Boo! I'm baaaack…and look, I have over 50 reviews! I love life! Oh, and I updated my profile, too. I like it better now.

In this chapter, Kitty is pretty much ready to take off, until she remembers something…Nathaniel finds Kathleen again (hope you weren't too worried), and finds out something rather sad about his situation. Pretty simple chapter, but necessary to the storyline. Ahem, Kitty's little spaz attack is inspired by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Mostly Kitty-centered chapter and Bart-centered. I've been forgetting to put things in his point of view! Also some foreshadowing if you look closely!

Disclaimer: I'm sure you're just as tired as I am of seeing these…but I don't care anymore, I'm not writing another word here! Sue me, read the other ones…I DON'T CARE ANYMORE. JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! AAAAAAAGH!

Ahem, sorry. Here you are.

Friday Night

"How could this happen to me?
I've made my mistakes,
got nowhere to run,
the night goes on,
As I'm fading away…
I'm sick of this life,
I just wanna scream,
How could this happen to me?"

- Untitled (Simple Plan)

Kitty sat up groggily, rubbing her forehead where she had hit it on the banister. Bartimaeus walked by the stairwell, then stopped and quickly retraced his steps until he was in front of here again. He cocked his head at her.

"You have a purple bump on your forehead."

"I'm not surprised," she said, grimacing. "I fell down."

"You mean like klutzy fell down or…"

"No. It was another vision."

The djinni sighed. This was getting old.

"And what did you see this time?"

Kitty looked at him.

"A mountain," she said, biting her lip. "We were all on it, the three of us…and someone else. I couldn't see who…but who else could possibly be there?"

"Who indeed?" Bartimaeus twiddled his thumbs, not even looking at her any more.

Kitty stood up suddenly, clutching the dreaded banister for support.

"This is getting out of control. We need to get to Phasma Mortuus now." The ultimate resolution in her voice recalled her earlier Resistance days.

"Um…how about no?"

Kitty's eyes snapped towards him, her temper getting the better of her once again because of lack of sleep.

"So after all this, you think I'm just dreaming? That I'm so desperate to get him back that I'll just run off after the slightest thing? This is real, Bartimaeus, Nathaniel's is on that island and we must get him back." She glared at him, but the djinni seemed unfazed.

"Whatever. But aren't you forgetting what day it is?"

"IF YOU THINK I WOULD CARE -"

"Don't you have a date tonight? You aren't going to blow off that guy again, are you?"

Kitty stared at him, her anger fizzling away.

"Oh my God," she said. "I forgot…what time is it? And hold on a second…were you listening in on my phone conversation?"

The djinni shrugged. "Survival instinct."

"Right." Kitty snapped her fingers in frustration. "He could be here any minute! What am I supposed to say?"

"You could just go."

"But -"

"Just go, Kitty. If Nathaniel's really alive on Phasma Mortuus, he'll keep."

Kitty glared at him again, and then raced upstairs to change clothes.

Nathaniel stumbled out of the cover of the trees onto the beach again, feeling both extreme fatigue and extreme panic. Where was the little girl? If she had gotten hurt, or…

Wait. Wasn't that her, crouching in the sand? He limped over, leaning heavily on his staff, relief seeping through his body and leaving only fatigue. He collapsed beside her on the beach.

"Where – were you?" Nathaniel asked her, his breath coming out in fitful gasps.

Kathleen looked at him solemnly, then returned her gaze to what seemed to be the ocean around the island. Nathaniel could have sworn she was looking for someone…but who?

"Are you waiting for someone?" he said. The girl said nothing, yet a small smile showed at the corners of her mouth. Did Kathleen know something? She was starting to worry him, almost in an inhuman way…Nathaniel stared out at the ocean, willing for something to come and take away all his fears.

As it happened, he didn't have to wait very long.

The doorbell rang, so I slouched lazily to the door as Ptolemy. I had considered taking Kitty's form, as I had so many times in the past few years, but that would have been confusing. Awkward questions might have been asked, and she would have gotten into some trouble…ah, well.

I turned the handle and pulled the door open almost casually, as if seeing just how lazily I could do it. The moonlight from outside streamed in, and I saw the guy standing on Kitty's doorstep.

My first thoughts were…well, big deal. I suppose he was good-looking enough, with brown hair that was longer than Nathaniel's military cut and nice-looking blue eyes. He was smiling and holding some daffodils…yes, they were daffodils. He had a nice smile on until he saw me; the corners of his mouth pulled down somewhat, and his eyes narrowed at me incredulously.

I supposed this had to be Kevin.

"Um…" the young man looked at quite a loss for what to say. "Sorry to intrude, but – who the hell are you?"

I smiled a menacing smile, and cracked Ptolemy's fingers a bit.

"Oh, I like to fancy myself a bit further down then that," I said wickedly.

He didn't seem very fazed. Did he think I was joking, or was he simply not educated enough to guess my true identity? You'd think that seeing an Egyptian boy in a…oh, wait. I was wearing modern English-style clothes…never mind that last thought.

"No, honestly…" he began, but was interrupted by a whirlwind of dark-haired teenage girl that shoved me aside.

"Kevin!" she said brightly, as though she had been waiting for this and only this all week. "This is my – erm – cousin! Shall we go?"

"Cousin?" said Kevin, puzzled.

"Cousin?" I said, floored by this extraordinary pronouncement. I caught Kitty's look, though, and played along. "Kitty, I would prefer to be called your third cousin. You're not very good at remembering family ties."

"Anyway," Kitty said, turning back to her date, relieved, "he's staying with me for a couple days."

"You don't have to look after him?"

"What?" This was too much. "I'm thousands of years older than her! I take that as an insult, human!"

Kitty went pale, her eyes wide with fear. Oops.

"Fine," I said. "But I am fourteen."

This much was stated with as much fake teenage pride as I could muster. I turned on Ptolemy's heel and marched over to the television. I flicked the remote to a random channel and stared at it, pretending to be engrossed.

All this incredible acting was lost upon the two older teens, however, as they were smiling at each other. God, this was too much.

Kevin took Kitty by the arm and led her outside to where his shiny black car was parked outside. Geez, this guy had class…his tux matched perfectly with Kitty's red dress. That kind of planning takes brainpower.

Not that I'm insulting the human race, or anything.

The black shadow came from far away on the beach, but Nathaniel sensed it far before it arrived. It was almost like a pulsing within his mind, a presence of long suffering turned to corrupted evil…

Then Nouda came.

Although the great spirit was transparent like all his other dead kin, his transparency seemed to have more of a shape than that of other lost souls. It was black and tainted with death, deception, and evil long done…not that Nathaniel had expected anything else. Still, it did not lessen the feeling of cold, sharp claws gripping his heart; his mind cried out in pain and terror, although he himself did not make a sound. The girl beside him continued to gaze out to sea.

"Kathleen," he whispered, "I want you to run, as fast as you can, back to the clearing."

The girl stared at him with her green eyes, and once more Nathaniel felt that strange presence in the back of his mind…then it was gone; she nodded once, and did indeed run.

Nathaniel turned to face Nouda himself, the same strength that had raced through his limbs earlier returning once again. It seemed now an old confrontation, between powerful magician and merciless demon, like something written in the oldest books of magical history; but these books never described such things taking place on a secret island world where the souls of demons deceased wandered…

Nouda smiled the smile that Nathaniel remembered from the face of Quentin Makepeace; a smile of wild, inhuman joy as that of one who has got their heart's desire. He shuddered, recent memories consuming him.

"What have you done?" Nathaniel said levelly, keeping the fear from his voice.

"I might ask you the same thing," said Nouda, a growl rumbling from within his ghostly throat.

Nathaniel smiled thinly.

"If you mean what I have done by destroying you, I'd say I've done a pretty good job of saving my world from destruction by your hands."

The demon laughed, and he shuddered again.

"Do you really think," Nouda said, "that it will make any difference? More magicians will rise up and enslave the spirits. Eventually one of us will find a way for revenge once again…that, too, is a continuous cycle, if a long one. There might not be one like you the next time."

Nathaniel glared daggers at the ghost. "You don't know that." He was thinking of Kitty.

"But now I have a question," he continued, twisting his hands behind his back. "Why am I here, and why is the little girl here?"

"What little girl?" The demon seemed surprised.

"The one I told to hide. I know you saw her, she was sitting right -"

Nathaniel stopped. Nouda was looking at him strangely, almost triumphantly, as though he thought the human's mind had cracked because of the strain and hallucinations were setting in. Anything to cause me pain, he thought, leaning on his staff. But whatever it was, the most powerful of all the demons on Phasma Mortuus could not see Kathleen.

"So, where are you taking me?" Kitty asked, twiddling her thumbs in the front seat of Kevin's car.

"The theatre. Don't worry, it's not a bad play!" Kevin said quickly, correctly interpreting the look on her face. "It's not even a musical. They've decided to show Shakespeare again, now that Makepeace's works have been banned. Thank God…"

"The William Shakespeare?"

"Yeah, he goes back a while, doesn't he? They're playing the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet tonight…" Kevin blushed bright red, and Kitty giggled.

Ten minutes later, the two of them were sitting in one of the old magician's boxes of Makepeace's old theatre. Kitty couldn't help looking around her carefully as they sat down; she recalled all too well her last sojourn here with – him.

Don't even start thinking about that, she told herself sternly. You're going to relax and have fun tonight.

They sat down just as the curtain was opening to the famous first scene between the two rival Italian families.

"A dog of the house of Montague moves me!" one of the characters began. Kitty laughed; it was interesting to hear good dialogue after so many years of dreading the theatre. Kevin smiled at her.

It wasn't until the great balcony scene that Kitty began to feel uncomfortable.

"What light on yonder window breaks?" cried Romeo. "It is the East, and Juliet is the sun…"

Kevin's arm had somehow wound its way about her shoulders. She fidgeted slightly in her seat.

"O Rise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon! For she is already sick and pale with grief, that thy vestal livery art far more fair than she…"

"O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" Juliet answered. Kitty turned her head towards Kevin, and he bent down and pressed his lips to hers.

"Deny thy father and refuse thy name…"

Kitty leapt up in shock, her eyes wide as she stared at him. Then she grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of the box into the corridor.

"Why did you do that?" she asked, her voice shaking with suppressed anger and shock.

"Kitty, I love you. Can't you see that much?"

"Sometimes I see more than I want to, actually," Kitty replied, shivering as she thought of her recent visions.

"Are you cold?"

"No," she said wildly, her thought returned to Nathaniel, "no, I'm not."

"Stop lying to me, Kitty. Why does it bother you so much?"

"I'm -" What right did he have to ask her such things? "I'm not ready for that kind of relationship, all right? Why can't we just -"

"Oh, stop it." She looked at him, surprised at his tone. Kevin's face was suddenly flushed with anger.

"Who is it, then?" he demanded. "Who else are you seeing?"

"What?"

"You heard me. Is it that boy who answered the door? I knew he wasn't really your cousin or whatever, but I never thought -"

"I'm not seeing anyone!" Kitty shouted, gritting her teeth angrily. "How dare you even suggest that?"

"Maybe," said Kevin furiously, "it's because most everything you've told me in the past few weeks has been nothing but lies."

Kitty opened her mouth to retort, but found she did not know what to say.

"See? You can't even deny it! It's obvious, Kitty. You never meet my eyes, you always leave early, and you haven't called me for the past three days…"

"I believe," Kitty said dangerously, her voice suddenly low, "that I'm allowed to have my own secrets. Why should I have to tell you everything?"

Kevin stared at her, the anger fading from his eyes.

"I love you, Kitty," he said. "I love you with every inch of my heart and soul, and I want to spend every minute of every day with you for the rest of my life. Why can't you trust me?"

"There are some things," she retorted, "that are no one's business, and I don't have to tell anyone!"

His hand brushed her cheek, but Kitty pulled away.

"I think I'll take a taxi home," she said softly. "I'm not feeling well."

Kitty left without her coat and without looking back.

"What have you done to me?" Nathaniel demanded. Nouda's eyes flashed.

"You'd like to know that, wouldn't you?"

"I would," he replied softly. "It concerns more than just me. You may hurt me in any way you choose, but I will not give you any satisfaction."

Nouda laughed again, and a cold bead of sweat raced down Nathaniel's spine.

"It's not a matter of what I could do to hurt you," the demon said, "but of what I won't do to hurt you."

"What have you done!" he cried, his terror consuming him.

And, leaning forward in the half-light of the sunrise, Nouda told him.

Whoo! That was really long! Sorry for the cliffie...Necessary, though. Mwahahahahahaha...no one will know what Nouda said for at least another three or four chapters! Hope everyone picked up the new clues about Kathleen...Hope you liked it, new chappie up next week or maybe earlier!