There are seven days of the week. Seven deadly sins. Seven graces. Seven dwarves. Seven seas. Seven heavens in Islamic tradition. Seven wonders of the ancient world. Shakespeare even identified seven ages in the life of man. What’s so special about the number seven?
According to some traditions, the number seven connotes wholeness or perfection. After the number three, seven is considered the most important number in the Judaic and Christian religions. In the Book of Genesis, the world was created in six days, and on the seventh day, the creator rested. The seventh day became the most holy day, the Sabbath.
The Days of the Week
In most Latin-based (or Romance) languages, such as French, the days of the week are named after the seven “planets” (objects in the solar system visible to the naked eye) recognized in the ancient world. Those planets are the Sun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Each of the planets rules one day of the week. Some traditions ascribe to each day particular virtues or powers derived from its ruling planet. Since many of the planets are named after ancient Roman gods, the virtues or powers of the days of the week are sometimes associated with those gods as well.
In the English language, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday retain their original planet names (Saturday is named for Saturn, Sunday is named for the Sun, and Monday is Moon Day). The names of the other four days are derived from Anglo-Saxon or Nordic gods, instead of Roman ones. Tuesday is named for Tiw, the Anglo-Saxon god of war (instead of Mars, the Roman god of war). Wednesday is named after Woden (instead of Mercury). Thursday’s name comes from Thor, the Norse god of thunder (instead of the Romans’ Jupiter). Friday gets its name from Freya, the goddess of beauty or love (replacing the Roman equivalent, Venus).
Not all cultures have followed the seven-day week. In ancient Egypt, a ten-day week was used. The Mayan calendar featured a combination of two different weeks, a thirteen-day week (in which the days were numbered one through thirteen) and a twenty-day week (in which the days had names such as Ahau, Imix, and Etznab). Before adopting Christianity, Lithuanians used a nine-day week. In 1929, the Soviet Union adopted a five-day week. Under that calendar, every worker had one day off per five-day cycle, but there was no Sabbath (no fixed day of rest, like the Jewish Saturday or the Christian Sunday, or Friday, the Muslim day of prayer). The five-day week was replaced with the six-day week in 1931. The Soviet Union returned to the normal seven-day week starting on June 26, 1940.
The Seven Deadly Sins
In the late sixth century, Pope Gregory the Great (who was later made a saint) identified a list of seven unforgivable sins. Pope Gregory’s list was based on other lists of wicked thoughts and vices identified and discussed by theologians and philosophers in the preceding centuries. Pope Gregory ranked the seven sins in order of severity. They were, from most serious to least, Pride, Envy, Anger, Sadness, Avarice (covetousness), Gluttony, and Lust. In the seventeeth century, the sin of Sadness was replaced by Sloth.
Each of the seven denizens in The Keys to the Kingdom series personifies one of the seven sins. Mister Monday is afflicted by Sloth.
Many works, such as Dante’s
Inferno
, enumerate specific punishments in Hell associated with each sin. The sins and their corresponding punishments are listed below.
He who indulges in
Pride
(aka vanity) will be broken on the wheel.
He who sins through
Envy
(aka desire) will be submerged in freezing water.
He who harbors
Wrath
(aka anger) will be dismembered alive.
He who exhibits
Sloth
(aka laziness) will be tossed into a snake pit.
He who is overcome by
Greed
(aka covetousness) will be boiled in oil.
He who can’t resist
Gluttony
(aka over-consumption) will be force-fed rats, toads, and snakes.
He who gives in to
Lust
(aka cravings) will be smothered in fire and brimstone.
On the first day, there was mystery. On the second day, there was darkness.
Don’t miss
Grim Tuesday
, the second book in The Keys to the Kingdom series.
Prologue
The blood-red, spike-covered locomotive vented steam in angry blasts as it wound up from the very depths of the Pit. Black smoke billowed through the steam, coal smoke that was laced with deadly particles of Nothing from the deep mines far below.
For over ten thousand years, the Pit had been dug deeper and deeper into the foundations of the House. Grim Tuesday’s miners sought workable deposits of Nothing, from which all things could be made. But if they found too much in one place or broke through to the endless abyss of Nothing, it would destroy them and much else besides, before the hole could be plugged and that particular shaft closed off.
There was also the constant danger of attack by Nithlings, the strange creatures that were born from Nothing. Sometimes Nithlings came as multitudes of lesser creatures, sometimes as a single, fearsome monster that would wreak enormous havoc until it was defeated, turned back, or escaped into the Secondary Realms.
Despite the danger, the Pit grew ever deeper, and the shafts and tunnels that preceded it spread wider. The train was a relatively recent addition, a mere three hundred years old as time ran in the House. The train took only four days to travel from the bottom of the Pit up to the Far Reaches. There wasn’t much left of the Reaches, since the digging had eaten away much of Grim Tuesday’s original domain within the House.
Very few ordinary Denizens ever rode the train. Most had to walk, a journey of at least four months, following the service road next to the railway. The train was only for the Grim himself and his favored servants. Its locomotive and carriages were razor-spiked all over to prevent hitchhikers, and the conductors used steam-guns on anyone who tried to get on. Even an almost-immortal Denizen of the House would think twice about risking a blast of superheated steam. Recovery would take a long time and be extraordinarily painful.
Flying would be far faster than the train, but Grim Tuesday never wore wings himself and had forbidden them to everyone else. Wings attracted Nothing from all over the Pit. Sometimes they caused flying Nithlings to form. Other times, the flapping set off storms of Nothing that the Grim himself had to quell.
The train whistled seven times as it came to a screeching stop alongside the platform. Up Station had been built by Grim Tuesday himself, copied from a very grand station on some world in the Secondary Realms. It had once been a beautiful building of vaulting arches and pale stonework. But the coal smoke from the train and the Grim’s many forges and factories had stained the stones black. The pollution from Nothing had also eaten into every wall and arch, riddling the stone with tiny holes, like a worm-eaten wooden ship. The station only stayed up because Grim Tuesday constantly repaired it with the power of his Key.
Grim Tuesday held the Second Key to the Kingdom, the Key that he should have handed to a Rightful Heir ten thousand years ago, but instead chose to keep, in defiance of the Will left by the Architect who had created the House and the Secondary Realms.
Grim Tuesday rarely thought about the Will. It had been broken into seven fragments and those fragments had been hidden away across the vastness of space and the depths of time. He had hidden a fragment himself, the Second Clause of the Will, and had once been sure that no one else would ever reach it.
But now he had learned that the first part of the Will had escaped. It had found itself a Rightful Heir, and that heir had unbelievably managed to vanquish Mister Monday and assume his powers.
That meant Grim Tuesday would be next. As he stepped off the train, he scowled at the open letter he held in his gauntleted hand. The messengers who had brought this unwelcome message to the Far Reaches were waiting now, expecting a reply.
And Coming Next…
Drowned Wednesday
Wednesday has rolled around, and Arthur has an invitation to return to the House that he can’t refuse. Drowned Wednesday has sent a ship to pick him up from the hospital…even though his hometown is miles from any ocean. From hospital room to high seas, Arthur finds himself on an adventure that will pit him against pirates, storms, explosions of Nothing-laced gunpowder, and a vast beast that eats everything it encounters. Arthur must find the third part of the Will and claim the Third Key—not just for himself but for the millions (if not trillions) who will suffer if he doesn’t.
Sir Thursday
Following their adventures in the Border Sea, Arthur and Leaf head for home. But only Leaf gets through the Front Door. Arthur is blocked because someone…or something…has assumed his identity and is taking over his life.
Before Arthur can take action, he is drafted by Sir Thursday and forced to join the Glorious Army of the Architect. While Leaf tries to banish Arthur’s doppelganger on Earth, Arthur must survive his basic training, avoid getting posted to the Front, and work out how he can free Part Four of the Will and gain the Fourth Key from Sir Thursday.
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Copyright © 2003 by Garth Nix. All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
Cover art by John Blackford
Cover design by Steve Scott
First printing, July 2003
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E-ISBN 978-0-545-28980-1