Serafina insisted on guiding them to Dame Hannah Relf's meeting place, for which Lee was grateful. She used a map drawn by the Gyptians that took them through deserted country lanes and later via back alleys and dirt paths where few people lingered. Even so, there was more than one frightening moment where they had to hide from passers-by. To Lee's relief, Asriel accepted the need for caution this time, and concealed himself and his daemon accordingly.

Despite the need for wariness, they accomplished the journey swiftly. Within an hour, they found themselves in a quiet residential neighbourhood, handsome redbrick houses and hundred-year-old trees lining the streets. Serafina led them to a small lane running between two houses and walked swiftly to a gate set in a fence on the left-hand side. She rapped twice and waited.

The gate swung open at once to reveal a grey-haired lady, her marmoset daemon perched on her shoulder.

'Come in quick, all of you,' she said, ushering them all into the overgrown, but beautiful garden. She gestured, not at the house, which was boarded up and had a deserted air, but at a dusty potting shed half-hidden by the ivy cavorting over its roof and down its wooden walls.

Asriel led the way to the shed, peering in at a grubby window before opening the door and entering. Lee and Lyra went next, and Lee saw that Farder Coram and Julian Van Buskirk were already in there, along with a beautiful dark-skinned woman with a kingfisher daemon. She and Julian were chatting animatedly, but as she turned to face the newcomers, Lee felt the thrill of recognition zap through his limbs.

'Loveday Charrier!' he exclaimed.

'Lee Scoresby, you handsome devil!' the woman cried, beaming. Her daemon swooped down to land on Hester and snuggled against her before flitting back to perch on his human's shoulder. 'If I'd known you were caught up in this, I would've shown up quicker.'

'You… know each other?' Julian asked, rather pointlessly, a frown marring his features.

'We, ah, got acquainted with each other a year ago in Greenland,' Lee explained.

'Very well acquainted,' Loveday drawled. Lee and Hester both snickered. Farder Coram grinned. Julian looked scandalised.

He'd look even more horrified if he knew the full story, Lee reflected. He and Hester had flown into a fishing port called Tasiilaq, after hearing the main road into town had been blocked by a landslide. While seeking work at the town's largest bar, he'd seen Loveday across the room, chatting casually with a grizzled local. Their eyes had met, and both of them had known at once, beyond all doubt, that sometime soon they were going to make love.

And so, they had… eventually. Loveday was a naturalist, on a scientific expedition to find out about the breeding habits of the rare Black-tailed Godwit. However, she'd been extraordinarily keen to leave town for a woman studying a rare bird. She'd left the bar in Lee's company and they had promptly been set up by four thugs. After fending them off (Lee with his revolver and fists, Loveday with a knife) she'd admitted to annoying the local authorities by prying into the Magisterium's interest in the nickel mines operating about fifty miles inland, mines with terrible safety records.

Lee, being a gentleman (or at least with pretensions to being a gentleman) offered to fly her to safety, a feat made more difficult by the local police force issuing a warrant for his balloon. A Magisterium-backed parliamentary candidate had been stranded in Tasiilaq, where he'd been campaigning, by the landslide, and was determined to return to the capital in time for the election. He'd decided Lee's balloon was the only viable method and wasn't willing to risk a refusal. Lee, angered by the heavy-handedness, flatly refused to serve as aeronaut and had been tossed into prison in the hopes he'd change his mind.

Loveday had broken him out of prison the next night (or at least created sufficient upheaval that Lee had managed to nab the keys off a careless guard and let himself out). Then together they'd liberated Lee's balloon from the junkyard where the police had stashed it. Morning had found them flying towards New France, and once they were across the border they had landed, found a place to stay and then barely left their room for three days. They had parted on good terms, with Loveday pressing a chunk of some rock into Lee's hand in gratitude. It had turned out to be an uncut ruby, the proceeds of which were more than sufficient for any inconvenience Lee had suffered.

In the here and now, Lee felt glad to see Loveday again, knowing she was a good ally to have in a tight spot.

'Not that it's not great to see you, Loveday, but what are you doing here?' he asked practically.

'Loveday is an Oakley Street operative,' Farder Coram explained. 'She arrived in Oxford this morning, having travelled non-stop from New Holland. When I contacted Dame Hannah about the information we sought, she in turn asked for my help locating Loveday's brother, who it seems was kidnapped from Jordan College last night by a bunch of criminals.'

'You're Van Buskirk's sister?' Lee exclaimed, glancing over at the scholar, who was still frowning at them both. Loveday nodded.

'Yep. I took our mother's maiden name when I began working for Oakley Street, in case I ever got caught by the Magisterium,' she explained, smiling wryly at Van Buskirk. 'To put some distance between me and Julian. When he began this latest bit of research, I knew sooner or later he'd run afoul of someone powerful. Dame Hannah's been keeping an eye on him for me. Then Julian sent word that the Magisterium had moved in on him. I've been making my way back here ever since, only to find he'd been kidnapped!'

'Yeah, by us. Sorry about that,' said Lee.

'I'll let you off, seeing as you did it to save his life,' grinned Loveday.

'I had no idea there was a secret organisation monitoring me,' remarked Van Buskirk, forgetting to frown. 'Is that why you kept asking me to do guest lectures at St Sophia's, Hannah?'

'It was,' confirmed Dame Hannah, coming into the shed and closing the door behind her. 'I wasn't too worried while it was just that fanatic Danvers, but after that Mrs Coulter reappeared, well…'

'Reappeared?' frowned Lyra. Dame Hannah glanced down at Lyra curiously.

'Okay, introductions,' Lee said, and went through everyone's names quickly. Dame Hannah's eyes widened when she heard Lyra's name, something Lee took particular note of.

'So, how are you three caught up in this?' Loveday asked when the introductions were over. Asriel shook his head.

'No time –' he began, but Lee spoke over him.

'It's a long and complicated story, Loveday, but here's roughly what happened,' Lee said. 'Asriel here is dead set again what the Magisterium is doing with your brother's research, but a short while ago he got in trouble with them, got himself locked up. Lyra here was left on her own, till she managed to get me onside. I helped her bust her father out from where he was being held, and now we're trying to make sure whatever the Magisterium is doing here goes up in flames.'

'I'll fill in the details later,' Van Buskirk promised. Loveday nodded.

'Fair enough,' she answered.

'Good. Dame Hannah, do you have some information for us?' Asriel asked. Dame Hannah nodded.

'I do. We actually had hold of it before Farder Coram got in touch,' she answered. 'Oakley Street has been trying to gather information from that location since we became aware the Magisterium had moved in.'

'Where, exactly?' pressed Asriel.

'At Farleigh Hall,' Dame Hannah answered. Lyra looked disgusted.

'That big ugly building out past Port Meadow?' she enquired.

'The very same,' Dame Hannah nodded.

'Ugh, it's awful,' shuddered Lyra. 'They run a school there. The Librarian wanted me to attend a couple of years ago. It smells like boiled cabbage and the pupils have to wear ugly grey dresses that look like prison smocks. I hid in the cellars till the Master agreed not to send me.'

Everyone laughed at this apart from Asriel, who rolled his eyes.

'Have no fear, Lyra,' said Dame Hannah. 'The school closed nearly a year ago, after it turned out the headmistress appointed was a member of a well-known crime syndicate and was funnelling the school fees into various illegal activities. However, the building was occupied a month ago, and the new tenant is paying the rent with Magisterium money. Our contact at the Town Hall passed on the information as soon they realised it.'

'That must be the place Coulter is conducting her experiments,' said Asriel. 'It's spacious, out of the way, close to the road and river for transport… everything a bunch of scientists might need.'

'I agree, it's likely,' remarked Dame Hannah. 'Certainly, it's the only property the Magisterium is renting in Oxford. That we're aware of, at least. But Loveday has further information for us.'

Everyone turned to Loveday, who held her daemon close, seeking reassurance.

'I was down in New Holland for a reason,' she informed everyone. 'Ostensibly I was looking at the migration patterns of bird species from the South, but I was also there to monitor Magisterium activity. They were setting up a research station down there, in a very remote location on the South Island.'

She took a deep breath, her cheeks darkening with embarrassment.

'This is going to sound absolutely mad,' she muttered to no-one in particular.

'Don't worry,' Lee reassured her. 'After the week I've had, nothing's gonna shock me.'

'Or me,' added Van Buskirk.

'Very little surprises me,' remarked Serafina.

'Well, the research station was built in such an isolated place for a reason,' Loveday continued, glancing with just a touch of uncertainty at her audience. 'It was built in a place, a mountain, that was considered sacred well before the first settlers from Europe arrived. A mountain that was supposed to act as a doorway between this world and the world of the spirits.'

Asriel's hands curled into fists. Lee and Lyra exchanged glances.

'Another world?' exclaimed Van Buskirk. 'As in the Barnard-Stokes hypothesis? But the Magisterium declared their work to be heretical!'

'They said the same thing about your research, doc, but it didn't stop them taking an interest,' Lee pointed out.

'Well, heretical or not, the Magisterium is conducting research in that region, work that is connected to the Barnard-Stokes hypothesis,' said Loveday firmly. 'I know because I managed to go through some of their rubbish before it was incinerated. I've got some very interesting documents with me.'

Dame Hannah smiled, the smile of a woman proud of a comrade's achievement. Lee felt a similar grin stretching across his own face.

'I'd like to look at what you salvaged,' said Asriel.

'Sure, if we get chance,' replied Loveday. 'But there's more. A number of the papers I rescued… they mention something going on in Oxford. Something to do with… with people who can turn into wolves.'

Lyra reached up and gripped Lee's arm for reassurance. He gently tugged his arm free and put it round her shoulders, hugging her close.

'The legends of the wolfwalkers,' Van Buskirk nodded, being careful not to look at Lee or Lyra or Asriel as he spoke. 'Those legends have existed round Oxford for years. I've been working on them – at least, I did until recently. There must be connection between what the Magisterium is doing in New Holland and what it's trying to do here.'

'There is,' declared Asriel. 'Wolfwalkers are said to have the ability to move between worlds, Dr Van Buskirk, Miss Charrier.' Asriel's knuckles turned bone white as his fists tightened. Had they been in a less confined space, Lee suspected he'd be pacing up and down to burn off his restless energy.

'This isn't just about the Council and Magisterium wiping out something it believes heretical, as we first believed,' Asriel carried on. 'It's much greater than that. It's about the Magisterium trying to extend its reach beyond our world. To subjugate entirely new worlds!'

'Cripes,' said Lyra.

'That's one hell of a conjecture, Asriel,' Lee pointed out, feeling compelled to play Devil's advocate. 'How do you know they want to subjugate these… other worlds, and not just destroy the evidence of them?'

'Lee, you don't seriously believe there are other worlds out there?' asked Loveday, incredulity in her voice. 'I mean, it's an interesting hypothesis, but to think that there are doors in the fabric of the world…'

'There are other worlds, that exist alongside our own,' said Serafina Pekkala, her voice so commanding that everyone fell silent at once, even Asriel. 'Witches have always known of the existence of other worlds. We see them sometimes, when the aurora is in its full splendour and the barriers between the worlds grows thin.'

Loveday stared at her, entranced.

'You're a witch, aren't you?' she murmured. 'I've always wanted to meet a witch. Ever since I was a child.'

'It's true,' Van Buskirk chimed in. 'I used to have to snap branches off our evergreen tree for her, so she could play at being a witch.'

Loveday smiled sheepishly. Lyra grinned at the idea, probably making up a new game to play. Serafina inclined her head graciously.

'Getting back to the subject at hand,' said Asriel impatiently. 'Of course,the Magisterium wants to subjugate these worlds. They want to control this world, silent all dissent, quell all rebellion…You think they'd let other worlds be, if they could gain access to them? No, they will strike pre-emptively. Bend the new worlds to their will, argue that they are doing the work handed down to them by the Authority –'

'Okay, fair point,' Lee interrupted, sensing that Asriel was working himself up for a passionate, long-winded rant. 'But that's in the future. We need to deal with what the Council and the Magisterium are doing here and now. Whatever their aims, they're hurting innocent folk with them. We need to make sure whatever they've accomplished here is destroyed.'

'Which means we strike at Farleigh Hall,' said Asriel, thankfully unperturbed by Lee's commandeering the conversation. 'We strike hard, and we strike fast, and then we must flee Oxford.'

In the corner, Farder Coram stirred.

'Dame Hannah, we must give you our thanks for your assistance,' he said. 'It's been invaluable. But we're about to start discussing something that is very dangerous and very illegal, and it's probably best if you don't stay to listen.'

Lee looked at Dame Hannah, worried she'd take offence, but she nodded agreement to Farder Coram's suggestion.

'I've heard as much as I need to, and I'm too old and rheumatic to be of much use with the derring-do,' she said humorously. 'I'll go and wait by the gate. But if you need further assistance from Oakley Street…'

'We'll be in touch,' said Loveday reassuringly.

Dame Hannah left the shed, slipping out with remarkable stealth for a woman who claimed to have rheumatism. Everyone was quiet for a long moment, thinking over all that they had learned. Lyra, growing restive, spoke first.

'So, what now?' she asked Lee. 'Reconnaissance? Like with Jordan?'

'That's a good idea,' Lee nodded. 'Find out what security is like on this place, how we get in, and importantly, how we get out.'

'I'll go this afternoon,' said Asriel at once.

'Not on your own, you won't,' Lee answered, to the other man's obvious irritation. 'Me and Lyra will be coming with you in case of trouble.'

Asriel looked annoyed but didn't demur.

'I'm sure some of the Gyptians will be willing to accompany you, too,' added Farder Coram.

'I'm good at sneaking into places,' Loveday offered. Van Buskirk looked as if he couldn't decide whether to be proud or horrified.

'Thanks, Loveday, but we both know that ain't true,' Lee grinned. 'You woke up half the police force back in Tasiilaq when you came to bust me out of jail.'

'That wasn't my fault!' Loveday protested. 'It was dark, and what sane police force has a cat hanging round their cells?'

'She got caught every time she tried to climb out of her bedroom window when we were small,' Van Buskirk chimed in. 'Dad always used to say a three-legged donkey scared of its own shadow had better coordination than Loveday.'

'Cheers, Julian,' grumbled Loveday.

'Besides, if you're one of these Oakley Street people it's probably best if you keep your distance,' Lee said practically. 'Don't want you getting too well known.'

'I could help,' began Van Buskirk, but Asriel shook his head.

'You're an enemy to the Magisterium, or they consider you one at least,' he answered. 'They'll be on high alert after last night. Stay with the Gyptians.'

'Might as well set out now, then,' Lee shrugged. 'Me, Lyra and Asriel. Serafina, ma'am, would you mind updating Iorek on what's happening?'

'Not at all, Mr Scoresby,' she answered, nodding farewell to the shed's inhabitants and exiting noiselessly.

'I'll send Bram or Liam to you, for back up. After you have finished looking at Farleigh Hall, please return to Lord Faa's narrowboat, and we will discuss what is to be done,' said Farder Coram to Lee and Asriel. 'Miss Charrier, you're welcome to come and wait with us, and no doubt you and your brother will have much to talk about.'

'I'd be glad to,' answered Loveday. 'Thanks.'

'Come on then,' Asriel said, stepping over to the door. 'Out to Farleigh Hall, as quick as we can.'

Dame Hannah was waiting by the garden gate, and held up a hand as they approached, bringing everyone to a halt.

'You'd better depart in twos and threes,' she murmured. 'This house belongs to St Sophia's, but it's been empty for months. The one on our left belongs to a very deaf old gentleman, and the house on the right to some scholar who's been on a research trip to Africa for the past year, but we must play it safe.'

'We'll go first,' said Asriel, tone brooking no opposition. Dame Hannah nodded, opened the gate, and looked both ways before beckoning them forward. There was just time for Lee and Lyra to whisper some hasty goodbyes (and for Loveday to give him a cheeky wink)before they were out in the alleyway and headed for Farleigh Hall.

Author's notes: Loveday Charrier - Gugu Mbatha-Raw

A short chapter today, but we're (gradually) heading towards the climax, so strap yourselves in! Till next time, dear readers...