Nathaniel awoke with a terrible crick in his neck which was rapidly spreading to his head in waves of pain.
"eeerrnngggh…"
He realized that he had fallen asleep at his desk, his head pillowed by his massive encyclopedia of ancient artifacts. Rubbing his temples gingerly he recalled that he had fallen asleep in the midst of conversation with Bartimaeus. Suddenly, fragmented images of his dreams came rushing back to him. The dark boy leaning over, lounging on the arm of his chair, whispering things in languages Nathaniel didn't understand.
He stood up quickly, disgusted with the fading dream and shook his head to clear it. Although Bartimaeus may have once again become a fixture in Nathaniels life, Nathaniel had no intention of dreaming of the spirit. He stumbled towards the bathroom blearily and climbed in the shower, waking up slightly more.
Though his eyes were open at this point, he was still not sufficiently removed from his morning daze to deal with the suspicious smell that was wafting up from the kitchen, nor the subsequent crashing. He threw on jeans and a sweater and rushed downstairs, taking the steps two at a time.
"Oh sweet heaven and earth."
"I swear, I didn't do a thing!" Bartimaeus cried, standing amongst the kitchen. Pots, pans and flour were everywhere, including all over Bartimaeus.
"K…so…did the rats do it? Was it the landlady? Damn her, I knew she didn't like me."
"Haha. No, but seriously, it's not my fault. Some foliot bloody well jumped me, and, well, I may have overreacted…"
It was only now that Nathaniel glanced over and noticed a very bedraggled looking stork flapping its wings indignantly in the corner.
"Oh rudding hell. All right, what now?"
The stork puffed itself with importance and coughed several times, perhaps trying to gain their attention.
"Do you need a cough drop?" asked Bartimaeus.
The foliot glared in his direction and huffily turned towards Nathaniel again.
"I have been sent by a Mrs. Holly Little. She has an assignment for you, and hopes that you shall accept it. If you choose to accept it, she would like to meet with you at eleven this morning to discuss the details, at the café called, 'soulfull.' That is all."
With this the foliot gave a squawk and flapped it's way clumsily out the window. Bartimaeus turned to him.
"soulfull? Who has taken over your body, nat?"
Nathnaniel felt his cheeks flush with embarrassment.
"It's our usual lunch joint, it's nothing fancy. Anyways, this is strictly business."
"Oh, I see. Well in that case I suppose you wouldn't mind me coming with you."
"absolutely not."
"You won't even know I'm there."
"no way in hell, not even if you went as a mite to microscopic to see with the naked eye. Because no matter what, you will end up causing chaos."
"oh, come on Natty. That's why you summoned me, I add spice to the daily humdrum in and out of your life…"
The Djinni pestered him until he gave in and grudgingly agreed. He raced upstairs to change into a blue sweater and put on his converse sneakers. He had bellowed at Bartimaeus to clean up the disaster he had made of the kitchen, and he was pleased to see that when he came down it was in decent shape once again.
"bloody hell, we've got fifteen minutes," he said as he took a swig of orange juice straight from the bottle. "Thankfully it's only a few blocks away."
"you're not wearing that, are you?" the spirit blurted out.
Nathaniel looked at him, and then looked down at his outfit.
"Ummm…yeah. Why?"
The Egyptian boy looked puzzled, his hair shining softly in the morning sunlight.
"Nathaniel, this may be the first time I've ever seen you wearing jeans."
"Bartimaeus, I've never heard you call me Nathaniel so much."
Bartimaeus gaped like a fish out of water.
"Remember the part where I'm not an asshole of a magician anymore?"
Nathaniel grinned cheekily and they both rushed out the door, Bartimaeus rambling about the wickedness of magicians and their inability to change their ways.
"