Wow, I was actually on time with my update this week. I'd hit a brick wall trying to update my two ongoing stories lately and I've been busy (and I'm quite exhausted), but sudden inspiration for Chapter Nine came, and it turned out very nicely. But let's not bother with that. Once again, thanks for the reviews!

Disclaimer: If it ain't mine, don't sue me.

Chapter Eight
Transfer of Power

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do." –Proverb

Nathaniel nearly swore out loud right there, in front of everyone, but he kept it in. He wouldn't be able to get any work done if he had to keep moonlighting as a politician every fifteen seconds.

"When?"

"As soon as possible, sir, and he requests that you bring your servant."

Nathaniel moaned slightly and rubbed his face with a free hand. Wonderful. Just wonderful. Now, not only would he have to go to Richmond and postpone the investigation, he would also have to summon a being worthy of presentation, which could take quite a while.

"If you do not have anything else to say, please leave," he said briskly, checking his watch. It was only six o'clock in the morning. He had a few minutes to spare.

The clerk bowed and left the room, long coat billowing behind her. Nathaniel's eyes followed her tiredly, and as soon as she had left, he sat down on a bench and frowned openly. "This is not good."

"What?" asked Morris.

Nathaniel looked at him, teeth gritted. "Oh, it's just the fact that I don't have a higher level entity handy, and summoning one could take a few days."

"Huh. Well, that is a thinker."

Suddenly, Nathaniel's eyes shot up, glancing from Ffoukes to Bartimaeus eagerly. "Unless… Ffoukes, could I talk to you and your servant for a moment?"

His assistant shrugged. "Sure," he said as he followed his superior, who had already gotten up and was now walking quickly to a corner of the room. He came to a stop and swiveled around on his foot.

"This may seem crazy, but-" he checked to make sure they were alone "-I want you to cede control of Bartimaeus to me."

Ffoukes clearly hadn't been expecting this. "What?"

"I want you to cede control of Bartimaeus-"

"No, I understand completely," Ffoukes cut him off, looking at him as if he had grown an extra head. "Well, actually, I don't understand at all."

Nathaniel sighed impatiently. Couldn't this wait? "I don't exactly have a lot of time on my hands to perform a full summoning, Ffoukes, so I want to know if I can borrow Bartimaeus for a short while."

Ffoukes squished his face in an effort to think better. "Eh, I guess so, if it's just for the meeting in Richmond." Bartimaeus's face fell.

"Now, hold on a minute-"

"I also want to borrow him for a short time after that."

Both master and servant were shocked by this. "What?"

Nathaniel rubbed his neck uncomfortably as he tried to devise a way out of this metaphorical wormhole. "Settle down, I haven't gone completely insane yet," he consoled them quietly. The two's stares at him said differently, however. "It's just that I think things are going to get a bit rough for me in the field, and I would like to have a higher level djinni at my disposal if there is any impending danger."

"What do I get in return?" Ffoukes asked skeptically.

"I have a foliot I will lend to you. Aevod!" he called, clapping his hands. There was a burst of smoke, and a small cherub emerged from the shadows.

"Yes, master?"

Nathaniel pointed to Ffoukes urgently. "I command you to now take orders from Mr. Ffoukes."

"He looks a bit peckish, doesn't he?" Ffoukes surmised from his position next to Nathaniel. A snake-like tendricle shot out without warning from the cherub's hair, and his face become deathly pale. "Never mind, I take that back. Fair trade, all in all."

He turned to his servant, pointing to Nathaniel as Nathaniel had pointed to him. "Bartimaeus, you shall now take orders from Mr. Mandrake!"

"Do I have to?"

"Of course you have to, you worthless piece of-"

Nathaniel held up a hand to make peace between the two. "Settle down, all is well. The transfer has been made." He checked his watch once more, the procedure seemingly becoming a nervous habit. "I do not have much time, and still have orders to give before I leave the scene."

He walked away from Ffoukes towards Atkins and Morris, intent on giving his orders before he left. Bartimaeus followed reluctantly behind him.

"Why is Bartimaeus with you and not Ffoukes?" Morris quizzed him.

"Change of plans," he explained quickly and simply. There wasn't time for details. "Bartimaeus will be accompanying me for a short while. Anyway, I do have a job for you. I wish for you to follow that boy, Jack Johnson, and find out exactly what he does in his spare time."

Morris cocked an eyebrow. "Why? I mean, yeah, he was stuttering, but he's just a kid."

Nathaniel looked at him icily. Why did he insist on questioning him? "As am I, Morris, if you noticed the similarity in age between the two of us, but I do not go tripping over myself every five syllables. Follow my orders, don't ask about them. Go!"

Morris scampered off quickly, still a bit hesitant, but obedient nonetheless. Atkins opened his mouth to say something, but Nathaniel was already gone from the room.

-

Richmond was a beautiful place, and ideal for the living quarters of a person in a position of power, such as Devereaux. Elegant trees lined the roadway to the mansion, branches hanging over the stone and causing shadows to dance skittishly across the surface of the path. Bushes of remarkable pedigree were planted by the trees, and wildlife was abundant.

At any other time, Nathaniel would have taken this all in happily, but now was different. His job would soon be put on the line, no doubt, as it was whenever he visited Richmond. He was still a target of other politicians, and if it weren't for his quick wit, he would have been forced to resign years ago.

Bartimaeus sat quietly next to him, not even bothering to spit out a few annoying quips as he usually did. He had chosen the form of a fox for now, which pleased Nathaniel. He wanted to make sure those blundering idiots he worked with knew that he was far more intellectual and powerful than they.

The car drifted to a stop outside of an elaborate mansion, and Nathaniel threw open the door hurriedly. The fox jumped out after him, and he lingered slightly before closing it. "Thank you, James."

The car drove away, and he now found himself completely alone, save for Bartimaeus, outside the home of one of the most powerful men in the world. He'd never get over the nervous feeling that accumulated in his stomach, he had decided, since after all, Richmond was a place where only the great resided. It was normal to feel anxious when in the company of the mighty.

He ascended the marble steps to the large doors and grabbed the knocker with his right hand. Taking a deep breath, he knocked it loudly against the door.

A few seconds passed, and a butler finally let him in. "Hello, Mr. Mandrake. Mr. Devereaux and his associates are waiting for you in the lounge."

"Thank you," Nathaniel said a bit too hastily as he stepped into the house. Artwork decorated the walls, and he would have stopped to admire it if his situation hadn't been as it was.

He found his way to the lounge, a nice little parlor tucked away in the back of the estate, where most magicians of power, except for him, were sitting around a large table. Their breakfasts were still in front of them, and in the case of one Marmadruke Fry, their breakfasts were on their shirts, too.

"Mandrake!"

Nathaniel bowed his head slightly. "Mr. Devereaux, sir. I'm sorry for my tardiness."

The Prime Minister waved his hand casually to dismiss the statement. "Do not worry about that quite yet, my fellow. Please, sit."

Nathaniel obliged, taking a seat next to Fry, and another butler soon approached him. "Breakfast, sir?" he asked.

"No thank you," came Nathaniel's response. He had already settled in quite fairly, and had not had a single slip of the tongue at the moment. No matter what anyone else said, John Mandrake would always be known for maintaining his cool under pressure.

The rest of the group finished up their meals, with the exception of Fry, and Devereaux soon called the meeting to order.

"Well, my friends, I think we all know why we are here," he stated. All eyes around the table were focused on him intently, even those of Bartimaeus. "We are assembled to discuss the disappearance of one Archway, and the uprising of a new Resistance. Now, I would like for Mr. Mandrake to brief us on exactly what we're dealing with, since he is in charge of both of these issues."

Nathaniel shot out of his seat at the mention of his name, eager to make a good impression on his boss. "Thank you, Mr. Devereaux, sir."

He straightened his collar a bit before continuing. "This item that has been stolen is known, as our leader has said, as the Arch, or Archway. From the information we found in the museum's files, it originated in Egypt, and was most likely a project of one of the pharaohs. We believe it could have been a weapon of war, although its true purpose and capabilities are unknown, but from our observations, it is an item of extreme magical potency."

"A weapon of war? What, like a bomb or something?" one of the ministers said, echoing Morris's thoughts from earlier in the morning.

"Er, we are not sure of that at the moment."

Another minister scowled. "Why not? This is your job, isn't it?"

Nathaniel's eyes narrowed in on the minister who had spoken up. He should try doing his job, the slimy piece of... "Well, it is not my fault if the museum itself has little information on the artifacts in its possession, which I believe is your job, Mr. Hectors." The minister, now identified as Hectors, glared icily at Nathaniel. "And at the moment, I have not had sufficient time to research the Archway, as I was called here minutes after I arrived at the scene."

"What about the Resistance?" piped up Fry, pausing from his consumption of his breakfast for long enough to speak. "Could they have done this?"

"That brings me to my next subject: the Resistance. At the moment, we suspect them of stealing the Archway, as it looks as if it were a multiple person job by the sheer size of the item. I have already dispatched a few members of my department to track them down, as we were close to doing just a few days ago but circumstances changed and our luck turned for the worse." Images of Ffoukes confessing to murdering the Resistance member filled his head. "But we are not worried, for we think we have gotten a new lead that will lead to their capture."

There was a brief silence at the table and Devereaux was about to say something else when someone spoke up. "It's quite odd, isn't it? An artifact of amazing magical capabilities that we know nothing about being stolen by those who despise magic. Quite the ironic situation, if you ask me."

Quentin Makepeace was sitting a little ways off from the group, twirling in his chair energetically, a broad grin on his face. Nathaniel allowed the playwright a small smile. "Yes, it is quite odd, Mr. Makepeace, although that is not particularly what we are interested in at the moment."

Makepeace smriked back, the comment bouncing off of him like a rock skipping over water. Devereaux stood and cleared his throat in an authoritative manner.

"Thank you, Mandrake," he said. Nathaniel tilted his head in recognition and sat in his seat promptly, ears attentive. "Now, that was all very informative and our situation is a bit clearer, but we still have a question yet to be answered: how are we going to catch this Resistance and find out if they stole the artifact?"

There was another momentary silence.

"We could try baiting them out of hiding?" suggested Hectors. "I'm sure I could get Parks to come up with a rather attractive display for them to come after."

Devereaux thought for a few moments. "It is a good idea, but it could take a while for it to be executed. And what if this Arch is all they were after?"

Another minister's hand shot into the air. "Oh, I've got it! We could disguise people that they might want to recruit and catch them in the act!"

"We've already tried that. It seems they can see right through demons' guises, and the human agents we send usually wind up missing."

Suddenly, Nathaniel stood up. "I can go undercover and get them, sir. We already came close once and had actually tracked down a member before he died without warning, and we have another suspect we're tracking. I have no doubt we can catch them, especially if I go into the field. I'm smart enough to disguise myself well, and I won't get myself killed anytime soon."

Devereaux thought over the proposal for a few moments. Nathaniel, or John Mandrake, was known as one of the brightest ministers, so no doubt he could pull it off.

"Very well," he said. "But please, Mandrake, catch them soon. We can't have something like this on our hands."

Nathaniel nodded. "Don't worry, sir. I will."

To Be Continued

Author's Notes: The plot's moving along quite smoothly at this point, and things are going faster than planned. The whole Bartimaeus thing was something I knew had to happen from the beginning- face it, Nathaniel and Bartimaeus are the best team you can ask for, although they'd argue that point- and I liked my ministers meeting.

Next Chapter: In Day of Recovery, Kitty and the Resistance try to regroup after losing one of their own, but that's easier said than done.