In the Old City, nothing is scattered around like endoplasmic reticulum. It's here and there in strands and globs, all connected by stringy links.

We had visited this stairwell before, when the yellow "CAUTION - DO NOT ENTER" ribbon had first been wrapped around the railing. The ribbon had deteriorated now. It made sense. These stairs had nowhere at both the top and the bottom. They led from nowhere to nowhere.

Poison Pie shed a tear. Admittedly, there was something gloomy about the stairs. I patted him on the back and wrapped my arm around his shoulder.