In the great white villa in the park Will slept uneasily, plagued with dreams that were filled with ay and with sweetness in equal measure, so that he struggled to wake up a longed for sleep again. When his eyes were fully open, he felt so drowsy that he could scarcely move, and the up to find his bandage loose and his bed crimson.
He struggled out of bed and made his way through the heavy, dust-filled sunlight and silence of the great house down to the kit. He and Lyra had slept in servants rooms uhe attiot feeling weled by the stately four-poster beds in the grand rooms farther down, and it was a
long unsteady walk.
"Will—" she said at once, her voice full of , and she turned from the stove to help him to a chair.
He felt dizzy. He supposed hed lost a lot of blood; well, there was o suppose, with the evidence all over him. And the wounds were still bleeding.
"I was just making some coffee," she said. "Do you want that first, or shall I do another bandage? I do whichever you want. And theres eggs in the cold et, but I t find any baked beans."
"This isnt a baked beans kind of house. Bandage first. Is there any hot water iap? I want to wash. I hate being covered in this..."
She ran some hot water, aripped to his underpants.
He was too faint and dizzy to feel embarrassed, but Lyra became embarrassed for Mm a out. He washed as best he could and then dried himself oea towels that hung on a line by the stove.
When she came back, shed found some clothes for him, just a shirt and vas trousers and a belt. He put them on, and she tore a fresh tea towel into strips and bandaged him tightly again.
She was badly worried about his hand; not only were the wounds bleeding freely still, but the rest of the hand was swollen and red. But he said nothing about it, aher did she.
Then she made the coffee and toasted some stale bread, and they took it into the grand room at the front of the house, overlooking the city. When hed eaten and drunk, he felt a little better.
"You better ask the alethiometer what to do ," he said. "Have you asked it anythi?"
"No," she said. "Im only going to do what you ask, from now on. I thought of doing it last night, but I never did. And I woher, unless you ask me to."
"Well, you better do it now," he said. "Theres as much danger here as there is in my world, now.
Theres Angelicas brother for a start. And if—"
He stopped, because she began to say something, but she stopped as soon as he did. Then she collected herself a on. "Will, there was something that happened yesterday that I didnt tell you. I shouldve, but there was just so many other things going on. Im sorry ..."
And she told him everything shed seen through the window of the tower while Giao Paradisi was dressing Wills wound: Tullio bei by the Specters, Angelica seei the window and her look of hatred, and Paolos threat.
"And dyou remember," she went on, "when she first spoke to us? Her little brother said something about what they were all doing. He said, Hes gon— and she would him finish; she smacked him, remember? I bet he was going to say Tullio was after the knife, and thats why all the kids came here. Cause if they had the khey could do anything, they could even grow up without being afraid of Specters."
"What did it look like, when he was attacked?" Will said. To her surprise he was sitting forward, his eyes demanding and urgent.
"He ..." S