OK, people, this is the chapter where it gets kind of fluffy…NATKITTY! HOORAY! Haha, bet you all saw that coming in Chapter 7…
In this chapter, the group makes their way through the forest to find a place to camp for the night. Bartimaeus discovers an old friend and Nathaniel and Kitty bond as they discuss their pasts…
Disclaimer: The Bartimaeus Trilogy belongs to Jonathan Stroud. But this fanfic is MINE!
Unexpected, Unbreakable
"Gravitation cannot be responsible for people falling in love." – Albert Einstein
Night was already falling – assuming night actually existed in this godforsaken place, Nathaniel amended grimly – by the time they found the clearing and the spring mentioned in some of his papers. He had never felt so worn out in his life…although that might partly be the fact that he had narrowly escaped death, been knocked out about two times, been violently ill, and had been forced to traipse through the most tangled and hideous forest he had ever seen.
He threw himself down against the nearest tree and leaned back, closing his eyes. Kitty collapsed beside him, although she barely seemed tired at all. He watched her beneath lowered lids.
"How're you feeling?" she said, looking at him.
"OK, I guess."
They were silent for a minute, and then Kitty went to fill her water bottles in the spring. Amazing how she fits it all into one pack, he thought.
Bartimaeus sauntered over, looking bored once again.
"Remind me again why we have to stop?" he said, twiddling his thumbs.
"It's late. We have to sleep, even if you don't."
"So what am I supposed to do?"
"Amuse yourself. Wait…do not take that literally."
Rolling his eyes, the Egyptian boy walked off into the woods.
Nathaniel watched the sky dully, wishing they had more food…although that, for him, was a strange thought to be having. It was then that he saw something…a dark shape overhead…he trembled as he saw what it was.
Kitty was at his side immediately.
"Hey, you okay there?" she asked, her brow furrowed. "You're shaking…"
Gently she laid a hand along his forehead. He stared at her, eyes wide, remembering…
He could see, in his mind, the mites exploding harmlessly in midair. He began to shake.
Ms. Lutyens was at his side immediately.
"Nathaniel, what's wrong?" she said. Oh, if only she knew! "Do you have a fever? You're shaking…"
He remembered being pulled into her tight embrace, feeling protected, for just that moment, until Lovelace came to punish him…
"Hello? You there? I asked you if you were all right."
"Yes. Fine." he said. What else could he say when a griffin flew in the sky overhead?
I was bored. Really bored. And on top of everything else, the two of them weren't even sniping at each other anymore!
I scuffed at a pile of leaves. What was the world coming to when mortal enemies were suddenly having civilized conversations?
At first, I didn't notice the white, shimmering apparition beside me, but then it spoke my name and I realized that perhaps the world wasn't so bad after all.
"Bartimaeus?" A soft voice, one I remembered, from not so long ago…
"Queezle?"
Kitty relaxed beside her enemy as they shared some cereal bars…nothing else had really fit in the packs. She watched him apprehensively; he was really beginning to disconcert her. She had had no trouble yelling at him, hitting him, and insulting him earlier on that day. What was going on now?
"Ms. Jones – Kitty," he said suddenly, "who told you my real name?"
She inhaled sharply. Now was not the time she wanted to tell him about her promise to Ms. Lutyens…
"I don't think you want to know," she said.
"No, I really do. It's dangerous, you know, because I only ever told a few people. Only two of them, besides you, are alive. And that includes Bartimaeus, although technically he found out by accident."
There was silence while she considered his words…
"It was her, wasn't it?" Nathaniel continued sadly.
"I – who do you mean?"
"Ms. Lutyens told you. She betrayed me, didn't she?"
Betrayal. How dare that git talk about betrayal? She looked at him, intending to give him a good piece of her mind, when she saw something odd in his eyes, a truly hurt expression. Something rose within her, a strange new emotion, but it took her a moment to realize it was pity.
She was feeling sorry for John Mandrake. How much weirder could this trip get?
"All right, she did," she told him, trying not to meet his eyes, which only made her pulse quicken. "But it wasn't like…it was just…well, she made me promise something, first."
"And what was that?"
She swallowed hard, trying to master her emotions.
"I – I don't think you deserve to know, Mr. Mandrake."
Nathaniel turned away from her in disgust, feeling now what Kitty must have felt two years ago. Ms. Lutyens, someone who had cared for him, was a traitor. His throat felt tight and his eyes were burning, but he willed himself not to cry as he hadn't cried in years. It was the wrong time, with the wrong people around him…
The girl's strong hand gripped his wrist, turning him around to face her again.
"Let's have a little talk, hm?" she said, her face grim.
"No," he said. "I'm going to bed."
He decided he did not like what Kitty Jones seemed to do to him.
They both laid down on the dirt, using the packs as pillows. Nathaniel shivered as a cold breeze sprang up, but he closed his eyes, wishing he were back home.
He dreamed he was in a field of white flowers, just standing there, waiting for someone…and then he saw two people. He had seen them every night in his dreams, just before he woke up. They were watching him, smiling and waving, and he felt in his heart that somehow he knew who they were…
For the first time in what seemed like forever, I sat with Queezle at the base of a tree trunk. She wore the form of a pretty young girl, which seemed to match Ptolemy perfectly (if only he knew).
In general, djinni don't form close relationships, not after…well, come on, you know all this! You've read the footnotes from the first book, haven't you? But Queezle…we had often found ourselves hoping, ever since Prague, that no one would ever set us against each other.
Then she had been destroyed by the golem, and I had perished any thoughts of ever seeing her again.
"What brings you here, Bartimaeus?" she asked me, her brown eyes wide. "Are you dead as well?"
The djinni snorted.
"Me? Dead? Come on, I thought you knew me better than that…"
She fingered Ptolemy's shoulder with her delicate little fingers and my essence writhed inside.
"I'm here escorting two humans," I said. "They're looking for the amulet. Do you know of it?"
"That must be why…" she broke off. "Bartimaeus, there have been signs of the presence of humans here for days now. Is that you?"
"I don't think so," I said, a little disconcerted. "Were they magicians?"
"I don't know…I'm not even sure how many there are. You aren't worried, are you?"
"No, of course not." I said. She leaned her head on my shoulder and smiled up at me.
Queezle really was beautiful on the first six planes.
Kitty woke up within an hour, and at first wondered why on earth she had. Then she saw the silhouette of a boy sitting by the spring. She walked over to him, noting that there seemed to be lights in the trees. That's strange, she thought, but wasn't really surprised, after all they had seen that day. She tapped Nathaniel on the shoulder until he turned.
"Why are you awake?" she said blearily.
He looked at her strangely, his eyes shadowed. He looked strangely haunted, and it almost frightened her.
"Why are you?" he asked her quietly.
"Because you woke me up, you nitwit!" she said angrily. "Are you an insomniac or something? Why aren't you sleeping? Every other teenage boy I've ever known sleeps pretty much all day, and you -"
"I can't sleep, Kitty. I never do anymore."
"You have no idea what damage that can cause, do you?" Kitty sighed. She sounded like her mother. "At least tell me why."
He looked at her blankly.
"I don't know," he said blandly, turning to gaze at his sickly pale reflection in the water. "It's like…I wake up at night, and I can't go back to sleep because there's this – this hole inside me. Like there's something missing, but I don't know what it is." He paused. "Sounds kind of stupid, doesn't it?"
Kitty was silent for a moment. What was she supposed to say to something like this? That he was crazy and should get some mental therapy, or that it was all right and she would protect him? She didn't really like either prospect, and therefore chose a different route.
"You know…" she said carefully, "Whenever I felt kind of…empty inside, before you met me, I would always go visit my parents."
"I haven't got any."
"What?"
"Parents. I haven't got any."
"Oh." Kitty didn't really know what to say. "I'm – I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to -"
He laughed hollowly.
"They're not dead, if that's what you're worried about. I just…never knew them."
Kitty didn't pry any further.
"Listen, as we're up…do you think we're doing the right thing, going after this amulet? After all we've had to face already? I mean, it's powerful and all, but…"
"I know what you mean." He turned to look at her again. "Why are you taking the risk? I thought the second Resistance was always more…careful."
She snorted.
"It
wasn't my idea," she said. "It's just…well…I kind of
felt I needed to do something, after what happened to
Lei."
"What do you mean?"
She was somehow unafraid to tell him…
"It was at our last raid," she said. "I was off somewhere, but my friends were attacked by wolves. There were two many, and she tried to hold them off by herself…she's very strong and accurate. A piano player, actually."
"I see. So she was killed?"
"No. Oliver was, but not her…anyway, Jenson had researched this amulet, but I wasn't going to go along with it until she was hurt. Then I realized that I really wanted us to get our heart's desires for once, instead of being destroyed one by one."
Nathaniel's brow furrowed.
"So you want the magicians dead? Some desire…"
"Not dead!" said Kitty. "Then we'd be no better than some of them. All we really want – all I really want – is equality."
She turned to him.
"Can you honestly say that what you would desire is much better than someone being dead, or else something to give you more power?"
His steady gaze unsettled her; he seemed frozen.
"I'm sorry…" she began, but he stopped her.
"It's all right," he said. "But really, Kitty…I don't know what it is I want."
But the look he gave her in that instant made her realize that he wasn't telling the truth. It showed a degree of – well, there wasn't any other way of putting it – love she had never seen in anyone else's eyes upon her. It frightened her as much as it warmed her heart…
"What are those lights, do you reckon?" she asked, more to change the subject than anything.
He stiffened, his eyes widening in wonder.
"They're fairies," he said.
"What?" She looked closer, and then she could see the tiny bodies, the translucent wings, the golden glow they gave off…then she saw something else. Heard it, too.
"What are they doing?" Nathaniel's eyes weren't as good as hers in the semi-dark. He leant closer to her, and her heart skipped a beat.
"They're making music…" she said slowly, closing her eyes. "And they're dancing to it. Can't you hear it?"
The lights were moving in graceful fluidity, but the music itself was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard. Of course there would be fairies, she said, what fantasy story doesn't have something like them?
The two of them stood up in the clearing. She looked at Nathaniel, seeing the fairy lights reflected in his dark eyes, making them more lively than she would ever have seen in daylight. He bowed to her, extending a hand.
"May I have this dance, Ms. Jones?"
She smiled and he laughed for real this time. A nice laugh that decided her more than anything else.
"Certainly, Mr. Mandrake."
And so it happened that two former enemies danced to the light and music of the fairies in a forest clearing as far as they could ever get from their own world…
There you go, wasn't that the fluffiest chapter ever? It's been fun, next chapter coming up ASAP! Please review!
