still alive, and she had st

t tin full of money was ash in the ruins of Pine Crest. She never thought ab

alls had gone gray with dust. No one came there but pigeons. She cleared a corner, hung a tarp against the draft, and made a bed from f

changed the way she spoke. S

e harbor and gave a false name, Anna Hale. A tired nurse measured her belly and listened

e said. "July, give or take. Do y

" Lyr

address. Lyra thanked

someone had been checking every clinic along the coast for months, wit

rted on a hot

ing. She lay still. Then something warm ran down

whispered. "Ple

time and give the false name again. But the contractions were already coming in hard waves. B

tove and boiled water in a dented pot. She held Nana's garden shears over the flame until the blades turned black. She

long pa

. When the pains came, she leaned into the wall and breathed the way the nurse had

onto the towels. Her whole body shook. She thought of Nana

light of day,

oth hands and lifted her onto her chest. She was slippery and warm

She was laughing and cryi

the shears. Her hands shook, but they held. A little later, the afterbirth came aw

nking. It was the flower Nana had loved best, and

ding sta

sed a towel between her legs, and it was red in seconds. She pressed anot

I just

ay awake. She stared at the sunlight slanting down throug

tsteps

om the stairs. She knew the sound. She ha

t up. Her body

suit. He looked older than he had in the cathedral. His eyes went to

hard to fin

spered. Her mouth

hurt th

. Lyra clawed at his sleeve. Her fingers had no strength. He t

n anymore," he said quietly. "You

's m

e'll be warm. She'll be fed. She'll have a better life than this floor.

ra said. "You killed

r. He did not lo

by crying, softer and softer. She heard a car do

ory went

her. The light grew warm across the tile. She watched her own fin

she thought. I

yes c

o her slowly, like

her yet. G

st so muc

that. Do

over her, with silver hair pinned back and a camel coat covered in dust. She

the woman said.

," Lyra

ere it was. "Whoever took her left you here to die. I do not inten

The woman pressed two

lding. My caretaker told me a girl had bee

lid into Lyra's arm. The gray crep

s Madame Vale speaking to s

find out who has be