This chappie is written by Lip Butter.
Thank you to everybody who reviewed Chapter 1. Sorry it's been so long since we updated but I had to finish reading The Amber Spyglass before I could trust myself to get things right!
Chapter 2.
Will was poking thoughtfully at his cereal that morning when Christina stormed down the stairs in her dressing gown, her blonde hair ruffled and her hands on her hips. She glowered at him and he dropped his spoon.
"Why didn't you wake me?" she demanded.
"It's Sunday," he replied, as if the answer was obvious. "I thought I'd let you sleep in, seeing as you've been up so early all week. I thought you could use a—"
"Will!" she interrupted him. "I've been up so early because I have a deadline to meet. Have you any idea about the pressure I'm under to finish this book?" she threw her hands up for emphasis and he winced. She pointed her finger at him. "Don't you let me sleep in again. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go work on my book."
Christina was writing a book on children. On taking care of them, she told Will, but when he looked through the rough drafts for the first few chapters, although he assured her it was wonderful, he was struck with the impression that it was teaching parents how to control them, whether they really needed it or not. He thought about what Lyra would have to say about this. No doubt she would be disgusted. He wondered if she had found someone in her world.
"Excuse me," Lyra smiled politely at the woman standing behind the counter of a sweetshop. "I was wondering if you happened to know where Will Parry lives?"
The woman shook her head and stared nervously at Pantalaimon, who was curled around Lyra's neck and studying her disdainfully with his beady black eyes. Lyra sighed and walked out of the shop, disappointed.
"This is never going to work," Pantalaimon hissed in her ear. "Oxford is a big place, you could search for days and never find him! If you had listened to me—"
"Oh Pan!" Lyra burst out, and the people around her jumped and stared. She ducked into a side street and he unwound himself from around her neck. "You never trust me!" she accused him. "I know it en't working now but we've only been here a few hours yet. You're such a, a… pessimist," she finished once she had thought of the word.
"And you keep cutting me off!" Pantalaimon growled. "If you had listened to me earlier instead of doing this again, you would know that the logical way to look for Will would be to get directions to the Botanic Garden and look to him from there, because you know already that he lives nearby."
"He could've moved," Lyra retorted.
"He said he never wanted to leave Oxford," Pantalaimon smiled triumphantly when Lyra didn't have anything to say back. After a moment she pouted and said:
"All right. We'll ask people where the Botanic Garden is and look around in that place. But if we don't find him then it's your fault instead of mine."
Pantalaimon smiled in response and curled himself around her neck again. "Now walk back out, and try not to shout at me when there's people about, they must think you're mad…" he teased.
Lyra made some noise between a growl and a sigh and walked out onto the street again. Her stomach rumbled. She realised that she hadn't eaten since yesterday, and that was in another world! Pan shifted uncomfortably, obviously feeling her hunger as well and she wondered if there was anything she could trade for food. Her stomach rumbled again and she patted it. She would have to find Will, and soon.
"How's the book coming, honey?" Will put his arms around Christina's shoulders and kissed her cheek, but she shook him off without taking her eyes away from the screen of her laptop.
"Please don't disturb me Will, you know how I like to be left alone when I'm writing," she sighed exasperatedly. "But in answer to your question, the book is going quite well and I only have a couple of chapters left to go.
"Wonderful… good luck with that," he smiled at her but she didn't see him, and he left the room to start making the dinner. He was a qualified chef now. Thankfully his childhood experiences with his mother had gotten him somewhere. His speciality was omelettes. He remembered Lyra's attempt at making one and laughed out loud.
"Could you please stay quiet when I'm working, Will?" Christina called from her study. He sighed and walked away.
Lyra ran her finger along the bench she sat on every Midsummer's day in her own world. She found herself missing her home and her friends. She wondered what they were doing right now and felt a prick of guilt in her heart; they were probably all worried sick about her.
"This is really working wonders," Pantalaimon said sarcastically. "He'll be here any minute now."
Lyra reluctantly walked away from the bench and wandered out of the Botanic Garden, a heavy feeling settling in the pit of her stomach. Pantalaimon felt it too and cuddled close to her.
"Will we ever find him, Pan?" she asked sadly.
"Some day, he can't hide from us forever!" he replied light-heartedly. Lyra stared at the ground, and she was just about to say something else, when she walked into someone and looked up to see a handsome young man regarding her amusedly.
"I'm sorry!" she gasped.
"It's all right, I should've stepped aside," he admitted. "You okay?"
"Yes… you don't happen to know where Will Parry lives, do you?" she asked hopefully.
"'Fraid not, I'm kinda new here, but a phonebook might help," he suggested.
"A… what-book?" she frowned.
"A phonebook," he said again.
"I en't sure… where to find one," she said slowly.
"Easy, in a phone box," he pointed at a large red box on the pavement.
What's all this 'phone' madness? Lyra thought bewilderedly but she smiled and thanked the young man. He gave her that same amused look and was on his way, probably thinking that she was crazy, Lyra guessed with a grimace. She walked tentatively towards the phone box and peered inside. Sure enough there was a large book inside, and without another thought on the matter she opened the door in two tries and entered the box.
"Phonebook… 2005," she murmured, and with a nervous laugh: "Pan! It's 2005!"
"Well open it!" he said impatiently.
Her eyes ran down the page, and seeing nothing familiar, she turned to the next one, but yet again Will's name was nowhere to be found. She sighed and flicked to about halfway through.
"Murphy, Ann an' Philip Murphy, Walter an' Juanita Murphy, Sarah Murphy, he en't here…" she trailed off bewilderedly.
"I think they are listed in alphabetical order, look for a page with surnames beginning with P. at the top of the page," Pan advised her, so she flicked through until she found one.
"Packard… Panning… Parry!" she said excitedly. "Marianne Parry, Adam an' Grace Parry… William Parry!" she almost jumped inside the phone box but she managed to contain herself enough to read the address.
"Now all we have to do is ask for directions to… Somerville Road!" Pantalaimon uncurled himself from her neck again and climbed up onto the top of an alien-looking object dotted with numbered silver buttons. Lyra put the phonebook carefully back in its place again and opened the door. Pan didn't curl himself around her neck this time, but ran ahead on the pavement, feeling Lyra's excitement at finding out where Will lived. She stopped the first person she met, but they told her that they had no idea where the neighbourhood was. Unfazed, Lyra stopped the next woman she saw.
"Sorry to bother you, but d'you know where Somerville Road is?" she asked politely.
"Sure, it's just a couple of blocks away, would you like me to show you?" the woman offered.
"Yes, please!" Lyra's face lit up and the woman smiled and nodded for her to follow. They chatted as they walked, the woman not telling Lyra much about herself at all; but Lyra didn't want to tell her much about herself either, and so they reached an unspoken understanding.
"Where did you get your pet, by the way?" Gina (she had however told Lyra her name, and Lyra gave hers in return, beaming when Gina told her that it was beautiful, especially Belacqua) asked.
"Oh… he was a stray, I found him," Lyra said hastily and Pantalaimon's fur bristled.
Within a few minutes, because both women walked briskly, they reached a quiet-looking street and Gina stopped at the top of the road. Lyra brushed a lock of her fair hair behind her ear and swallowed apprehensively, suddenly realising how nervous about meeting Will again she really was. It was different, now that they were both adults.
"I had better go," Gina said and Lyra jumped, having forgotten that she was with her. Gina smiled.
"Oh, I'm sorry, thank you very much for helping me," Lyra stuttered. "Really though, you have no idea how much he means to me, I don't know how I can thank you…"
At that moment she also realised how much she missed him and wanted to see him again. Gina made a gesture with her hands to quieten Lyra and smiled again.
"He?" she enquired. "Well good luck with whoever he is, and don't worry about how to thank me, it's nothing," she nodded goodbye to Lyra and then Pantalaimon, who blinked as if he had just woken up from a long nap.
Lyra grinned her own goodbye and then turned back to face the street ahead of her. She waited until Gina had turned the corner and was long gone before daring to speak with her daemon.
"What number was it, Pan?" she whispered.
"Four," he replied, gesturing lazily with a paw towards a house nearby, having already looked for it whilst Lyra was thanking Gina. "Over there. So, I'm a stray, am I?"
Lyra walked slowly towards the house and leaned for a while against its wall. Somehow she didn't feel ready to talk with Will yet. She wanted to know exactly what to say first. That was a problem. She'd been all for leaving her world and coming to his but she had never planned what she was going to say to him. As she pondered this she heard a noise and it took her a moment to figure out that Will's front door was opening.
"It's now or never, Lyra," Pan whispered and she gave him one hopeful look before standing up straight and looking towards the house. Her breath caught for a moment as she gasped. The person coming out of the house was not Will. It was a woman.
Next chappie by Lulu Fae. Thanks again for the reviews!