Lyra. Chapter 4. If They Come

She knelt to the girl's height and made her voice the steadiest thing in the world. If they come, you go to the shed, you get under the straw, and you do not come out for anyone but me or your father. Say it back. Sophie said it back, her freckled face white. Lyra held her by the wrist and shoulder and did not let her look away, because a child who is looking at you is a child who is not yet panicking. She kept her own fear where the girl could not see it. That was the whole job, now. That, and being right about the straw.