Golden Compass Series Novels & Stories

a smooth, chillingly detached voice echoed from the shadows beyond the light. Vivian shifted frantically, her soft, voluptuous curves straining against the biting constraints of the plastic zip-ties cutting into her wrists. "Where... where am I?" she choked out, her voice raspy and dry. "Who are you?" A man stepped into the perimeter of the harsh light. He wasn't wearing tactical gear. He wore a pristine, slate-gray European suit that looked entirely out of place in the filth of the basement. He was slender, with sharp, bird-like features and pale eyes that held absolutely no warmth. Resting on the lapel of his suit was a small, matte-black pin—the exact crest of The Consortium she had seen

Before I could respond, Xavier reached into his coat and placed a small, deep-blue box on the table. "What is that?" I asked. "Open it." I lifted the lid. Inside was a heavy platinum collar with amber and gold bands. Two silver wolf heads faced each other, their jaws locked around a massive red garnet. The stone flickered twice, and I just knew I was screwed. "What the fuck is that?" Xavier's eyes stayed on mine. "The Gleipnir Collar." "Holy fuck."

He reached into his long rope and pulled out a small, gleaming object. It was a compass unlike any I’d ever seen. The casing glowed faintly and runes etched along its outline pulsing with slow light. “This compass is no ordinary tool; it's my proudest creation.” He said, holding it out to me. “The needle points to every artifact you’re meant to inside the Void. It will also reveal traps before you walk into them.” I stared at the compass in his hand. This feels wrong. “Corin…” I shook my head. “I can’t take this.”

“This isn’t about me. It’s about the pack staying alive.” I didn’t argue. Too much was riding on that one secret. When the food was handed out, I helped pass around the dry bread. My hand froze when I saw Caspian staring at Elaria’s compass. The needle moved slowly… then suddenly spun like mad. “Caspian?” I whispered. He lifted the compass. “The needle’s going mental.” “That means something nasty’s nearby?” I asked. “Could be. Or more than one thing.” His jaw tightened. “You smell anything?”

"And if she finds what's hidden there first?" "She won't have anywhere left to run with it," he said. "That's the beauty of a trap built from patience instead of force. She thinks she's ahead of us. She's simply walking exactly where we needed her to go." I found the altar at the chapel's heart, and set both pieces, the coin and the crown fragment, into my open palms, the metal warm against my skin despite the chapel's cold air. They rose from my hands together, light spilling outward, seven lines of silver spreading across the chapel floor in an instant, faster than my eyes could properly track. Six stopped precisely at each intact Guardian symbol, settling into the stone like water finding

Right as college acceptance letters went out, my golden boy of a brother, Bill Cyrus, spread a rumor that I stole his spot at Braxton University. His only proof was a single paparazzi shot of me standing outside the university gates. Of course, my parents believed him. To protect Bill's precious reputation, they forced me to take the fall. They even threatened to lock me away in an internet-addiction center for good to erase their embarrassment of their younger son—the one who dropped out and ran wild for a year. Watching my own family line up to tear me apart over one massive lie, the last scrap of hope I had for them shattered completely. I stopped holding back. I watched, ice-cold, a