Not My Lyra

Geneva

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"