Chapter Three: Obsession

Saffron Parry sat her living room much later that day. Across from her sat her paternal Grandmother, Elaine Parry. Although Saffi had lived in the same town as her Grandmother all her life, she still didn't know her very well. She saw her Grandmother often, but the thing they most often discussed was Saffron herself. However, Saffi did know some things about her Grandmother. She knew, for instance, that she was very involved with volunteering at charities and doing community work. From the story Saffi had heard earlier that day, Saffron also knew that her Grandmother had gone, for want of a better word, crazy. She had, however, gotten over that with the extensive therapy and the help of her son.

"So Saffron," her Grandmother said. Saffi's Grandmother always called her by her full name. "How does it feel to be twelve?"

Saffi grinned; she couldn't help herself. "Not much different, actually," Saffi said. She loved her Grandmother dearly, in spite of the lack of knowledge she had about her. It just didn't seem to matter very much.

Her Grandmother smiled gently; "I felt much the same about my twelfth birthday," she said. "And pretty much every birthday after that," she allowed herself a chuckle. "But twelve is an important age, Saffon! You're growing up!"

As his mother said that, Will was reminded instantly of the time he has spent with Lyra. Of what growing up truly meant.

Saffi smiled, oblivious. "I think its fun!" she said decisively.

Her Grandmother smiled and pulled a little package out of her bag. "Happy Birthday, Saffron," she said. "And many happy returns."

Saffi gently took the package from her Grandmother. It was small; she could fit it easily inside only one of her hands.

"Go on, open it," her Grandmother nodded, an eager smiled on her face.

Saffi gingerly began to ease off the paper. Inside the package was a little figurine of some sort of amber animal. She turned it over and over in her hands, trying to figure out what it was.

"Is that some sort of ermine or weasel?" asked Will. He was curious.

Elaine Parry nodded. "Yes," she said. "My own Grandmother collected animal figurines and she left the collection to me. I've decided to start passing down the collection."

Saffi looked up at her grandmother in delight. Ra was in the shape of a door mouse in order to get closer to the figure and see it more clearly. But Elaine Parry couldn't see that, of course.

Saffi's Grandmother stayed for a few more hours, simply talking to Saffron and Will. There was a lot to talk about; school, friends, extra activities, and what Saffi herself was doing in her free time now. It had been a longer time than usual since Saffi had seen her so there was a lot to catch up on.

Finally her Grandmother had left and Will was in the kitchen doing the dishes. Saffi was free to go to her room with Ra and throw herself down on the bed to think. All through the conversation she had had with her Grandmother, Saffi hadn't been able to take her mind away from the possibility of other worlds. She wondered how the natural doorways between the worlds were created. Could there be some between here and the other worlds even now, she wondered. She wished there could be… then Saffi could go and see them! And maybe she'd find Lyra! And Saffi would be able to have a mother again! Saffi's heart was filled with a profound longing. She wished it could be true.

Saffi slid off her bed and took her mother's ring from the top of the dresser. She quietly slipped in onto her finger. It her perfectly.

Then, a profound idea hit herself and her daemon at the same moment. It was so momentous that the pair of them had trouble thinking straight about it for a moment. They just stared at each other, eyes wide. Ra changed into a fox and bounded over to stand beside Saffron.

Then, he voiced what he and Saffron had both been thinking. "We could re-forge it," he said. "We could use it, I bet we could. And we could make everything better for every one, I know we could! It could work!"

The next morning, Saffi rose at six o'clock. She hadn't had much time to think about the idea she and Ra had had the night before. Besides, it was too momentous for her to think about all at once. And she wasn't even sure that she wanted to do it yet. She remembered what her Father had told her about the specters. The eat out your soul… Yesterday she might not have thought it was so bad but now she had met Ra… the full sickness of it hit her. She couldn't do that, could she? No, of course not. But then how on earth could she visit other worlds?

"Dad told us something about Angels, didn't he?" Ra said.

Saffi glanced over at him; he was sitting on her bed in the form of a fox. "Yes," she said. "What about them?"

"Well, they had to know where all the openings were to close them, didn't they?" Ra said. "So they might know where the new ones are!"

"Yes!" Saffi exclaimed in delight. But then another thought hit her. "But how would we find and Angel, anyways?" she asked her daemon. "From what Dad said, they're hard to find."

"Can't be too hard," Ra said. "I wonder how we could go about it…" his voice trailed off in thought.

Saffi smirked. "How about we paint signs saying 'Angel Wanted," everywhere."

Ra gave her a scornful look and glanced at the clock. "We'd better get going," he said. "We'll be late for school."

All throughout their conversation, Saffi had been diligently getting ready for school. Now, fully dressed with her hair combed, she made her way to the kitchen where she poured herself a bowl of cereal. Her father wasn't up yet, but Saffi was still careful not to mention her plans again till she had Ra were out of the house and on their way to the buss stop. Here, another source of excitement overtook Saffi; she could show her friends their daemons today! For the moment, other worlds were pushed to the back of her mind.

Saffi wondered how best to tell her friends about their daemons. Should she try to explain to them before teaching them to see their daemons? No, she decided. It would be better if she had them see their daemons first. That would eliminate the chance that they would think that she was craze – which might be high otherwise. Everything decided, Saffi sat back in her seat on the bus and closed her eyes. Before she knew it, she was already there. She supposed hadn't been able to talk to Ra on the bus; people would think she was crazy if she suddenly started talking to herself. That certainly wouldn't be good. The thought of it made Saffi grin. She wasn't entirely opposed to the idea of being a little different anyways, but what she really loved was influencing the children in her grade to play some game or other.

The bus pulled up into the school yard. Saffi noticed a group of her friends sitting off to the far left near a clump of bushes. She leapt off the bus and ran over to join them. She wondered whether she should show them their daemons and decided to wait until that afternoon. That way, she would have time to observe their daemons and see what they were like. She had already discovered from Ramidion that the behavior of the daemon told a lot about their human and she wanted to be sure of how her friends would handle the knowledge before she told them about their daemons. If they were going to think she was crazy she wouldn't even bother telling them. Not that she thought that that was a likely outcome; all of her friends were very devoted to her and probably would have followed her anywhere. Saffi was charismatic, to say the least.

"Hey Saffron," said Michael. Michael had been in classes with Saffi since first grade and he always called her by her full name. Michael was a quiet person who was very good at math and science. Saffi thought that he would probably grow up to be a physicist like her Aunt Mary.

"Hi Michael," Saffi said, grinning. She waved to the rest of the group; Ella, with her long Spanish dark hair; Zach, blond and green eyed; Dawn, pale faced, grey eyed, and golden-red haired. Of course, Saffi had other friends, but these were her oldest and her dearest.

After exchanging greetings, Saffi and her friends moved into their respective classes. Saffi had English first. She liked English, but it wasn't her favorite class. Saffi liked to engage her mind with the discovery of science. There were so many things to find out in that field, so many secrets to uncover. Saffi loved it.

The rest of the day, Saffi observed everyone's daemons with fascination. She was quickly becoming obsessed with the ideas her father had brought up in the story of his young life. She discovered that Michael's daemon was most likely to be a young lioness. Ella's daemon was likely to be a tropical bird. Saffi didn't know the name of it but she thought it was simply beautiful. Zach's daemon was often a cat, like her father's, but she took the shape of an ermine just as often. Dawn's daemon was a mouse a lot of the time, but she became a sea gull whenever Dawn was outside.

And then there were the daemons of the adults in the building! Her music teacher's daemon was a lively little goldfish. Her History teacher's daemon was a greyhound, her math teacher's a jay and so on.

One of the most fascinating incidents Saffi saw was when her music teacher's daemon chased down the daemon of one of the students who was being disruptive. It occurred to Saffi that the daemons of people were interaction all the time without the people's knowledge. This intrigued and delighted Saffi; what had Ra been doing during the different times in her life? What was his personality really like? She was only beginning to really discover it though of course they got on perfectly, for the most part. Ra did try to keep her in line and that wasn't exactly something that Saffi was used to doing. She was used to doing things she wasn't supposed to and not getting caught. But Ra's attempted dissuade from these activities seemed slightly forced and Saffi began to get the opinion that he was really enjoying it as much as she was.

At the end of the day, Saffi fell into bed exhausted and Ra curled up on her pillow in the form of a mouse, nestled in her hair. The last thought that she had that day was of the other worlds, and how she could possibly find her way into another.