Grim Tuesday

Grim Tuesday is the second book in Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series, and it follows Arthur as he returns to the House.

Plot Teaser
"Arthur doesn't think he will ever have to return to the strange house that nearly killed him on Monday -- the house that contains an entire world. But Tuesday brings new challenges -- in the form of an enemy named Grim Tuesday, who threatens the well-being of both Arthur's family and his world. Arthur must retrieve the Second Key from Grim Tuesday in order to save everything -- an adventure that will include stealing a Sunship, surviving a very weird work camp, befriending a bearlike spirit, fighting the voidlike Nithlings, and traveling to the scary Far Reaches for the ultimate showdown."

(source: Goodreads)

Characters

 * Arthur Penhaligon, Rightful Heir to the House
 * Suzy Turquoise Blue, one of the Piper's children and Monday's Tierce
 * Dame Primus, the first part of the Will
 * Grim Tuesday, Trustee of the Far Reaches
 * Captain Tom Shelvocke, a Mariner
 * Japeth, an indentured worker
 * Most Excellent Testamentary Clause, the second part of the Will

Plot Synopsis
This section contains spoilers regarding the content and ending of the novel.

When Grim Tuesday decides to claim the debt he was owed by Mister Monday in the form of Arthur's Key, Arthur panics at the threat to his family. After he and Leaf battle a Nithling and Leaf is injured, Arthur seeks out a door to the House. Unfortunately, the only door he can find takes him directly to the Nothing mines in the Far Reaches.

Arthur joins a team of miners, where he is aided by an indentured man called Japeth and a supply clerk called Mathias. Without the First Key, the coal dust and long walk exhaust him; it is only Japeth's support that keeps him from entirely collapsing. Desperate for a way out and finding nothing helpful in the Atlas, Arthur begins to despair until Suzy arrives. She has temporarily gotten herself indentured as a messenger in order to rescue Arthur. The two of them don Ascension Wings and Stickit Fingers and fly up to the ceiling of the mines. From there, they crawl along the ceiling to Grim Tuesday's Treasure Tower. Arthur breaks his leg in the process, but haphazardly fixes it with the remainder of the power from the First Key.

After breaking into the Tower with the help of a diamond-toting Nithling called Soot, Arthur and Suzy begin to explore the treasure rooms. In one room, they find an old man who Suzy initially takes to be the Piper but instead reveals himself as the Piper's brother, Captain Tom Shelvocke. The Mariner is duty-bound to execute indentured workers who trespass, but when Arthur reveals himself as the Master of the Lower House, the Mariner agrees to help him. Captain Tom takes them aboard a sunship called the Helios to a secret island in the middle of a sun. On the way, they drop Grim Tuesday's ledger book into the sun, thus freeing the indentured workers. On the island, they find the second part of the Will as a hibernating sun bear made of text. Unfortunately, they are also set upon by sun sprites, although they manage to escape and return to Tuesday's Tower.

Upon their return, they discover that warning sirens are announcing an overflow of Nothing. Before they can process this, they are attacked by Grim Tuesday. The second part of the Will refuses to acknowledge Arthur as the Rightful Heir without proper documentation, which he lacks; however, in light of the disputed claim, the Will revokes the Grim's claim to the Second Key. He decides to have a contest, judged by the Mariner, of which contestant can create the best piece of art from Nothing. Grim Tuesday creates a statue of a tree made of precious jewels; Arthur creates a simple xylophone and plays a song he wrote as a child. Because the Grim's piece is a copy and Arthur's music was original, Arthur is declared the winner and given mastery over the Second Key and the Far Reaches. A moment too late, Dame Primus, the embodiment of the first part of the Will, arrives.

With his new powers but no idea how to use them, Arthur descends to the bottom of the Pit to stop the Nothing leaking in. He manages to stop the Nothing by creating a cement dam, but he is attacked by a Denizen of the House, who backs off when Arthur stabs at him with the First Key. Arthur returns to the surface to find the Tower and surrounding environs being repainted, with orders for the Pit to be filled in. Arthur declares Dame Primus, who has now absorbed the second part of the Will as well, to be the steward of the Far Reaches as well. Dame Primus announces that she cannot fix Arthur's leg without making him a Denizen, so he is returned to his world with a badly broken leg. While he is recovering in the hospital under his mother's care, he discovers that he has been given an invitation to meet with Lady Wednesday.

Sequels
Grim Tuesday is the second of seven books in the Keys to the Kingdom series. It is immediately preceded by Mister Monday and followed by Drowned Wednesday.