CHAPTER EIGHTEEN -- Lucky


Mary, Lyra, Will and Iris arrived into Tobias and Iris's world around the area of the town of Quell. Iris was quite perplexed at this; she knew perfectly well that there was something wrong with the distances, and that they shouldn't have arrived in the area that they did. Mary went on to explain to them all that somehow, since the edges of the windows between the worlds were infinitely thin, that the coordinates were not precise and had the tendency to shift, even quite drastically. She admitted that even she did not understand the full reasoning for this, and stated vehemently that she'd have to discuss it with Tobias when they rescued him.

When, not if.

They had taken the necessary preparations the night before, packing light but highly sufficient rucksacks and provisions for at least several days. However, they did not have the one thing that was by far the most important: a plan.

In fact, the entire expedition had been riddled with annoyances since the very beginning. As soon as they had stepped into the new world and Iris, who had a knack for direction and location, figured out where they were, they had realized that there was a huge problem. Dunestone was at least several days away, and they had no method of transportation.

There was an immediate delay, and back in they went (the window had been made out in the countryside surrounding Quell; there'd be no chance of anyone coming across them), and Mary attempting to recalculate the coordinates so as to make the window large enough and in the appropriate location -- ground level -- to get a car through. She moved the entire contraption outside, making sure that the three children stayed ever vigilant for intruders, but to no avail. She couldn't figure out how to modify the thing so that it'd accept anything larger than a wheelbarrow, and they had already lost valuable time.

Muttering under her breath, Mary set it up back inside again, opened it, and tromped through, looking around, thinking. Perhaps an hour's walk from Quell, she finally decided that they had already wasted too much time and that perhaps they could make some deals in the town.

By midday, the four of them were nearly to the town, and immediately Mary asked Iris where to find the nearest place where they could obtain a vehicle of sorts.

Iris shook her head. "I know Quell well; it is the town I fled to when I escaped Dunestone. It took me many months to arrive here; it's very far away. But trust me, it's really not that big of a town, and not many people even use vehicles here at all. And surely no hover-meg cars."

Will, fingers intwined with those of Lyra, shot her a glance. "Hover-mag cars?"

Iris nodded, distracted and thinking. "Yes, yes, hover-mag cars. The hover-mags are really the only method of transportation at all where I'm from, but my world is different from yours in many ways. For one, it's not a fraction as populated, and our technology is in incredibly concentrated areas. My hometown, for instance, is probably the biggest industrialized center in the world, but the nearest city with half of its power is more than a hundred miles away. The main city is so large that it's divided into several hundred seperate factions. The one Tobias and I are from is called Highpoint."

Mary sighed in exasperation. "We can't have come all this way for nothing, now. We absolutely must find some way to travel. There's no possible way that we can walk to Dunestone in time, and I doubt that cycling all that way would be efficient as far as time goes, either." She glanced at her watch, face tinged with worry. "It might be too late already."

Mary knew that Iris was the only one would could really help them in this situation, having been from this world, and her last statement had the desired effect. "Wait. There might be a way, okay? There must be a few people with vehicles, though I bet they're old and far outdated." She paused for a moment, thinking. "Quell has a few historical landmarks or something, and it occasionally has visitors of higher society. Maybe we can find someone and make a bargain."

She looked around the three of them, frowning. "We've not a lot to bargain with, though."

Lyra nodded. "We'll have to try. It's really our only hope."

Daemons at their sides, the four of them ambled through the rather desolate small town, annoyed at the complications that were presenting themselves in such a dire situation. Iris grew suddenly paranoid, making extra sure that her hair still covered the number on her forehead. She almost had forgotten the fact that if she was spotted and identified, there would be no mercy. Trying her best to be brave, however, she said nothing of this to her companions, and took advantage of her Gift by making any passing strangers simply not glance at her. It wasn't quite the same thing as invisibility, but it was close enough.

They presently reached the center of town, and sure enough, several vehicles were parked outside the building. But there as well, in all its new, sparkling, shining glory, was a hover-mag car, parked on its three collapsible prongs. Iris's eyes shone as she approached the vehicle, murmering to her daemon as she did so. "Byralon, I know the people in this town. Mean-spirited people all, it seems. No one would let us borrow so much as a bicycle, and you and I both know it."

The caracal nodded toward Iris's three companions. "But they don't. What must we do?"

Iris turned to Mary, Will and Lyra. "Do any of you three have anything of value that could possibly be traded?" Lyra's hand immediately went to her rucksack, which was made rather heavy because of the precise, delicate instrument within. "All I have is thte alethiometer, and I cannot possibly trade that, even for a fast trip to Dunestone. It is the reason I'm here, after all. It's the reason you need my help, and I couldn't part with it."

Iris nodded. "Alright then. It seems to me that the only thing we'd be able to do is to steal the hover-mag."

Will gave her a funny look, not particularly liking having to resort to theft when a deal could perhaps be reached, but Lyra grinned, a hint of her old, not-quite-lost adventurous spirit. "Let's do it!"

But Mary held Iris's shoulder as she attempted to move forward toward the advanced vehicle. "Wait. Why can't we at the very least request to use it, perhaps explain the direness of our situation?"

Iris shook her head immediately. "No. That is quite impossible, I assure you. First thing, there's no way we could possibly explain the situation. The 'normal' people in this world, you see, follow Sidney Dune's way of thinking to an extent. Normally most of them would think what he's doing is totally wrong, but for one thing they don't know half of what he did, and for another thing, such huge rewards will surely be offered for the missing ones that no one could turn it own."

Mary nodded, saying, "Yes. It's like the holocaust of World War II, isn't it? What Hitler was doing was horrible, but no German citizen knew half of what went on, and he appealed to them in such a way that they didn't want to."

Iris nodded and continued. "Second thing, the three of you, having not been from this world, wouldn't be able to easily request anything from these people; they might suspect that you're from 'elsewhere' and get dangerously suspicious. These are suspicious times, I'd say."

Will raised one eyebrow at her. "But you're here, and you're from this world."

She squirmed slightly. "This is the town in which I was first captured. There was an accident and my number was spotted, and I was aprehended and caged until reinforcements could come to secure me and take me away. But that's when Tobias showed up and we escaped. They'd have me on file now, though: my profile, my daemon, my appearance. It'd be far too risky. That's why I've been using my Gift of Invisibility up until now."

Mary rubbed the space between her eyes, looking for all the world like an extremely tired, very pissed-off mother. "Iris, you need to tell us these things."

She shook her head. "No, it's okay; the people in this town wouldn't let us borrow anything anyway. I imagine that whoever has a hover-mag in this town isn't from this town, and therefore is as rich as all get out and probably has several more. He can spare one. If your conscience is bothering you that much, we can always return it when we're through." She accentuated this statement with a rolling of the eyes.

Mary sighed, and then nodded. "Alright, then. Let's do it."

Will had been analyzing the situation carefully, and now rightfully took charge. "Alright. Here's what we do. Mary, I'm certain that you're best with everything electronic, so you can find a way to disable the security on this thing and figure out how to work it, right? Iris can help you since she's been around these things before. Lyra and I can create a distraction if anyone comes by."

Mary furrowed her brow in thought. "I'm not sure what help I'll be, actually. I do have a small tool kit with me, so I'll try to see what I can do. I'll definitely need your help though, Iris."

And thus Will looked around him, eyeing the large glass door at the front of the building, as well as several of the old, beat up, rusty vehicles. "Okay. Let's go!"

There was no one in sight, but as soon as Mary touched the advanced vehicle, an ear-splitting alarm went off. Will and Lyra, with Kirjava and Pan racing at their heals, tore across the parking lot to the side of the building, where Will began frantically running from car to car. "Oh, this isn't good," he panted. "I thought she'd be able to disable any damn security system on the thing!" Finally Will found what he was looking for just as the first people began piling out of the building, yelling about what all the blasted noise was about.

A car with a key still in the ignition!

"Lyra! Get in, quick!" Will slammed the door open and hopped into the old car as Lyra and Pan jumped into the passenger seat. He turned the key and immediately the old beast sputtered to life, and Will put it into reverse without second thought, backing up so hard and jerkily that the bumper grazed the side of the building. He slammed on the breaks and Kirjava almost went through the winshield.

"Will! What are you doing? Forward! We don't have time!" Lyra yelled, holding tightly onto Pantalaimon.

Will turned the steering wheel frantically and then stomped on the accelerator as if he had cinderblocks strapped to his feet.

WWHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The rusty old car took off at breakneck speed, roaring into the parking lot like a deranged rhino on speed. He aimed straight for a group of half a dozen people rushing madly toward Iris and Mary, who had just gotten the alarm to stop blaring and were now attempting to get through the lock without damaging the vehicle. People screamed and scattered as Will turned the car in a wide, jerky arc, meaning at first to avoid hurting anyone at all costs, but quite suddenly finding that he really didn't give that much of a damn.

He picked out a rather fat, balding man with a crowbar who was running toward Iris and Mary, his German shepherd daemon barking its asinine head off in the confusion and panic of the moment. Rage built in Will, and he brought the car around in a circle in the wide parking lot, then aimed it at the man from the other side. He was breaking fifty when the fat man raised the crowbar, but at that moment Will slammed into him headlong. He turned, screamed, and jumped up at the very last moment, hitting the hood and bouncing over the windshield. Will, completely and utterly out of control and unable to stop, went from there straight into the wide glass door of the city council building, taking half of the wall with him.

Lyra screamed, Will shouted, and this time Kirjava really did fly through the windshield when he finally slammed on the brakes. When at last the clouds of plaster cleared, Will found the car to be practically on top of a couch. There were glass shards everywhere and a great bit of the wall had been destroyed, but no one was injured.

Breathlessly, the two friends and their daemons leapt from the mess, Lyra cursing under her breath and Will coughing in the clouds of dust and debri. They rushed out into the parking lot, where the whine of police sirens were just able to be heard, but were quickly approaching. The two dashed over to Mary and Iris (leaping over an unconscious fat guy with a crowbar in the process) who were nearly finished breaking into the hover-mag. The other people had fled the scene and called the cops, having run from the crazed rhinoceros on speed who had, apparently, been driving a tiny, beat up old car.

Just as the city police tore into the parking lot, possessing the some of the town's newest vehicles (but no hover-mags), Will and Lyra reached their two companions, who had just managed to get past the lock. But the police were advancing too quick; Will saw that it would all be over in a matter of seconds.

Iris leapt into the high-tech vehicle as the jet-like bubble-shield swept back, revealing a convenient four-seat design. She took the driver's seat, running her hands frantically over the controls, muttering to herself in a panic. Mary piled in beside her, her bird daemon fluttering to one of the few joysticks.

Lyra ran to stand by Will, who was watching the blaring cars tear onto the scene, franctically trying to come up with a plan. "No! Go jump in with Iris and Mary. I'll find a way to hold them off. Go. Now!"

Lyra was torn, but she knew that if she stayed with him, she'd only be a burden if he had to run for it. So she touched him on the arm reassuringly and ran, her pine marten at her heels.

"Oh Will. What do we do?"

"I'm not sure, Kir." He noticed then that the lead car wasn't a cop car at all, but rather seemed to be one of the men who had attempted to attack Iris and Mary, a nasty, ugly-looking man with what appeared to be a Rottweiler for a daemon. He slammed on the brakes and leapt out, mere meters from the stone-standing Will, whose heart beat frantically in an almost-panic.

But Will wasn't one to panic, and as the police vehicles braked behind him, he had a plan. "Kir. I've got it. We can't beat them, but we'll confuse them. We can seperate! You go left, I'll go right, and keep running. Go much further than a normal person's daemon could do. Go!"

Kirjava took off like the hounds of hell were after her, which in a sense, were. The daemon of the man now chasing Will ran after Kirjava at breakneck speed, going on instinct more than anything, but within just a few yards yelped in pain and got snapped back as if she had been on an invisible chain. Will's guy yelled out, too, and fell to his knees in confusion. He then looked up at Will and his daemon, who had sprinted around the car and met up ahead, and yelled out, "What the hell is going on?!"

He and his daemon climbed to their feet and ran after Will.

His three companions were in the hover-mag; the security that froze the controls had finally been breached and the powerful machine roared to life. Iris yelled out in triumph as the three standing-prongs folded up beneath it, and the smooth, streamlined vehicle dipped slightly in the air but hovered, true to its name, a meter or so above the ground.

Will, still several carlengths behind, and tired, shouted to his companions, "Step on it! Go! Don't wait for me; I'll catch up." But at that moment they didn't really have a choice, for one of the police vehicles had pulled out around them and was heading in fast.

Iris thrust the stick forward and stepped on the accelerator. The hover-mag eased forward, the controls incredibly smooth and fluid, but was loathe to speed up because of Will being behind them. But he was yelling at them again; his persuer was gaining on him. "Go! NOW!"

Iris pressed down harder, going slightly faster, but the situation was about to explode. The cop car was about to cut them off, Will was about to catch up with his companions, and his persuer was about to catch up with him.

And then, the next second, several things happened at once.

Will made a prodigious leap just as Iris stepped harder on the accelerator; the flames of a very small jet-like engine shot out, roaring to life, catching Will's legs as he leapt. He screamed in agony and fell just as eager hands grabbed him from behind. Iris yelled in frusteration as the police car intercepted the hover-mag, which was quickly gaining speed, but flipped a swtich on the control panel and yelled, "Hold on!" just as she pulled back on the joystick, causing the hover-mag car turned hover-mag jet to shoot up at an almost ninety-degree angle. With almost impossibly quick reflexes she whirled the vehicle around and righted it parallel to the ground, bringing it around in a breathtakingly sharp hairpin turn. The wind of the speed and the heat of the jet-flames flared in her face as she leaned over the edge, screaming above the din, "Mary! Take the controls!"

As Mary leaned over to do as she was bidden, Iris reached down as the hover-mag zipped directly above and beside Will and his captor. The speed was so intense that she couldn't see at all for the wind of it, but had judged the distance precisely and grabbed Will's arms as the hover-mag roared by. Kirjava leapt from Will's arms into the vehicle, but the man yelled out and clung to Will tightly, completey unwilling to let go of the criminal. Iris could only hold on for a brief second, the two were so heavy together, but it only took a fraction of that second for the man to be drawn too far from his daemon, and he let go, falling and rolling into a crumpled heap on the pavement.

Iris strove to right the situation, calling on Lyra to grab Will from the backseat where she was. She couldn't pull him up either, but Lyra taking hold of Will's arms gave Iris control of the hover-mag again. With almost expert flying, she rolled in a quick mid-air arc, the momentum throwing Will over the edge and practically right into Lyra's lap.

And with that, Iris closed the cockpit-bubble-shield and set the speed controls to their highest setting, roaring out of there in a Mach 1 blaze of glory.

FFFWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!

For a few moments there was nothing but heavy breathing as everyone strove to regain their breath, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Then Lyra went straight to the first-aid kit, wrapping Will's burnt legs in burn cream-saturated gauze, but he was really fairly okay.

Mary was staring in perplexion at Iris. "That was some beautiful flying back there, Iris. How on earth did you learn to fly like that?" Iris didn't know at all; it had been instinct more than anything. But the adrenaline rush was gone now, and she flew the vehicle several meters above the ground with smooth, steady, fast fluidity, her caracal daemon curled on her lap. "I honestly have no idea, Dr. Malone."

Mary actually laughed. It was the first time any of them had been able to so much as smile in what felt like forever; it felt quite liberating. They were perfectly aware of what was to come, but this moment, going the speed of sound mere meters above a beautiful landscape, they could enjoy.

"By the way, Iris, what is your number? I know that Tobias has thirteen on his forehead ..."

Iris turned to Will, who had asked the question, and raised her hair from her face, a somewhat ironically wry smile playing about her lips.

Will stared at the seven, and smiled as well.
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(Author's Note: obviously, this chapter was just a tiny bit more lighthearted than the story tends to be, although I find it extremely difficult, for some reason, to incorporate humor into the text without it sounding horribly out of place. Oh well.

Oh! I have officially decided that this story will have a grand total of 25 chapters. And that's all. Yay. So keep updated! And don't forget to review! =D
)