A/N: since ffnet's alerts were down again for a while and I don't know if my review replies went through, I'm thanking everyone here who reviewed chapter 19: Slytherin Daughter, xav, Mewhoelse, XxBlackChaosxX, Musica Diabolos, TheFasterYouUpdateTheBetter, Aiko Moonchild, LandUnderWave, Junky, Phoenix, Fredryck, fredsgurl, Queen Dragon, Apo, Bec, Teya Yashitoda, Hello, Duck Goddess, fikle, ebtwisty9, Glitara Keladry Sophia, Gryffon5147, The Black Shadow in your room

Chapter 20

Nobody's Husband

Martha stared into the darkness. Her eyes ached with the tears she'd shed and her stomach rumbled painfully. For the first time in her life she'd been left without dinner. The matrons in the orphanage usually punished the children for their naughtiness with making them peel potatoes or wash the tiles in the bathroom, but they had never left them without food. How she missed everyone in the orphanage! How she missed the dinners with Mrs Dawson saying a short prayer before they ate, Isabel being her usual fussy self and Timothy dropping ant eggs into the others' bowls of soup!

The only good thing that had happened to her in the house had been the visit of the Deputy Prime Minister. Such a nice and friendly man, he'd even protected her against her master… Martha felt ashamed she hadn't thanked him for that.

She didn't know how long she'd waited in the darkness in the hope that Miss Farrar would go to sleep at last and she could go and nick something from the kitchen. It must have been hours. Finally, when she thought it was out of the question that her master could be still awake, she quietly opened her door and crept downstairs. Before she could enter the kitchen, a voice caught her ears.

"…and imagine what the little creep said: she wants to be Minister for Finance," Miss Farrar said amusedly. Martha assumed her master was talking to someone over the phone. Too bad she wasn't asleep yet… But wait… was the 'little creep' Miss Farrar had referred to… her?

The woman in the room laughed. Someone must have told her something funny. "Oh come on, can you imagine me being nice to a child? If it's up to me, that little snot will be a lowly clerk and grateful for it. She's not exactly bright anyway. But let's not talk about her, Arnold, dear. What about that party next week? In case you're interested, I don't have a date yet…"

Forgetting about her hunger, Martha turned on her heels and ran back to her room. She flung herself on the bed, tears again starting to flow down her cheeks. This woman was indeed evil… she had not only nearly beaten her (she was sure Miss Farrar would have done it, if that nice man hadn't stopped her), but she didn't want to help her become Minister for Finance either. She had so hoped Miss Farrar would grow to like her and treat her like a mother, but she no longer thought it was possible. Miss Farrar seemed to loathe her.

Not exactly bright… That hurt. Martha was born with a little more self-respect than the average (perhaps only Isabel had more of that than her), and she was exceptionally clever – at age five she was on the intellectual level of an eight-year-old.

She'd once overheard a discussion between the two matrons about her being precocious. She had got curious to find out what that word meant, so she looked it up in a lexicon. It meant she was too clever for her age. This filled her with excitement and satisfaction.

'Why are you always so annoying, Martha?' Isabel had once asked her.

'I'm not annoying, I'm precocious,' she had replied proudly, happy to see confusion on Isabel's face.

And now, this evil woman was saying she was not bright? And she didn't want her to be a minister? The only reason she'd agreed to come to London was to become Minister for Finance. Perhaps Foreign Minister. Or at least a bank manager. To make Mrs Dawson proud of her...

Now, Martha could no longer find a reason to stay. If she couldn't be a proper magician, then she'd not be a magician at all.

She wiped her tears and made a decision. She'd escape from this evil house, as soon as possible.

o o o O O O o o o

Nathaniel groaned, forcing his eyes to open, though it was a real effort as his eyelids didn't want to cooperate and insisted on staying shut. Finally he managed to open his eyes and blinked a few times. His vision was somewhat hazy but he still managed to determine his location: he was half-lying, half-sitting in the hall, his head propped against the banister and throbbing horribly.

He sat up and touched the back of his head. "Ouch." There was a big bump, but he seemed to have no other injuries. Gently rubbing his bump, Nathaniel tried to remember. He'd been to Jane's house then arrived home and Kitty shouted at him, then… she'd hit him. He tentatively touched his jaw. It ached almost as much as the back of his head. That fiery woman… she must be sulking in her room right now. Well, she had had a good reason to punch him, but it wasn't nice of her to leave him lying in the hall…

He stood up and took a few shaky steps. Once he was sure his legs could carry him, he walked upstairs.

When he spotted Kitty's bedroom door hanging open, he felt an icy hand clench at his insides. She couldn't have possibly…?

"Kitty!" He ran into the dark room. Switching on the lights, he let out a gasp. Pieces of clothing littered the floor, the bed and the chairs, and some of the drawers were pulled open, as though the room's owner had been too much in a hurry to push them back. It seemed that all the clothes lying around were from Dior – apparently Kitty had only taken her old, baggy things with her. "Noooo… E…Enid! Ugli!"

The two foliots appeared at once. "Master?"

"What happened here?" Nathaniel demanded, as though he hadn't figured out himself.

"Well, someone seems to have made a mess…" Ugli observed.

Nathaniel glanced at the clock on the wall – it showed ten p.m. He'd arrived at home shortly after eight. That means he'd been out cold for almost two hours. "What have you two been doing in the last two hours?" he snapped.

"We were cleaning the swimming pool, master," Enid replied. "You ordered us to do it because you wanted it filled with water as the weather was getting warmer and warmer every day-"

"I know what I ordered you to do!" Nathaniel snapped. "But couldn't you have done it at daylight?"

"We could have." Ugli shrugged. "But we wanted to have it ready by the morning so that we could fill it with water for you. We thought you'd enjoy a refreshing swim before you go to work…"

Nathaniel swore.

"Why, what happened, master?"

"What happened? You're asking me what happened?" the young magician shouted at the two scared demons. "My wife has run away, that's what happened! She packed her things and left! Two hours ago!" He took a few deep, calming breaths. "Two hours isn't that much, she could still be in the vicinity… but if she took a bus to a railway station, she could be out of London already, or… no, she surely didn't go to the airport. She'd need to use her passport and if she did, she'd be registered on the passenger list, and…"

"Master…" Enid held up a tiny booklet. "The mistress left her passport here."

"Oh." Nathaniel let out a sigh of relief. If Kitty was still in Great Britain without a chance of leaving the country, he had a better chance of finding her. "Ugli, I want you to go looking for her. You too, Enid. Return by dawn and report to me."

His glance fell upon the vanity table. There was something small and round glinting on it. He picked it up and his heart missed a beat. It was Kitty's wedding ring. This was a rather clear message that she wanted to severe all ties to him. And well, she had a point. At that moment, Nathaniel loathed himself.

"And you, master?" the female foliot asked with a worried face. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to phone my in-laws to ask them whether Kitty has gone to their place," the young magician replied in a tired voice, "and if she's not there, then I'm going to get drunk. Very drunk."

o o o O O O o o o

Kitty spent the night walking aimlessly around London. She didn't want to sit down on a park bench, because the nights were still too chilly for that – she needed to keep moving. She couldn't go to her parents' place either because she assumed that would be the first place where Nathaniel would be looking for her. She couldn't check into a hotel either because she didn't have any money. She had to sell the necklace to get cash, then find some cheap accommodation where the owner didn't care about her name and papers, only for the money she paid. In her Resistance years she'd known quite a few hostels like that.

Tired from a whole night spent walking and frozen to the bones, Kitty arrived before a pawnshop's door at dawn and sat down on the doormat to make sure she'd be the first client in the morning. She had to fight with her drooping eyelids – she didn't want to fall asleep because of the cold and because she didn't want to risk that anyone steal her necklace while she's dosing.

The shop's owner was quite surprised to see the young woman sitting on his doorstep at eight o'clock.

He invited her into the shop, and Kitty welcomed the relative warmth inside.

"Well, Miss, what can I do for you?"

"I have something to sell…" She pulled the necklace out of its box.

The shop owner took it from her, laid it on the counter and fished a magnifier out of his pocket. After a few seconds of thorough inspection, he looked up, his face incredulous. "But this is… invaluable!"

Kitty shrugged. "I suppose so… but it means nothing to me. It can't feed me or get me a bed to sleep in… I need cash. How much can you offer for it?"

"Well… let's say forty thousand pounds."

Kitty was quite sure that the necklace was worth at least a hundred thousand, but she needed the money badly, so she decided to accept the offer.

"Oh and-" The shop owner caught her right hand, taking a closer look at her diamond ring. "I'd give two thousand for this one."

Kitty pulled her hand out of his. "No, thank you. I want to keep this… my engagement ring."

"I see. Should you change your mind…"

She shook her head. She couldn't have explained why she insisted on keeping it – it had been just another piece of superfluous jewellery given to her by Nathaniel. Not to mention that he'd given her the necklace at Christmas five years earlier, when they'd been deeply in love while the engagement ring he'd given her a month before their wedding when neither of them had loved the other yet. And still… this ring was the only link to Nathaniel she had left. She'd left the wedding ring on her vanity table as a message to Nathaniel 'don't even try to find me', but she couldn't bring herself to part with this ring as well. This was the first ever 'present' she'd got from him.

Once the pawnshop owner had paid her the promised forty thousand pounds, she set out to find accommodation. By nine o'clock she was fast asleep in a dingy little hostel room somewhere in Balham.

o o o O O O o o o

"You look horrible," Ffoukes observed as he met Nathaniel on the corridor at Whitehall.

"You don't look very healthy yourself," the young magician replied morosely.

Ffoukes heaved a sigh. "Something really… disturbing happened to me."

"What?" Nathaniel asked, pretending to be interested, though he couldn't care less at the moment.

The older man leaned closer. "I think someone modified my memories."

Nathaniel blinked. "What makes you think so?"

"Yesterday morning I woke up with a strange feeling… and I realised that a few hours were missing from my memories. A few hours of the night from Sunday to Monday."

"So something happened to you after Sullivan's party?"

"I think so. My wife told me off for having disappeared for hours after the party, and I just don't remember what happened! Now imagine, she thinks I cheated on her with someone!"

Nathaniel looked contemplative. "Sounds fishy, we should investigate by all means. Or have you started investigations already?"

Ffoukes shook his head. "No, I wanted to discuss it with you first. I wanted to tell you yesterday, but couldn't, as you took a day off…"

The young man made a grimace. "It was my birthday."

"Oh, really? Happy belated birthday, John!"

"Happy?" Nathaniel sighed. "Crappy, not happy. It was the worst birthday of my life. Kitty left me."

Ffoukes's eyes widened. "She left you?"

"Yes."

"But… why? I mean, we all knew something had gone wrong in your relationship years ago, but your wife seemed determined to stay with you…"

"We had a rather… serious row yesterday, and she… punched me." Nathaniel coloured slightly.

"Oh, so that's how you got that nice bruise on your chin?"

"I wouldn't call it nice," the Depute Prime Minister grunted. "But yes, she punched me so hard that I fell against the banister, hit my head and lost consciousness. By the time I got around, she had packed her things and left."

"Oh, John, I'm so sorry…" Ffoukes said, as he slightly bowed to Jessica Whitwell who was passing by.

"As I am," Nathaniel replied. "I'd do anything to get her back, Ffoukes. Anything."

o o o O O O o o o

"I'm bored," Martha complained to Geoffrey. Miss Farrar had left for Whitehall an hour earlier. Martha had had her breakfast after her master had left, and since Geoffrey had been outside gardening, she had had a chance to access the box in which the demon stored the money he'd got from Miss Farrar for daily purchases. The little girl had a very bad feeling about nicking seventy pounds, but she needed it to buy her tickets for the journey. She was going home, and no Miss Farrar would hold her back, ever! And once she returned home, her master would surely realise what a bad idea it had been to pick her of all children, and she'd look for someone else to be her apprentice.

Now, as she was watching the demon vacuum clean the hall, she felt that the money was practically burning her pocket. Mrs Dawson had taught the Ten Commandments to the children at the orphanage, and 'don't steal' had been one of them. But surely even God would understand how desperately she needed this money and would forgive her. Besides, she didn't take much, and she usually kept all other commandments, so she wasn't so much of a bad girl… For example, she hardly ever fibbed, didn't disrespect her parents as she didn't have any, and she didn't even know what adultery was (she'd asked Mrs Dawson once, and didn't have the slightest idea why the matron had blushed and told her to go play with the others instead of asking weird questions…)

"I'm boooored," she repeated, somewhat louder to make sure Geoffrey would hear her, even over the noise of the vacuum cleaner.

"And?" the demon looked up with a morose face.

"Let's play."

"Play? I have to do the housework, missy!"

Martha shrugged. "I'll help you with the housework if you play with me a bit. It's only fair, isn't it?"

The demon seemed thoughtful. "Can you wash the dishes properly?"

"Of course I can," Martha replied eagerly. "I did it several times in the orphanage, and only broke two plates and one glass. That isn't much, is it? And I can also peel potatoes and scrub the tiles in the bathroom."

Geoffrey seemed pleased. "All right, you will peel potatoes for tonight's dinner, and I'll play with you in exchange."

"Great!" The girl clasped her hands. "Hide and seek, my favourite! I hide, you seek! You've got to count to a thousand before you start looking for me."

"A thousand? Isn't that a bit too much?" Geoffrey frowned.

"Nooo, not at all." Martha shook her head. Apparently the demon was a rather inexperienced hide-and-seek-player which she could use to her advantage. "And you've got to count slowly. Reeeally slowly."

The demon seemed a bit confused, but nodded. "Okay. Now, where should I do the counting?"

"There." Martha pointed at the corner. "And you've got to be facing towards the corner, with closed eyes. Peeking is forbidden. You may start."

Geoffrey did as told. "One, two, three…"

Martha raced up the stairs, grabbed her bag with her clothes (she'd stuffed them into the bag overnight to spare time now), and ran downstairs. Geoffrey was obediently counting. "Forty-five, forty-six…"

By the time the demon reached eighty, Martha was out of the house and out of the garden. By the time Geoffrey reached two hundred, Martha had got on a bus, and by the time the demon was finished with counting, the child was in the centre of London.

Now all she had to do was find the London Waterloo train station. She knew that there she'd surely find a train to Feniton (that was only a kilometre from Fenny Bridges) because Mary, the younger matron at the orphanage had come to visit her London relatives a few times and Martha had heard her mentioning to Mrs Dawson that she had had to take the train from London Waterloo to return to Feniton. It was a useful thing to eavesdrop on the adults' discussions once in a while…

o o o O O O o o o

"You wanted to talk to me, Sir?" Nathaniel entered Deveraux's over-decorated office.

"Yes, dear boy." The Prime Minister nodded. Even though Nathaniel was no longer a boy and was the second most influential man in the Empire, Deveraux still called him 'dear boy' or 'my boy', 'my young friend', and occasionally just 'John'. Nathaniel felt it was a little degrading, but he couldn't instruct the PM not to call him these things, could he? Now, as he looked at the older man, he saw a fatherly expression on his face. "Please, sit down, my boy."

Nathaniel took a place in an armchair facing the Prime Minister's. "I'm all ears, Sir."

"No, no need to be this official." Deveraux shook his head. "I'm not talking to you as Prime Minister to this deputy, but as a friend to a friend, or a father to his son."

"I understand, Sir." The young magician nodded, but didn't understand it in the least. "What do you want to talk to me about as… father to son?"

"About your marriage, John." The Prime Minister held a small pause, scrutinising Nathaniel's features. "I know your wife left you overnight."

"If I may ask, Sir, how did you find out? I wasn't… advertising it."

Deveraux smiled benignly. "The lovely Miss Whitwell told me when she was here half an hour ago. She seems to have overheard a discussion between you and Ffoukes."

"Oh. I see."

"Am I right assuming that you have no idea where your wife went?"

"Yes, Sir. Not even her parents know about her whereabouts. She even left her wedding ring…" Nathaniel looked away, staring at the patterns on the chair's armrest. "I think she doesn't want me to find her, ever."

"And you will respect her wishes."

"What?" The younger man looked up, as if stung by a bee.

"You're not going after her." Deveraux's voice was warm, friendly, but determined.

Nathaniel knitted his eyebrows. "But… why not?"

"Dear boy, you are the Deputy Prime Minister! You have power, respect, and you can't make yourself a laughing stock by running after a woman who left you!"

"Are you forbidding me to look for her?" Nathaniel couldn't help feeling revulsion for the Prime Minister at the moment.

Deveraux heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry, John. I have no other choice. Our position doesn't allow for sentimentality… It was bad enough when your and Miss Farrar's heated debate was played and replayed in the television, but you were just a minor minister then. You could afford sentimentality and hotheadedness then. Now you can't. Mrs Mandrake is an adult. If she decided to leave, you have to respect her will."

"But… what about the marriage contract? It states she has to stay with me!"

"It seems to me, my young friend, that you haven't read your own marriage contract properly. It states – in the small print – that if your commoner wife whom you have graciously lifted out of the mob cheats on you or breaks the contract by leaving you, you have the right to have the marriage annulled."

"A... annulled?" Nathaniel breathed. Deveraux didn't mean he wanted him to… to? Heavens…

"Yes. As Deputy Prime Minister, you have responsibilities, and one of them is to let the world see that this Empire is led by strong-handed, determined men who never hesitate to act when their honour is at stake. Your wife left you, John. She doesn't deserve to be called Mrs Mandrake anymore, and even less does she deserve to inherit your property, should she outlive you. Be tough, John, and have the marriage annulled. For the Empire's sake."

I married her for the Empire's sake… now divorce her for the same? Life is so unfair – Nathaniel thought bitterly, but nodded. "As you wish, Sir."

"I knew you'd understand." Deveraux smiled. "And since I knew you'd listen to me, I have called my lawyer, he's waiting outside. He's brought the necessary papers for you to sign, and in ten minutes, you shall be a free man again."

Hooray, Nathaniel thought sarcastically, feeling angrier than ever before, but tried to force his features to remain indifferent. He'd lost his child to the Empire, and now he was about to lose his wife as well. Forever.

o o o O O O o o o

Kitty woke at midday, and thought she'd go for a walk. She took the bus to the city centre, and had a few doughnuts at the Druids' Coffee House. She hadn't been there for years. She knew that showing herself in crowded places wasn't a good idea, but she couldn't spend the rest of her life hiding. Besides, it was highly unlikely that her husband had sent policemen after her.

Druids' woke memories in her – both good and bad. It had been thirteen years ago that Mr Pennyfeather had invited her here to offer her a place in the Resistance. The old man had died eleven years ago, and the Resistance had been wiped out six years later. To Kitty it seemed that an eternity had passed since she'd first met John Mandrake the day after Pennyfeather's death. John Mandrake had taken everything from her she held precious: first he turned her parents against her, then he and the magician society forced her only remaining friend, Jakob to leave, then he took her freedom by throwing her into the Tower, then he took all that remained to her by forcing her into this marriage… Then he stole her heart and blinded her with smooth words and soft kisses… Then he tore her daughter from her, threw her fellows into the Tower, causing two children's death, and finally, he even gave up on getting their daughter back from that horrible woman.

Kitty felt something salty mix with sweet in her mouth – she had showered her doughnut with tears.

After having finished eating and having forced John out of her mind, she walked back to the bus stop to return to her rented room in Balham.

The bus arrived and Kitty was just about to get on when a little girl called to her. "Excuse me, can you tell me where I can find the Waterloo train station?"

The child was smiling hopefully at her, her big blue eyes glinting in a friendly way. She was fiddling with her wavy, black locks, and a red baseball cap was sitting jauntily on her head. Something warm and fuzzy filled Kitty's insides – something that she couldn't have explained. "Certainly, dear," she replied just as the bus she'd wanted to get on left. "You've got to go straight ahead until you reach a big, glass house. There you have to turn right and walk two corners, and from there you will already see the train station, you can't even miss it. It's big and grey and has a clock over the entrance."

"Thank you very much," the little girl beamed and strolled away with a little bit more determination and maturity than it was expected of someone her age.

Kitty stared after her for a while, her heart aching. My little one could be around her age… perhaps she's just as pretty as this one. Tears again welled up in her eyes. You're being silly, Kitty – she chided herself, walking up to a newspaper kiosk to buy something to read until the next bus arrived.

Her eyes fell upon the headline of the afternoon paper: 'Deputy Prime Minister's marriage annulled'.

Her heart skipped a beat. With trembling hands, she fished a few coins out of her pocket and paid for the paper.

'Deputy Prime Minister John Mandrake has had his marriage to the commoner Kathleen Jones annulled,' she read on the third page. 'Almost six years ago John Mandrake, the then Minister of Internal Affairs married Kathleen Jones, an infamous ringleader of the Resistance. Although it had started out as a marriage on paper only, the minister and his wife soon fell in love, and Mandrake even broke up with his girlfriend, the magician Jane Farrar for his wife Kathleen.

Their happiness seemed to last for about a year, when Mandrake made the catch of his life: he managed to incarcerate the remnants of the Resistance and gained his current position. We're assuming that his wife, a former Resistance member had been unable to forgive him for this, which led to a ruined relationship between the two. Last night – for reasons unknown - Kathleen Jones ran away from home and even left her wedding ring for her husband to find. "Kathleen Jones presumably meant this as a message," the Prime Minister's lawyer, who had the marriage annulled, told us in an interview. "Apparently she didn't want Mr Mandrake to find her, and Mr Mandrake is respecting her wishes like a real gentleman should. However, to remind Kathleen Jones how ungrateful she has been to leave him after him having given her his name and shared his riches with her, the Deputy Prime Minister has decided to make sure that Miss Jones will not inherit a single penny and is no longer entitled to use his name."

We can only wonder how the Deputy Prime Minister is feeling about the whole affair, as he was unavailable for an interview. However, we can be absolutely sure that female magicians will be very pleased with the news, as the young, handsome Mr Mandrake is once again the most eligible bachelor in the Empire.'

Kitty didn't know why she was crying. She really didn't. She wasn't supposed to be crying, John didn't deserve her tears.

She dropped the newspaper into the nearest bin and started walking towards her accommodation. It was quite a distance on foot, but she no longer wished to take the bus. She chose to walk through narrow streets with barely any pedestrians – it was easier to cry when fewer people could see her. After hours of walking, she still didn't understand why she was crying and why she couldn't stop crying. I left him, she thought. I ended this relationship… so why does it hurt so much that he had the marriage annulled? It's just a formality, after all… She shook her head, angry with herself. Although she'd been very mad at John the previous evening and had wanted to leave him for good, something deep in her heart hoped that he'd at least go looking for her. It would have felt nice to know he wanted to find her. But apparently he didn't. He doesn't love me anymore… it's possible he hasn't loved me for years. What I would give to be as impassive as him and be able to stop loving him… But she knew it was too much to wish for. She would undoubtedly love him until the day she died. Him – Nathaniel, not John Mandrake.

o o o O O O o o o

Martha had problems buying a ticket. She had looked at the information board at London Waterloo and found out that the train leaving for Feniton departed at two thirty and arrived at Feniton at five forty. Currently she was standing before the ticket window, trying to stand on her tiptoes to be tall enough for the lady sitting behind the window to see her. After a few seconds the lady noticed her and stood up to be able to see her properly.

"Yes, dear? What do you want here?"

"Two singles to Feniton, please – an adult and a child."

The elderly woman raised an eyebrow at her. "And where is that adult, dear?"

"I'm travelling with my mum, but she went to buy sandwiches for the journey," Martha fibbed. She hated fibbing, but sometimes it was necessary. "She gave me money and told me to buy the tickets. You know, she wants me to learn things as early as possible, like buying tickets or milk at the grocery store. She says I need to learn to be indep… sorry, forgot the word."

"Independent?" the woman asked with a smile.

"Yes, that." Martha nodded with a solemn expression.

"Well, your mother is right, one needs to learn to be independent, though you might be a little too young for that... So, two singles to Feniton… fifty five pounds, dear."

It took Martha a while to count the required amount of money as she wasn't familiar with the banknotes and coins, but half an hour later she was sitting on the train, going home.

o o o O O O o o o

Nathaniel arrived home fairly early that day. He could have stayed at Whitehall as he had lots of work to do, but he felt too tired to do anything. He'd care more about work tomorrow.

He had barely slumped into an armchair when someone buzzed the doorbell. Kitty? He thought hopefully, and not even waiting for his demons to answer the door, he ran to open it himself. He saw that his in-laws – correction, his former in-laws – were standing at the gate. Great. Just great, he sighed inwardly and walked to the gate to let them in.

"Mr and Mrs Jones…" He beckoned them to enter the house. They walked past him down the garden path without saying a word. Once they were all inside, Nathaniel motioned the couple to sit down in the salon.

"No, thank you, Deputy Prime Minister," Alfred Jones said with a grim expression. "We'd rather stand."

"As you wish," the young man replied, hoping to get this discussion quickly over with. He felt bad enough without having to look at their reproachful faces. "Well, what can I do for you?"

"What can you do for us?" Iris Jones hissed. "Find our daughter!"

"I'm sorry, Mrs Jones, but I can't. First: Kitty doesn't want me to go looking for her, second: I made a promise to the Prime Minister himself that I will not go looking for her."

"So it's true then," Kitty's father said darkly. "Kitty told us months ago, but we didn't want to believe her… she told us that you cared more for the Prime Minister than for her! She told us you were more in love with power than with her! She said she'd tried to make you come to your senses, but all in vain, because your heart was made of stone! Oh, we didn't believe her, we said you were just busy, an important person, but now we see your true self, Sir."

"So you've come to tell me what a despicable bastard I am?" Nathaniel sighed. "Then you've come in vain – I already know that. I am a despicable bastard, and don't think I'm proud of myself. Yes, it was me and my love for power that chased Kitty away, and I long for nothing more than to have her back, but she no longer wants me."

"No wonder, if you had the heart to annul that marriage just because you two had a row…" Mr Jones said through gritted teeth.

"If this makes you feel better: I loathe myself for having annulled the marriage. And no matter what the stupid newspapers write about me 'again being the most eligible bachelor', I don't intend to get married ever again. Kitty will always be my wife, in my heart at least."

"You have a heart?" Iris whispered with a sarcastic face.

Nathaniel heaved a sigh. "Listen, Mr and Mrs Jones. Should Kitty return to you some day, tell her I'm not mad at her in the least. Tell her I understand her, and… that I'm sorry. And should she need money, she can ask for it, whenever she wants. She no longer can inherit anything from me if I die before her, but unofficially, I'd be glad to help her out financially."

The woman shook her head. "Our daughter doesn't need your money. All she needed was your love, but you didn't give it to her. At least give her back to us! Even if the Prime Minister forbade you, find her! Look for her in secret. I'm sure that the second most powerful man in this country has his means for investigation without others finding out. Sir… we know you have no idea what it is like to have a child and lose her-"

Nathaniel waved to silence the woman. "Spare me, please." At that moment he felt like shouting the Jones's in the eye how wrong they were, that he knew what it was like to be a father and lose his daughter, but he couldn't. He cast his eyes down, examining his shoes. A few seconds of silence ensued, then he spoke up. "I'll see what I can do."

"You'd better," Alfred Jones said. "We respected you once. Adored you. You've disappointed us seriously, Mr Mandrake. Don't disappoint us even more."

Nathaniel knew he could have sent his demons at the couple for their cheek and thrown them into the Tower, but he couldn't bring himself to do anything of the sort. The Jones's were right. He looked his one-time father-in-law in the eye. "I won't disappoint you again. I'll find her and give her back to you. You have my word."

o o o O O O o o o

"Tickets, please."

Martha fished her tickets out of her pocket and handed them to the conductor.

"And who does the other ticket belong to?" The man looked at her curiously. Children of her age usually weren't travelling alone.

"My mum. She's at the toilet right now. Bad diarrhoea."

"Oh, I see. Well then, have a nice journey, young lady."

Martha heaved a sigh. She really, really disliked lying, but she didn't want to wake suspicion, or she'd be taken off the train by some nasty policeman and taken back to her master. Once she was at home, in her own bed and it was time for her evening prayers, she would ask God for forgiveness for having breached a few of the Ten Commandments…

o o o O O O o o o

Soon the Jones's left and Nathaniel thought he'd never felt so lonely in this big house before. True, Enid and Ugli were around, but they were just demons, and quite boring demons at that. Not like Bartimaeus… Nathaniel didn't even know why Bartimaeus came to his mind. Perhaps because he felt his life empty without Kitty, without Martha, without his mother, and even a bit without a demon who talked back to him. Loneliness does weird things to a person, he told himself. He never thought he'd ever miss the quirky replies of Bartimaeus…

He dropped himself into an armchair, his thoughts whirling around Kitty's parents. They had been so desperate, so worried… surely his mother too was desperate to find out what happened to little Martha, and he had completely forgotten about her and her worries. How selfish of him… Poor Esther must be beside herself with worry, not getting any news about her granddaughter…

Too bad the Fenny Bridges orphanage still didn't have a phone installed, nor did either of the matrons have a mobile phone. How much easier it would be to just call Esther and tell her that Martha was alive and well… Though Nathaniel didn't know what he'd tell his mother if she asked where exactly Martha was. But he had to tell her the child was doing fine and hadn't been kidnapped and sold as a slave to Asia. Besides, it would be nice to have a chance to talk to his mother again, he had neglected her so badly…

He'd just drive to Fenny Bridges, tell his mother everything was all right with Martha, perhaps stay a few hours, then return to London by morning. He'd surely be a bit sleepy the next day, but he owed his mother this much.

He hurried upstairs, dressed into his 'commoner clothes' and jumped into his Ford Fiesta. He was completely unaware of the search sphere hovering over his house as he drove away.

o o o O O O o o o

"Martha!" Esther simply couldn't believe her eyes. The little girl was walking towards the orphanage, wearing her favourite red baseball cap, looking tired but cheerful. The woman dropped the hoe she was using in the small garden before the orphanage and ran to meet the little girl. "Oh, dear child!" She closed Martha into her arms, hugging her like a mother bear, showering her face with kisses.

"You're stifling me, Mrs Dawson…"

Tears of joy running down her cheeks, Esther drew back and held the child at arm's length. "Let me see you. You're thinner than ever, have they not fed you well? Whose apprentice have you become? And how come you're back?"

"I'll explain everything," Martha replied with a grin. "Just give me something to eat first. I haven't had any meals since breakfast, and I'm starving."

Her heart filled with relief, Esther led the child into the building where Isabel greeted Martha with 'What, did the magicians not want you as their apprentice after all? I knew it must be a mistake… you, a magician…? Honestly…'

Martha was in too much of a good mood to tell her anything rude in response.

o o o O O O o o o

It was eleven p.m. already when Nathaniel reached Fenny Bridges. As he stopped the engine before the orphanage, he froze. The headlights of his car lit two figures standing before the building: one of them was his mother, whose hands were balled into fists, the other was none other than Jane Farrar, who was apparently shouting at Esther.

Esther shouted something back (Nathaniel wasn't close enough to hear every word, but it was something like 'go away, I'm not giving her back to you ever again!'), which apparently made Jane lose her nerve. She clapped, and a man appeared next to her – Geoffrey, Nathaniel recognised. In the same second a tiny figure burst out of the orphanage, shouting something.

"You little freak you'll get yours!" Nathaniel heard Jane yell at the tiny figure as he got out of the car as quickly as he could. He wasn't quick enough, though, because before he could do anything, Jane clapped again, and a fireball issued from Geoffrey's fingertips, whooshing towards Martha.

o o o O O O o o o

A/N: evil cliffie, I knoooooow… ;) And I also know that Martha's extremely precocious. Then again, Nat too was. She just inherited his 'genius'. shrugs

Reviews are most welcome!