There are cities in Europe where, if you dig down deep enough, you find an older version of the city buried beneath the new. Some of them were built on top of the ruins of former Roman cities, while others have literally buried the past under the present.
Some of the oldest cities, like London and Rome, are laced beneath the surface with tunnels and catacombs that are the remnants of old sewer systems and temples. Rivers that once flowed through the centre of town have, over the course of a thousand years, gradually wormed their way deep under the skin of the earth to create unseen arteries beneath the feet of today's inhabitants.
Look beneath the surface of any modern city with a subway system and you'll find a second set of tracks, and even some stations, beneath those in everyday use. Some have been designed to be used as training facilities, while others have fallen into disuse from age and safety issues. It's long been supposed that various people wishing to remove themselves from society have made these tunnels into their shelters from the rest of humanity, but they aren't the only ones sheltering beneath our feet.
In the London of Tim Lebbon and Christopher Golden's book, Mind The Gap, the living are joined by spirits from the city's past. They aren't ghosts of specific people; instead they are physical manifestations of history. They are shades and shadows that reflect all who have ever lived within the confines of London's boundaries.
Jasmine Towne, known to her few friends and her mom as “Jazz,” discovers the existence of both the physical and spectral beings beneath the city on the day she is forced to flee the overworld in fear for her life. It turns out Jazz's mom hadn't just been paranoid when she had instilled in her daughter the idea she should never trust anybody and that she should always listen to any inner voice that warned her of danger. It's listening to that voice that saves her life the day her mom was murdered by the mysterious men Jazz had called "Uncles" all her life.
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