Neverwhere

Richard arrives at the floating market, which is taking place at Harrods, one of Jessica’s favorite stores. He mourns the loss of Anaesthesia, but the woman he crossed the bridge with seems indifferent to the rat-speaker’s demise. Richard believes the woman is a prostitute when she tells him that she rents herself as a profession. Once they enter the market, she leaves him. As he wanders alone, Richard sees everything from food and music to stalls selling garbage and lost goods. While eating some food he traded a pen and a matchbook for, he runs into Old Bailey again. For the price of a handkerchief, Old Bailey tells Richard where he can find Door and the Marquis.

They are presiding over a competition—or auditions—between would-be bodyguards. Varney is among them, and he becomes the frontrunner even though Door doesn’t like him because he doesn’t look nice. Richard arrives in the middle of Varney’s fight with a competitor named Ruislip; just as Richard is about to call out to Door, Ruislip flies through the air and lands on him. When Richard regains consciousness, Door is looking down at him, and she’s not happy—in fact, his presence angers her. He tells her about the rat-speakers and Anaesthesia, and the woman who brought him the rest of the way from the bridge.