Helloooo again! Oops, a day late! I bet you thought I'd forgotten again, but nope, no such luck! (Sorry I'm a bit hyper, its the holidays :D)

I won't keep you any longer, sooo.......

Disclaimer: I do own the Bartimaeus Trilogy, all three books! But I'm not Jonathan Stroud, so I guess I don't own them in the sense you mean...Oh well, a girl can dream...


Bartimaeus

We arrived back at Kitty's apartment, out of the window several spirits could still be seen circling the houses of Parliament, searching for the rogue afrit. Unfortunately for them, all that was left of Honorius was a few scraps of material in the back alley of a street. And maybe a slightly mangled dustbin lid. Maybe.

Kitty dumped the files on the floor and headed back into the kitchen to put the kettle on. Again. Something was wrong with that girl.

I plopped myself down on the sofa, looking round for something to do while I waited. In my time I've learnt not to stand in the way of a human and their cup of tea, it can get nasty. My eyes fell on the badly scrubbed out edges of the pentacle again. I rested my chin in my hand.

"So who were you planning on summoning? seeing as I'm so worthless no one in their right mind would want to summon me." (There is obviously an enormous amount of sarcasm in that statement. Me? Worthless? Don't even think it.)

Kitty went bright red again, like before. Hmm...

"Shouldn't we be searching through those files I found?" She poured the boiling water into a mug and added the tea bag, keeping her face turned away slightly.

I was interested now.

"Nu-uh. I want to know what could be so embarrassing that even the great Kitty goes as red as Nathaniel when someone makes fun of his tie."

"I am not red!" She protested, her face betraying her by going even redder.

Ptolemy chuckled. "Oh really?"

"Really! Now we need to check these-"

"Ooh, changing the subject again!" I slipped into the form on an old, scholarly-like magician I had had the 'pleasure' of serving only about a hundred years ago, (Not that it could really be called 'serving'. Seeing as it lasted all of ten seconds; one of those magicians every spirit actually hopes for – The one who makes a mistake in the summoning – A quick snack then straight back to the Other Place. A bit like your fast food. Except slightly bonier. And with glasses.) and waggled a finger at Kitty. "I think you're hiding something, Miss Jones."

"Am not!"

"Then why are you stirring a boiling hot tea with your finger? Is that a new hobby of yours?"

"What? I'm no-" Kitty looked down at her hand and yelped as she realised I was right. (Not that there is any possibility of me not being right...) She dropped the mug back onto the counter and thrust her finger under the cold tap, turning it up to full blast. "Shoot."

I laughed, biting back an extremely witty retort (How's that for restraint?) and slid back into Ptolemy's form, getting up from the sofa.

"Well, if you won't tell me, I can find out myself."

Kitty had started drinking her tea but suddenly choked on the mouthful, coughing and spluttering rather comically.

"What? You can't!"

I knelt down and placed a hand on the remains of the pentacle.

"Oh, I think I can. Now let's see..."

Even I couldn't anticipate what happened next. Kitty dropped the mug of tea once again. She sprinted across the room and barrelled into me. We both went skidding across the floor until my back slammed into the wall. Ow. "What the-?" I spluttered. "I was joking..."

Kitty frowned. "What?" She hissed. And it was then I realised just how close our faces were, Kitty lying almost on top of me, my back still pressed uncomfortably against the wall. I could smell her breath; tea and honey, and I felt a strange quivering in my essence. Something was seriously wrong with me.

Crash!

The mug slipped off the edge of the counter where it had been balanced precariously, shattering on the floor and sending boiling tea shooting over the floor.

The sound seemed to wake me up, Kitty too. She quickly got up, rushing over to the soggy mess. Not saying anything. I shook my head. What was that? I really needed to get back to the Other Place before I lost it completely.

In my tactful and most subtle way, I decided to change the subject.

"Uh...About those files..."

Kitty

"What?" Kitty hissed, feeling her face red with fury. She stared angrily at Bartimaeus, or at least, that was the idea. But when she looked into those dark eyes she saw some kind of emotion that hadn't been there before. Once again she was struck by the depth of those eyes, so black but still with emotion. Where before he had seemed almost alien to her, now this new emotion made him look...almost human. Kitty felt herself subconsciously leaning closer, to that kind of other, infinitely deep black, she would recognise it anywhere. It was Bartimaeus. No matter what form he was in, the eyes stayed the same.

Crash!

Her cup of tea fell off the counter and Kitty jerked back, realising how close she had come to...to...

She leapt up, not looking back to see what Bartimaeus was doing. What was she thinking? He was a djinn, a demon, he might seem human, but he wasn't.

Kitty didn't dare turn round, didn't want to see his reaction. She shook her head in frustration. He probably hadn't even noticed.

Then she heard him clear his throat awkwardly.

"Uh...A-About those files..."

Bartimaeus never stuttered.

He'd noticed.


Kitty was curled up on the sofa, surrounded by papers, with Bartimaeus lying on the floor holding a thick file up to read. She'd read the same sentence five times in the last ten minutes, it just wasn't going into her brain. She heard Bartimaeus turn a page and sigh in frustration.

Her eyelids felt so heavy, and the room was so warm.

The page in front of her slowly darkened...

Her eyes started to flutter shut...

"Got it!" Shouted Bartimaeus exuberantly, leaping up. Kitty jerked in surprise and fell off the sofa, sending stacks of paper toppling on top of her.

"BARTIMAEUS!!" She yelled, on fire with the urge to punch him in the face.

Bartimaeus doubled over laughing, dropping the file on the floor.

"Sometimes I just wish I owned a video camera! You should really consider a career in comedy before you set your mind on being a magician."

Kitty threw off the papers.

"I am not a magician!"

Bartimaeus stifled a laugh and picked the file up again. Turning serious.

"Sure, you just keep telling yourself that, Kitty. But right now I kind of want to focus on how to stop myself becoming the newest arrival in London's biggest landfill, if you don't mind."

Kitty was about to carry on, but then she bit her lip. They had more important things to do.

"So what did you find then?"

The Egyptian boy looked proud and drew himself up.

"Well, with my amazing detective and sleuth work I have uncovered the name of our mercenary."

He paused.

"And...?" Kitty asked impatiently.

Bartimaeus chuckled.

"You're going to love this."


Wow, that was a difficult chapter to write...Maybe I'm just lazy =)

Either way...

I'll update soon.

Bye xx