So my computer was finally crippled by viruses. I typed up several chapters at school, using the few free minutes I got, whenever I could.
Now that I've finally got a new computer, I'll be releasing them at weekly intervals, or perhaps even twice weekly, depending on the feedback I get and dramatic effect.
So, you miss me?
Yes, I thought not, it'd be too much to expect.
Well, enjoy ;D
Chapter 12
Bartimaeus
All through the night the hammering rain did not dwindle nor cease. Although rest came easy for Nathaniel, it was difficult for me to relax; many things weighed on my mind. Who had summoned the other demons? How had Kitty escaped? Soon, perhaps, we'd get some answers. However, I was starting to get the feeling that Farrar wouldn't be alive to tell us anything by the time we got there. A tingle of anticipation spread through my whiskers.
Presently, Nathaniel awoke with a yawn, tearing me from my musings. He quickly changed into some hygienic apparel and, after a breakfast prepared by the combined efforts of some people in the mansion, we were off.
It was well past noon, but the downpour raged on stubbornly. The clouds had no intention of letting the least sunlight filter through their depths, and Nathaniel carried a rather small umbrella(1) above him to defend himself against the perilous rain. Naturally, I was left open to it, left to soak in droplets of misery. As usual, Nathaniel didn't concern himself with my personal luxuries.
(1) Actually, now that I think of it, it was one of those parasols that women love to carry around to block the sun and look classy whilst doing it. The bright shade of pink should've tipped me off. Ah, Nathaniel.
He tried to appear confident, his snout raised high in the air from under the safety of his 'umbrella'; but I suspected like me he was worried about Farrar having some sort of 'accident' overnight.
It had occurred to me the previous night that something seemed rather…off about the whole situation. Certainly, it was just a feeling, but I couldn't remember the last time my instincts had failed me.
I toddled on, trying to get under his umbrella to relive my coat of fur from the ceaseless bombardment of rain; succeeding only partially.
I hissed sourly.(2) Nathaniel gave a great sigh of exasperation and finally turned to face me.
(2) What? Cats are delicate creatures. Not to mention foul mouthed and ill tempered.
"Yes?" He asked, tilting his head in my direction.
"Are we there yet?" The cat coughed out.
Nathaniel stopped, throwing his head back with a sound of utter aggravation and touching his forehead with the pads of his slim index and middle fingers. The cat snarled in contempt.
"Bartimaeus, why must you act like such a child?" Nathaniel asked, rubbing his forehead. He continued walking.
"It's wet. And cold. The blustery weather isn't helping much either, you know."
A grunt came from the young magician. "Is it so very difficult to simply move beneath my umbrella then?!"
"The umbrella's small! And I cannot have my dashing coat ruined by your boots. Who knows what you've gotten onto those."
"For the sake of the lord, you are not a cat! You're a demon! Err… djinni, I meant. Snap out of it!"
"You insolent piece of walking flesh! I could gobble you up right now!"
"Do it then, demon!"
I brought forth my claws and bared my teeth, slashing at him in sudden annoyance. Nathaniel stumbled out of the way with his usual coordination, managing to pick up an iron rod with both of his hands while still clinging to his umbrella. He swung the rod around, to face me, and I backed off slightly. The other end of the rod held an octagon labeled 'Stop'.
"See? I have the advantage, once again." Nathaniel smiled smugly. He attempted to swing the rod at me again, but only managed to smack himself soundly in the back of the head with the stop sign by mistake. The rod slipped from his fingers and fell to the ground with a clattering laugh.
At the same time, Nathaniel managed to release the umbrella as well. It landed in a stream of water flooding into a massive crater in the middle of the street, which led to the sewers beneath. Nathaniel slipped as he struggled to grab it and fell into a murky puddle, flopping like a goldfish out of the sea. We both watched as the water carried the umbrella lazily into the crater, and out of sight.
Nathaniel jumped to his feet with the agility of a soaked towel. "I charge you to obtain the umbrella at once!" He shouted at me with bulging eyes, pointing at the crater.
I grinned, retracting my claws. I had long awaited this moment.
"And why," I began majestically. "Would I ever do something like that? You can't order me around, Mandrake. You want it so badly? Get it yourself!"
A look of bewilderment passed across Nathaniel's face. After he realized I wasn't under his charge, he sulked angrily. We walked on towards the hospital, and I stopped him occasionally to ask him cheerily if we were there yet, or how long we still had, or if he was feeling quite wet enough.
Because, though I was wet, Nathaniel was wet too. We would suffer together.
I grinned as the rain dripped down his face.
A few kilometers later we arrived at the hospital at last, dripping wet and feeling as if there were personal thunderclouds escorting us. Nathaniel insisted we'd enter through the back, mumbling something about magicians under his breath.
A soaked cat and a distressingly weary looking magician in an ill-fitting suit entered the hospital through the back, drawing looks from the commoners in the waiting room. They tilted their heads and their eyebrows rose and squirmed about like slugs on a frying pan as they tried to make sense of the peculiar sight.
I shook my fur, trying to rid myself of the water and covering everything near me in water. Nathaniel didn't bother to do so; he simply cast a look in the direction of the commoners and dragged his feet indignantly over to the counter. I followed him after pausing to stretch in the way that only felines can.
Nathaniel paused, and I took the opportunity to jump on his shoulders, so I could see over the counter, unintentionally pushing a soggy tail into his mouth. Spluttering, he pulled me off and into his arms, holding me tucked into his chest with one arm and rubbing his tongue with the other.
Someone let out a laugh behind us, in the waiting room.
Perhaps the lady at the desk would've laughed as well, had she not been out cold. Her head was a pillow of blonde hair, and her arm hung over the edge of the counter and moved slowly closer to us as her limp body slid across the smooth surface of the marble. She snored softly.
Nathaniel glanced at her, and then sent a questioning look down at me, cradled warmly in his arms. The cat shrugged. Reluctantly, he reached out towards her and gave her a sharp and prompt tap on the shoulder.
The pillow of hair exploded, and her half conscious face leapt off the counter to face us, her mouth slightly agape. She had dark bags under her eyes.
"Gehhhhhh?" She asked. Well, at least that's how I interpreted it; she was mumbling, and attempting to wipe drool off of her face.
"Excuse me?" Nathaniel blundered, obviously not understanding her immediately. "Ah, yes, we were looking to see Jane Farrar, a government official?"
The woman stared at us blankly for a moment, blinking several times. Then she fumbled around for a file and opened it. "Ehh? Eh hem. Maternity ward, room 255. You'll have to sign out first. "
"Maternity ward?" I blurted out. I laughed, pointing a paw at Nathaniel.
"Wait 'till Kitty hears what you and Farrar have been up to!"
The woman stared at me, mouth agape wide enough for a hundred flies to fly right in. She looked at Nathaniel resignedly.
"Did your cat just talk?" She asked quietly. Thankfully no one else had overheard my little slip up; Nathaniel was obviously trying to avoid attention.
"No," Nathaniel and I said immediately, then glanced at each other.
The lady's head met the counter with a thud, and she resumed snoring. Nathaniel and I made our way to the maternity ward.
"Bartimaeus, they brought her there merely because of lack of space!"
"I know that. I'm of much hgher intelligence than you, remember? If you could come to that deduction, of course I could. And besides, the idea of you ever having a family?" I let out a chuckle at Nathaniel's overwrought look.
"More importantly, did you see the look on that lady's face? Priceless."
Nathaniel ignored this last part. "Bartimaeus, may I ask you something?"
"Eh? Ask away…I think."
"Is the prospect of me…having a family, so to speak, if truth be told… so very outlandish?"
We stopped moving for a moment. I looked into his eyes, and he into mine. Something clicked.
"Wait…" I began, gasping. "Does this have to do with Kitty?"
Nathaniel stared back silently, the look on his face frozen in place. A noise left his lips. I took that as a yes.
"We are talking about the same Kitty, right?" I asked doubtfully. "Feisty, brown hair, punched you in the face, hates magicians with a passion, you lied to her face before dragging me off to kill Nouda?"
Just the barest nod from Nathaniel. I searched for any possible signs that he was jesting, pulling my whiskers. I found none.
I burst out laughing, jaws wide open and rolling around in his arms, pawing frantically at the air at the hilarity of it all. Nathaniel was asking me about this! A marvel indeed.
Nathaniel tapped his foot impatiently. My laughing presently ceased, and I coughed up a furball. Ignoring Nathaniel's look of disgust, I continued.
"Well…err… you and Kitty-"
I honestly had no idea what I'd say next, so thankfully there was an interruption at that precise moment. Unfortunately, however, everything else was about to go downhill. Fast.
Nathaniel
The lights flickered once just as the djinni was stumbling through his explanation with the deftness of a drunken rat. Nathaniel glanced up irritably.
"The storm just won't stop! Do continue, Barti-"
There was a thunderous roar as the heavens cried out in anger. The lights flickered once more, then went out. Nathaniel felt the cat jump from his arms.
A maelstrom of voices echoed from further down the hall, shouting and screaming. Nathaniel felt the hair on his arms rise. A single flame appeared before him, and the dim light filled the hall. Bartimaeus stood before him, in the guise of a boy that died many generations ago, the flame emerging from his fingertip. The voices grew closer.
"Well…I have a very bad feeling about this," Bartimaeus remarked. There was a dull thud down the hall, a blight flash of light. Nathaniel could make out several figures approaching.
Instinctively he and Bartimaeus put their backs on the wall. Bartimaeus raised his right palm, ready to cast his demonic justice.
Several doctors popped into view, with scorched white lab coats. They cried out in fear as they pushed beds laden with patients past Nathaniel and Bartimaeus, disappeared from view.
Nathaniel's head creaked slowly to the direction from where the doctors had come.
Bartimaeus rubbed his nose nonchalantly as another thud sounded further down the hall.
"I presume we're going to see what they were running away from?"
Nathaniel gave a quick nod.
"For once, why couldn't we do the logical thing and run the other way?"
Nathaniel ignored him, striding down the hall. Bartimaeus rolled his eyes and followed.
"I believe I know what's going on," Nathaniel said.
"Do tell."
"Patience, patience..."
Nathaniel felt the djinni glaring at his back. Through the dim light, he could see several figures directly in front of him.
"Ah, Farrar. How are you? Feeling better than you did yesterday, I hope?"
The lights flickered back on as Bartimaeus stepped in beside Nathaniel, a smirk on his face.
"My, my… now you don't look so hot. I'm surprised you could even get out of bed."
"Careful, Bartimaeus, she's unstable."
For it was Farrar before them, clad in her white hospital gown, a stain from spilled beans still present on her chest. Her eyes were wide and piercing, but also unsettlingly insane, her hair a tangled greasy mop upon her head. Two demons stood beside her, one a scarecrow with a torn chest and a wide, pointy grin made of forks and knives, and the other a gruesome witch, complete with a pointed hat, nose, and shoes, and ugly bulging eyes above a grin made of broken green teeth. A grave silence settled in the air, broken only by the sound of rain tapping patiently on the roof. A brief boom of thunder came and went, taking the lights with it once more.
Nathaniel's arm hairs stood upright as he looked at the three across from them, the only light a flame extending from the tip of Bartimaeus's index finger.
"Farrar, go back to bed. You are not well," Nathaniel ventured carefully.
There was a silence.
Farrar cackled abruptly, rising in pitch and volume with due patience, her eyes growing ever so wide…
"Farrar, release your djinni," Nathaniel demanded, his authority crumbled by the quiver in his voice.
Farrar's laughter abruptly stopped, and she spoke in fierce whispers.
"Miss Jones sent you, didn't she?"
"No, actually-"
"You came to kill me! Well, not if I kill you first," And with that, her finger went up, and two detonations launched by the djinni streaked through the air towards Nathaniel and Bartimaeus.
Nathaniel didn't like to admit it, but he would've been pulverized had it not been for the swift response of Bartimaeus, who, lightning fast, put up a shield and tossed Nathaniel unceremoniously into room 255.
The walls shook and water began dripping down from the ceiling as the detonations hit the shield and destroyed everything around it but its targets.
"Sit tight, and have fun!" Bartimaeus chuckled and slammed the door to the room.
Nathaniel heard deep thuds and crashes from beyond the door, and hurriedly pulled his face off the floor it had been slammed against as he slid into the room. He moved to relative safety at the other side of the room, by the window. Something exploded in the hall, and this was followed by a taunt (probably from Bartimaeus, the arrogant fool). The only light in the room came from the cracks beneath the door from all of the horrendous things the demons let loose at each other, and from the flashes of lightning from the window.
So uncivilized. This was supposed to be the easy part.
Nathaniel was content to leave the fighting to Bartimaeus, but a thread of worry crept up to his heart. Could Bartimaeus take the other djinni in close quarters? If he couldn't, Nathaniel was as good as dead.
Well, at least at the present he was safe. He peered at the heavy rain out the window. The roads were properly flooded; bloody London weather.
Nathaniel's eyes bulged suddenly, and he gasped desperately for breath. He collapsed upon the window frame, pawing frantically at his neck.
Something was constricting his throat. Nathaniel slammed his head against the glass several times, but his throat was squeezed tighter.
Something's killing me…
Then he mentally scoffed at the fact that he had to create a sentence for something as obvious as such.
Nathaniel noticed the locks on the window. Maybe, just maybe they were made of iron…
Nathaniel turned his back to the window. The little light grew dimmer, and everything became hazy. He slammed his neck down on the lock as hard as he could whilst being strangled, and to his relief heard a cry of pain. The pressure in his neck slackened as the demon, probably an imp or foliot, released him from its horrid grasp.
Nathaniel fell to his knees, gasping for air and backing into a wall.
The demon was invisible, but with the aid of his contacts, Nathaniel made out a figure slightly resembling a bat (though much more hideous), which jerked it's steaming self off of the iron lock and looked at Nathaniel with a foaming mouth and a serpent's tongue flickering in and out of its mouth. .
"Arggggh! Iron lock? Creative little bag of water, aren't ye? Aye, you lil bugger, lemmie show ye how it felt, eh?"
The demon pulled Nathaniel up by his ear, and shoved him into the glass. His forehead made contact with a dull smack.
Nathaniel rebounded off limply and landed flat on his back on the cold hospital floor. The demon crackled, and, picking Nathaniel up, smashed his head into the glass again. Nathaniel gave a groan and a murmur, barely retaining consciousness. Yet again his forehead smashed against the window, which cracked slightly.
"My, you're quite the hardheaded individual, eh? Ay. One more should do it!" The voice pronounced cheerily, and with that Nathaniel was drawn back and thrown straight through the window, shattering it into hundreds of shards all cascading prettily towards the flowing water on the street below.
There was a final cackle of delight from the humid air as Nathaniel plummeted towards the ground, unconscious and with his usual gracefulness, and was swept away by an invisible being at the last possible second.
Well, there we have it. Next chapter comes out a week from today, so stay tuned!
Please review and let me know how this one was!
Many thanks to ZATIP for BETAing this. Love that guy. :D
And 'll reply to your PMs tomorrow, I have a project to get done. Sorry about that, b the way, I assumed you'd rather have new chapters from me than sentence long PMs...was I right? :\
Stay classy, mates. :)
