OK. Sorry for the huge delay in updating, and me not having proof-read this (I wanted to hurry post because it was so late). I got back from my holiday to find I had a huge amount of work to do. I know, bad excuse.
Thankyou everyone for reviewing, I've tried to R and R your stories, and if I haven't I will or I don't know the fandom (whatever it's called)
Lastly, I could really do with a beta reader, people start running but as I am new to ff-net I don't know really how this works. Any volunteers?
And this is my explanation of what I said about Ptolemy/Bartimaeus/Kitty last chapter, which I don't think I made clear…
I can't be asked to find it and copy out quotes, so go and look if you don't know what I'm talking about, but Bartimaeus refers in the books several times to Ptolemy having not commanded him and they obviously were good friends, but he died young. What would have happened if he'd lived?
Just things like that make me at least want to write about it, but I don't know any ancient history so I'm using Kitty. I like Kitty, and it's not totally implausible. I'm not saying anything like this will happen, but it could…
And as to whether it will be KittyxBartimaeus, I don't know. I don't think so (he isn't human, and I only refer to him as a he by default) but it won't be NatKitty because although I have nothing against NatKitty but I can't see how I could write it in with the plot I have planned at the moment.
Sorry for going on for so long, and hello again to everyone that pg-downed that part.
Spiral - 2
"Well then" Bartimaeus said once he'd got bored of waiting for her to say something "what do we do, o great leader?"
Kitty walked to the armchair and slumped down in it, kicking the pile of notes under the chair. She felt stupidly self-conscious about the room's messiness, despite the fact her rational mind knew that the djinni probably cared even less than she did about whether a room was tidy or not. She kicked her mind back onto the subject at hand.
"Um... Well, for one, I'm not going to be the leader of this thing. You're probably smarter than me, and- "
"No 'probably' about it, darling" he said, grinning.
"But I was going to say you wouldn't be able to take part in a group such as the Resistance. For one, any group like that would have someone that can see you on the seventh plane" ha! I said a clever thing, I know how many planes there are…what is a plane anyways? "and besides, they'd probably kick you out anyway for being a smartarse."
She couldn't help smirking a little at the look on his face. You're not the only one who can make sarky comments, 'darling'. Next second, she remembered that she needed him on her side, and she had given him freedom to leave if he wanted too.
He shrugged.
"That's no explanation of why you brought me here. You have to have some kind of plan."
Remember, do not start a slanging match, Kitty. Besides, he (is he even a he?) has years more experience at slagging people off. Think of a plan. Any plan, you can change it later.
"OK. Well. I think I should try and start another Resistance. Maybe you could help by finding out about people who are resilient, I dunno. But you could" brainwave! "Start a version of the Resistance among de—Spirits!"
Bartimaeus looked doubtful.
"I told you before that we had given up hope, were resigned to be ruled by magicians. Besides, none of us in this world has free will to be terrorists, remember?"
Kitty looked at the floor. Stupid to overlook that. It had seemed like a good idea at the time.
"find out about people who are resilient… Can I go round and attack them? No. Seriously. I could go and find out… It would be easy to find out about humans with resistance to our magic. I could do that."
Why not? Thought Kitty.
"As long as you don't go round attacking them, I guess. What do you suggest we do long term?"
She felt herself slipping into the role of a leader. Not the Kitty of the first Resistance, continually fighting for her tenuous post as leader, but the Kitty of the short-lived Second Resistance: a true leader, explaining her strategies and asking opinions of her people, teaching them how to lead, or at best how to survive.
But it hadn't worked.
Luckily Bartimaeus replied before she could sink into self-pity.
"You make a New Resistance, I guess." He became silent in thought, looking out of the window at the moon, which hung low at this late hour. Kitty looked out too. She could see the sky lightening, and felt very aware that she hadn't slept since last dawn; very snug in her armchair.
Bartimaeus eventually looked away from the window, examining the room he was in. Normally his surroundings were the first thing the djinni would look at after being summoned, but the shock of seeing who had called him up had startled him out of his routine.
The room was dominated by the armchair the girl was sat in: it was clearly Kitty's headquarters. It was not a particularly nice armchair; beige with a pattern of faded flowers, it was covered in stains and general signs of wear and tear.
Beside the armchair was a coffee table (A/N is that the word?), which had been pushed to one side to make room to draw the pentacles for the summoning. Laying on it were sheets of notes, doodles and diagrams and several volumes Bartimaeus recognised, which between them covered the basics of summoning djinn.
There were more books, mainly dictionaries; notes; various food wrappers and drinks cartons, plates, cutlery and clothes strewn around the room. A mattress lay on the floor, bereft of a quilt (he noticed this on the armchair, wrapped around Kitty).
There was no carpet, but a series of rugs in varying styles, and the wallpaper was peeling slightly, but this had been concealed with a series of posters of some people, presumably celebrities, that Bartimaeus didn't recognised
Overall the room was possibly the most rundown place he had visited that someone actually lived in.
Having finished the inspection, which took longer than a regular inspection of a magician's house, owing to contrast, Bartimaeus looked over at Kitty. To his shock, she had fallen asleep.
He got up and walked to in front of her, wondering what to do. Wake her up?
He would have, but he stopped to look at her. The were great bags under her eyes, and her face was sallow. Summoning him (without any training, or help!) must have taken its toll on her, and combined with lack of sleep and stress from being wanted by the government (again) it was too much for her.
How would they bring down the government with Kitty in this state?
What to do? Wait around until she woke up? Even whilst she slept, keeping up the summoning took her energy. With a magician this was fine, but they were different. An alliance.
He'd do what they'd been agreeing on. Scope out people with magical resistance. It wouldn't be hard, just boring, because ask (read: beat the beep out of until they tell you) any old imp/foliot/djinni.
Four hours and much investigating later…
Kitty had awoken maybe twenty minutes before, to find the djinni gone. Initial panic aside, she had decided there was nothing she could do about it. Hopefully he'd gone back home, thinking she was useless. Either that or he was rampaging like the afrit Honarius (she shivered involuntarily) had done.
She had tried to resign herself to the facts. He had gone, and there was nothing she could do about it. Her hopes and fears had been focused on this plan, more than she could admit to even herself.
Since talking to Bartimaeus when he'd kidnapped her, she had begun to believe deeply she could change the future, and that demons did not have to be just tools of the magicians. They were all trapped in a spiralling repetition of the past, and only an alliance could break them free.
She had felt depression close over her, threw one of the stolen books across the room, and kicked the table.
That was when Bartimaeus flew through the open window.
It took her a while to register that this bird (she had never known bird's names, but it looked like a kind of predator) had not randomly decided to fly into someone's room and chosen her. In fact, it took her until the bird spoke.
"Any particular reason you're throwing things around?"
"Eheh… Bartimaeus!"
"Nah, the other talking bird you summoned"
She was so relieved she burst out laughing, not at the djinni's sarcasm as such, more at the fact that she hadn't failed.
Bartimaeus shifted into the boy's form, giving her a strange look. She blushed, then felt even more stupid.
Time to go on the offensive, Kitty.
"Where did you vanish off too?" She regretted the aggressive tone as soon as the words left her mouth.
"I was worried" she muttered. She never had been able to apologise.
"I have identified two commoners with magical resilience. He bent down, picked up a pen and scrawled two names and addresses on a sheet of notes, handing them to her.
"Kitty. You are not going to be able to keep me here and start a new Resistance. I don't know if you learnt any theory from those books" and I doubt it, he thought "but you are effectively holding me in this world, which is putting you under pressure.
"Then… could you do something in wherever it is you go to when you're not here?"
He nodded, curious of the look on her face, which suggested she'd been thinking of this for a long time.
"Find out…Find out history. How we got into this situation. Why?"
She had been looking at the carpet, but she looked him in the eyes now.
"I'll try and start the New Resistance… shall I?"
"I guess" he nodded, seeming awkward. He probably didn't often talk sincerely.
"Summon me in a year, or… well whenever." He shrugged, glancing from her to the floor and back, finally to looking her in the eyes "I, erh, well. You've convinced me now, convinced me we can change things. I… hope we can."
Well, this is awkward…Thought Kitty, but hey, I convinced him!
"Thanks, Bartimaeus." She meant it wholeheartedly.
The next second he was gone, leaving nothing behind.
OK, Kitty, get to work.
A/N: well, second chappie done. I hope this is as well received as the first. There will be more action and new characters in the next chapter, which will be a year later on. And Nathaniel may make an appearance…
Please, review, that button's just crying out to be clicked. If you think it's between ok and good but don't know what to write, write "Teapot".
Come on, you know you want to.
Mako