This chapter took me a while to think up…mostly because I had to think up some sort of link for all of this. Kitty's visions, Nathaniel missing but not really dead…I added a new mystery that gives the story more depth in the end. It sort of just sprang into my head…I know how this story is going to end, but I have to put something in the middle. Ha, sorry for that big incomprehensive blurb. I know it doesn't really tell you anything.

Let's see…as promised, this is an almost all Nathaniel-centered chapter. It sort of explains things, as well as introducing a rather mysterious OC…Kitty receives another revelation at the end. Not too surprising, unless you haven't read my Amulet of Phasma Mortuus story or even the title of this fic. If not…I recommend it! I live on reviews for that one! And so, I have nicknamed this chapter…Whatever Happened to Nathaniel?

Disclaimer: This part of it is short, I promise! I don't own anything recognizable.

Don't Hurt Me Anymore

"I feel it! I feel it!

It cuts like a knife…

I feel it! I feel it!

Just get out of my life…"

- Twisting Again

Two Months Earlier…

He couldn't move. Nathaniel had expected this, but was still unprepared for the anguish and hopelessness that rose within him then, like a wounded animal.

The thing was, he was still in pain. To be perfectly honest, Nathaniel had no rational explanation of why he wasn't dead yet…

He closed his eyes again, trying to block out everything he could, because (although he hated to admit it) he sort of wished he were dead. It would take away the pain he felt both physically and emotionally, because right now Nathaniel was alone. There was no one here to help him up, to comfort him in this agony…it was this loneliness more than anything else that terrified him. Nathaniel opened his eyes again.

He was lying sprawled on his back in a forest of dark trees; it seemed to be late afternoon, because he could see the sun setting. This did not bode well…without light or magic, Nathaniel had no way of finding out where he was.

First things first, however…he had to find a way to get up. He felt vulnerable enough in a strange place; the fact that he was lying here, helpless, made it worse.

Nathaniel carefully placed his left hand on the ground, palm down, and pushed himself onto his good side. He bit his lip to stop himself crying out in pain; it would not be good to attract attention here. Gritting his teeth and trying to ignore the surging pain in his right side and shoulder, Nathaniel put his right hand on the ground and rolled himself onto his stomach with both elbows underneath him. There, that was a good start.

Next came the worst part. Groaning, he carefully pushed his knees underneath him and pulled himself up to a kneeling position, holding onto a nearby tree with his left hand. Only one thing left to do…he placed his right leg flat on the ground and pulled himself up onto both feet, still grasping the tree.

At last…we are vertical! He recalled Faquarl speaking to Nouda as the spirits struggled to master their new bodies, and almost smiled in spite of himself.

Nathaniel gazed around him from a much better height, and saw he was right at the edge of the forest; he could see some sort of beach beyond him on one side, and a clearing just beyond him, with what looked like a pond at the center. He had a strange prickling feeling at the back of his neck, almost of recognition…no, it was no good, he couldn't recall. His mind was too stocked full of now-useless incantations. Sighing, he pushed away from the tree.

Nathaniel gasped as a wave of nausea threatened to consume him, and he swayed on his feet alarmingly; he fought down the urge to vomit, realizing he had moved too quickly. He grasped the tree to him again as if it were his only friend in this world, leaning his head against it and closing his eyes. This was not good…what a stupid situation to have landed himself in!

When he had stopped feeling ill, Nathaniel opened his eyes and looked around for a stick or staff of some sort. He had to get around somehow, and without Bartimaeus he had no support to stop himself crumpling to the ground yet again; his best bet was going to be a cane of sorts, however much it might make him feel like an old man.

Realizing he had no other choice, Nathaniel dropped to his hands and knees weakly and crawled towards a likely candidate by the next tree. The stick seemed to be taller than him, and sturdy, so he grasped it carefully and pushed himself upward again, cursing the weakness in his limbs. He now knew how Kitty had felt, coming back from the Other Place. It was a bit of a shame, really, that he was going to be a cripple at only seventeen years old.

Leaning heavily on his new staff, Nathaniel appraised his surroundings again. What was his best bet: the clearing or the beach? He decided on the clearing; it offered more shelter than any beach would, especially when he was feeling so vulnerable.

Carefully and yet heavily, favouring his left side, Nathaniel walked in between the trees towards the clearing. The more time he spent here, the more he recognized this place. Had he been here before, or seen it in a geography book? He would remember the name, surely…

Night fell as he reached the edge of the little pond which, he was rather disturbed to note, held no fish. It was as empty as if it were made of glass.

Come to think of it, had Nathaniel actually seen any living creature here, other than himself? There were only the trees, and he was beginning to doubt their reality as well. He wondered if there were magic in this place…but of what sort? It definitely wasn't the Other Place, where everything was chaotically connected and freewheeling, but it really didn't seem like Earth either.

Feeling rather disconcerted and slightly ill again, Nathaniel collapsed into a rough sitting position beside the pond. He leaned over carefully and placed his hands within the clear, cold water, cupped them towards his face and drank greedily.

Nathaniel splashed some more water on his face, but rather clumsily; much of it soaked into his torn clothes, soaking him to the point where he felt rather cold in the crisp night – if it was night – air. Shivering now, he found another tree to lean on.

The familiar lethargy washed over him once again, and he fought to stay awake. In truth, Nathaniel was afraid to sleep. After a time, however, his tortured body could bear it no longer; he lay down on the grass in the clearing and closed his eyes.

This was unlucky, because it was at that moment that a dozen dancing lights appeared in the trees, which was something he might have recognized…

The next morning (if it truly was the next morning…he might have been sleeping for days, for all he knew), Nathaniel awoke feeling even worse than they day before. The nausea seemed to have enveloped his body much worse than the numbness he had felt when he had first been wounded, which made it much more difficult to manoeuvre himself around than he would have liked in any circumstance. He dully thought that if had been anywhere on Earth they would have placed him in intensive care already, but it did nothing for his somewhat limited optimism.

Nathaniel thought he should at least have some more water, in any case; all science pointed towards the fact that life was impossible without it. Grasping his staff once again, he pushed himself to his feet, gasping as his stomach clenched sickeningly. He began to move forward slowly, still shivering. Nathaniel wondered if he was feverish; it wouldn't be surprising.

Every step caused him unbearable pain, and he wasn't the least surprised that he fell heavily after a single misstep, the breath coming out of his lungs in fitful gasps. The forest around him seemed to spin; then the weakness overpowered him, and he lost consciousness once again.

He awoke several hours later, but did not open his eyes. Someone was sponging his forehead with water…or that was what it felt like. He had never felt so ill in his life; Nathaniel wondered if this entire thing was all a hallucination, and now was when he would wake up and find himself in a London hospital…if it was true, he would see her again…

He opened his eyes blearily. The world came gradually back into focus…the dark trees around him, and a figure above him…

"Kitty?" he whispered, lacking the strength to say much at all. The figure continued to dip its cloth into the pond and bathe his forehead, never speaking a word. His vision cleared, and he saw…

Nathaniel's eyes widened in surprise.

She saw him running along a corridor, glancing back over his shoulder. Kitty saw the pursuing figure: the mercenary, his boots shifting between planes, strange flickering shadows accosting him on all sides. Nathaniel was almost at the door to the room of treasures…it was all going to be fine…

The mercenary somehow escaped the shadows, flicking them off of him as if they were no more than rather persistent flies. Her throat tightened…the tall man plunged a hand into his coat, pulled out a long knife, and threw it with unmerciful precision…

No, Kitty said aloud, no! This doesn't help me at all. Show me where he is!

It was almost as if the dream had been waiting for her to ask; her surroundings dissolved into white mist, which quickly formed again into a schoolroom in someone's house; it seemed likely it was a magician's, judging by the scale and luxury with which it seemed to have been built.

An older woman stood at a desk, rummaging through what looked like rough sketches of flowers and some pentacles; perhaps she was an art teacher? Kitty didn't know, but there was a familiar sort of air about her, all the same.

A boy opened the door and walked inside; the woman turned to him, smiling. Kitty looked closely and saw that it was Nathaniel again, although he couldn't have been more than eleven. He was very pale, and seemed agitated, as though he seen a ghost. His eyes had an agonizing, haunted look.

The woman spoke, but as in many of her visions, Kitty heard nothing. She glanced at Nathaniel, and saw that he was shaking…with anger, perhaps? Or was it fear? Whatever the reason, the woman seemed to notice; she ran over to him and gathered him into her arms, feeling his forehead with one hand. As she did so, Kitty saw the whole desk for the first time, including a small nameplate that read: Ms. Rosanna Lutyens.

Lutyens…Lutyens…where had she heard it before? It awoke a spark within her memory…

Several men ran in, led by a handsome, dark-haired man with little round glasses and wide teeth that just now were bared with absolute malice. He gestured; Nathaniel was pulled from Ms. Lutyens' grasp and suspended upside in the air. He wriggled and squirmed as though something were beating him; the art teacher seemed to lose her control, running at the dark-haired magician as though she wanted to hit him. She was restrained by two of his companions, but Kitty could see her yelling at them, her face contorted with fury, as Nathaniel was released and hit the floor, unconscious.

Ms. Lutyens…

Kitty sat up in bed, ignoring the pain that had flared behind her eyes yet again. She stared straight ahead of her in shock, as memories long forgotten flooded her brain.

It had happened scarcely more than a year ago, before the end of the Second Resistance, where she had met Kevin. The group had searched for a certain artefact that she needed Bartimaeus' aid to acquire; she had asked Ms. Lutyens for John Mandrake's birth name, and she had consented…if Kitty agreed to protect him. Then they had gone together, and their journey had brought them to –

That, of course, was it.

She sprang out of bed, well aware that it was half past two, and called for the djinni throughout the house. He looked up at her questioningly when she found him seated on a bookshelf, examining her copy of Eye of Ptolemy.

"What is it?" he asked, appearing mildly interested to see her half-dressed and dishevelled, but more alive than she had appeared in two months.

"Bartimaeus," Kitty said slowly, "what if Nathaniel really wasn't dead? What if Nouda brought him somewhere in his own death that only demons can access by themselves?"

The djinni stared at her.

"You don't mean – not Phasma Mortuus?"

Whew, that took a while! Another cliff-hanger, you guys must hate me! Next chapter coming next week, please review! I missed some of you guys last time!