CHAPTER ELEVEN

Sorry about the no updating guys, but read and review and I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can.

NATHANIEL

I am enjoying this, thought Nathaniel determinedly. I enjoy listening to Jane talk about completely pointless things.

"I mean, really, someone has to put the commoners in their place…" Jane said, unaware of Nathaniel's mental pep-talk.

Well, thought Nathaniel as she continued to tell him about some poor 'commoner' (magicians and non-magicians were supposedly equal now) she had slapped across the face in parliament when he had opposed her views, maybe not enjoy… but that's O.K., because I love her…

If he had been in this position two months ago, there would be less of the pep-talking and more kissing. But two months ago, he had been head-over-heels in love with Jane, infatuated by her mysterious beauty. But that was before he met Bartimeaus and Kitty. Well, he'd know the two of them almost as long as he could remember, but he had only really met them, as friends, a few weeks ago. And then they…

No. He told himself sternly, Bartimeaus hates you now. Kitty too. They probably did all along. There's just Jane and you now, and that's a good thing.

"Would you like to dance?" he blurted, partly to shut Jane up. There was another reason though. That night, at the party, dancing with Jane…that was the time that he had felt closest to the woman sitting before him, the time that he had thought them destined for each other, inseparable.

For a few seconds, Jane looked offended that he had interrupted her lecture on whatever the lecture had been about, but then she smiled and placed her dainty hand in his. He returned her smile, and led her towards the small raised platform at the centre of the room upon which a small band was playing.

Jane flicked her hand at the band members, demanding they "clear off and make some room". One member opened his mouth to object, but one look at her glare made him shut up and retreat, dragging his cello behind him.

Nathaniel pretended not to notice, helping Jane up onto the stage and requesting Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven. They began to dance, and Nathaniel couldn't deny that it was beautiful.

The other patrons of the restaurant, who at first had been disapproving of their disturbance of the music, began to join them on the platform in pairs of their own.

The other dancers swirled around them in an almost hypnotic pattern, lulling Nathaniel into a dreamlike trance. He bent down towards Jane, brushing his lips lightly against hers.

"Not here," whispered Jane softly into his ear. "Follow me."

She took his hand, and they slipped between the dancers and out into the cool evening air.

"Come on," she said, drawing him along the pavement. Nathaniel didn't see the look in her eyes as she pulled him towards her car. Maybe if he had, he could have stopped what happened next. But he didn't see it. And he followed her willingly in what was possibly the biggest mistake of his life.

OOOOOOO

Nathaniel blinked in surprise as the limo pulled up along the curb next to a park in some commoner suburb. He had been half asleep for most of the car ride, and hadn't noticed that they were going in the opposite direction to his or Jane's houses.

"What are we doing here?" he asked, confused. Jane didn't strike him as the kind of person who enjoyed romantic strolls in moonlight.

"Privacy," whispered Jane, leaning over to trap him in her arms.

"I think…" gasped Nathaniel between the passionate kisses that she rained on his mouth. "That you've had… a bit too much… wine…" He gave up his attempts to talk, pressing his body against hers and sighing in pleasure as her arms ran up his shoulders, then down again to his hands.

She pulled back. Nathaniel leaned forward for more, but something stopped him. Something cold and hard that cut into his wrist. A handcuff.

"What are you doing?" he exclaimed. He didn't really mind her handcuffing him in place. He hadn't been planning on moving anyway. But now she was getting out of the car, and he knew something was wrong. "Jane," he repeated "What. Are. You. Doing?"

She shrugged, but her eyes glittered with triumph and something… else.

Something approaching pure, unrestrained insanity.

"I'm going to blow you up," she squealed, sounding for all the world like a young, playful child. So different to the soft, seductive tones that she had used earlier. The voice scared him almost as much as the words, though he was sure that Jane had just had a bit too much to drink. Almost sure. There was something about the look on her face…but she couldn't be serious. Could she?

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to compose himself, and when he opened them again they were sympathetic and slightly condescending.

"Really, Jane, you're not thinking straight. Are you sure you haven't had too much to drink?"

Jane giggled, and the sound reverberated round his head, making him feel violently ill.

"Oh, I am thinking straight, for the first time in years. Thinking straight is fun. You get to blow stuff up when you're thinking straight!"

Nathaniel decided to play along, for a little while. "So what else are you going to blow up?" he asked, trying to sound amused. In reality he was anything but.

"Oh, a few things," said Jane casually. "After you, we're going to blow up Parliament, and then maybe a few of the ministers' houses, and then, if we have any explosives left, we might try out Big Ben!"

Nathaniel shivered. The way she talked of such carnage so naturally, as if discussing the weather. He needed to get out of here, now.

"Jane," he said in a carefully measured voice "Let me out of the car. Unlock the hand cuffs"

Jane seemed to consider it for a second, and Nathaniel thought he saw a flicker of sanity in her eyes, a flicker of the knowledge that what she was doing was wrong. He felt hope rise within him, only to be dashed again by her next words.

"No," she said "I don't think I will. I think I'll just leave you to die with Sgenthis here." And with that she simply turned and walked away down the pavement, leaving Nathaniel alone with nothing but the chauffeur and the knowledge that this time, Bartimeaus wasn't here to save him.

It didn't take Nathaniel long to find the bomb. As it was hidden hastily under one of the seats with a loud beeping sound announcing the seconds ticking away towards his death, it wasn't exactly hard. Dismantling it was another matter.

Despite his jiggling and half-hearted attempts to pick the lock with a discarded penny, the handcuff stayed tight on his wrist.

And there was another problem. At first Nathaniel hard took no notice when she had mentioned Sgenthis. He had assumed it was the car or something. Turns out that it was a small and particularly nasty foliot with a large green nose that had been masquerading as the chauffeur. Because of course this situation wasn't bad enough already.

His only hope was Bartimeaus. It came down to whether he'd prefer the rest of his life getting taunted by the djinni, or whether it would just be simpler to give up and explode.

He chose the former.

There wasn't enough time to somehow draw a pentacle, so he'd just have to summon him and hope that Bartimaeus decided not to kill him, which was possibly more dangerous than sitting in a car with a foliot and a ticking bomb. That was if the djinni even bothered to come in the first place.

But he didn't have any choice.

He began to mutter the incantations. Now that the protective spells were pointless, it took surprisingly little time. Soon, smoke began to fill the air around him and he felt a flicker of hope rise in his chest. He was coming. He hadn't abandoned him completely. Not yet, anyway.

BARTIMEAUS

I was halfway through setting his poster bed on fire when I felt the familiar tug of a summons pull at my essence. Placing a burning match on the exact spot where he put his head every night (not that I watched him sleep or anything pathetic like that) I decided I might as well get out of there and act innocent before the whelp arrived home. So I let the tug on my essence pull me away and dissolve me into smoke, praying that I wouldn't have to do anything more than stand there and impress a few people.

Instead I ended up in a car with a ticking time bomb at my feet and a foliot attempting to charge through me at aforementioned whelp. Ah, well. We can't have everything.

It was easy as pie to grab the unsuspecting creature in a strangling hold, squeezing until his eyeballs popped then dangling him a few centimeters from dear little Nat's nose. The boy gulped. I laughed.

"See what happens when I leave you on your own?" I asked the terrified magician, holding the foliot a little closer until he could see every individual purple vein in the creature's bulging eyes. "I mean, only you could end up in a situation like this."

Natty-boy glared. "Can you just get on with it?"

I grinned languidly, showing all my teeth. "Get on with what, oh Great Master?" I asked sarcastically, "I do notice that you haven't seen fit to put me in a pentacle. Nonetheless, I'd be perfectly happy to… shove the foliot down the back of your shirt? See if I can get that timer moving a bit quicker… your wish is my command, oh Marvelous One."

I leaned closer, my voice now completely serious.

"I could kill you just as easily as I could help you, Nathaniel. Just keep that in mind when you make your demands."

I leaned back again, and my voice was cheerful once more. "Now, let's hear it. How may I serve you, oh Great and Powerful Lord?"

Nat, not looking particularly great or powerful, spoke through gritted teeth. "Just get me out of here."

"Dead or alive? You forgot to specify." I said, trying to sound naturally curious.

"Take me home, alive and unharmed."

"Does that include mentally?"

"Yes!" Nathaniel practically screamed, glancing nervously at the bomb on the floor, which now read only ten seconds until detonation.

"Oh, why didn't you say so before?" I asked in my most irritating voice. "Now, hold on tight. Be sure to fasten your seatbelt…"

Five seconds.

"Remember, no eating or drinking on board, and please enjoy your flight…"

Three seconds.

"Oh, and by the way, I don't come with barf bags, so hold on to your dinner."

One second.

"Just get out of here!" Nat really was screaming now. Loud and high pitched, like a girl.

"And we have lift off!"

BANG