(Author's Note: here's Chapter Nine! Erm . . . not much else to say . . . just read! And review!)

CHAPTER NINE--Another World

It wasn't long until Tobias came to. He blinked and stood shakily to his feet, leaning on Iris for support. Iris muttered, "So you are The One, aren't you."

Tobias rubbed his head. "That's what I was trying to tell you. And it's true, too. At least I think so. The old prophecy, remember, said that the person with the gifts of The One would be the person to restore our people, and I thought I was the only one left . . . "

Iris shrugged. "Well, it sure must be you, because it isn't me. And we're the only ones left, right?"

Tobias sat down on a rock, letting the sunlight warm his face. Aerotsierma perched upon his shoulders. "I suppose that we are."

After a few moments of silence, Iris said, "We're going to go back, yes?" But Tobias stood up and rubbed his forehead again. "Actually, I was thinking. If I made a window into this world, what's to stop me from cutting into any world that I choose?"

Iris immediately leapt to her feet. "Of course!" she exclaimed. "You can cut through into another world like ours . . . where people have dæmons, like us. Remember, we learned about the worlds many years ago, and they told us that few worlds have people with dæmons. But . . . how can that be so? It's like an abomination! How can they live?"

But the boy shook his head. "In this world, which we are in now, the people have no dæmons. But they live just fine . . . it's like their dæmons exist within them."

A puzzled and slightly disgusted look came over Iris's face, and she muttered, "That's just creepy."

Tobias looked at his hands. "I'm going to try now," he said, extending them out and closing his eyes. "I'm going to try to use my mind to narrow the worlds down."

He stood there for several minutes, one hand extended out before him, the other pressed against his forehead, his eyes closed, but his mind open. Strange images swirled in his brain, and he could see the faint outlines of people moving, could hear faintly the outlines of voices murmuring, could feel . . .

He opened his eyes quite suddenly and took a step back. "Only three," he muttered, bringing both of his hands down.

"Three what?" Iris asked, looking at him curiously.

"Three worlds," he continued, his brow furrowing in thought. "Three worlds out of the thousands. In only three worlds do people possess dæmons like ours."

Iris gaped at him. "Only three? But that's impossible! How do people survive? Are they all half-dead?"

Tobias didn't answer her question, but instead said, "And not only that, but one of those three worlds is ours. And in one of the remaining two, there are only two people whose dæmons actually . . . exist."

Iris couldn't believe any of it. "That's just damn bizarre," she said in amazement. "So which one are you going to go into?"

Tobias sighed. "The logical thing to do would be to go into the world where dæmons are everywhere and normal. However . . . my curiosity begs me to cut through to the world where only two humans have dæmons. I would love to see why there are only two dæmons . . . "

Iris shuddered. "I don't know, Tobias, I think that seeing people everywhere without their dæmons would be extremely creepy . . ."

Tobias smiled at her. "Just think that everyone's dæmon is a mouse, and they're all hiding in the pockets of their humans."

She gave him a funny look, and her caracal dæmon's tail twitched. "Alright," Tobias said, "Unless you have any objections, I'm going to go ahead and cut through the worlds now, okay?"

Iris said, "You're right, it would be more logical to go into the normal world; other than curiosity, why do you want to go into the other one?"

Tobias turned to her and explained. "Because the fact that there are only two people with dæmons in that world means that those two people have a reason for this. Perhaps people like that would be more likely to help us."

She thought for a moment, and then said, "You do have a point there, I must admit. Okay then, go ahead and cut through. I've no objections."

Tobias closed his eyes again, fixing one hand in the air and the other to his forehead. After what seemed like an eternity, he began to feel that bizarre tingle at the tips of his fingers again, and tugged gently on the fabric of space-time.

Gradually he found a point and began to pull it back, ever so slowly, as Iris stared at the phenomenon in utter amazement. She had never before seen anything of the sort, since the last time he had done this, it had been in the dark. She stared wide-eyed until finally, he had made a window large enough for his hand to fit through. He kept tugging, little by little, until the window was large enough to travel through.

Iris blinked in amazement, and then leaned down and peered through the window. On the other side, it was grey and raining, looking in on a vast city. The wind whipped around, blowing sheets of precipitation through the small window, drenching them in the coldness. "I can see some people walking by on the other side of the street, Tobias," Iris said, peering across. "So if we're to go through, we must do so quietly and discreetly."

Tobias nodded and gathered his bags. But before he went through, he said, "Wait a second. Aerotsierma, why don't you go through and take a look around?"

His fox dæmon leapt through the window without a word. She nosed around on the grass outside, right alongside a sidewalk. Tobias noticed how out of place she looked against the grey, rainy city, but she wasn't as conspicuous as the four of them together would be.

Aero leapt back quite suddenly when she neared the street, as a car came roaring past. She strained the link until it was painful, and Tobias called out, "Okay Aero, come back, please don't go any further!"

His dæmon ran gratefully back to him, leaping through the window straight into his arms. He held her close for a moment before saying, "Okay, Iris, I guess we should go through now. This new world doesn't seem nearly as primitive as the one that we're in now."

"Not quite as high-tech as the city that we're both from, though," Iris responded as she went to retrieve her bag. "But a lot more advanced than many of the towns and villages in our world."

They slid quickly out onto the grass, and Tobias sealed up the window as quickly as he could. When they were out in the rain, Iris said urgently, "Tobias, it is going to look extremely strange that we have a caracal and a fox following us. How are we to hide our dæmons?"

Tobias looked around him at the rainy city, wondering where he was. He tried to search for a street sign to give him an idea, but saw none. There weren't any people in their immediate vicinity, but there were crowds moving along the sidewalk on the other side of the road. "We can't, really. Just . . . try to look normal. If anybody asks us anything, we'll think of something. We're . . . animal trainers, or something."

He felt Aerotsierma bristle at his side at the remark, and Iris's dæmon uttered a low growl, but Tobias ignored them both, and started to walk across the sidewalk.

*

As Will Parry walked slowly down the side of the road from the store, a bag in his right hand, his thoughts drifted back to Lyra, as they often did. It had been more than a year since they last parted, but his heart hadn't healed even the slightest bit. He missed her with all his might.

Kirjava, a beautiful, large, sleek black cat, walked at his side, invisible to all but the eyes of others with dæmons. Will looked around at all the people around him, most with umbrellas or raincoats. Even without either, no body much noticed Will, and no one saw his dæmon. He had always been good at remaining inconspicuous, but for some reason, since he and Lyra had forever parted, he seemed to have sunk back into the shadows even more.

He sighed heavily and stopped at the crossroads, waiting for the cars to pass. He wiped rainwater from his eyes and glanced down at Kirjava. But the black cat was rigid, staring across the street stolidly. Feeling her puzzlement, Will followed her gaze until he saw what she was looking at: two kids, about his age, sitting on the grass, looking rather dazed, conversing . . . with two animals whose movements and responses seemed oddly sentient.

Will stared even more, stepping out of the crowd, changing directions. Kirjava murmured to him, "Will, look at that. Isn't that odd?"

Will narrowed his eyes, trying to see the strange pair better. They were looking around in bemusement, slowly getting to their feet. Like himself, they had no raincoats or umbrellas, only small rucksacks. But the two animals were very out of place in downtown Oxford, one of them being unmistakably a red fox, the other, some large, tawny cat.

"They couldn't be . . . " Kirjava started, but Will said, "No. Impossible. Of course they're not."

All the same, his curiosity got the best of him, and he found himself crossing the street, making his way over to the strange pair and their creatures.

(Author's Note: Like? Don't like? Please review and let me know! I'll have the next chapter up soon. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to email me. Thanks!)