A Dangerous Slip

Lyra's POV

The oppressive chill of the concrete floor seeped straight through the soles of my ruined shoes, creeping up my legs to settle deep in my bones. I held the strange girl's trembling fingers tighter, my thumbs tracking the dried blood and dirt caked into her knuckles. We sat shoulder to shoulder on the lumpy, stained mattress in the dead silence of Room 56.

Not only had we been taken