Chapter 6: Strange Circumstances

Kirjava, where are you? Will called for her, missing her presence.

Do not fear, my sweet, I am out trying to discover more of this attack. I will see you soon. You should talk to Kyle, try to find out more about him.

Okay…please hurry, and be careful.

"So tell me Kyle, how did you get involved in all of this?"

Kyle remained lost in thought for a moment.

"Kyle?"

"Oh, sorry Will, I was just recollecting. Well, I guess my part in this starts with Anna and me."

"Anna? You mean, the valedictorian Anna?"

"Yes." Kyle laughed softly to himself. "We're pretty good chums, you see. And we had a secret. We thought we were the only ones that knew. But I think that's the only reason that your Authority people would have came looking for both me and you."

"A secret?"

"Yes." Kyle would say no more. Something was on Will's mind, something that had been bothering him for a while.

"Kyle, what happened back there? Something grabbed me and pulled me away from the massacre. Did you see what it was? And what happened with you?"

"I-I'm not sure what happened, Will…" His voice had a hesitancy behind it.

"You're lying." Will said. Not accusingly, but softly. Kyle looked alarmed, trapped. Then, unexpectedly, Kyle's eyes started brimming. Will saw he was about to cry. He felt very awkward.

"Hey…er, it's okay." He tried to be consoling. Kyle's eyes watered some, but he answered in a normal voice.

"No, its fine, I just, I'm sorry; I didn't need to lie to you. I feel bad. I just get...sensitive sometimes, is all."

"Well, I won't pressure you any, okay?" Will offered a smile.

"It's something you should know though."

Kyle stood and walked across the room, his back to Will.

"Close your eyes."

Will closed them, and a blinding light seemed to flash through the room. He felt its intensity through his closed eyelids. A cool wind brushed against his face. He opened his eyes, and couldn't believe what he saw. From Kyle's back, large white wings had sprouted. They were feathery, and graceful, and beautiful to Will. His physical appearance was no different, apart from the wings, but an aura surrounded him. Will couldn't see it, but felt it around his body.

He stammered, "Yo-you…you're an…angel? But no, angels are transparent. How? What are you?"

"I'm…half of an angel. My mother was human. She didn't know about me, and so I never knew about my father really. She always called him a bad man, but would never tell me more. This is probably why your Church wanted me. I must be an abomination to them."

Kirjava climbed through the window suddenly, and ran to Will's lap. She studied him unremarkably, and spoke.

"There's something you don't see everyday."

Kyle replied to Will, "So this is your…dæmon? It seems we are both strange in this world."

__ __ __

Lyra followed the Viera down the hall.

"Do you have any idea where we're going?" she called up ahead to the woman.

"Yes, we are going to find my friend, and then head to the launch bay."

"Your friend? Is he like you?

Fran chuckled, "No, she is not a Viera if that's what you mean. She is from a different world than me. Now quiet, we must hurry."

They ran down halls that all looked the same to Lyra, but Fran seemed to know where she was going, taking a right here, a left there, going through several doors. Finally they came through one last door into another warehouse like the one Lyra had been in. There was another impromptu cage set up in the middle. Lyra saw another woman sitting inside. She was wearing strange clothes: a white button-up shirt, held together by a thick brown leather belt, and blue pants tucked into slightly above knee-high boots. She rose up at the sight of the other two.

"I'm glad as hell to see you Fran. Who's your friend there?"

"She was another prisoner, of some importance, I perceived, from my eavesdropping. Did you not have a guard?"

"Well, actually, I pissed the bugger off so bad he punched me in the face and left, prolly to get someone else."

Fran pressed her ear up to the door and listened intently. She caught faint voices from down the hall, but approaching towards the room.

"Did she really piss you off that bad?"

"Yeah, you wouldn't believe what she said about me dear ol' mother…"

Fran chuckled, then ran to the cage and expertly picked the cage padlock. The woman, who reminded Lyra of the pirates she loved to learn about from her history lessons, hustled to a crate, and grabbed some belongings off it. She strapped her belt on, put a pistol in a sheath on her right side, grabbed one sabre and slid it in a sheath on her other side and grabbed the other sabre laying there and held on to it.

"Are you armed?" she asked Fran.

Fran pulled out her dagger from earlier and pulled a grim smile.

"What about you?" she asked Lyra.

"Well, no, I don't carry any weapons." Lyra replied, discouraged. "I can fight though, you just watch me! They just caught me off guard earlier!"

"You have a fiery spirit." The pirate-woman remarked, "My name is Adelina. Here, use these."

She handed Lyra to slightly curved metal bands with leather stripes on the sides.

"Tie the leather around your hand and let the metal rest on your knuckles. If they come after you, aim for the face or the groin, whichever is less protected."

"Thank you" Lyra stumbled out, amazed at this woman, "My name is Lyra. Pleased to meet you." She remembered her manners.

"A pleasure, likewise. Fran, you take one, I'll get the other. There aren't that many footsteps, must just be two."

The door slid open, and two guards walked in, thinking nothing was awry. The looks of smug confidence turned to surprised incredulousness as they saw what had unfolded while the one had been gone. They drew their swords.

"Hey! You there! How did you get out of that cage?! Blasted woman!"

Neither of them saw Fran perched on top of the cage. She bounded off the top, performing a half-backflip through the air and landing on one guard's shoulders. Her dagger found his neck, and he went down gurgling. Adelina rushed toward the remaining guard, swatted his sword out of his hand with one swift saber blow, pulled her pistol and shot him in the face, all in one motion it seemed to Lyra, and he went down also.

Fran ran out, followed by Adelina, and Lyra, holding both the iron bands and Pan still, and who was still a little hesitant to believe that this was even happening. More turns, doors, and hallways later, they ran into a large hangar area. Fran looked around for a second, and found what she was looking for. She ran to a smaller looking strange vehicle, and pulled down the hatch.

"Come on!"

Neither Adelina nor Lyra needed any extra encouraging, and they boarded the strange craft.

Fran sat in the pilot's seat, and began manipulating controls. The craft emitted a strange hum, and the inside lit up. Lyra felt a buzz pass through her.

She asked, "So how do we get out of this hangar? I think the door is closed."

Adelina laughed and replied, "We blow through it."

Lyra almost yelled and Pan yipped when the craft suddenly rose off the landing platform, and moved forward a little.

"The main launcher is charged." Fran said, to no one in particular, and pressed a big, red button. An enormous beam of light erupted from under the front end of the craft, and the main launch bay door exploded in a decompression of molten door fragments, debris, and even a couple people who had been standing around. The craft launched forward, causing Lyra to fly back and drop Pan. Scooping up the offended dæmon, she sat down in a seat behind Fran and leaned forward to look out of the front window. Fran expertly maneuvered the ship through the bay and out into the open. Lyra felt so exhilarated! Wait until the people at home heard of this! She sat back to enjoy the ride.