Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters, I don't own Phillip Pullman, I don't own… You get the point.

Sorry I didn't really have an intro last time, it was my first fic, and I didn't get how to upload it (dumb huh?) Anyway, R&R please, and be harsh! I want to know what it is I'm doing wrong.

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"What was it?" Ali asked Sid on their way back to the house.

"I don't know," Sid replied with as much of a confused expression as she herself was wearing.

"Should we tell mom?"

"Yeah, I think we should, she may know more about it," he said, then added, "and, then can we go through it?

She had been thinking the same thing, and just shrugged.

"I don't know," she finally said, "but it would be pretty cool!" she added with a little more enthusiasm.

They walked in silence for the rest of the trip, and arrived home as the last rays of sun were sinking below the horizon.

"Where have you two been?" asked Lyra accusingly, walking out to meet them.

Ali was just getting ready to tell Lyra about the thing they found, when Sid thought to her, Don't yet. She looked at him questioningly for a moment, but then gathered her wits about her, and said,

"Oh, just in town," answering her mothers question.

"Well, you'd better come in, dinner just got ready a minute ago,"

They followed her into the house, and went through the usual evening routine. It wasn't until they were in bed that night that they dared talk about it.

"Why didn't you let me tell her?" Lyra asked Sid, who was curled as a squirrel around her neck.

"Because, I was just thinking," he said, "that we shouldn't tell her, or go down there at all," he paused, "I don't like it…"

"Of course we're gonna go down," she said matter-of-factly, "but we don't have to tell her about it." She paused, and then continued, "Actually, I don't think I want to tell her, I want it to be a surprise," "Lets go down, and once we know what it is, we'll bring her too," she finished, and looked to Sid.

"I guess," he said warily, knowing that Ali was on to something, "but I still think we should think about it more,"

"Okay," she said decidedly, "We'll go down there tomorrow after classes,"

"Wait," he said, "I thought we were going to think about it!"

"I already did," she said pompously, "and we'll go down tomorrow,"

Knowing nothing more could be done to change her mind tonight, Sid simply nodded in consent, and drifted towards sleep.

When Ali woke up, she felt excited. She lay in bed a moment, trying to remember what was so exciting, and when she did, she jumped out of bed and woke up Sid. She hurried and threw on some clothing, telling Sid, who was still half asleep, to hurry up. They rushed down stairs together, only to remember about her morning classes. They would have to wait till the afternoon to go through the window.

But at least there was going to be aleithiometry today. That was her favorite class. It made the waiting go by quicker. She suffered through Social Studies, Math, and Science, before aleithiometry.

Lyra didn't know the least about her capability with the aleithiometer, and Ali planned to keep it that way. She always made a face while sinking into the state of mind, and pretended to seem confused about answers, when really, she understood them better and quicker than Lyra. The aleithiometer came very easy to her, almost as easy as lying, which was saying something.

For one thing, her mom had been teaching it to her since she had been able to say 'aleithiometer'. She had nearly memorized half the books, and the other half were pretty easy to figure out.

So the aleithiometer was handed to her, and the familiar feeling of comfort and security came upon her. Though she didn't let the confused look leave her face for a moment. She made sure to seem as uncomfortable as possible, so her true ability would be concealed. She didn't even know why she felt she had to hide it; it was just a felling she had.

She went through the lesson, asking the questions that Lyra instructed, and during breaks playing around with it herself. But she didn't play too much. Like her mother, she had learned of the aleithiometer's moods.

Finally lessons were over, and Lyra left to go shopping.

"Lets go," Ali said, shoving a few items into a dull green duffle bag.

"I don't know," replied Sid, "Do you think we really should?"

"Of course," she said again, in the same tone she wore last night, as she checked the contents of the bag; A change of clothes, a couple sandwiches, and a few other necessities. She was about to leave, but she faltered. She paused just outside her mother's room, and considered a moment. Then she went in a retrieved something from a small box and shoved it too the bottom of the bag.

With that, she called to Sid to follow, and stepped out the door.

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Lyra got home and began to put the groceries into the icebox. She hummed a tune that she didn't remember learning absentmindedly, her thoughts on Will. She was remembering when they first met, how she had had an immediate liking for him, even though her whole being had told her to mistrust him.

She knelt by the icebox placing things where they belonged, then decided she would ask the aleithiometer about Will again. She hadn't for a while, and she had gotten better. So she stood up, closed and latched the icebox door, and went to her room, the tune in her head forgotten.

She went to retrieve it from its place in the box on her dresser, but when she looked, it was not there. It was gone. She looked to see if she had left it on the table where Ali received her lessons, but it wasn't there either.

Then another thought struck her, Where was Ali? It wasn't uncommon for her to be gone this late, so why did Lyra worry, but she did worry. She had a horrible feeling. Then it struck her. She didn't know where the thought came from, but she knew as surely as she knew that angels existed, that Ali had taken the aleithiometer and left. Where to, she didn't know, all she knew was that she wasn't going to come back for a while, and that she must be found.

Ten minutes later she was knocking anxiously on the door to the master of Jordan College's office. By this time the poor man was cripple and weak, but he was the best master they had had, and he was planning on working as the master until the day he died.

"Oh, Lyra, how are you?" he said, opening the door to see her standing in a coat and boots, her hair tussled, and an anxious look on her face.

"Ali's gone," she said franticly, "and she's taken the aleithiometer!"

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So, how was it? Read and review please!