On the Run to the North

Dear Diary,
       I ran away from Mrs. Coulter. At a party, a smart man told me that she was the leader of the General Oblation Board. She's the Gobbler who's taking all the little kids! And I think her daemon, which is a golden monkey, found the alethiometer in my bedroom. The Master said only six were made. It is like a compass with three needles. I took all the clothes I could and ran out into the London streets.
      I was goin' to sleep by a canal when Tony Costa found me. He took me back to their ketch and I stayed in Billy's old room. Then we went to the Fen. It is a big swamp n' glade-type area. All the gyptians were going there to decide what to do about the kids what're bein' Gobbled. Lord Faa, leader of the gyptian nations, decided that a force would set sail for the North.
      There is a big reward for me back in London, but Lord Faa doesn't want to turn me in. He talked to me and told a story that at first I didn't believe. He said that Lord Asriel and Mrs. Coulter were my parents! He said that Mrs. Coulter wasn't supposed to see me, but she did because my (father?) was imprisoned in the North. I guess I've got to assume that's all true.
      I figured out how to work the alethiometer. Farder Coram helped me. You have to ask it a question using the meanings of the pictures on the side, and it answers it with those same 36 pictures. I got scared when the machine warned of one of our spies dying, and he did. When that happened, John Faa decided that I'd better go to the North with all of the men; I may be important. Well, I got my wish: I'm goin' to the North...

Yours Truly,
Lyra