Finding the Entrance

It had been a very long walk along the beach and Lyra, Viktor and Pan had found any signs of life or Citagatzze. They slept on the warm sand under some palm trees and Pan snuggled next to Lyra in the form of a polar bear. Lyra woke up to the first light and she felt warm air whooshing over her as she saw the sun rising across the sea. She stood up and stretched her hands before jogging over to the tide and scooping some water over her face. She then sat down and watched the sky brightening up as a new day was beginning once again.

"You okay Lyra?" Pan asked.

"I'm not Pan," she replied glumly. "Mia and Will probably went into Will's world looking for us and they're probably in trouble. And it's all my fault,"

"We didn't mean for this to happen," Pan consulted.

"He's right Lyra," Viktor's voice made her jump. She turned around and saw him standing right over her. "Geez...what is wrong with you?!"

"Sorry. Sorry," he apologised. He sat down slowly and then moved a little to the side when he was too close. "Lyra, none of this is your fault. It's mine. I put my selfish wants before our safety and the need to get back home and I got you captured. And I'm so sorry. I cared too much about vengeance that I was willing to abandon you just to do that," he turned his head and looked into the distance, drifting off into thoughts of regret.

Lyra felt very sorry for him. She turned to Pan and he cocked his paw to Viktor. She knew what he was saying. You should talk to him.

"What was her name?" she spoke up.

Viktor turned to me. "Who?"

"Your best friend,"

His lips formed a straight smile. "Lila. You remind me of her Lyra. She was like you. Brave, strong, determined, quite a cheeky girl,"

Lyra couldn't help but chuckle at his compliments. "I'm so sorry you lost her. I lost my best friend too. His name was Roger,"

Viktor turned sorrowful. "What happened to him? he watched her face turn dark and hateful as she turned away from him. "He was killed by my father. He cut his daemon away from him to form a window to get to this world. And I miss him. I want to talk to him. I want to tell him I'm sorry because it's my fault he died,"

"It wasn't your fault," he consoled. "You're not responsible for your father's actions,"

"But I brought Roger to him," her voice broke when she looked at me again, this time tears were coming out of her eyes. Immediately I regretted having asked that question. "I thought he needed the Alethiometer but instead it was him he needed," she turned away from me again. She couldn't bear for the boy next to her to see her cry.

Viktor sighed and shuffled closer to her. She looked at him again. "Lyra, something things happen and there's nothing we can do about it. Roger wouldn't want you to feel guilty. He would want you to pick yourself up and finish what you started. And that's what we're going to do. We're going to get back to Citagatzze, find Will and Mia, get the Alethiometer back and then help Will find his father. That's what Roger would tell you to do,"

Lyra was motivated. "And we're going to help you find where you belong,"

Viktor scoffed. "No. I don't belong anywhere but Citagatzze"

"Don't you want to know who you are? Who your family is?"

"My family abandoned me," he snapped bitterly. "Why would I want to know anything about them?"

"The Alethiometer also mentioned this. It said that you were left for protection,"

He crossed his eyebrows. "From what?"

Lyra sighed and looked down. "I can't tell you,"

Viktor sighed and looked away from her, feeling angry.

"Because I don't know," Her words made him turn to look at her again.

"Because I don't know. When the Alethiometer told me that we needed to take you back to where you belong, something was blocking me. It was like someone was using dust to prevent me from finding out more,"

"So you're saying there are more people out there in the universe who can feel Dust? Like me? Who can control it?"

Lyra nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't say this before. We've both made mistakes with each other. But if we're going to achieve what we need to do..."

"We need to trust each other," Viktor finished.

She nodded. For a moment Lyra thought she could see a glimmer in her eyes as if I had ignited something happy inside of her.

Viktor stood up and held out my hand. "Let's go Lyra,"

She clasped it and he pulled her up. As they walked along the beach, he felt Lyra's hand tightly wrapped around his. Rather than pull it free, he clasped it close. Already the spark of a powerful friendship was igniting between them. Their quest had already begun and what was important was that they got back, find Mia and Will and they'd all stay together.

In their hideout, Mia's sleep was troubled by the echo of a voice in her hand. It felt so real that she was quivering in her sleep like the last few nights.

In the right hands, it can save us all.

Mia sat up hyperventilating.

"It's okay Mia. It's okay," Aster had turned into an arctic hare-like Hester and he was pressing himself against her chest to get her to hug him; she held him tightly.

"Oh, Aster. That voice. It felt so real,"

He purred and then jumped onto the cover in front of her. As he stared at her, she saw his tiny, cute eyes widen. "Mia..." he pointed a paw at her. "Your hair,"

Mia touched the tips of her bangs and looked at them. To her shock, more strands had turned silver. She hopped out of her bed and went over to the mirror and saw that the top halves of her hair still retained their normal pigment. But when she looked, she noticed something else had happened to her overnight. Streams of silver were lacing around her hands to her fingertips and they were beginning to flow from her wrists. Falling back onto her bed, she was overcome with paranoia. "What's happening to us Aster?" she breathed.

Aster couldn't answer.

"Mia! Are you up?!" Will's voice rang her eardrums. Footsteps approached and he was walking over to her. She didn't bother moving. He couldn't already see her above the step; he stood right there staring at her "Are you all right?"

"No Will. I'm not," she answered unhappily. Her face fell into her hands. "My hair's more silver and my hands are turning silver too,"

"Mia!" Will's presence drew closer and she felt him sitting beside her. "Nothing is going to happen to you. Everything will be all right,"

"It's not just that," she muffled. She pulled her wet face off her hands and turned to him. "I heard this voice in my head as I was sleeping. It was speaking to me. About the knife,"

"What?"

"It was telling me about its history, about the people who created it. I think it said that the knife has a role to play in some great conflict," Once glance at him made Mia realise he deemed her mental. "I know you think I'm mad..."

"No! I don't think you're mad Mia," he interjected. "I don't think you're crazy at all,"

"Something is happening to me Will. First, my hair is turning silver and now my skin is. And I'm hearing voices in my head. I'm a freak," she hung her head down.

"You're not a freak Mia. Don't ever say that about yourself," Will tried to comfort me.

She couldn't look at him.

"Once we get our friends back, we'll figure out what's happening to you and fix this," Will's words had a powerful influence on Mia who raised her head to meet his comforting eyes. She pursed her lips.

"Come on. I've prepared some eggs downstairs. Once we finish, we head to the tower," He stood up and held out his hand. "Ready?"

Mia clasped it. "Ready,"

After their quiet breakfast, they got dressed and walked over to the Tower with the Angels carved around it. There was no door on either side so there had to be a secret one somewhere. Aster looked in some vents but had no luck.

"The entrance must be somewhere around here," said Mia. "We'll search the streets," An hour passed and they saw no door or even a sign of entry. It was like looking for something in a maze; still, they wouldn't give up.

Will noticed Mia was quite slow behind me. "Mia, are you doing okay?"

"I'm just worried about Lyra and Viktor. I never should have let them go,"

Will walked to her. "Mia...none of this is your fault,"

"Will, I made a promise to Lyra's friend Roger to protect her. And I failed," she looked like she was about to cry again. Will wouldn't let her. He came closer and he gently pulled her into a hug which she returned desperately.

"We're going to save her," Will promised. "And Viktor too. Once we're all together, we figure out what's wrong with you. Okay?"

"And find your father," Mia reminded softly. "You must know how much he has missed you,"

Her words made Will swallow a lump in his throat. All his life he kind of missed my father in a way, even though he never met him. He gently let her go and they continued our search. They searched nearly every street near the tower but still no luck. It couldn't be further downtown. They had just finished scanning a street when Will noticed Mia was acting weird. She was as stiff and still as a statue but her eyes were vibrating as if they were reacting to her brain senses. "Mia? Are you all right?" she didn't answer. "Mia?!"

Mia's mind was oblivious to the cries of her name. The same voice from last night was speaking to her. Go right. Find the door with the angel.

She shot her head at Will. "We have to go right," she shot off on her feet.

"Wait!" Will shot off after her and Aster who was in the form of an artic wolf but they were going faster than him. Mia turned another corner. Will struggled to keep her in sight but when she uncannily slowed down, I found her. "Mia! what are you doing? Where are you going?"

"I know where the entrance is," she answered, not looking at him.

"What? How?!" he blabbered incredulously.

"The voice in my head from last night. It's telling me where we need to go," she said. She walked ahead and reluctantly Will followed her. He secretly thought she was crazy but if these instincts of hers could help then he knew he had to trust her. He followed her as the voices in her head guided them through some abandoned streets that they hadn't checked out. They discovered a large door in an empty, colourless alley and to their surprise, an exact carving of a small angel was hammered into the redwood.

"Look, it's just like on the tower," Mia pulled out her pendant and looked closely at it. Will inched a little closer to her, his chin just over her shoulder.

"Guess this voice of yours hasn't steered us wrong," He said. He decided to open the door.

"Careful," said Mia behind him

He gently pushed it. To their surprise, it opened without even making a creaking noise. "That was easy," he remarked.

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves," Mia advised widely. "We have no idea what's lying inside other than that knife. Come on. We can't turn back,"

Will agree. Together they walked into the dark corridors ahead and the door slowly closed behind them Aster became a firefly and lit the way. They followed him through a long dark tunnel until they reached a dark hallway of gold. It seemed to tower up to the very top. They saw alchemy equipment everywhere and giant angel statues. Ahead of them lay a staircase with a golden angel hanging above it. It led upwards.

"Seems we have to go up," said Will.

Mia nodded in agreement as she turned to him, holding out her hand. "Together?"

He nodded back. He clasped it gently and together they hiked up the levels of stairs.

Another chapter is done. What did you all think of Mia hearing a voice in her head? Is this do with what's happening to her. We'll have to wait and find out. Please send reviews and let me know what you think. I would love to hear your responses. See you all soon.