"Selene. . ." Isil whispered urgently. All of a sudden, she felt like this was the wrong thing to do. Perhaps they shouldn't take the alethiometer.
"Quiet." The girl hissed back. She placed a hand on the cabinet's handle and turned it. . .to her dismay it opened! While Isil turned into a large snowy owl, the girl dove a hand into the cupboard and took the object. It was the first time she ever held it, and it was surprisingly heavy.
"Let's go!" Isil begged softly, glancing around desperately. Selene tucked the alethiometer into her loose shirt and with a last glance around her, dashed out of the study, went down the corridor and quickly into her room.
But she forgot to close the cabinet door.
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Isil turned into a black leopard and started pacing around the large room, while Selene lay down on her queen-size bed. The white covers ruffled under her and got wet and dirty from touching her clothes.
"I don't like this at all. We shouldn't have done that!" The daemon muttered. The girl glared up at her.
"Excuse me? It was your idea!" She hissed, sitting up in an Indian-posture, with her legs crossed in front of her. The alethiometer was in her hand, gleaming softly.
Isil also glared. "Yeah, but I think we should bring it back anyway!"
The girl scoffed. "You know you don't want to. . ." She murmured. To this the daemon said nothing, for it was true. . .all Isil wanted was to look closer at the object now. So without another word, she pounced onto the bed and turned into a silver ferret, settling herself on her human's shoulder.
Together they looked down at the golden instrument.
"I wonder how it works. . ." Selene muttered. But to her, her voice suddenly seemed distant. She felt herself relax, as if she was zoning out of her body. It was as though looking at this instrument had woken up something deep and eternal inside of her. . .
"It's almost as if. . ." Selene gasped.
Isil nodded. "As if you could understand. . ."
The one large arrow was immobile. But it seemed to quiver gently and the girl clear understood that it was impatient, for some reason.
She looked at it intently, wondering what to do.
"Ask it something." Isil whispered in her ear.
Selene nodded gently and her fingers, as if obeying an invisible master, moved towards the three other, smaller arrows. She moved one, gently, but with nothing but luck guiding her and just as she was about to move the other, her daemon sudden gasped, and looked up. The feeling of serenity disappeared.
"Someone's coming!"
The girl quickly dove towards her pillow, and stuck the alethiometer under it just in time, when the doorknob to her room turned and Rosalie's head popped in.
Selene tried to appear innocent, lying on her bed her filthy clothes, and her daemon quickly turned into a sleepy-looking puppy to encourage her blamelessness. The woman smiled softly and her dog daemon popped his head in as well.
"'Thought you'd like a bath, so I got you one ready, Miss." She said gently.
Trying not to show the immense relief that washed over her, Selene nodded and got up, following the woman out of her room.
"What about the alethiometer?" Isil whispered into her ear as they crossed the corridor to the other side, where the bathroom was.
"It'll wait. . ." The girl hissed back.
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Selene indulged in the warm, bubbly bath, and Isil sat on a chair next to the tub, smoothing out the fresh clothes Rosalie had brought in a few minutes ago. The daemon had taken on the form a beautiful golden monkey, and seemed very thoughtful. The girl noticed this soon enough.
"Thinking about the alethiometer?" She asked gently. The monkey looked up, letting her hands glide one last time over the pretty white shirt, cotton panties and dark knee-long skirt that were folded on the chair. Isil sighed.
"Truthfully, no. A thought just crossed my mind. . .' She paused, and Selene waited for her to continue. 'Well, every time I take on this form, Lyra and Pan seem to either flinch or soften up. And I don't know why. . ."
Selene shrugged. "Why does that bother you?" She asked, scrubbing her face softly, trying to get rid of the mud that had crusted there. Isil moved in closer to the tub, and seized a bottle of shampoo, before putting some on her hands and washing her human's hair.
"Well, you know how Lyra never told us either the name or appearance of her mom's daemon. . ." She let her phrase in suspension, and Selene brutally turned her head to the daemon.
"You don't think Mrs. Coulter's daemon was like. . .like you now?" She asked, disbelieving. Isil nodded gently, and continue washing the girl's hair.
"That's what I was thinking about. . .because when I get angry in this form, Pan gets scared, and when I'm like this normally, he seems on the verge of tears. . ."
Selene gave this a thought, as she rinsed her clean face. "It would be understandable. . .but why were you thinking about that?"
Isil shrugged. "I guess I was wondering. . .if we ever had to run. . .what form would I have to take in order to startle them the most. . .?"
The girl burst out laughing, and the daemon washed the foam out of her hair, and handed her a towel.
"Isil! Why would we have to run?" She asked, giggling, and stepped out of the bath tub, wiping herself in the towel.
The daemon was about to answer, when a load crashing noise came from the study.
"SELENE!" Lyra's voice exploded from the outside. She had found out about the alethiometer.
The girl gasped, and grabbed her clothes quickly.
"That's why. Get dressed, hurry! We have to get pass her and to your room, and grab the alethiometer. There's a purse on your desk with money in it. Grab that too. I'll keep them at bay as long as I can, but I don't guarantee you more than a minute. I'll come get you out of there when you're ready. HURRY!" Isil yelled.
Selene jumped into her clothes, just as the bathroom door burst open. There stood a furious Lyra and snarling Pan. But right then, Isil turned her monkey head, and bared her teeth with such savagery that the woman seemed startled. Pan cowered back and even Selene felt all her strength leave her. . .
But Isil did not wait; she pounced ahead, landing on Lyra, and the girl felt a terrible shiver run through her as someone else touched her daemon. . .the woman seemed to be trying to get Isil off, but the monkey held on, giving its human a chance to run. . .
Selene dashed out; leaping over the rolling pair, and immediately Isil let go, leaping after her.
James came running up the stairs, and blocked her way. . .that was it. . .it was over. . .
"KEEP GOING!" Isil bellowed, jumping ahead. In mid-air she turned into an imposing lion and crushed the man under her weight. Meerama bit at her leg furiously, but she did not feel it, turning all her attention to Selene, who had just passed the door to her room.
Selene leap onto her bed, grasping the instrument under her pillow. She then got up quickly and ran to her desk, picking up the purse. She felt terrible pain run through her, blinding her, as Pan and Meerama both bit at Isil, trying to calm the daemon down.
With tears running down her face, thanking the love of her daemon, she screamed.
"ISIL!"
The daemon heard her, and threw Pan off with a great swish of her claws. The little pine marten went flying into a wall, and Lyra, who was trying to get to her daughter, fell to the ground in the middle of the corridor with a cry of pain.
Isil leap from James and ran as fast as she could towards the room. . .
Passing Lyra, she turned into a large black horse and with a neigh, bowed her head to enter the girl's room. Selene was stunned, but not nearly as stunned as she could be when she noticed Meerama was still clinging to the daemon's leg, screeching in pain. James's cries reached them from the corridor, as he called her his daemon.
Selene pried the ferret from Isil's leg and jumped onto the horse's back, holding on as well as she could. The great creature neighed and dashed forward as Lyra entered the room, gasping, hand over her heart.
Isil ran right at the open balcony, and as her human screamed, she leap over the stone parapet and jumped into emptiness. . .falling two floors lower onto a grassy yard, landing heavily but without much damage.
The girl held on and with a final neigh, the daemon dashed away towards the nearby forest, galloping as fast as it could, away from the giant cage that house had been, and into freedom.
Lyra ran onto the balcony, Pan stumbling after her. She dropped to her knees as the black horse disappeared into the woods. . .
"What have I done. . .?" The woman gasped, horrified.
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Yonk! How was that? Sorry it took a while to get out, but I was having problems with fanfiction. . .for some reason . . .
FoxOfRoses: Yeah, that's close enough. . .
Unnamed: No, Lyra isn't crazy, crazy. She's just confused and corrupted by her feelings. And Will actually is trying to let Lyra go, and Alex is there to help him out. And no, he isn't crazy. . .
Kaiame: Yeah, I thought sugar came in here somewhere. . . Thanks for the review!
Xsummerbabyx: Yeah, thanks for checking out Flight of the Raven! And I'm glad to see you like both my stories!
Quizgirl: Well yeah, I can get the license, but I can't drive without a parent. Besides, I'm fifteen so that doesn't help either! And I corrected that link. If you didn't check it out yet, you should go see! Thanks for reviewing!
Next chapter, Selene sets out on a journey to reach her father. And with the help of the alethiometer, she heads for something that will change the fate of every parallel world. . .