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Chapter 19
Golden Auroras
Will didn't want to go to London. But he supposed that he didn't have any choice on the matter.
They were leaving the coffee shop now, Dr. Malone returning home to gather some belongings and Mrs. Coulter, Will, and Lyra returning to Cittàgazze to gather theirs. Or rather, what they'd claimed and stolen as their belongings, since none of them really had anything with them when they'd stumbled into the foreign world.
"We'll talk about this once we're away," Mrs. Coulter muttered to him as he again asked her if they could stop for a moment to discuss this. What was all the way in London, he wondered, and why did they have to go there now? He must have missed some of what happened when Mrs. Coulter and Lyra visited the college. They hadn't said anything further once Will had arrived, and he got the impression that a lot had happened. And it felt serious and important, in the way their visit with Sir Charles felt serious and important. And that made Will nervous, since this was all becoming bigger and more complicated than he'd ever imagined this would be.
"I also have to tell you about something," Will insisted, hovering now as they quickened their pace through the park on their way back to the portal. "I did some looking around that big tower, and I heard—"
" Not here, Will!" There was an audible screech coming from the red handbag as Mrs. Coulter took Will's hand and led them down a side street, glancing around them.
"What are we doing? " Will all but whined, and to his surprise, it was Lyra who snapped at him this time.
"Can you just shut up ?" the girl exclaimed, joining her mother in glancing all around them. "It's not safe, and I have to do something that requires hiding. We're almost there."
Will was left in the utter dark as the trio finally stopped in a well-hidden alleyway, boxes and trash obscuring them from sight. It wasn't fair to Will, really, to be outnumbered by them. They were traveling together. They were a mother and daughter pair. Shouldn't their vote only count as one? It seemed like they could do whatever they pleased and string Will along. In fact, everything as of late had been about them and not about Will. They'd said they were there to help him, but it felt like helping him was only secondary to whatever it was they were set out to do. Maybe it was time for him to address this, and to speak up for himself.
Before he could do so, however, Lyra did the most curious thing: she pulled out some kind of leather-skin pouch to reveal a shiny golden instrument.
"What's that?"
A look passed between Lyra and Mrs. Coulter in that moment—a look of warning, of hesitation. Of apprehension. Lyra gave a curt nod, and as she turned around with the instrument, Mrs. Coulter came over to sit beside Will on the boxes.
"There's something else we need to explain to you," she began, and with that, she told Will everything about the alethiometer, Lyra's talents, and why exactly the meeting with Dr. Malone was so important and dangerous.
Will should have been surprised, but he'd been around the two of them long enough to not feel shocked by anything anymore. The alethiometer made a lot of sense to Will now that it was properly explained. In fact, he recalled a few times in their journey together of Lyra referencing such a thing. He'd assumed it was just a word or concept from their world or something, but now he understood. This Dust, or dark matter as they called it his world, was serious. It'd caused a war to break out in Lyra and Mrs. Coulter's world, and from the sound of that meeting with police officers in Dr. Malone's lab, was close to starting one here as well. And the alethiometer was at the center of it all.
"You can see why things have been so hectic," Mrs. Coulter finally sighed as she finished, moving her hand to rub her temples. Will noticed that she'd been doing that a lot. Whenever she seemed stressed. "So Lyra is checking now to see what our safest next move."
A thought occurred to Will just then at the woman's words. It scared him a bit, this thought and its implications. Part of him didn't even want to voice it for that reason, yet he couldn't stop himself. "So, Lyra's alethiometer...It can tell the truth about anything?"
He didn't say it, what he perhaps wanted to ask it. He didn't dare voice it. Part of his heart didn't want to admit it. Mrs. Coulter, however, seemed to understand. Her eyes softened as she leaned forward to put a hand through his hair, gazing at him for a few moments. "Sometimes. But not always."
"Alright." Will looked away from her, gazing instead at a big dumpster bin with some graffiti on it. Rust flecked the left side, crawling around the corners through the top edge.
"We can have her check," Mrs. Coulter offered.
"It's fine," Will answered, shaking his head. He felt his face growing hot. "It was a stupid thing to think."
"Not, it's not." Will looked back at Mrs. Coulter as she said that. She was still wearing a soft expression–gentle, but not pitying. She never pitied him, which he appreciated. "It's an understandable thing."
"Anyway," Will sighed, wiggling around a bit and looking back at the garbage bin, "when we get back to Cittàgazze, we need to—"
"Will, look at me." Mrs. Coulter's voice was calm but firm. Will whipped his head around to stare at her again, his own dark eyes slightly widened. "I haven't forgotten about you and your father. We will help you find him, Will. I promise."
And he believed her. For whatever reason, he believed and trusted this strange woman with a strange monkey from a strange world. She didn't treat him like a child. In a way, she treated him like an adult, like an equal as they navigated this situation together. And that was more than so many others had done for him.
"Mrs. Coulter!" said Lyra suddenly, appearing in front of them. Her hair was disheveled and Pan was flying around her head impatiently as a brown finch, fluffing out his feathers.
"What is it?" her mother asked, eyes narrowed and body turned to fully face her.
"We have to go back to Cittàgazze, now," Lyra breathed, shoving the alethiometer back into her bag. "And Will, there—there's something you have to do. And it's almost too late."