Chapter 2
It didn't take long for Kitty to pick the lock and open the door just wide enough to peer through, revealing a small hallway leading to a rising spiral staircase. The bespectacled boy was nowhere in sight.
"Well, we have a way out now," Kitty said with a small grin. On the floor she found a wooden wedge; with a few kicks, she secured it under the door to keep it from closing back upon them.
"Oh, thank goodness!" Bartimaeus exclaimed. "I thought we'd be trapped in here forever! It's not like I could break down the door—or a wall—at any moment with a light flick of my wrist…"
"Shut up," Kitty snapped, stomping over to the djinni and punching him in the shoulder. Bartimaeus clutched his arm with a dramatically fake expression of pain, to which Kitty rolled her eyes and directed her attention on Nathaniel. "Find that disc yet?"
"No," Nathaniel responded with a frown, gazing at a display case of various objects situated behind one of the desks. Nothing looked remotely like the grey disc with strange markings that had transported them to this basement. "You'd think it would be right here as another access point, but… it's not."
"Unfortunately, I can't detect any magical artifacts down here either," Bartimaeus added, mirroring Nathaniel's frown. "I can't detect any magic, actually, which makes me more uneasy than if the room were littered with defenses. What self-centered magician doesn't surround a bunch of their rusty old knickknacks with at least the simplest of protection?"
"It's very odd, I agree," Nathaniel said. He ran his hand over the edge of the large display case, as if he could find a hidden magical defense by touching it. When nothing happened, he let his hand fall with a sigh. "I suppose we ought to look elsewhere in the house; maybe we can find that boy and convince him to give us some information."
"Want me to go get him?" Bartimaeus asked, flexing a hand that shifted into a gargoyle's claw before Nathaniel's eyes. The magician shook his head.
"No; you need to stay with us. I don't want to be wandering around aimlessly without some form of protection."
"Sure, I'll be your muscle in case anyone tries to rough you up." Bartimaeus transformed his hand back into a human's and squared his shoulders, standing as tall and imposing as he could in Ptolemy's fourteen-year-old form. "Kitty will be fine on her own, but you'll definitely need help, oh master of mine; what if someone were to throw a pillow at you? A blow from that sort of dangerous object would knock you out cold before you could blink."
Nathaniel scowled as Kitty let out a snort of laughter.
"Let's get moving," the magician said with a huff of annoyance, pointedly ignoring Bartimaeus' comment as they followed Kitty to the door.
Quietly, Kitty pushed the door open, wary of a sudden attack. However, the hallway was just as clear as before, so Kitty began the slow climb up the spiral staircase. The trio's footsteps rang dully against the metal, making them flinch; surely someone must be able to hear them coming. They reached another door at the top of the stairs and Kitty glanced over her shoulder, hand resting gently against the knob.
"Ready?" she whispered. Nathaniel nodded, his face steely with determination. Bartimaeus stood close behind him, one hand held out at his side with fingers slightly curled, poised to summon a blast of fire at a split-second's notice. His other hand hovered just above Nathaniel's shoulder, ready to pull him out of harm's way.
Kitty took a deep, calming breath and twisted the doorknob, revealing another hallway as empty as the one leading back to the basement. Kitty motioned for her companions to follow and took a step forward, swiveling her gaze left and right. She was so focused on looking around that she failed to notice the combat boot that shot out and snagged her left foot. Kitty immediately fell forward with a gasp of surprise; before she could stand, Nathaniel and Bartimaeus landed on top of her, tripped up by each other. The basement door slammed shut behind them with a bang.
Nathaniel felt Bartimaeus's weight shift off him and then the djinni cried out, as if in real pain. Nathaniel's heart instantly speed up at the sound and he quickly righted himself, only to find his group surrounded by three people pointing very sharp, shining rapiers at their faces.
"They may lack magical defenses, but they're still somewhat dangerous; those things are pure silver," Bartimaeus murmured at Nathaniel's side, eying a smoldering part of his shoulder where a blade had nicked him.
"Who are you?" said one of the people with the rapiers. He was a tall boy with dark, focused eyes and black hair coifed expertly over his forehead. His face was set in a questioning expression, though he gave off an aura of utmost confidence, as if he were in complete control of the situation.
"…My name is John," Nathaniel responded slowly, glancing at the other people surrounding him. One was the pudgy boy from before, his slightly-shaking rapier trained on Bartimaeus. The boy tried to keep his face calm, but his eyes were full of intrigue as they fixated on the small trail of smoke rising from Bartimaeus' arm while the djinni's essence healed itself.
"This is Kitty, and this is… Bart," Nathaniel went on, not wanting to use Bartimaeus' true name; at the moment, on the first three planes the djinni appeared just as human as he did.
"Alright, that's a start," said the third member of the weapon-wielding trio. This was the only girl and the owner of the combat boots that brought Kitty, Nathaniel, and Bartimaeus to the ground in a matter of seconds. She wore a suspicious expression eerily similar to one that Kitty used to give Nathaniel before they really knew each other. "I'm Lucy, that's Lockwood, and that's George. Now, who are you?"
"And how did you end up in our basement?" the tall boy named Lockwood added, raising a questioning eyebrow.
"Well…," Nathaniel began, rapidly concocting a story that didn't involve covert government missions. The fact that these three hadn't immediately recognized him was a sign that these were probably commoners. Though the Makepeace Incident had dramatically increased Nathaniel's fame for a time, magicians and commoners alike wanted to put the traumatic event behind them and, to his relief, Nathaniel's pictures quickly faded from the newspapers. The two boys and the girl were obviously a few years younger than him, and Nathaniel reasoned that their parents had tried to keep them from knowing as many details about the near-destruction of the modern world as possible.
"I already told this one how we got here," Bartimaeus said, jerking his thumb towards George. The boy instinctively jabbed his rapier like a startled rabbit, missing Bartimaeus' finger by centimeters. The djinni narrowed his eyes. "Watch where you stab that thing! I could've lost a pinky!"
"George?" Lockwood questioned, turning his raised eyebrow upon the boy at his side. George used his free hand to push his glasses up his nose.
"Well… he gave me an answer, but it was so ridiculous I didn't think it needed repeating," George responded with a shrug.
"And that answer would be…?" Lucy prompted, gesturing with her rapier for the boy to go on. Kitty eyed the tip of the blade as it passed closely by her nose.
"Magic," George said in the same simple tone Bartimaeus had used earlier. His companions turned their unconvinced gazes to the trio on the floor.
"That's the best excuse all three of you could come up with?" Lucy said, sounding exhausted. "'Magic?'"
"Look, I know how you probably feel about that sort of stuff," Kitty finally spoke up. She slowly got to her feet, holding her palms up in a gesture of peace. Lucy's rapier remained steadily trained on her as she rose. "I get it, trust me; I'd love to pretend magic doesn't exist either. But, unfortunately, that's the sort of messed up world we live in and the sooner you come to accept that, the easier it'll be to overcome it."
Lucy blinked at her, face twisted in an expression of confusion. Kitty gave her an easy smile, trying to convince her that she meant no harm. Nathaniel and Bartimaeus slowly got to their feet as well, under the scrutiny of George and Lockwood.
"They're all mad," George murmured, leaning towards Lockwood conspiratorially. Lockwood shook his head lightly, hooking his rapier back into his belt.
"Maybe not; I think there's something being lost in translation here," the tall boy said, matching Kitty's easy smile. "When you say 'magic'… you mean 'supernatural,' right?"
"…No," Kitty said with a frown. "I mean 'magic.' Summoning circles, Spirits, that sort of thing."
Lockwood, Lucy, and George remained silent at this, studying their uninvited guests with varying degrees of interest and wariness. Nathaniel noted that, while George had quickly copied Lockwood in putting his rapier away, Lucy still gripped hers tightly, though it was pointed at the floor.
"John," Bartimaeus said slowly, leaning towards Nathaniel and Kitty. "Something is very wrong here."
"Obviously," Nathaniel snapped back, more harshly than intended. The uncertainty of the situation was setting his nerves on edge.
"I'm being serious." Everyone looked at Bartimaeus. His face was a mask of practiced calm, though his golden eyes betrayed his unease. "I don't detect any magic, but… there's definitely something else around here."
Ooh, you're quite a powerful one, aren't you?
Suddenly, Bartimaeus jerked his head towards a room off to the right, his eyes widening.
"Did you hear that?" he asked quietly. Nathaniel was about to reply that he hadn't, when Lucy spoke up in a soft voice.
"Did you?" Her tone was full of cautious disbelief. Bartimaeus met her gaze, searching her face curiously.
"Was it the Skull?" Lockwood said, his voice cutting through the rising tension in the room.
"'The Skull?'" Kitty repeated uncertainly.
The Skull… Yes, that's what they call me nowadays. Not what I would have picked, but I can't say it's inaccurate.
Lucy and Bartimaeus both swiveled their heads towards the voice only they could hear. After a moment of silence, Lockwood cleared his throat.
"I think there are some things we all need to discuss," he said. "Let's move into the living room, where it's a bit more comfortable. George, can you put on a pot of tea?" George nodded and scurried off towards the kitchen, happy to be temporarily free from the strange situation. Lockwood gave Nathaniel, Bartimaeus, and Kitty another smooth smile. "Follow me, please."
Sparing a wary glance between each other, the magicians and djinni followed Lockwood out of the hall, Lucy trailing along behind them.