“I do not guess!” snapped Melody. “I am a scientist! I study data and draw logical conclusions. Only . . . there’s nothing sane or logical about any of this. I can’t make head nor tail of what my computers are telling me. If I didn’t know better, I’d say they were scared. All I can tell you is that whatever it is we’ve got down here, it’s spread itself through the whole station. There isn’t a single platform or tunnel here that hasn’t been touched, and changed.”

“But is it still confined to the station?” JC said carefully.

“Maybe. Probably. My long-range sensors get confused, the further out they reach. And before you ask: no, I can’t locate any heart or central core to this haunting. It’s all over the place.”

“It’s bad,” said Happy. He was wringing his hands together, unconsciously. “I need a pill, JC, I really do. A little something, to take the edge off.”

“No you don’t,” said JC.

“Come on, JC! You’re feeling this, too; I can tell. Like ice in your blood, and knives at your throat. Like something really bad could come charging out of that tunnel-mouth at any moment. And for everything you feel, it’s a thousand times worse for me. Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf, JC? I am. I am.”

“You’re no use to me with your brains shut down,” said JC. “There’ll be time for pills later. Now come on; concentrate. You’re stronger than you think. What exactly is it that you’re picking up?”

Happy slumped down onto the nearest metal seat and looked down at his hands squirming together in his lap. He stopped them moving with an effort. He was breathing hard, sucking the air in as though he couldn’t get enough of it. JC studied the telepath carefully, trying not to let his concern show. He’d never seen Happy this upset.

“Something awful happened down here,” Happy said softly, his words so quiet JC had to lean forward to hear them. “And I think it’s still happening. Something really nasty has set up home here, and it has plans, JC, big plans. Some strange intelligence, not human, not human at all. It feels . . . like the end of the world.”

JC nodded slowly. “Then it’s official. Oxford Circus Tube Station has become a bad place, the kind of place that makes ghosts and maintains hauntings. But why? Nothing’s happened here to justify such a change. No train crash, no terrorist bombing . . . No disaster of any kind, man-made or natural. So what was the triggering event?”

Happy shrugged. He was breathing a little more easily though he didn’t look one bit less miserable.

“Sometimes,” he said heavily, “bad places just happen. That’s life for you. And death.”