Lyra ducked her head at onder the shelter of her wolverine hood, and shuffled in through the double doors with the other children. Time enough later to worry about what shed say when they came face to face: she had another problem to deal with first, and that was how to hide her furs where she could get at them without asking permission.
But luckily, there was such disorder inside, with the adults trying to hurry the children through so as to clear the way for the passengers from the zeppelin, that no one was watg very carefully. Lyra slipped out of the anorak, the leggings, and the boots and buhem up as small as she could before shoving through the crowded corridors to her dormitory.
Quickly she dragged a locker to the er, stood on it, and pushed at the ceiling. The panel lifted, just as Roger had said, and into the space beyond she thrust the boots and leggings. As an afterthought, she took the alethiometer from her poud hid it in the inmost pocket of the anorak before shoving that through too.
She jumped down, pushed back the locker, and whispered to Pantalaimon, 「We must just pretend to be stupid till she sees us, and then say we were kidnapped. And nothing about the gyptians or lorek Byrnison especially.」
Because Lyra now realized, if she hadnt done so before, that all the fear in her nature was drawn to Mrs. Coulter as a pass needle is drawn to the Pole.
All the other things shed seen, and even the hideous cruelty of the intercision, she could cope with; she was strong enough; but the thought of that sweet fad gentle voice, the image of that golden playful monkey, was enough to melt her stomad make her pale and ed.
But the gyptians were ing. Think of that. Think of lorek Byrnison. And dont give yourself away, she said, and drifted back toward the teen, from where a lot of noise was ing.
Children were lining up to get hot drinks, some of them still in their coal-silk anoraks. Their talk was all of the zep-pelin and its passenger.
「It was her—with the monkey daemon—」
「Did she get you, too?」
「She said shed write to my mum and dad and I bet she never....」
「She old us about kids getting killed. She never said nothing about that.」
「That monkey, hes the worst—he caught my Karossa and nearly killed her—I could feel all weak....」
They were as frightened as Lyra was. She found Annie and the others, and sat down.
「Listen,」 she said, 「 you keep a secret?」
「Yeah!」
The three faces turo her, vivid with expectation.
「Theres a plan to escape,」 Lyra said quietly. 「Theres some people ing to take us away, right, and theyll be here in about a day. Maybe sooner. What we all got to do is be ready as soon as the signal goes a our cold-weather clothes at ond run out. No waiting about. You just got to run. Only if you do your anoraks and boots and stuff, youll die of cold.」
「What signal?」 Annie demanded.
「The fire bell, like this afternoon. Its all anized. All the kidsre going to know and none of the grownups. Especially not her.」
Their eyes were gleaming with hope aement. And all through the teen the message was being passed around. Lyra could tell that the atmosphere had ged. Outside, the children had beeid eager for play; thehey had seen Mrs. Coulter they were bubbling with a suppressed hysterical fear; but now there was a trol and purpose to their talkativeness. Lyra marveled at the effect hope could have.
She watched throug