Will woke up in the middle of the night with a start, sitting up rigidly in his and Alexandra's bed. His heart was racing and his breath was short, making him feel as though he had ran a million miles.

Alex shifted and woke up as well, feeling his sudden agitation. She sat up slowly, looking at him through a curtain of darkness.

"Will?' She mumbled sleepily. 'What's wrong, dear?"

He turned his head slowly to her and sighed.

"Nothing, Alex. I. . .I just had a bad dream. . .sorry I woke you up like that. . ." He finally answered softly. The woman nodded and yawned.

"Don't worry about it, Will. Just go back to sleep. . .good night. . ." And she dropped back down onto her pillow, falling asleep before her head touched the cushion.

The man sighed gently and remembered his dream: that of a young girl escaping from a certain blond woman. . .yet it was not because he was frightened that he had woken up so suddenly; it was because that girl was his daughter, Selene, and the woman was Lyra. . .and he knew there must be trouble somewhere in another world. . .

Kirjava uncurled from near the open window and walked up to him. Nowadays, she was extremely quiet and if Will wasn't linked to her, he would have forgotten she existed. Alex knew nothing of daemons and she could not see the pretty cat, because Will had never taught her how to.

"Will, we can't keep living in the past like this. . ." Kirjava whispered, jumping onto the bed like a shadow. He looked at her with uncertainty.

"Kir. . .but she's my daughter! I can't just. . .pretend she never happened. . ." He whispered back, hoping Alex couldn't hear him. He would sound crazy if she saw him talking to what seemed like emptiness.

The cat bowed its head and Will saw this movement thanks to the pale light of the moon.

"I think you'll meet her in due time. . ." She answered mysteriously and as if to make sure he understood the conversation was over; she turned her back and returned to the window. The man blinked after his daemon, but knew that no more of his question would be answered, so he let it be.

Will lay back down in the lavender-colored bed sheets and closed his eyes. He just hoped his daughter and past love were fine, because it had seemed to him like Selene was fleeing from her mom. . .he sure hoped the dream was wrong. . .

(0)

"Isil. . ." Selene murmured. The daemon obviously heard her human, because she began slowing down from her speedy galop, until she was only walking slowly through the dark forest.

It was a moment before she answered her human.

"What is it?" Isil finally breathed.

Selene hesitated as well.

"I think. . .I think it was dumb to just dash out like that. . ." The girl finally blurted out. Her daemon stopped completely.

"Selene. . .' Isil sighed. 'We had no choice, and you know it. . .you saw her fury, didn't you? If we didn't run, we would regret it dearly. . .besides, it'll show them that we're human too and we have our limits; limits that cannot be crossed. . ."

The girl shrugged and slipped off her daemon's back. Isil transformed into a large wolf, to protect her human against all animals of the forest.

They were in a tiny clearing, under heavy pine trees and thick oaks. The monstrous trees rose at their sides, terrible and yet so beautiful. Selene kneeled down and started going through her pack, under the pale light of the near-full moon.

Her backpack had some money in it, a bit of food, some clothes and a bottle of water. To this the young girl added the alethiometer, since she knew it was too dark for her to try and read it just yet. Then suddenly, she realized something and her head snapped up to her daemon.

"Isil?' She questioned softly. The wolf's ears perked up, and the girl knew her daemon was listening. 'You knew we were going to run, didn't you? That's why you got this pack ready, right? You knew. . ."

But the daemon shook her head. "I didn't know we were going to run TODAY. I just knew it was going to happen soon, because of how you were getting in trouble a lot lately. I got some stuff ready and just left it lying around your desk. But you know, it wasn't so hard to figure out we'd run tonight anyways: Lyra was bound to find out about the alethiometer and then, we'd in so much trouble we'd have to run. . ."

Selene nodded slowly and sat on the cool forest earth. The air was warm, but a little breeze flew through the trees, shivering their leaves.

"What should we do now?" The girl finally questioned, looking upwards. The trees were too thick for her to see the sky, so she turned her attention back to her daemon.

Isil shrugged her wolf shoulders gently. "I think we should sleep and wait 'till morning. Then we can try and see the alethiometer. . .maybe that'll help. . ."

Selene nodded, and grabbing her backpack, she pulled a blanket out of it and curled up on the floor. Her daemon lay down beside her, snout on her front paws.

"Good night then, Isil."

"Good night, Sele. . ."

But neither could sleep comfortably in the small, silent clearing.

(0)

"Selene, it's time to wake up!" Isil gently prodded her human with a raven beak. The girl groaned and shifted, but refused to wake up. The annoyed daemon rolled its eyes and suddenly snapped its sharp beak over the child's wrist, causing her to yell out.

"OW!" Selene jumped up and found her daemon hanging by her wrist. Isil let go and fell to the ground, changing into a cat before her paws got to the dirt.

The daemon quickly moved away and sat at a safe distance from her human, looking at the girl.

"So?" Isil suddenly asked.

"So what?" Selene demanded rather coldly, rubbing her wrist.

The cat rolled its eyes. "Well, it's morning; aren't you going to check the alethiometer out?" She questioned.

Selene looked up at the thick canopy of leaves over their heads and saw streams of light filtering here and there, leaving blotches of sunlight all over the leafy ground. Just now she realized that it was indeed day.

Ignoring her daemon, first thing she did was plunge a hand into her backpack, fishing around for the golden compass. When she seized the delicate material in which it was wrapped, she pulled it out.

Meanwhile, Isil had gotten onto her human's shoulder and had turned into a blue jay. She ruffled her pretty wings restlessly as the girl withdrew the instrument and fumbled with the silk cover of it.

Finally Selene had the thing out and she held it both hands, placing them on her lap. Isil turned into a chinchilla, gripping the girl's shirt with her little claws to hold on as she bent forward to see the alethiometer.

"Let's try this again. . .do it just like last. . ." The daemon started, but suddenly it stopped: it had suddenly been overwhelmed by a wave of cool, calm feelings, as if she had plunged into a warm bath after a long, hard day.

At the same time, Selene felt her every muscle relax slowly, and her mind seemed to become clouded. She immediately associated this feeling with the last time she had tried to use the alethiometer, and she let herself be guided into this state of serenity.

After a few seconds, Isil spoke up.

"Go. . .the arrows. . ." She felt too calm to try and break the silence, so she said as little as possible. The message got through however, and Selene slowly moved the arrows, with a certain assurance, as though she had done this all her life.

She guided the first arrow towards the picture of the wild man. She turned the second arrow to the picture of the tree. Selene led the last arrow to the apple.

Then, the big one began to spring wildly and she blinked, surprised, releasing herself brutally from her relaxed state. Isil blinked as well, stunned, and the big arrow froze.

After a moment of silence, the daemon spoke up.

"What did you ask?" She whispered.

Selene gazed at the instrument for a moment, wondering herself; for even she was not sure what had guided her hands to the symbols. . . .

"I. . .'She started, then took a deep breath and continued. 'I chose the wild man first, because I was thinking about Will. It seemed like the right thing to do. . .then, I picked the tree, because I was thinking of a home; you know: like the tree-houses some kids built around here. . .and finally, I chose the apple, because it's like the apple in the Adam and Eve story: it kind of represents the search for knowledge, and I was looking for the knowledge as in to where my dad is. . ."

The girl fell quiet. The words had seemed strange, as if she had not spoken them, but they had come out of her mouth all the same. . .

Isil nodded slowly. "We should try again. . .this time, let's try to figure out the answer thought. . ."

(0)

Bah, I'm too much of a lazy bum to keep writing, so I'll leave it to that. . .

Nicola Silvera: Thanks! And I know what you mean. But it just seemed. . .right. . . to me like that. Oh well. . .

KailEverwood: Thanks; appreciated.

Lyraartemispotter: She's not that bad. . .we'll at least I can guarantee she'll change.

Quizgirl: Yeah. . .I wanted Selene to have some kind of momentary link to her grandma. . .

Emmelz: I think you have to go read the prequel. . .

Zephdae: Hope the motivations became clearer!

Xsummerbabyx: Sorry for not updating for so long!

FoxOfRoses: Yes, I suspected that. . .

Kaiame: Yes, I suppose we can blame the dad for that. . .

Unnamed: Yes, it would have been awesome, but I don't think Selene is going to have that kind of power in this fic. . .though I'm thinking of making Aurora come back. . .do you think that's a good idea?

Next chapter, Selene gets some answers, as Lyra tries to figure out what she should do. . .will she finally see through James's apathy towards her daughter? Or will she let her own child go towards a destiny she cannot possibly control?