Will and Lyra decide to steal the alethiometer, a task that seems much easier with the newly acquired knife. They return to their café apartment to rest, bandage Will’s bloody hand, and plan their entrance into Charles’s grand house. They decide to use the knife to enter the garden unseen, moving mostly in the Cittàgazze world. Lyra hides in Charles’s garden to keep watch, while Will sneaks into the house by cutting small windows and peeking through until he is in the room where Charles had placed the alethiometer in a glass cabinet.

When Will finally reaches the cabinet, he discovers that the alethiometer is no longer there. He decides to enter Charles’s house completely to search for the instrument. Meanwhile, Lyra sees Charles returning with Mrs. Coulter, and realizes that he is Lord Boreal, one of her associates. She knows Will is in grave danger. She finds Will to warn him. The two watch and listen as Mrs. Coulter and Lord Boreal discuss the alethiometer, Lord Asriel’s plans, and their own plans to find the knife.

Lyra decides to return to the garden and throw rocks at the window to distract the adults so Will can grab the alethiometer.