After Father MacPhail escorted Marisa and Lyra to the vehicle that was waiting for them at the airfield, Lyra was pleased to be on the ground and not in the air.
Marisa was trying to talk to Lyra to tell her the ground rules for while they were in Geneva. Lyra just ignored her mother and nodded when needed. After Marisa finally finished talking, Lyra waited a few seconds to speak just to make sure her mother had finished.
"How long are you going to keep me here?"
Marisa looks at her child, not sure how to look at her. "You'll be here as long as I have to be. When I leave you will as well"
After driving through a forest, the car stops at big iron gates. Marisa was starting to get annoyed as they weren't getting in, and Lyra is just staring out the window wishing she was back in London.
"C'mon get moving, I have things to do and places to be"
Lyra just rolls her eyes. Finally, the gates open to a village of big, beautiful houses all with the Magisterium symbol at the front of them.
"What's with all the houses?" Lyra asked her mother with genuine curiosity.
"They are for all the staff of the Magisterium when they visit Geneva. The one we are staying in is right there" Marisa points to a big house that is covered in white bricks with a big black wooden door. The outside looked dull and boring but as soon as you walked through the front door it was as glamorous as the flat back in London.
"WOW" is all Lyra could say as she took it all in.
"If you follow me Lyra, I'll show you to your room"
Walking through the halls, listening to her mother saying what room is what and what room to stay away from was just like her first day in London.
"And this will be your room Lyra" Marisa pushes back this big wooden door, inside the room was a single bed that was waiting to get made by one of the staff, a small desk and a tiny window that hardly got any light through it. Lyra never complained much, especially when it came to where she had to sleep but this room made her feel depressed and like a prisoner.
While her mother worked in her makeshift office in the second dining room, Lyra usually stayed in her room as someone from the Magisterium was usually over constantly looking over Marisa's shoulder.
"You know Hugh, my work would get done a lot quicker if you weren't breathing down my neck every second of the day"
Hugh backs away slowly and stands back so there is a big enough space to keep Marisa happy.
It was getting close to lunchtime and Lyra noticed no one has come to collect her to get ready to eat.
"Usually, she has come and got us Pan. HE must still be here" Lyra takes in a deep breath, "We should just go straight to the kitchen"
Pan looks at his human "And what if she is standing outside your door, OR one of THEM"
The thought of the Magisterium made Lyra feel ill with all they do and her mother being behind it all.
"Ok, on the count of three, we make a break for it"
1
2
As Lyra was opening the door and about to say three, a voice could be heard, and it wasn't one she has heard before.
"Wait, who is that?" asked Pan
Lyra quickly shuts the door. "I don't know who that woman is, I don't feel safe anymore. There's something about her that I don't like, it's a feeling I can't describe"
Marisa was nearly finished with her work for the General Oblation Board. Ready to spend some one-on-one time with her daughter when Hugh brings in a little stumpy lady who looked to be in her mid-forties.
"Marisa, this is Miss Patty and the Magisterium have hired her to help you with that child of yours"
Marisa was fuming as she never asked for help with Lyra, whether that being a parent or a teacher to her own child.
"Uh Hugh, I never asked for any help raising/teaching MY CHILD. We won't be needing her so she can leave"
Walking towards the front door to the house, Marisa waves her arm in a motion as if to say, "You can leave now". Patty gives the woman a disgruntle look "Well this was a waste of my time. The authority will be told"
Once Hugh followed the woman through the door, Marisa slams the door and locks it.
"I will no longer be told how to raise my daughter" the golden monkey lets out a squeak agreeing to his human.
As Marisa was walking past Lyra's room heading back to her study to file some paperwork, a loud bang followed by a scream. Marisa rushes back to her child's room to see what had just happened.
As the door flung open Marisa saw Pan on the outside of the window, Lyra's arm through the window and her body hanging from losing the chair she was standing on.
"If the chair didn't fall, she wouldn't have known we were trying to escape" Lyra thought to Pan
"LYRA" Marisa yells as she runs to help her daughter.
"Wait, hold on and ill get the chair for you"
"Thanks... I guess" Lyra said to her mother as she slid her arm out.
As Marisa went to grab Lyra by the arms, Lyra winced at the pain she got when her mother touches her. The girl didn't realise she had hurt it with her escape attempt.
"Oh darling, I didn't mean it"
Lyra knew her mother didn't hurt her, and she wanted to play on it to make her mother feel bad, but she just didn't have the heart. Lyra pulls her arm away from her mother and just holds it. "It's ok, I'll be ok. I guess this is what happens when you make stupid mistakes"
"What happened to that lady that was here before and why was she here?"
Marisa lets out a big sigh "She was hired by the Magisterium, to help with your schooling and other things while here"
The girl couldn't believe she was about to say this. "Why did they think that? We had a good thing going on here. You taught me when you could, and I stayed in my room when you worked"
"They only stepped in because I was falling behind in my work. They thought if they got me help, all my attention would be on them and my job" Marisa goes quiet and sad in tone "And not you"
Since Lyra was born Marisa was told what to do and when to do it. She never liked people walking over her and using her. Today was the day she was putting a stop to it. Lyra is HER child, and she will raise her the way she wants and not how everyone thinks she should raise her.
Lyra was watching her mother, not sure if she was going to lash out at the child or just casually walk away like she has done in the past. Not knowing what to do she was trying to bring up the courage to say something to her mother.
As Lyra was going to form the word *MOTHER* Marisa raises her hand and says, "We should go for a walk." finally getting the chance to go outside, Lyra grabbed her coat and ran to the door. Seconds later Marisa was by her child's side, coat in hand.
Walking down the streets of Geneva, there were beautiful buildings with lots of history. One building brought back memories for Marisa that she had to stop, pulling Lyra back as she was holding her mother's hand.
"Wait, why did we stop?" said the girl in a confused tone
"This building right here" Marisa points to a church like building "This...... This is...... Its where your father first asked me to marry him, when I was pregnant with you"
"Wow, that's so cool. I sometimes miss him, but I'm so use to him being gone, I sometimes forget he even exists"
Marisa looks down at her child with the biggest smile on her face "You know I'll never leave you again. My one biggest mistake was letting you go twelve years ago"
Lyra knows her mother means well, and it will still be a huge adjustment for both as they have been alone for such a long time. Lyra still has a love/hate relationship with her mother but secretly still adored having a parent that actually wants to be around her