"Slow down, Lyra. I can't understand what you're saying."

Mary's voice crackled with static through the receiver. Lyra took a frustrated breath, pressing her check into the hard plastic of the phone.

"I said, it was a daemon!" Lyra said breathlessly into the mouthpiece.

Will sprang into action as soon as Lyra came to her realization about the sparrow hawk. He had grabbed Lyra's arm, pulling her from the Botanic garden and running to a red booth down the street. He called Mary and Stan at the lab immediately. Lyra saw the determination, and perhaps fear, lining his face.

They were pressed close together in the confines of the box, Will's chest flush against her back. Their breath fogged the glass windows, the heat of their bodies creating a sweating fog. Their daemons waited outside the box, keeping an eye out for any passersby who would disturb or overhear them.

"We were looking for the apple, and I saw the snake-"

"What snake?"

"The snake that was in the tree when I found the apple."

"Lyra! -" Mary let out a frustrated groan at the new information.

Lyra barreled on before Mary had time to scold her. "And we were going to capture it and bring it to the lab, but a hawk grabbed it and flew off. Except it wasn't a hawk, it was a daemon!"

Mary was silent for a moment. "Are you sure? How could you tell?"

"I remembered the hawk from a party I was at, the night I came over! I was dancing with this man, and his daemon was a hawk. I got a good look at it while we were dancing. It has the same hooded eyes."

"Did you see the man there tonight?"

"No," Lyra said, "I would have recognized him if I saw him. He was the nephew of the woman who runs the school. He had just gotten back from an expedition. He was the one who brought the tree to the garden!"

It all fit together in her mind. Jude was behind all this.

"But who planted the tree on this end?" Will asked from behind her.

"It must have been Jude," Lyra said conclusively.

"It's possible," Mary conceded. "As much as any of this is possible. I'm going to see if I can confirm who discovered the tree in this world."

Will took the phone from Lyra's hand. "We're going to lay low for a while, then head back to the garden when the coast is clear. We'll meet you there."

"Alright, Stan and I are headed over now."

"Stay safe," Will said before hanging up.

He laced his fingers through Lyra's and pulled her from the red booth.

"We can't stay here," he said, scanning the street around them. "It's too exposed."

He led them down a dark alleyway, their hands still intertwined and Pan and Kirjava walking beside them. Lyra could barely see past the tip of her nose and put her trust into Will's confident lead.

"Where are we going?" she whispered, but the words echoed through the silence.

Will slowed his pace so he could lean towards her, his lips inches from her ear. She could feel the heat of his breath against her face.

"We're taking the long way back to the garden. Don't say anything for a few minutes. We need to know if we're being followed."

She nodded, her hair brushing against his shoulder. Though he could not see her face he felt the movement. They continued in silence, though Lyra was sure if anyone had been nearby, they would have heard the thumping of her heart. Together they walked slowly through the dark web of connected alleyways. Will stayed one step ahead, guiding Lyra around broken glass and protruding dust bins.

Lyra was focused on navigating over a cracked step when Will grabbed her, pulling her into a doorway alcove. His hand flew over her mouth, stifling her instinctive shriek. She steadied herself, and Will released her. He was alert, his head turned to the opening of the alley connecting to a side street. She strained her ears, gazing towards the opening. Then, she heard it.

Footsteps.

They were on a dark road, far from where people normally walked in the evenings. This part of the city was primarily commercial, open and bustling during the work week but quiet otherwise. The side streets hadn't even been outfitted with pole lights. It was unlikely to meet another person walking this way, but not impossible.

They waited a moment, their breath tight in their chest until two men appeared at the opening of the alleyway. Though dark, their outlines were visible against the light coming from larger roads down the way. Their large frames took up most of the passage, and they wore dark suits. Lyra felt Will go stiff against her.

"Are you sure they ran this way?" the first man asked the second, removing any of Lyra's hopes that these men were not looking for them.

They were staring into the unlit alley, looking right towards where Lyra and Will were hiding. If they tried to run now, they could get a second's head start but would reveal themselves in the process. Lyra turned towards Will, searching for any sort of sign when she felt Pan and Kirjava pass by her ankles. She instinctively reached for her daemon, but Will pulled her back.

She waited, watching the two men as they decided if Lyra and Will may be in the alley or had run further up. If they took any steps closer, she was sure they would hear her ragged breath.

There was a loud clanging of overturned metal bins across the street, shattering the silence. Lyra realized why Pan and Kirjava had slipped away. She said a silent prayer, thanking Pan and willing him to outrun the two men now headed his way.

As soon as the men left their line of sight, Lyra and Will ran from the doorway, crossing back over the path they came. They ran back onto the main street, valuing speed over stealth. They ran until the street ended, T-ing into another roadway.

"Right or left?" Lyra asked.

Will looked over her shoulder. He shook his head, winded from the sprint as well. "We're running the opposite direction of the Botanic Gardens."

"We can't go back that way," Lyra said. "We'd be running right into their path!"

Will gave a sharp nod. "We need to get out of sight for a moment. Until we know where they're going or Pan and Kirjava can find us."

He scanned the surroundings. There was little to offer protection from being visible. On one side of the road was a small, open park. Nothing more than a few scrappy bushes and bare trees. Across was the front office of a warehouse, empty and closed for the evening.

Will walked over and tested the doorknob. The door was wooden and old, not the large sheet metal of the doors opening to the main warehouse. He stared at it for a second before raising his leg and kicking into the door jam. The door gave way with a sickening crunch. Lyra flinched at the noise, but the men in suits did not appear.

They hurried into the office and jammed the receptionist's chair against the front door, propping it shut. They found a spot to hide behind the front desk. From their vantage point, they could see out the large bay window of the reception area. The glowing streetlamps were enough for them to see outlines and movements on the street. The thick legs of the desk and pitch-black darkness obscured them from view.

Will sank down to the floor, and Lyra sat next to him, her head resting against his shoulder. They sat motionless together, staring into the empty street beyond the window.

It took Stan and Mary less than five minutes to gather and pack their belongings and equipment into the back of Stan's car. Normally a cautious driver, Stan took advantage of the cover of night and zoomed through stop signs and lights without waiting.

They made it to the garden in record time.

The front gates were locked, as expected, but they found a weak spot in the fence. The top bars had rusted off but were yet to be replaced, leaving an easy path for them to cross. Stan helped Mary over, and carefully passed each part of their equipment before jumping over himself.

Keeping an eye out for unwelcome visitors, they set up their equipment in front of the tree as they had done the night before. Mary pulled the amber spyglass from her pocket. The intricate spectrometer was too difficult to redesign within a day, but the spyglass would show her enough for now. She brought the instrument to her eye and gazed at the tree. The Dust surrounded it in a thick haze, lazily swirling into small orbits. The movements had none of the frantic and purposeful energy of the night before.

"I wonder where Lyra and Will are," Mary said, bringing the spyglass down from her face. She looked about, as though the young couple would walk through the bushes at any moment.

"I'm sure they'll be here soon. Will said they were going the long way back," Stan said without looking up. He struggled to set up a tripod, unable to find balance on the grass. While nothing worked quite as well as their spectrometer, Stan insisted on bringing a variety of technology. He was determined to see whatever they could capture.

Mary cautiously stepped forward to touch the tree, careful to be able to leap back in case she felt herself being transported. The tree felt warm to the touch, but the Dust did not engulf her as Lyra had described.

She tried to shake off her own frustration, but it slowly bubbled to the surface. She had dedicated her life to studying Dust and its principles. Stan was right in his outburst the night before. The Dust surrounding this tree defied everything their research had told them.

But would that be so terrible? A small voice in the back of her head made itself known. She hoped her years of research would be useful. She wanted to prove something greater than herself. Greater than everyone she knew. It was what she had searched for as a nun, and though she tried to box it in, what she was still searching for now.

But would it be so terrible if all that was wrong if it meant Lyra and Will could be reconnected? She had watched for years as Will readjusted to living in his own world. Despite his own struggles, he had always been admirable. Will took comfort in knowing he and Lyra did the right thing in breaking the knife. Instead he redirected his energy in caring for his mother, and even herself on many occasions. She felt she owed it to be there for him. He approached his life with the same determination he showed as a young boy, verging on stoic even.

In many ways, Mary considered herself lucky. She was blessed to have her journey across the worlds. But she was also blessed to have not met her other half during that time. Though she missed Lyra and all their fellow companions, her journey had been a solitary one. Readjusting to life was reacclimating to the mundane, not learning to live without.

She knew Will's struggle was different. He connected- his soul connected- with another person. He craved not only someone to love, but someone to understand him.

Mary was lucky to have found Stan. Though he had not been on her journey, he still understood her person in a deep and intimate way. They shared the same core. They were bound together by a love of knowledge. They had a shared determination to understand the fabric of the universe. She wanted the same for Will, and with each passing year, it felt more evident he would not find it in his own world. He had begun to fold inward to himself and Kirjava. He was unable (or unwilling) to connect with the world around him.

Being wrong about Dust gave her something unexpected. It gave her hope. If Dust could not only think but act, it had the power to transform their physical world. There was still a chance Will and Lyra could reunite- permanently. They could be together without harm to others. She closed her eyes said a silent prayer, willing the Dust to hear her. Please, please do not let this end as the last time.

After a moment, she opened her eyes and brought the spyglass back to her eye. She was unsure what she expected, but still felt a pang of disappointment. The patterns wafting through the air showed no change.

Letting go of her feelings, she walked back to Stan, who was unaware of the course of her thoughts. Together they waited for the young couple to arrive.