(Lyra P.O.V)
It had been a very long walk along the beach and we hadn't found any signs of life or Cittagatze. We slept on the warm sand under some palm trees and Pan snuggled next to me like a polar bear. I woke up to the first light and I felt warm air whooshing over me as I saw the sun rising across the sea. I stood up and stretched my hands before jogging over to the tide and scooping some water over my face. I 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," I said glumly. "(Y/N) 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," (M/C)'s voice made me jump. I turned around and saw him standing right over me. "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.
I felt very sorry for him. I turned to Pan and he cocked his paw to (M/C). I knew what he was saying. You should talk to him.
"What was her name?" I spoke up.
(M/C) 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,"
I 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,"
(M/C) turned sorrowful. "What happened to him?"
(M/C P.O.V)
I watched her face turn dark and hateful as she turned away from me. "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," I comforted. "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 me to see her cry.
I sighed. I shuffled closer to her. She looked at me 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 Cittagatze, find Will and (Y/N), 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,"
I scoffed. "No. I don't belong anywhere but Cittagatze"
"Don't you want to know who you are? Who your family is?"
"My family abandoned me," I said bitterly. "Why would I want to know anything about them?"
"The Alethiometer also mentioned this. It said that you were left for protection,"
I crossed my eyebrows. "From what?"
Lyra sighed and looked down. "I can't tell you,"
I sighed and looked away from her.
"Because I don't know,"
I looked 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," I finished.
She nodded. For a moment I thought I could see a glimmer in her eyes as if I had ignited something happy inside of her.
I stood up and held out my hand. "Let's go Lyra,"
She clasped it and I pulled her up. As we walked along the beach, I felt Lyra's hand tightly wrapped around me. Rather than pull it free, I clasped it close. Already the spark of a powerful friendship was igniting between us. Our quest had already begun and what was important was that we got back to (Y/N) and Will and we'd all stay together.
(Y/N P.O.V)
In the right hands, it can save us all.
I sat up hyperventilating.
"It's okay (Y/N). It's okay," Aster had turned into an artic hare like Hester and he was pressing himself against my chest to get me to hug him. I held him tightly.
"Oh Aster. That voice. It felt so real,"
He purred and then jumped onto the cover in front of me. As he stared at me, I saw his tiny cute eyes widen. "(Y/N)..." he pointed a paw at me. "Your hair,"
I touched the tips of my hair and looked at it.
I looked at my hair. To my shock, more strands had turned silver. I hopped out of my bed and went over to the mirror and saw that the top halves of my hair still retained their normal pigment. But when I looked, I saw something else had changed. Streams of silver were lacing around my hands to my fingertips and they were beginning to flow from my wrists.
I fell back onto my bed. "What's happening to us Aster?" I breathed.
Aster couldn't answer.
"(Y/N)! Are you up?!" Will's voice rung my ear drums. I heard footsteps and saw him walking up towards us. I didn't bother moving. He couldn't already see me above the step. He stood right there staring at me. "Are you alright?"
"No Will. I'm not," I answered unhappily. I slammed myself on the bed and my face fell into my hands. "My hair's more silver and my hands are turning silver too,"
"(Y/N)," Will's presence drew closer and I felt him sitting beside me. "Nothing is going to happen to you. Everything will be alright,"
"It's not just that," I muffled. I pulled my face off my hands and I 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 me realise he deemed me mental. I turned away. "I know you think I'm mad..."
"I don't think you're mad (Y/N)," 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," I hung my head down.
"You're not a freak (Y/N). Don't ever say that about yourself," Will tried to comfort me.
I couldn't look at him.
"Once we get our friends back, we'll figure out what's happening to you and fix this," I raised my head up to his words. "I promise,"
I pursed my 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?"
I clasped it. "Ready,"
(Will P.O.V)
After our quiet breakfast, we 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 no luck.
"The entrance must be somewhere around here," I said. "We'll should search the streets. We decided to walk around town but still, no luck. It was like looking for something in a maze. Still we wouldn't give up.
I noticed that (Y/N) was quite slow behind me. "(Y/N), are you doing okay?"
"I'm just worried about Lyra and (M/C). I never should have let them go,"
"(Y/N)...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. I wouldn't let her. I came closer and I gently pulled her into a hug.
"We're going to save her," I promised. "And (M/C) too. Once we're all together, we figure out what's wrong with you. Okay?"
"And find your father," (Y/N) reminded softly. "I can't tell you how much he has missed you,"
Her minds made me swallow a lump in my throat. All my life I kind of missed my father in a way, even though I never met him. I gently let her go and we continued our search. We search nearly ever street near the tower but still no luck. It couldn't be further downtown.
I had just finished scanning a street when I noticed (Y/N) 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. "(Y/N)? Are you alright?" she didn't answer. "(Y/N?!"
She shot her head at me. "We have to go right," she shot off.
"Wait!" I shot off after her and Aster who was in the form of an artic wolf but they were going faster than me.
She turned another corner. I struggled to keep her in sight but when she uncannily slowed down, I found her. "(Y/N) what are you doing? Where are you going?"
"I know where the entrance is," she answered, not looking at me.
"What? How?!" I 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 I followed her. I secretly thought she was crazy but if these instincts of hers could help then I had to trust her. I followed her as the voices in her head guided us through some abandoned streets which we hadn't checked out. We discovered a large door just up some outside stairs and to our surprise, an exact carving of a small angel was hammered into the redwood.
"Look, it's just like on the tower," (Y/N) pulled out her pendant and looked closely at it. I inched a little closer to her, my chin just over her shoulder.
"Guess this voice of yours hasn't steered us wrong," I said. I decided to open it.
"Careful," she said behind me.
I gently pushed it. To my surprise, it opened without even making a creaking noise. "That was easy," I remarked.
"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves," (Y/N) advised widely. "We have no idea what's lying inside other than that knife. Come on. We can't turn back,"
I nodded. Together we walked into the dark corridors ahead and the door slowly closed behind us. Aster became a firefly and lit the way. We followed him through a long dark tunnel until we reached a dark hallway of gold. It seemed to tower up to the very top. We saw alchemy equipment everywhere and giant angel statues. Ahead of us lay a staircase with a golden angel hanging above it. It leads upward.
"Seems we have to go up," I said. I turned to (Y/N) and she nodded.
She held out her hand. "Together?"
I nodded. I clasped it gently and together we hiked up the levels of stairs.
Another chapter is done. What did you all think of (Y/N) 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.