, 'Do you think she is up to the task, my idiot?'

This gave Van Bam pause to consider. He exhaled heavily. 'Clara is strong, and we can be thankful that Marney has helped her to accept her predicament.'

'What, with a kiss?' Gideon snorted. 'Marney never did anything without reason – you know that, my idiot. Who can say what she did to the whore out in the Great Labyrinth tonight.'

'Regardless,' Van Bam said testily, 'Clara will have to learn fast, but at least she is in good hands.'

'Good hands?' Gideon's laughter was scornful. 'Are you really so sure?'

With that the ghost disappeared, and Van Bam felt a dizzying lurch as he was swept away from the hospital where an old friend had once worked, and his journey across Labrys Town was resumed.

Again, the streets and side lanes passed through the observation room. Faster and faster he travelled, the lights of streetlamps streaked and blurred, but Van Bam didn't try to stop Gideon leading him across the districts. Within seconds he reached the lower regions of Resident Approach, where a sleek and black tram was just heading into the central district from the north. Van Bam caught up with his personal tram, and then its interior filled the observation room.

He stared down the length of the carriage. Two bench seats lined either side. Samuel and Clara sat opposite each other. Samuel studied his spirit compass, and Clara looked down at the satchel of spell spheres in her lap. They did not speak; the atmosphere in the tram was clearly uncomfortable.

Gideon had materialised sitting next to Samuel. Van Bam ensured that he and the ghost could not be seen or heard, and pursed his lips as Gideon sneered into the old bounty hunter's face.

'Look at him,' he hissed. 'Always so proud. Always so ... irritating. You should have died years ago, Old Man Sam.'

Van Bam didn't comment. Gideon, even as a ghost, was a latent psychopath. When he was alive, his passion for confrontation was legendary among the agents of the Relic Guild. But he had been the Resident and his ways were tolerated. Except by Samuel. He and Gideon had shared a mutual hatred, which often boiled over, and on a few occasions they had needed to be separated. Van Bam had never discerned the specific reason why they loathed each other, but no one had ever dared suggest they reconcile their differences, not even old and wise Denton.

Gideon peered at Samuel's face. 'Oh, Samuel,' he said. 'I wonder, given your time again, would you still stand by your comrades in the Relic Guild? If you were the man you have become today, then I think not.'

Behind Gideon's caustic words, Van Bam could detect the point he was making, and it ran deeper than his hatred of an old bounty hunter. It was something that could be ignored no longer.

'Samuel concerns me,' the Resident said.

'And with good reason,' Gideon replied. He looked across the carriage at the young changeling sitting opposite. 'Clara is touched by magic,' he continued, 'the first to be born so for many years, as far as we know. She represents a new generation of Relic Guild agents. Marney knew it, and so did Samuel.'

'Yet he intended to kill Clara for the sake of a bounty,' Van Bam said, and he moved down the carriage to sit next to the changeling.

Samuel knew the duties of the Relic Guild, no matter how many years had passed. He should have been as keen as Marney to save Clara. The bounty contract was a mystery – undoubtedly bogus, perhaps a means to gain Samuel's attention – but what had it offered that could convince Old Man Sam to act so dishonourably, so foolishly?

Gideon passed a ghostly hand through Samuel's face and said, 'Who was it that offered this old fool a contract to end the life of a changeling whore?'

An avatar, Samuel had said; a ghost of blue light ...

'You will have to watch him,' Gideon warned. 'Samuel is not the man you once knew, my idiot.'

'Perhaps,' Van Bam replied. 'But I do not believe Samuel to be a danger to me or Clara. Not now. He can be trusted. I can depend on him.'

'I certainly hope so.' To Van Bam's vision, Gideon's eyes flashed with sparkling colours. 'Because we all know what happened the last time Fabian Moor was around.'

With a sudden jolt, Van Bam found himself once again outside the black tram. He remained silent as Gideon steered him southward, deep into the southern district of Labrys Town. He passed recycling plants and water reservoirs, and then a landscape of storage warehouses shifted through the observation room. Van Bam floated through the yard of a metal-works and drifted down a lonely street, where nondescript houses lined either side in terraces. Down this street, all movement ceased, and Van Bam was left staring at damp cobbles reflecting the violet glow of streetlamps.

The ghost of Gideon once more materialised before the Resident. He pointed to the ground at his feet.

'I'm standing on the exact spot where I died.' His grin was broad. 'Did I ever tell you what it was like to die, my idiot? The pain and the emptiness I suffered?'

'Frequently,' Van Bam replied sourly.

'I've been thinking – since Fabian Moor has returned, my death seems a little in vain. Do you think they'll strip me of my "Selfless" title?'

'What is your point, Gideon?'

The tone of Gideon's reply suggested he was talking to an imbecile. 'What will you do if Charlie Hemlock is alive? If he can answer every one of your questions, how will that help you stop a Genii?' He sneered, and his tone returned to its cold and bitter state. 'These are not the old days, my idiot. There are no mighty friends watching over us anymore.'

Van Bam had to concede the truth of this, though it froze his soul to do so.

With a heavy sigh, he dispelled the spectral visions received through the eye devices. The imagery faded and swirled like fog caught in the wind until he stood in the dim glow of an inactive observatory within the Nightshade, surrounded by the dull walls, decorated with small maze patterns.

The ghost of Gideon remained in the room with him. His expression was as amused as it was expectant.

'You lead the Relic Guild now, my idiot, but your list of allies isn't exactly long anymore, is it?' He grinned. 'The denizens are all alone with a Genii in their midst.'

Van Bam remained silent.

'What to do, my idiot, what to do ...' The lights of Gideon's ghostly eyes shone manically. 'The Timewatcher abandoned the Labyrinth forty years ago. Her Thaumaturgists haven't been seen since the war ended. Who will you call on for help this time?'

With that statement hanging in the air, Gideon's ghost faded and disappeared, leaving Van Bam in the observation room alone. But in his head, Gideon's voice whispered: Does anyone out there remember us at all?