Hi, Valkerie here! Just FYI, the italic section of this chapter is from another character's POV. Three guesses who.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Bartimaeus Trilogy, though I have finally succeeded in summoning Bartimaeus, who tried to kill me. When he realized I just wanted to ask questions (i.e., How many spirits are there? Does the Other Place have any boundary whatsoever? ) he stopped trying to end my life. :)
My chapters are kind of short, I know, but I update faster that way. :)
Only one image showed in my mind. Kitty's face, soft and radiant, with her grey hair accentuating her cheekbones. I couldn't focus for long on anything else. I only remembered Kitty.
There were lightning flashes of memory, but they never lingered. At times, I could see stars inside circles, a dark boy in ancient clothing. A pendant, very important, with the flash of jade at its center.
And then it was gone.
I couldn't figure out how I'd gotten here, not that I much cared. Where was I any way?
Did it even matter?
What matters?
And then Kitty's face would resurface, and I would get this feeling like there was something I should do.
And then I'd sink down again, down into the ether, and forget...
Kitty woke with a start.
She looked down at the sketchbook in her lap, at the drawing she'd been working onwhen she fell asleep.
The drawing wasn't there.
In its place, the face of the next page, painted with Kitty's visage.
This portrait was done in the charcoal that Kitty had been working with.
Kitty felt a deep weight in her stomach.
Maybe someone's summoned spirit could be quiet enough to draw her picture without waking her, but to take the charcoal that she held in her hand? That was frightening.
Very much so.
Kitty started looking for the chalk.