ONE

ONE

Nathaniel's POV

Nathaniel felt nothing. All the pain was gone, though his limbs were stiff. He lay there, limp, for what felt like hours. His body would not respond to him, no matter how hard he tried, for instance, to lift his leg or even crack open his heavy eyelids. Nathaniel's parted mouth tried to speak, but only a weak whimper left his mouth. In his mind, he saw Kitty and her beautiful aura, casting light into his frayed and shadowed heart.

Kitty, he moaned in his thoughts, oh, Kitty, where are you when I need you most?

All was everything but well.

Kitty's POV

"Shoot," muttered Kitty under her breath. "Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot," she repeated for good measure.

Kitty, who was still wrestling with her coat, ran trough the cold London streets as the rain began to poor. She had straightened her dark brown hair and had long bangs that sometimes poked into her dark, yet clear, brown eyes. Her right hand was clasped around a huge duffle bag while the other dragged a dirty lavender suitcase along. Kitty had passports that would bring her to Egypt, but the last bus of the night that would take her to the airport, was already veering away.

"Oh my god, no," said Kitty, "not the last bus! Come back! Come back!"

With a leap, then a twist, she crashed into a wet puddle, scraping her right knee. Her duffle bag flew out of her hands and the suitcase laid in the puddle beside Kitty. Tears in her eyes, Kitty watched as the bus drive down the street and turn left, toward the plane at the airport that she would never get to ride.

"Why," cried Kitty, "does this always happen to me? Why? I've been waiting all my life, saving up every last penny for this flight!" Her low grumble turned into a shout.

Kitty sat there for a long time, letting seconds turn into minutes turn into hours. She didn't care the passing pedestrians who would occasionally stop by and whisper discouraging words to each other. Of all things she was knew, of all the things that have happened to her, she chose to think of only one thing. John Mandrake. No, it was Nathaniel. A sort of unhappy anger pulsed through her veins. That bloody magician she loved so much. That scrawny cruel magician she couldn't get her mind off. That magician had ruined her life. Took everything away from her, and rearranged them he wanted to. Yet Kitty loved him so much. How much she hated this love.

"Kitty! Wake up, girl," shouted a familiar voice.

Whirling around, she saw a girl beckoning toward her in a limousine, her window rolled down to the lowest point, despite the rain. It was Kaye. Kaye was a cute, happy-go-lucky girl who was about the same age as Kitty. She had long wavy black hair that stretched down across her back like a darkened waterfall. Her big brown eyes always seemed bolted alive with electricity and such… joy. She had long eyelashes that naturally curled upwards with a pretty ecstatic smile that matched it all. In short, she was a beauty. Everything about her seemed way too perfect.

Kaye was Kitty's next-door neighbour in the small crammed apartment she had moved into. They became best friends from the first day on. Kitty would always find herself in Kaye's arms when she cried or laughing together at the best moments. Kitty slowly stood up and heard her stiff limbs give a slight crack. She heaved her bags up and trudged over to Kaye's car that was now causing a traffic jam.

"I don't get it," said Kitty as she sat down, wetting the leather seats. "You're so rich you get a limo with a chauffer and you live in the same smelly old apartment as me."

Kaye shrugged as she took her black sweater off, "Money doesn't buy happiness. Gosh, you could've killed yourself, sitting in a puddle in the middle of a rainstorm."

Kaye put the sweater around Kitty's shoulders. "I thought you were supposed to be going to, what, Egypt?" asked Kaye.

Kitty scowled. "The bus left."

"Ah, you shouldn't be mad at the bus. You were the one who was late."

"Shut-up."

"Sorry."

There was a moment's silence and the shuffling of feet.

"Mandrake," said Kaye suddenly.

"Huh?" Kitty blinked.

"You're thinking about him. The look on your face…"

"Oh, yeah, right." No matter how much Kitty trusted Kaye, she felt that Nathaniel's true name was like his last gift to her. One that she clutched onto during the hardest times and one that she felt would be better off kept secret.

"You like him."

"No."

"You do. Stop denying it, Kitty."

"Shut-up."

"Sorry."

These short conversations that always ended with Kaye's abrupt apologies continued for quite awhile, until something caught the side of Kitty's eye. There was a djinni perched onto the side of the roof of a house in his true form.

"My gosh," said Kaye, "is that djinni trying give people a hard attack or something?"

Five important things had happened since Nathaniel's death. 1. There were now "legal" and "illegal" demons to summon. Nouda could've been on the list if it were not for his death. In order to summon an illegal djinni, you had to get the permit from the government… and an extremely good reason. 2. If you were seen damaging your pentacle so that the demon could enter your body during summons, you would be arrested. 3. After the "Demon Rebellion", demons were rarely summoned in fear that another treacherous attack may attack London. 4. The new government consisted of both magicians and commoners. 5. Most important of all, commoners were no longer treated unjustly. Even the commoners now had the opportunity of learning magic open to them, but most people rejected this chance, as commoners still hated the fact that magic scarred their life.

"Illegal?" Kitty asked as Kaye checked the little pocket book "Is This Demon Illegal?" she carried around with her all the time.

Kaye snapped her fingers, and an imp materialized before her. "Imp, tell me the demon's name," she demanded quickly.

"How would I know?" the not-so-bright imp squeaked.

"Stop lying," said Kaye, "all of you beings from the Other Place have a connection. What is that demon's name?"

"Disraeli, ma'am, his name is Disraeli," the imp spoke quickly.

"Thank. You. A job well done," Kaye dismissed the imp, rolling her eyes. "Disraeli. Definitely on the illegal list. Worse than a djinni." Kaye threw the book aside and her face was lit up with a smile. "This is going to be fun," she said, and ran out of the car just as the limo came to a screeching halt. Kitty sighed. Happy-go-lucky. It was as if that very word was invented for Kaye.

Kaye Hollander was hired by the government to catch illegal or trouble-making demons. She was strong and fit. With her sneaky tactics, she would be able to can a demon by herself if she had to. And this was one of those scenarios. To Kitty, Kaye was half-mad, saying facing such treacherous demons as a full time job was fun. Kaye was born for this job. No one was as ecstatic as her for this job. No one was as witty as her for this job. No one was as powerful as her for this job. Kitty couldn't help but let a smile twitch at her lips when she saw Kaye gleefully sneak behind the demon. She stepped out of the car and finally noticed the rain had begun to clear.

Then, there was a loud scream. Kitty looked up and saw one of her worst nightmares was about to be come true.

Kaye was pinned down on the roof by some invisible force, the demon glaring down at her… with no one there to save her.