OK. I've gotta say thankyous, first of all. Thanks everyone who's reviewed, you've made a little teapot very happy (obscure injoke that's nothing to do with teapot meaning gay, btw), but thanks nost of all to IgnotusVeritas (I dunno how to add a link to her profile, but I would if I could).

This chappie's a little slow on that action, and the characters may seem OOC. Don't worry, it'll all change soon enough, so bear with me please. And Kitty will be less depressed next chapter! Yay!

Inventive Disclaimer: one mint

One year later:

Kitty felt an overwhelming amount of apprehension, of tension, building inside her as she stepped into the pentacle once more. The studies of magic that had so fascinated her before had been neglected since her successful summoning of Bartimaeus a year back, and the notes she had taken so diligently had taken her hours to understand once more.

She had scrawled them in a rather confusing shorthand, partly to keep them from giving away what she was doing in her spare time, and partly because she had been consumed by such a hunger to learn she'd not wanted to stop and make notes.

She hoped Bartimaeus would answer her.

Bartimaeus

I guess I'd lost track of the time, but it didn't seem like a whole year had passed. The girl had said a year, right? That was what I thought as I felt the summons.

I'd been so surprised to see that she, a commoner, had successfully called forth an entity of my power; I hadn't noticed how powerful a magician she was. This time I made a point of it.

She seemed to be making the summoning work by sheer stubbornness. She was obviously reading out of a book, but at least she'd learned how to pronounce the Sumerian words (or she'd copied the incantation down phonetically) correctly, and she hadn't managed to mess the spell up by stuttering.

I wondered what I'd do if she did mess up. After all, I was on her side (pretty much). I couldn't just kill her.

There was a look of relief on her face when I appeared, not bothering to take a fearsome form, but before we get on to facial expression lets look at how Kitty's changed over the time (yes, it was she who had summoned me… why would I have said all that otherwise? . . . Foolish mortals).

She was still short, only a head taller than Ptolemy, whose form I was wearing; but her hair had grown. Now, I'm no expert, but it looked as if it hadn't been styled since last time I saw her, a year ago. It was getting ragged around the ends. Well, at least it wasn't greasy like a certain Nat—

That was when a brainwave struck me. Nathaniel! He had told me when he'd summoned me that I couldn't tell anyone or anything his birth name, covering all the implications. All except one.

After the end of my service to him I could reveal his name to anyone I pleased.

Now, you may ask why I didn't think of this before, when I was enjoying my freedom in the Other Place. If you ask me this then you clearly don't understand the Other Place. It's a place, you see, that magicians can't touch; can't comprehend.

The only place, nowadays.

And in the Other Place, you see, we spirits can forget them and our servitude. I can't explain it, not to humans such as yourselves; but a commoner at least should be able to understand this: it's where we go to escape. And while we're there we don't strategize or scheme, and not even the most mendacious, duplicitous, conniving djinni spends its time of rest thinking on the terms of past bondages there.

Well, that was hard to explain.

I was so full of this idea I forgot about how Kitty had changed. We opened our mouths to speak at the same time, and I fell silent like the obedient slave I have never been.

I was shocked at how naturally this came.

"I'm so glad you came" the relief on Kitty's face shocked me, even more than my seeming subservience had. Would she see it as subservience, or common courtesy?

"Why?" I walked over to her, somewhat surprised that the pentacle didn't pen me in. I'd think about why that was later, because I wanted to listen to Kitty's explanation.

The battered armchair was still there, but there was also a small table with three chairs, and Kitty sat on one of these. I sat opposite her, and peered at her with my head tilted to the side.

Let's get back to how she's changed.

Her clothes were and still are nondescript, but they seemed specially chosen to be that way. The main difference was her face, never fat, was gaunt to the point of being almost emaciated, although she still looked like she could take care of herself in a scrap.

Or it could just be the silver daggers stuck into her belt.

Well, back to the story.

"It's the Resistance. The new one." She took a deep breath "From the start then. It got going fine, 'cause there's a whole load of people interested on in taking the magicians down, there has been ever since the Golem incident.

"But it's just not been the same as the others, not had the same spark. I think … we haven't got the same motivation. I've really only been holding on in the hope that you could sort it all out. It's stupid really, but…

"Can you…?"

I was amazed. I'd never imagined that someone so determined as Kitty would rely on someone else to sort her problems out.

She must have seen that I was… I dunno, what? Disgusted, I suppose. I felt like shaking her out of her depressed self-pity.

I stopped myself.

"Leave if you want." Her voice was bleak, emotionless.

"Get. Yourself. Together!" I hit the table with each word.

She flinched back with the shock. There was a long silence.

Finally, she nodded.

"OK, take a deep breath, Kitty. Strategy. Plans. What to do…" She said to herself. Taking a deep breath, she said:

"OK. Bartimaeus, report what you've found out, if you've found out anything."

So I told her the part about Na—no, he's not little helpless Nathaniel anymore - Mandrake's birth-name.

Then, I got to what I'd researched in the Other Place. This was not a lot. Researching things is never my strong point. I can't think of why…

"I've found out one thing - no-one knows our history. And another thing - no-one knows your history. Not really. What you learn at school, that our people roamed free before the Mages summoned a meteor which banished us to the Other Place, is either a lie or it was so long ago that none of us remember it."

I hung my head, somewhat ashamed of myself for not knowing more. Kitty had curled up, hugging her knees, frowning and looking intently at a doodle that was pinned on the wall. It looked like a squiggle to me.

"I think we should go radical." Kitty said suddenly "Come and meet the New Resistance… I hope they don't kill you on sight"

I shifted in my seat. I didn't find the idea of being introduced to people who had been brought up to hate and fear 'demons' (and trained to kill them, don't forget) very inviting. Particularly as most of them would have natural resilience.

Kitty seemed to sense my thoughts, perhaps by noticing the displeasure on my face.

"I was just the same as them, and I'm getting along fine with you. Besides, what else shall we do? Take down the government on our own?"

Her tone brooked no debate.

I got up as she began phoning numbers.

"Meeting at Prearranged Site Nine, Prearranged Time Two. Tell Phoenix and Luke; tell them this is the just the core group."

She repeated this with a speed that spoke of long practice (not with the same names, of course. How could you think that? How thick can you get?), until she pulled her shoes on and gestured for me to follow. I'd been standing around uselessly, wondering how long it would take to dissuade them from killing me or whether there'd even be any time for it.

Morbid, I know.

anagram #7

See you next time (hopefully)

A round of applause for Ignotus, please waits expectantly

Now, go and talk to that blue button, it's feeling lonely…