POV: Lyra
For the first time, she's powerless to help.
I am three steps behind Aphrodite when the floor opens up.
I see it happen. I see the stone give way, that whole section of corridor just dropping into nothing, and I see Aphrodite's momentum carry her right over the edge before anyone can do anything about it, and I reach out with both hands like that's going to matter, like my arms are long enough, like there is anything in the world I can physically do about the fact that my best friend just fell into a hole in the ground that has no visible bottom. The air rushes up from the chasm in a cold exhale, like the earth itself breathing out, and it hits my face and my outstretched hands and gives me nothing useful.
She's gone.
