Nathaniel- A Child of the Other Place

Sickness

Okay, so... I had this idea and had to get it down on paper. (or... on screen, I guess?) This is that idea. I do not own Bartimaeus. (Clearly) That honor falls to Jonathan Stroud. (Unfortunately for me, luckily for fans everywhere)

My Point of View

Nathaniel wasn't feeling well. His voice was raspy, his head was spinning, and he was burning up with a fever. However, there was no way he could go to bed, or continue this in the morning. It was so important, so insanely important, that he had to do it... NOW.

Which, in all honesty, might have been a mistake.

But anyway, he had just done a lot of research on a subject that, if he managed to perform correctly, would make him invulnerable. Well, not completely invulnerable, but close. He would be a powerful demon.

And it couldn't wait until he recovered from the sickness. He knew that someone was out to kill him. Someone he knew might be from the government, a jealous underling wanting revenge, or maybe a person left over from the resistance.

Little did he know, it was neither of these things.

It was actually-

Before the narrator (me) could finish her foreshadowing, Nathaniel shuffled to the stairs, yawning and swallowing the vomit that he could feel coming up in his throat. He was really sick. Nat couldn't remember a time that he was this sick before, although he had been. Once.

It was in his past life, before he was a magician. When he was just little Natty, who lived with his sister and parents in a life of being a commoner. Both he and his sister were struck down with a sickness that lasted weeks, getting worse and worse.

Every night, their mother would make them chicken noodle soup, most of which would be thrown up by morning. She also read to them, mostly fairy tales, but sometimes their favorite story, about a boy who went to a magic school, where everything was happy, and nobody was sick, and magicians weren't the evil, demon summoning beings that they knew them to be. It was outlawed, ever since the magician uprising, but even though Nathaniel's parents were scared to death of the magicians, they still had a copy.

Just because of how much they knew that Nathaniel and his sister loved it.

Contrary to popular belief, Nat's parents did not hate him. Actually, they loved him even more than his sister, who was loved a really large amount, too.

But they were struggling, and they knew that if they couldn't get more money than what they were making, their entire family would be out on the streets.

And there were no jobs for them, seeing as they already had one each, and they were... commoners. So they did what they had to do. They knew it was either give one of their children up, or give both of them up to child services. And they hoped that the one they had to give up had a better life with the wealthy magician.

And they didn't give up Nathaniel on purpose. Actually, it was more of an accident. Originally, they were going to give up his sis, though they didn't want to. But they took Nathaniel to see her off, and the magician decided that he wanted a boy more than a girl. So, sobbing on the inside, they gave up Nathaniel, filled out the paperwork, and took the money and left.

Fast. They had to get out of there, before the entire magician community saw them bawling.

That might get them fired, honestly.

So now you see that they portrayal of Natty-boy's parents as heartless demons (which is ironic, considering what he spends so much time summoning) is incorrect.

But whoa, I am getting really off topic. I was talking about how sick Nat was, not his parents, and how they had to give him up at a young age.

Seriously, what is wrong with me?

No, okay, well, so he was really sick. He should have gone to bed, cuddled up under a blanket, and watched soap operas, like a normal person does when they're sick. But no.

He had to go and try to make himself a invulnerable demon.

Great...

So, he walked, very slowly, his bones aching, everything aching, down the stairs, and into his office. He was very happy with his flat. It was large, and he was enjoying the living space. But on that particular day, he was pretty ticked off about how much he had to walk around. He was too weak for that on that particular day.

Which should have been a warning.

He shouldn't have walked into that room.

But he did, anyway. Like I've said a million times, there is something wrong with Nathaniel.

He was glad the pentacles were already drawn, so he didn't have to draw them. He knew that his hand would be too wobbly, and he would mess it up and end up killing himself. Luckily, all he had to do was light incense and candles.

When he was done with that task (which was far too hard for him, in his current state) Nathaniel stood in the pentacle and summoned his least favorite demon, Bartimaeus.

He only summoned that one because, well, in all honesty, he trusted that one the most. There was a million reasons that he shouldn't trust the demon, but there was one reason he did. The form of Ptolemy that he took.

That form made Nathaniel see that there was something different about Bartimaeus. He was a large ham. There was no way that he would take the form of a scrawny Egyptian boy if it weren't beyond important to him.

Clearly, it was.

And he had figured out that it was Ptolemy's form fairly quickly. There were a few masters of Barti from Egyptian times, and all of them were described as either too old or too large to fit the description. Except for Ptolemy.

Something had happened in the demons' past. That something made him take the form of a human. He had cared for the boy.

And maybe, just maybe, he was capable of caring for Nathaniel, too... At least, that was what Nathaniel had been hoping when he summoned the demon.

~-~-~- Wall of Nothingness to indicate Change of Point of View... ~-~-~-

Bartimaeus' Point of Veiw

I felt the pull of the summons, and let go of the other place quicker than normal. I don't know why, really, and I certainly don't want to find out, but I found that I looked forwards to seeing someone down there.

But it couldn't be... Nat? Well, who else was I expecting?

But, that was... disgusting. He was a fourteen year old drama queen who was giving me absolutely no peace.

And plus, he was really annoying. (1) But, no matter what the reason, I let go of the hold that I craved, and went into the Earth, in pain, as usual.

Great.

I landed in the pentacle and looked at the boy on the other side. I didn't even bother with an impressing guise, I just reverted to Ptolemy's form. Looking back on it now, this might have been a bad idea. I saw a spark in his (2) eyes, and he later told me about what exactly had happened.

He wouldn't have tried all the nonsense if it weren't for the fact that I came down in Ptolemy's form.

Great. Once more, just freaking great.

So, I stood in the pentacle, and looked at the boy. Seriously, he looked worse than usual. His hair stuck out at odd angles, he was constantly sneezing or coughing, and he looked worse than I had ever seen him.

"Your wish, O sick one?"

I asked. He glared at me. "I wish for you to claim me-" He said some more, but even I, with my amazing skills, could not make it out. He had been rasping really terribly, and then his voice gave out.

But since I am a djinn, I took this to be a full stop, and put on a somewhat creepy face. "Oh? You are finally sick of life on Earth? Ready to die, then, Natty-boy?" I was about ready to jump out of the pentacle and kill him (Well, maybe not. Just maybe...)

"No!" He suddenly got his voice back. I didn't understand how, but it was amusing, so I didn't question it.

"No. I wish for you to claim me as a child of the other place." His voice was rasping even worse than before, but he managed to keep the entire sentence hearable.

I gasped. There was no. Freaking. Way. (3)

(1) Almost as annoying as Faquarl. And that took some effort. Honestly, that boy had issues.

(2) Otherwise lifeless and dull

(3) Seriously, how did the kid even know about that? And why? Why did he want to torture me forever? I didn't know then, and I don't know now. All I know is that it was the beginning of the end when he uttered those words. Seriously. And of course, I had to follow his every command... Ugh.

Well, that was chapter one. Shorter than I thought it was going to be. But It's a pretty long story planned out, and I want to sort of space it. Yeah... Chapter one and chapter two were going to be the same chapter. But that (obviously) did not happen. So... tell me what you liked! What you didn't like! What ships you want to see! (What I'm saying here is: R&R, people!)