A/N––So I guess I'm still going with this! Erm, sorry but for the sake of my sentences, all footnotes will be at the bottom now. It breaks up the story too much otherwise. Sorry!

2. Bartimaeus

"I order you, demon Bartimaeus, to destroy the leader of the Commoners, Kitty Jones."

Now, I had expected my new master to say something dramatic and monologue a bit, so the bluntness of his statement was a little surprising. It actually took me a few seconds to understand the magnitude of what I had just been ordered to do.

"Erm, what?"

My master, to my shock, grinned. "I order you to kill Kitty Jones by any means necessary. You may also kill any people in league with her, but no harm may fall to any Magician, understood?"

I shifted in my pentacle, double-checking its lines and runes for weakness. I still couldn't find anything. I looked up at my master's grinning face, defeated.

"Fine. Hey, look here buddy, what's with the grin? You get your kicks from killing young girls or something?"

My master laughed. "How did you know she was young(1)?"

I gave him a half-shrug. "Lucky guess."

He smiled wider. "Yes, it could have been, demon. I think though(2)...I think that you know Miss Jones."

I barely masked my surprise. The truth behind my summoning was dawning on me. I was not just a random djinni, brought here for his good looks. No; I was Bartimaeus, to be summoned to England to murder a former accomplis. Oh joy.

"I know of Miss Jones, sure. Don't know her personally. You've got the wrong djinni(3)."

My master glared, much to my joy. "Fine. Youknow of her. Do you know what she looks like?"

I thought quickly: should I admit to knowing what she looked like or not? Oh, what the hell. "Sure, yea. I know what she looks like. Gray hair and wrinkly, right?"

"No. Black hair(4)."

"Fine. Black hair and wrinkly. Want me to kill. Gotcha."

"Go now. You have until," my master consulted his watch, "ten tomorrow. Understood?"

"Fine."

"Sir."

I laughed. "I'm no sir, but thanks." Be fore he could say anything else, I was gone.

-------

The air was biting at my wings; I guessed it to be spring. My pigeon wings were too small, but I couldn't go into my gargoyle form. Just a little conspicuous.

My mind was on the task at hand. It wasn't actually the killing that bothered me, I had done it many times before. It was the fact that it was Kitty. Normally I wouldn't care but she had gone to the Other Place for me. She had trusted me, and because of that we had formed a bond. I knew that I couldn't kill her without feeling some guilt. The idea of being responsible for her murder didn't sit right with me.

I ran over my instructions in my head, looking for the loophole. I was halfway to the Houses before I found one. I grinned as far as any pigeon could(5) and sped up. The Houses were slowly becoming clearer and clearer until I was on them. Literally.

I hopped onto the nearest windowsill and transformed. The familiar fine white skin was covered by unfamiliar dress pants and shirt, but I was still quite comfortable. Ptolemy suited me fine.

I slipped out of the office and into an empty hallway. I clicked my tongue impatiently; where was everyone? I walked over to the nearest calendar and swore as I looked at the date. It was St. George's Day. Public Holiday. No work. Great.

I walked over to the elevator and impatiently jabbed for the first level. Maybe I could find Kitty's office in the directory. No sooner had I stepped out from the elevator that I saw and afrit on the 7th plane. He was a beastly thing to behold on that plane, but was as cute as kitten on the first six (6).

I growled under my breath as the kitten eyed me up. I didn't bother trying to run; he may be a kitten to some, but I knew that he was more powerful than I was.

"Djinni, what brings you here?"

"Bartimaeus, actually."

The cat stared at me. "What kind of answer is 'Bartimaeus'?"

"It's my name.(7)"

The cat rapidly transformed into a rather large man with an even larger moustache. "Bartimaeus! From Troy, right? Say, how have you been?"

"Oh, you know. Pretty busy, business is booming and all that. You?"

"Actually, this is my first summoning since(8)."

I just smiled at him. I had other matters to attend to; I couldn't just stand around socializing.

"Say, Osyrio, do you happen to know where the personal records are? I'm in a bit of a jam here..."

"No can do Bartimaeus. I've been ordered to guard the records today by my master."

Of course he had. I grit my teeth and took a good look around. I couldn't just go after the files, not with him; I had no hope of killing him in a battle should it come to it. No, I had to try another method. Strong he may be, but Osyrio was as dumb as a rock.

I took a tentative step towards a door. Osyrio didn't try and stop me. I grinned; now I knew it wasn't that door. I repeated the process five more times before I tried the door behind the desk.

"Hold it now Bartimaeus! I can't let you back there!"

Bingo. I put my hands behind my back and flicked my fingers at the main door. An explosion broke the glass and Osyrio ran at them. With a great strength, I threw the desk at him. He went flying out the main door, completely out of it.

Hey, my master hadn't told me not to make a mess.

I turned into smoke and slid easily under the door. Security was a little lax; when I saw Kitty I'd have to bring it up. Absolutely appalling.

There were no lights on when I entered, but that's not a very big problem for me. I transformed into a very large and standing cat and the whole of the room was thrown into a glowing sort of relief.

The walls were all lined with filing cabinets, neatly organized by last name. I prowled over to the 'J' section, keeping my ears strained for sounds of Osyrios' return. Nimbly flipping through the files, I came across Kitty's. There was a 'C' in the top corner of it with bright gold embellishments. I had nearly gotten the folder open when the door burst open.

"That wasn't very nice, Bartimaeus."

"Osyrio!" I cried out, smiling from ear to ear as I hastily tried to hide the folder. "How are you my dear? Have a good nap?"

Osyrio growled. "No. My orders are to take any person who has broken into the records to the Tower."

My eyes widened, but I quickly recovered. "And right good orders they are! I'll help you find the devilishly handsome man/woman/child who broke into this room! Come on, let's get snappy."

Osyrio was thrown for a loop. "It wasn't you?" he asked dumbly.

I feigned being insulted. "Me? Of course not. What kind of a djinni do you think I am? After you expressly told me that I couldn't see the records and everything..."

Osyrio scratched his head. "Yea, I s'pose it couldn't have been you. Sorry 'bout that. Did you see who it was?"

"Er...yea. An imp. Went...that way." I pointed vaguely beyond the door, dumbstruck at my luck. As he took off, I grabbed the folder and made for the door. Taking a deep breath, I changed into Ptolemy again and headed off. While I walked I read the papers, scanning for her address. I finally came across it in neat tiny writing.

'Miss Kathleen Jones, 56 Miker Avenue, London Area"

1- Oops. My bad. Told you I hated the smart ones.

2- I was as shocked as you are, I'm sure. Never would have guessed he could think.

3- I'm a fantastic liar. Not a bad tenor, either.

4- She must have dyed it. Good for her-the gray wasn't really working.

5- Admittedly, not far. It must have looked rather frightening too because I scared off a whole flock of ravens.

6- Literally. All black and overly fluffy. He was sliding everywhere on the polished floor.

7- He played it all coy like he didn't know, but I knew it was a front. He knew who I was.

8- I'm not surprised—he was supposed to kill Aeneas.