The small fire in the center of the room slowly fizzled out, leaving nothing but old scraps of cloth to cover the sleeping children. If they had been any less tired, the sudden icy coolness would have surely woken them up but after surviving on just a few hours of precious sleep a night for the past months, nothing was going to deprive them of an elusive full night. The children themselves, though none of them really considered themselves children anymore, were nothing more than the tiny scraps of meat the butcher on the end of the street used to throw out to the many stray dogs. The oldest of them was just sixteen yet they were all street and book smart beyond their years and after the months of running they had done, each could trust their instincts to warn them of any danger.

Lyra stirred. Deep in her bones she could feel something was watching the small group. Her dark eyes gravitated to the small, broken window and caught a glimpse of a slight figure before it ducked away. She could not be sure whether the figure was another child like the rest of them or one of the Brothers' Guard; it was far too dark, the only light source being the glimmering slither of moon slightly visible through the jagged slits in the make-shift roof. She thought about waking Holt, their leader, but her trusted instincts told her that by the way the figure quickly ducked away it was just another child. Instead she slowly stood up, careful not to wake the others, and walked across the icy, rough floor and out of the door to where the small, skeletal figure of a young boy sat, leaning against the wall.

Aleks had looked death in the face many times and it was no longer a fearful prospect, more familiar than anything. He was at death's door right now, playing "knock-a-door-run" with the Reaper. He didn't want to die, that was certain, but as his eyes got heavier and his limbs stiffer he knew it wasn't far away. He hadn't meant to wake the girl in the room, he was just looking for somewhere he could sleep and possibly never wake up. He could only just make out the dark eyes of the girl as he ducked away. She certainly didn't want to get involved with him, even though Aleks knew she was possibly be in the same situation.

"Are you OK?" came the whispering voice of Lyra as she sat down next to the almost skeleton that was Aleks. A few months ago she would never have even looked at this filthy boy let alone spoken to him. She was selfish back then. Goodness, it seemed ages ago now. She could barely remember a time before she had been on the run from the formidable Brothers' Guard with the rest of her new family.

"I am fine," came Aleks' voice coated in a thick Eastern European accent that made Lyra guess that he hadn't been speaking English for long and definitely was not fluent in his complicated second language.

Lyra could feel herself frowning, "You sure don't look fine."

Aleks paused for a second and contemplated telling the girl about how un-fine he really was, instead he told her, "I am fine. Just a little tired. And Hungry. Have you got anything to eat?"

To his surprise the girl with the dark eyes laughed. "Sure, I have something you can eat. I'm Lyra by the way," she stood up and lent a hand to the boy, who was obviously to weak to stand up on his own.

"Lyra..." Aleks repeated. The girl's name was almost as pretty as her deep, dark eyes. It reminded him of the morning sun back in his own village, of the snow that gave the soft grass a white, cotton quilt to keep it warm in the winter months but mainly it was just her . He realised he had only known her a few minutes but still, her name perfectly described the way her long hair dangled past her slight shoulders, the darkness and the deepness of her brown eyes and her giggle that, however quiet it was, managed to fill wherever she was with brief joy. "Lyra... My name is Aleks."

***