ummm...no comment? You can officially hunt me down and kill me now...

Kitty

A small, wizened old man opened the door at Kitty's knock. He had a frown on his face and looked as if he was about to say something when suddenly he took stock of who was in front of him, and he broke into a beaming grin.

"Lizzy! Why on earth are you here? I have seen you since...well, since before the Nouda incident two months ago!"

The old man seemed genuinely overjoyed to see her and, despite herself, Kitty had missed her bustling old master during the past few months. She felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, but she stopped it dead.

He was the one trying to kill Bartimaeus.

He was a fraud and a liar.

He was a monster.

Kitty gritted her teeth and forced herself to reply.

"I'm so, so sorry, sir," She was surprised at the collected tone of her voice as she spoke. "But as a matter of fact I need to talk to you about the 'Nouda Incident'" Kitty found herself putting slightly sarcastic tones to those last words and quickly reminded herself not to start insulting the man who was about to trap Bartimaeus inside a tiny, metal tin...

Mr Button, the mercenary, looked at her suspiciously, and she saw him take half a step back, moving the door slightly between them.

"What was it you wanted to talk about?"

Kitty had only been focussing on getting inside the house and hadn't really thought about what she was going to say. She bit her lip surreptitiously, and she saw the small man's eyes start to narrow.

Here goes nothing...

"Uh...I don't really know how to say this, but...well, is it possible for a commoner to be a magician as well, sir? Only I...I think I've summoned a demon."

At least Kitty didn't have to act to look nervous, she just showed her emotions, most of which involved her turn tail and running for her life down the nearest street. The only thing that kept her rooted to the spot was the reassuring itch of Bartimaeus in her ear.

Kitty thought she saw a flash of something in the man's eyes, but if she had it disappeared immediately as 'Mr Button's' eyes widened in shock. He opened the door widely.

"Oh, my poor girl, you must be terrified. I can only imagine...Well, lets get you a nice cup of tea and you can tell me all about it." He gestured for Kitty to enter, which she did. Mr Button closed the door behind her and shuffled down the hall that was so familiar to Kitty, even now.

He glanced over his shoulder at her as he led her into the living room. "So what is it? An imp, foliot...a djinn?" Kitty could have sworn that the mercenary was looking right at her ear – Bartimaeus's hiding place – When he said it. Mr Button continued on without pause. "And what on earth were you thinking even attempting a summoning ritual? You should know from seeing my work just how dangerous they are. I assume you have not brought the demon with you?"

Kitty hurriedly replied. "No, of course not. It has orders to remain inside the summoning circle...that will keep it in place, won't it?" She sat down on one of the living room's sagging armchairs, sinking in so far that her the balls of her feet had to stretch to touch the floor. Mr Button frowned and bustled into the small adjoining kitchen, pouring water from the tap into a scratched old whistling kettle.

As soon as Mr Button's back was turned, Kitty heard Bartimaeus's voice in her ear;

"I know your conversational skills pale in comparison to my silver tongue. But try and keep him in here for ten minutes, yes?" Kitty nodded sharply. There was a muffled squeak inside her ear. "Don't do that! Seriously, sometimes I wonder how you even get out of bed in the morning! If it just-"

"Bartimaeus!" Kitty hissed through her teeth, glancing pointedly over at Mr Button.

He stopped. "Oh, right. Better get going then."

"Yes, you should."

"So...I'm leaving now. Don't forget; ten-"

"Bartimaeus. Go already!"

She heard a huff of indignation and almost laughed in spite of herself.

"Fine. I know where I'm not wanted."

She felt a tickling sensation in her ear and with that Bartimaeus was gone.

Bartimaeus

Still in flea form, (Me and my ego were going to have to have a serious talk after this.) I hopped out of the living room leaving Kitty with the mercenary. A felt a twinge in my essence when I thought that. I needed to get back to the Other Place, something strange was going on.

But not now. Now I needed to concentrate and find that silver box before I end up very well aquainted with various crisp packets for the next several centuries (How's that for motivation?).

So I hopped towards the staircase, checking all seven planes for some form of magical defence. None. Just a wobbly bottom step and a bedraggled looking banister. Not exactly the most, effective defenses I've ever seen. But still, I skirted round a few more times before shifting into the guise of a tabby cat and climbing up, missing the bottom step for good measure. (No, I'm not paranoid. I just happen to have gained a little common sense in my long life. A creaky step makes a lot of noise. You laugh now, but not all spirits are as sharp as me)

At the top of the stairs I was confronted with four choices; down the hall, a door on my left, a door on my right, or back down the staircase and as far away from here as possible. I sniffed the air, the cat's nose picking up the scent of tea, mould, paper, and...chalk.

That's it.

I padded lightly towards the door on my left, following my nose after the smell of chalk.

Ah. Problem.

Not only was the door locked, it looked to be made of some kind of strange, reinforced metal, completely out of character with the mercenary's little-old-man style house.

But that wasn't the problem. The problem was the Shields, Wards and Detonations placed layer after layer all over the door, power emanating from it in waves so strong I took one minute step back. Give me some credit, I may be an almighty djinni but this had to be the work of a high class afrit at least. Opening that door would set off all kinds of alarms. Not to mention enough Detonations to bring down the whole house, and the neighbours'.

I shouldn't open it. I really, really shouldn't.

Which meant there was no way in heck I wasn't going to.

I slipped into Ptolemy's form, and placed my hand on the door handle. The lock would be easy, whoever placed the spells on this door, had known that they should have been deterrent enough. But, hey, I live for the risk.

Before opening the door I patted the pocket of the jacket Ptolemy was wearing, checking that my precious cargo was still there. I was definitely going to need it.

Bracing my self, I walked back a few steps, checked my watch, and then ran forward, slamming all my weight into the door. The hinges gave way and snapped off. I flew into the room and ran straight to where I saw the small, silver box. It was sitting in plain sight on a desk on the other side of a complicated summoning circle. My gaze brushed over it as I ran past.

I stopped in my tracks. Oh no.

That was the summoning circle of a marid. And if that much power was in those Detonations, they wouldn't only destroy the entire street. But I was betting everyone in it was pretty much toast.

That was exactly when the Detonations set off.

I dived for the silver box, reaching it as the power of the explosion propelled me forward. At the same time I felt a tugging on my essence. Time up.

I felt myself being compressed by the spell of Indefinite Confinement, I would escape the blast.

I only hoped Kitty found some way out.

Sorry doesn't even cover it, I know, i feel so stupid for once again just not finishing the flipping chapter when most of it's on my computer already. I think i'm just the laziest person that ever lived...

Bye xx