Hello, Everyone! Have you missed me? I know that I've been gone a really long time, but I finally was cleaning out the files on my laptop and I found my previous chapters. After reading my loyal reviewers, I got some good ideas. Thanks to LuckyRatTail and Cried Nevermore. I didn't actually use your full ideas, but they gave me a boost. And maybe I'll use them later... I don't really know yet. In fact, I don't know when I'm going to find the time to write another chapter. It may not be for another year, but whatever…
Also, Bartimaeus is 50 years older, and his sense of humor is worn out. He's still too sad about Ptolemy's and Nat's deaths. More to follow on that subject.
Disclaimer: None of this is mine. I didn't even invent any new characters except the Throckmortons and Jack (John Mandrake II).
John Mandrake stood at the window in his room, gazing out at the busy streets of London. He had a lot to think about. What Bartimaeus had told him was very interesting. He didn't know it was possible for a jinni to care about one of his previous masters. The calculating side inside John wondered if there was a way to reciprocate that affection in other creatures he summoned, without actually taking the time to build the trust. The other side of John, the caring side, wondered what Nathanial had done to inspire that sort of loyalty in a jinni as crafty and wily as Bartimaeus. He decided to summon Bartimaeus again to get more details.
John quickly dove under his bed to find the necessary books and chalk that he would need to summon Bartimaeus. After finding them, he dumped them onto his rumpled bed in the corner of the room. Deaf to his surroundings, he moved the rug on the floor into the corner of the room and began to chalk the pentagram on the open woodwork.
Suddenly, the door to the room opened, and Throckmorton walked in. Seeing the summoning materials on the bed and the floor he immediately realized what was going on.
"What are you doing John?! That is extremely dangerous. I know that you just wanted to practice summoning, but you could have asked me to supervise you if you wanted extra practice." Throckmorton's face was red as he stomped into the room. "Here, boy. Let me look at what exactly you were summoning. There'll be hell to pay if it's over a level 2." Throckmorton's eyes bulged out of his face as he looked at the page that John was on. "A LEVEL FOURTEEN JINNI? Are you out of your mind? I'm thinking about dismissing you right on the spot. Thank goodness I caught you before you had actually gone through the summoning. Or had you summoned it before?" Throckmorton asked, suddenly suspicious.
John said nothing, but the guilty look on his face was enough to incriminate him.
"YOU COULD HAVE BROUGHT DOOM UPON THIS ENTIRE HOUSEHOLD. Have you no thought for you life or the rest of our lives? I will have to think upon what I shall do with you. Until then, you must stay in your room. No food. And I am taking all of your magical supplies with me."
Not thinking that he would be caught, John had not taken any precautions to hide any supplies in other places. He had everything out in plain sight. He knew that nothing he could say would change his master's (or soon to be ex-master? John hoped not) mind. As Throckmorton stalked out of the room, muttering to himself and carrying John's precious supplies, John sank down upon the bed, the very picture of defeat.
Two hours later, John heard the sound of heavy footsteps up the final flight of steps that led to his room. Throckmorton opened the door. John gulped. He still looked very mad.
"I have spent the last two hours reviewing the Code of the Magicians, the book that lists, in detail, all the punishments for infractions of a magician. I finally found the punishment for you. Tomorrow you and I must go into Parliament and stand before a chamber. Half of the members are magicians, while the rest are commoners. John gulped again. That did not sound fun.
The next day, John nervously adjusted his suit. He was too worried to even care about how fashionable his hair was. He slowly walked out of the house and into the car where his master was waiting.
As they drove to the Parliament building, John wondered why they couldn't drive any slower than they were. He knew that each mile they passed brought him closer to his fate. The silence in the car was almost unbearable. Throckmorton was not inviting any conversation, and John did not want to start talking to himself. So he just sat in the back seat, becoming more and more nervous as each minute passed.
Far too soon, the car pulled up to the steps of Parliament. John stepped out of the car with Throckmorton, feeling like he was going to his own execution. That's not a pleasant feeling to have. Little did John know, but Throckmorton was actually very proud of his apprentice. Man, I wish that I was able to summon a level 14 jinni when I was his age. I really don't want to have to send him in there, but he did break the law. He must learn to take responsibility for his actions and think not only of himself. Well, I'll wish him good luck. He'll definitely need it.
"Good luck," Throckmorton said to John. John curtly nodded, unsure if the statement was forced or genuinely meant.
They reached the room where the chamber met. Throckmorton told their names to the doorman and the doorman went inside to announce them. The doorman appeared at the door once more and beckoned them inside the chamber.
John looked around. The chamber screamed "I'M RICH!" There were mahogany chairs everywhere and a giant mahogany table in the center of the room. There was intricate woodwork on all the walls, and the ten people sitting on either side of the table all had gold goblets by their elbows. However, the one person sitting at the head of the table drew the most attention. The person was Kitty Jones.
John was surprised. He hadn't known that she still headed councils, and he wondered why she had been called up to head this one. He looked questioningly at his master, and Throckmorton muttered out of the side of his mouth, "She's one of biggest authorities on summoning abuse."
Even better, John thought. My first meeting of her, and she's already set against me. My prospects look good.
Kitty stood up. "Welcome, Throckmorton and John." John noticed a slight hesitation as she said his name. That can't help either. I'm up on charges, and I'm reminding the head of my council of a dead person. Crap. "Now, I understand that John here is bearing charges of illegal summoning. At approximately," here Kitty checked her notes, "10:24 on the morning of November the second, John was caught preparing to summon a level fourteen jinni. Now, John, would you care to tell us what exactly you were preparing to summon and why?"
John gulped once, and then cleared his throat. His throat was very dry, and he didn't know if he would be able to talk. Unfortunately, he was able to talk. "Well, I wanted to find out information. I was really curious, and the only level jinni I could find that would be able to answer my questions was a level fourteen one. I was very careful…" John trailed off into silence.
"Hmmm. You only wanted to ask it some questions, eh?" John nodded. "Well then, Mr. Throckmorton, do you trust what your apprentice is saying?"
Throckmorton took a step forward. "Yes, Ms. Jones. I do. John has never lied to me before this incident, and he has never been interested in acquiring ultimate power. He has always just been interested in finding out the answers to imponderable questions. I trust him."
John smiled gratefully at his master.
"John, would you be willing to swear on pain of death or dismemberment that you are telling the truth? You are aware that if we discover that you break this oath then you will be dead or dismembered?"
John nodded once more. "Yes, m'am. All I wanted to do was to ask the jinni some questions."
"Well, it's fine with me if you just return to your house. Mr. Throckmorton, are you okay with taking Mr. Mandrake back into your house as a student?"
"Yes, Ms. Jones. I trust the boy, although I will be taking away all of his summoning materials and confining him to a study in literature for at least six months."
"It's all settled then. Mssrs. Throckmorton and Mandrake, you may both return to your dwelling. I trust that Mr. Mandrake will be punished accordingly?"
Throckmorton nodded.
"However, before you leave, Mr. Mandrake, what was the name of the jinni that you were trying to summon?"
"Its name was Bartimaeus, Ms. Jones."
As they left the room, John saw Kitty turn white and sink back into her chair.
As glad as John was to not have to serve a federal punishment, he still was not looking forward to the punishment that Throckmorton would certainly devise. The two were walking out of the Parliament building when they heard a shout from someone down the hallway.
"Throckmorton! Come here! I want to talk to you and your apprentice." It was Kitty Jones.
The two turned around and reentered the building. Kitty was standing in front of a door farther down the hall. They quickly made their way toward her, and followed her into an empty office.
"Sit down, sit down," Kitty brusquely said. All three took seats. "Now, John, did you actually summon the level fourteen jinni called Bartimaeus?"
"Actually, I did. I've done it several times now, all to ask him questions. The first time I wanted to ask him how many creatures are out in the other side. He didn't know which surprised me. The next time was right before your gala, and I was all dressed up. He asked why I was dressed up, and I told him I was going to your gala. He got an odd expression on his face right before I dismissed. The last time that I summoned him I asked about you, and he told me about you and Nathanial."
During his speech, Kitty had grown very pale. Almost talking to herself, she said, "I thought he was destroyed…with Nathanial…" Shaking her head, as if she needed to clear her thoughts, she asked, "What did Bartimaeus look like when you summoned him?"
John replied, "The first time he tried to scare me by making creepy sounds and making the room very cold. However, he changed into a lanky teenage guy with a pointy chin and dark hair in a crew cut."
After that last statement, Kitty grew very still. John noticed in a corner of his mind that her eyes were tearing up. Shaking her head once more, she said, "I can't bear to talk about this right now. Will you go? But I will want to talk to John once more. Please?"
Now very confused, the master and his apprentice left Parliament building and finally made it home.
The next morning, John was stuck in his room. So far he had only been awake for two hours of his imprisonment (or so he liked to think of it), but to a restless twelve year old boy, it felt like a year. Throckmorton had come up once to check on John; he was just making sure John wasn't contemplating throwing himself out the window. John wasn't, but Throckmorton didn't know that. John had too many things to think about before contemplating suicide.
There was a knock on the door.
"Yes, master. Come in," said John, who had immediately assumed the person to be his master.
"Actually, it's Kitty. Throckmorton gave me permission to come up here. And I brought some things." The 68 year old woman (A/N: thanks loyal reviewers) gracefully stepped into the attic room. She was carrying, John noted in some surprise, his summoning equipment. "You're the only magician in London that is familiar immediately with the procedure to summon Bartimaeus. I want you to do it with me in the room."
John felt that he couldn't refuse this woman her request. Plus, he got his summoning things back. He began to clear the room and draw the necessary signs on the hardwood floor. Since he hadn't fully erased the chalk from his last summoning, all he really had to was trace back over the markings on the floor and add a pentagram for Kitty. Directing her to stand inside the safety of the pentagram, he began to conjure Bartimaeus.
The Other Side
I once more drifted around, only this time I had a lot more to think about. Why had I stood up for Nathanial? However, I didn't have too much time to think about those thoughts. I once again felt the familiar tug of summoning.
I appeared in the attic of the house, quickly assuming my Nathanial form, not noticing the other person in the room. Only after I had fully appeared did I notice the other person in the room. She was fifty years older, but I recognized her as if it was yesterday that I had seen her last through Nat's eyes.
"Kitty. It's good to see you again."
A/N: I've got some more ideas where this story is going, but I'm always open to ideas. I will probably end up using at least some part of the idea. But……the only way I can find out those ideas is if you REVIEW!!!!!!! So hit that little button! And let me know your ideas. Thanks!