Harper
For one second I thought she'd scream anyway.
Then the fight drained out of her face and left something I'd never seen on Lyra. Not the rehearsed sympathy. Not the polished contempt. Just raw, animal fear.
"You don't understand," she breathed. The flashlight shook. "If he finds out someone heard. On my watch." She didn't finish. We'd both heard what Joe did to people who failed him.
"Then he can't find out. Which makes me the most useful person in your life right now."
"You're the reason I'm in this." Old venom flaring up through the panic. "You and your S-class freak show. If you'd just matched and stayed quiet like a normal Guide."
"Lyra." I stepped in. "He gave you two doors. Do his job, murder me, and the second you stop being useful he buries you next to whatever's left o
