Here it is…the final chapter! Couldn't help but just write it down today…I'm feeling productive! Just something to finish off my story on a light note.

Thanks to all my reviewers! I don't think I can list you all here for fear of missing someone but just remember that I love you all! Thanks for the constructive criticism that made it possible for me to improve all the time! There won't be a sequel to this story (obviously), so I might not write anything else very long for a while.

Disclaimer: Last time in a little while I have to write one of these…what can I say? Even though 20 chapters are gone, I still don't own the Bartimaeus Trilogy.

Epilogue

"The tears come softly, and with them the pain,

Burning, and hurting, and twisting again…

And it breaks my heart to know,

That you will be gone every day…"

- Twisting Again

It was April in London; the trees were flowering again, the people were out walking their dogs, children were playing cricket on the green grass of the parks. Everything seemed quiet, peaceful, and perfect in Trafalgar Square.

The newest statue did not shine as brightly as it had in the winter, when frost and snow blanketed the streets, but in an atmosphere of colour and delight it seemed a reminder of peace rather than death. This suited the two people watching it just fine.

"So, Kitty," said the young man, slipping an arm about his companion's shoulders, "remind me again why you wanted to show me this?"

"Oh, I don't know," Kitty replied teasingly, "maybe I just wanted a walk."

"I know you better than that."

"That you do." They smiled at one another. Then Kitty sighed and looked up at the face sculpted into the metal.

Eternally young, it seemed, almost unnaturally so; the features looked as newly-cut as they had only five months ago. They did not show the more distinguishing features of the boy, erect and proud on the plinth; the spark that had once burned in his eyes; the pale, pointed face; the dark hair and suit that had given him a certain mystique despite his young age. But those things were imprinted in Kitty's memory, and she needed no reminding.

She took a deep breath and looked at Kevin.

"John Mandrake – or Nathaniel, as he preferred to be called in the end – was a very dear friend of mine, even though I didn't know him very long."

Kevin's eyebrows shot up.

"You were friends with -"

"Yes, I was friends with the pompous idiot," Kitty said laughingly, echoing Kevin's words from a few months ago. "Or maybe just from the time he wasn't a pompous idiot anymore…I don't know."

They didn't say anything for a moment.

"So," Kevin said tentatively, "were you with him when he…erm…"

"Died?" Kitty thought for a minute. "Yes, I was there…in a way. He saved the city – well, the world, really – doing what he did. I was very proud of him."

"Yeah…he really turned himself around, didn't he? He was the one who used to go after us in the Resistance, I remember."

"Yes, that was him…Nathaniel was a powerful magician."

They said nothing for a moment, Kitty gazing at the statue while Kevin watched her.

"Good people suffer," she said quietly to herself, "sometimes when it's not their fault. That's something I try to change."

The pain of Nathaniel's death was still there, inside her, burning and twisting sometimes like a living snake. It was the sort of thing that could consume her until she begged for release, begged it to stop hurting; but things weren't like that anymore. She had made a promise to him, a promise that kept her out of the pain. She had other things to think about; things that would make everything all right again, eventually. Her pain would go away, with time; nothing could change that on any world.

Nothing could ever be perfect; how could anything be, in a world where the basis for everything was chaos itself? But things were definitely looking up; Britain had a strong government and a Constitution of Rights, and she had someone who loved her and would support her for many times to come.

Kevin suddenly grasped her hand.

"Kitty…can I ask you something?" She looked at him.

Glancing surreptitiously at the statue, Kevin got down on one knee, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small black box. He nodded at the statue.

"Hope he won't mind."

Kevin flipped the box open, revealing a small, silver ring studded with tiny diamonds.

"Will you marry me?"

Kitty laughed, glad that after everything, she could still do so. The world needed more laughter.

"Of all the places…yes, of course I'll marry you." She pulled Kevin to his feet and kissed him.

Yes, Kitty thought to herself, even in a world based on chaos, things are definitely looking up.

The End