ill looked around carefully. Beant prospect of great green    t of trees and te gleam of a classical temple.

        Just beside    bare patco see from t defi to look turned aever t o be better t    left.

        it-    a time, ood up and looked around for t, his guide.

        S. No doubt sreets and gardens beyond ts ing. ill lifted up attered tote bag and o all disappeared.

        terranean or maybe Caribbean about it. ill    of England, so    pare it    it    late at nigo eat and drink, to dand enjoy music. Except t the silence was immense.

        On t er ood a cafe, tle green tables on t and a zinc-topped bar and an espresso macables glasses stood y; ie o tt; a plate of risotto stood o a basket of stale rolls as hard as cardboard.

        ook a bottle of lemonade from t for a moment before dropping a pound    in till. As soon as    till,    again, realizing t t say     tell any more t.

        ttle on to ter before leaving treet going atle grocery sood bets and bead-curtained doors opening into private -iron balies t, and whe silence, being enclosed, was even more profound.

        treets    onto a broad avenue reetlights.

        On the sea.

        ill found    by a stone breaker and from t by a one ns and eps and ornate balies stood floodlit among florees and buss lay still at aarligtered on a calm sea.

        By noo time, os,    out a o touced to touc of    oo o take in tood still, breat afraid.

        ill tle aken from t, and it tasted like    oo, because t air was .

        o t, past els ly lit entrances and bougainvillea floil o ttle rees s ornate facade lit by floodlig have been an opera house.

        trees, but not a sound of life could be    birds singing, no is, not ills osteps.

        t breaking of delicate rees at tide s    er line. Every feiny self over at tly u. Fifty yards or so out on ter form.

        ill sat on ts and kicked off     and cramping    feet. oes deep into ter    of o the sea.

        ter o tform and pulled o sit on its ened planking and look back at ty.

        to    ts breaker. Beyond it a mile or so aood a red-andriped ligant cuffs rose dimly, and beyond t hrough.

        Closer at -bearing trees of treets of ty, and terfront s els and cafes and    s, all empty.

        And all safe. No one could follow o hide in.

        For t time since    of    door t m, ill began to feel secure.

        y again, and oo, because    eaten in anoter all. o ter and so t on s and carried t of ote bag. y bottle into t rubbis along t tohe harbor.

        tle, o find food. tels oo grand.    el, but it     unfortable, and    moving doerfront until tle caf6 t looked like t place.     o a dozen ots first-floor baly laden s and its tables and c outside, but it weled him.

        tograper of a broadly smiling accordion player. tc t opened on to a narroed in a brigtern.

        ly up to t door o. It    t. t and stuffy, and ill opeo to let in t air. tself oo big for it, and s it able. able people lived tle sable, a couple of pographs in frames.

        ill left and looked in ttle bath a double bed.

        Somet door.    raced.    sure if    sometold    t empty.        tside a darkened room, and ing inside; and noions    open and sometling at .

        But    standing quite close enougo be knocked over.

        , and trengt it,    y clothin bare limbs.

        S    t, and snatc to crouc at bay. And t beside o onis: a large , as tall as eetail erect.

        S s bad licked c.

        ill stood up slowly.

        ";

        "Lyra Silvertongue," she said.

        "Do you live ;

        "No," sly.

        "t is ty?"

        "I dont kno;

        ";

        "From my s joined on. ;

        raordinary o t: it leaped into    got t c oat    and belly, and it glared at    t in took place, because    toat, were profoundly afraid of .

        "I    got a demon," ;I dont kno; t;O your demon?"

        Sood up slooat curled    ills face.

        "But youre alive," s;You ent... You ent been .. ."

        "My names ill Parry," ;I dont kno demons. In my    means devil, somet;

        "In your    your ;

        "No. I just found... a    must be joined on."

        Stle, but sill tly, and ayed calm and quiet as if sra h.

        "y?"    on.

        "No."

        ";

        "Dunno. A fe remember."

        "So w;

        "Im looking for Dust," she said.

        "Looking for dust? , gold dust?    sort of dust?"

        Surned ao go doairs.

        "Im ; ;Is tc;

        "I dunno," sance from him.

        In tcs for a casserole of c t been cooked, and in t t to tbin.

        " you eaten anyt; he fridge.

        Lyra came to look.

        "I didnt kno; s;Os cold."

        ly colored butterfly, o t again at oo settle on terfly raised and loare, trangeness of it.

        " you seen a fridge before?" he said.

        to aking out a tray of eggs. Sween h pleasure.

        "Drink it, t; he said.

        S it, fro. . S suspiciously, and then her eyes opened wide.

        "t; she said, her voice half hoping and half fearful.

        "Yeao prove it isnt poison."

        y. S t up ed and belc her.

        "Im going to make ae," ;Dyou    some?"

        "I dont knote is."

        "ell, c;

        "I dont kno;

        op like the cola .

        "No, you o use a    opener," ;Dont t;

        "In my s do t; she said sfully.

        "Look in t;

        Sclery wo a bowl and wh a fork.

        "ts it," c;it ;

        o open the .

        "No t little sau off tip t; old her.

        Sered ipped to td pepper into t a knob of butter from a package in to a cast-iron pan.    into to find some matcy finger in ten eggs and lig it greedily.    again, oo, but he backed away when ill came near.

        "Its not cooked yet," ill said, taking it a; ;

        "At my fat; s;Days and days ago. I dont knouff e t."

        ted tter, poured in t t. co ses in ter as tilt to let rao tcoo, looking at .

        te    it in ula.

        "Find a couple of plates," ly did so.

        Se o take orders if sold o go and clear a table in front of t out t doogettle awkwardly.

        Se e, and ted, s tic strips of t abletop.

        ill ate slo even so ook mu she did.

        t of ty boulevard, tars i all.

        And all time ensely a, but iger;    . ure of t tasted t hed for days.

        "Laura? Lara?" ill said.

        "Lyra."

        "Lyra... Silvertongue?"

        "Yes."

        " ;

        S;I ; s;It    kno, I kne of my    I couldill t;

        " did you say about dust?"

        "Dust, yeao find out about it. But to be empty. to ask. Ive been ;

        "But o find out about dust?"

        "Special Dust," sly. "Not ordinary dust, obviously."

        t, a poc    he girl saw his glance.

        "You    a daemon," s;Inside you."

        knoo say.

        "You ; s on. "You    be    a like t. Even if you dont kno a daemon, you have.

        e    first    t like t at all."

        "e?"

        "Me and Pantalaimon. Us. But you, your daemo separate from you. Its you. Apart of you.

        Youre part of eac t;

        ill looked at t daemon noting in    profoundly alone.

        "Im tired. Im going to bed," ;Are you going to stay in ty?"

        "Dunno. Ive got to find out more about    be some Sc be someone ."

        "Maybe not in t I came    of a place called Oxford. ty of scs ."

        "Oxford? s;ts w;

        "Is t;

        "No," s;Different    in my oo. ere bot ands to reason t t?"

        "Just a kind of ;

        "S; she said.

        It    a request. he shook his head.

        "Not no; ;I    to sleep. Anys t."

        "t;

        "All rig Ive got my oo do. Youll o find your sc;

        "Easy," s;I kno Sc;

        tes togetood up.

        "I cooked," ;so you    was;

        S;as; s;t!

        Any a servant. Im not going to was;

        "So I    s;

        "Ill find it by myself."

        "You ; its . Listen, I dont knohis place.

        eve got to eat, so    idy up after to. You o treat t. Noo bed. Ill ;

        inside, ed eetoote from attered bag, fell on t.

        * * * Lyra ed till sook to tcap, rubbing il t t te pan, so sried a bar of yello, and picked at it stubbornly until it looked as    as s it o. tacked it ly on the drainboard.

        Because sill ty and because sed to try opening a , sook it upstairs. Sened outside ills door and, iptoed into took out ter from under her pillow.

        S o be close to ill to ask about    sed to look anyway, and surned ly as she could befoing in.

        t on t outside sraigo ted from t tened . rong and stocky, not as formed as a gros form mig . ever its form    ure t eous, and unhappy.

        Siptoed to treetlig ter, and relaxed o tion. to s too fast to ch.

        S is he? A friend or an enemy?

        ter answered: he is a murderer.

        once. o reac     still rust as safe    he armored bear.

        Ster across t    strike in on iptoed out.
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