“Good-bye Dr. Steve,' I said, then climbed the stairs and went to the fifth floor to die.”

“Good-bye,' he said with sudden force, and his eyes gleamed with their last light. 'Good-bye.... Listen ... you know I didn't kiss you then.... Breathe on the dying lamp, and let it go out ...”

“I guess this is it," Chelsea said. "The beginning of good-bye.”

“Basher shook his head. "No, we climbed in through a ground-floor guest bedroom all ninja-like. Snuck up the back stairs.""Then you might be the cavalry," said Tom, "but I'm Santa Claus. Let's go downstairs and open some presents.”

“Start climbing the stairs without thinking how steep are the stairs or how many stairs are there!”

“Then the Old Man of the Earth stooped over the floor of the cave, raised a huge stone from it, and left it leaning. It disclosed a great hole that went plumb-down."That is the way," he said. "But there are no stairs." "You must throw yourself in. There is no other way.”