Second chapter, in which not much happens. Philippa talks to people. Non-specific weird things happen at Nimrod's place. Other non-specific weird things happen with the spell check in Microsoft Word. Huh.

If you like the plot so far, please keep reading and maybe leave a review! That would delight me very much! Thank you in advance!

To Guest53, much thank for the reviews! 15 to 20 people, ha yeah, seriously, keep it in your pants, Iblis. Maybe a daughter of Iblis will turn up later, let's see, but I have... fixed plans with Violet, sorry.

After immediately telling John what she had been through that night, Philippa hadn't found much sleep. The many questions she still had had kept her busy and awake. Now, in the morning, she intended to call the person who could most surely help her clear things up: Uncle Nimrod.

In the last few months, the twins had rarely seen or even talked to their uncle. That was partially due to the fact that John and Philippa had wished to be further undisturbed by events in the djinn society – since they had no more djinn powers and just wanted to go on leading normal, mundane lives. Of course that didn't mean they wanted no more contact to their uncle. But Nimrod had been, according to their mother, very busy in the recent time. With what, they did not know. They only knew that Nimrod very rarely had time for a lengthy talk. It was all a bit strange, and Philippa knew that her mother was a bit worried, especially as she had received the news that Nimrod was slowly losing his powers.

Anyway, Philippa had been attacked – by djinn – and if her uncle didn't have an explanation, no one would.

Nimrod answered the phone after the third ring. "Who is that?" He sounded…cautious. Had something happened?

"Uncle Nimrod, it's Philippa."

"Is it? My dear niece, what a nice surprise! How are you?"

"Fine so far, uncle, I just…listen, I got attacked last night."

"Oh…yes…I've heard of that."

"Have you now? From whom?"

"Did they…did anyone harm you?" Nimrod asked, ignoring Philippa's question.

"No, I'm fine. But…uncle, they were djinn. I was attacked by djinn, despite…you know…not being of interest anymore. And I thought…who would want to kill a harmless girl for no reason? And then I thought, maybe the Ifrit are out for revenge again."

"The Ifrit? What makes you think that?"

Philippa could hear someone in the background ask: "Did someone say the Ifrit? What about the Ifrit?" to which Nimrod replied "Shush, you, I'm on the phone." It wasn't Mr. Groanin's voice. Who was there with Uncle Nimrod?

"Well, I got saved from the ambushers by Rudyard Teer. I know it sounds weird. But that's how it was. Somehow, Rudyard was able to break out of his jade prison. And where Rudyard is, Iblis usually isn't far."

"Yes, dear, I know about that too. Both Rudyard and Iblis are free, actually. But I can assure you that they had nothing to do with the people attacking you, and you have nothing to fear from them."

"Are you sure?" Philippa asked, straining her ears to hear what was going on in her uncle's house. Sure enough, the voice from before talked again: "Hey, what's going on, did he just – oh, oops, I knocked a thing over", accompanied by a crash. Also, even further in the background, the voice of a young girl was singing: These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do, one of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you…

Then the singing stopped and someone shouted: "Are you totally out of it now? That's a priceless Ming vase! Or rather, it was a priceless Ming vase, I say was!" Yep, that was definitely Groanin.

"Absolutely sure, dear" Nimrod said over the commotion. "Oh, please excuse me for a second – Groanin, calm down, it's just a vase – and a pretty hideous one at that – it belonged to my mother… I'm sorry, Phil, you were saying?"

"Uncle Nimrod, really, you seem to know a lot about this already. Nothing I told you was actually news to you, was it? I think you owe me an explanation. I mean, I almost died! One of them had a knife pointed at me!"

Uncle Nimrod sighed. "Yes, Phil, and I'm sorry for that. But, you see, it's safer for you to not know too much."

"Yeah, that's what Rudyard said too. And you know what? That's bullshit. I know nothing right now, nothing and still they found me, they all found me. First the mystery djinn, then the sons of Iblis. All of them! You know, you might as well fill me in."

Uncle Nimrod sighed again. "You…well, if you put it that way…but the more you know of this, the more endangered you are. Also, we can't discuss this on the phone, and I can't come visit you either. Business has me stuck here, I'm afraid. You and John would have to come to London, but…you'd be in great danger there…"

"I'm also in danger here, right? These guys could come back. And just because I lost my powers doesn't mean I can't handle a little danger."

"Alright, fine, you convinced me" Nimrod answered after a brief pause. "I think you should come to London at your convenience…"

"That's easy. Winter break is starting next week. If mom and dad have nothing against it, we could be with you by Thursday."

"Thursday? That's alright…that's fine. But, when you get here…"

"Yes?"

"Oh nothing…nothing. Just…you will find that a few things have…changed. No need to worry, there is absolutely nothing that can harm you here…just, you know, some things are different now, and I must ask you to be prepared and not let anything new you may find worry…or scare you."

Philippa hung up the phone feeling even more puzzled than before.

"Hey John, listen."

John looked up from the video game he was playing. "Huh? What's up, Phil?"

Philippa sat down on John's couch and started telling him everything she had just heard from Uncle Nimrod, ending with her intent to go to London in the break.

"Are you coming too?" she asked at last.

John huffed. "I don't know, Phil. All that stuff about Iblis and Rudyard being back sure sounds worrying, but there's not much we can do, right? Also, Uncle Nimrod sounded like he could handle it. I mean, I'd love to go and meet him and Groanin again, but…"

"Yes?"

"Vi's parents are taking her to the Hamptons over Christmas and she asked me if I wanted to come. And, you know, I kind of already promised her I would."

"Really? And mom said yes to that?"

"Uh-huh. She says we're old enough to not have to spend Christmas at home every year. So, I guess she's letting you go to London, too."

"If you say so. I'll ask her after dinner."

Philippa smiled, but it was a bit of a sad smile. It would feel weird going to London without her brother. They had always gone on their adventures together. But, well, this wasn't exactly an adventure, was it? She just wanted to meet her uncle so he could explain to her why she had been attacked. After that, she might well go home again. She would not get involved with anything dangerous. No, of course not. Also, now that she thought about it, she had missed Uncle Nimrod. Terribly. She wondered what he was up to.

"So, you want to visit Nimrod, dear? Any special reason to?"

Of course Layla Gaunt was a bit wary whenever her little brother was mentioned. After all, he used to get her kids into horrible danger repeatedly, the last time even resulting in the loss of her precious babies' djinn powers. Now Layla had, ever since she had met her husband Edward, wished for a perfectly normal, happy family life, but that didn't mean that she was glad about her kids losing an integral part of themselves. Layla herself still had her powers, even though she had vowed not to use them anymore.

"I just noticed that we didn't visit him for a long time, mom" Philippa explained. "And I guess I feel a bit bad about that. Also, it's a bit of a pity…I mean, he'll be spending Christmas all alone, right? He's bound to be lonely."

John, who was sitting around nearby, raised his eyebrows, but he didn't tell on his sister. Meanwhile, Layla smiled, proud of her daughter's kind heart. "I guess you say a true thing, Phil. Nimrod is a creature of solitude. He's been alone for a long, long time…but I'm sure he'll be happy to have you with him." She looked down at the dishes she and Philippa had been washing and added a thoughtful "Someone should take care of him…"

"What do you mean, mom?"

Layla sighed. "I've been thinking…I always thought it was a pity that Nimrod never found someone. Someone who lasted, that is. There was your aunt Alexandra, and it looked great between them, but then the poor dear had that…tragic accident. Apart from her, Nimrod never showed any interest in finding a partner…and now he's getting older and his powers grow weaker and there's no one there. I really wish he would have, you know…at least tried to stay with Alexandra. She was a good friend of mine."

"When we met her, she couldn't even remember your name" John threw in. "She thought it was Imelda for some reason."

"John!" Philippa hissed.

"What?!"

"That was not a very…sensitive thing to say."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's okay, John" their mother said and smiled, but Philippa would have bet that it was the same sad smile that she had smiled earlier, the one that knew, as time passed on, that friendships faded away.

She phoned her uncle and confirmed her coming on Thursday. The only thing left to do now was to book a flight to London, pack her things and wait.

Well, looks like Philippa is going to London. Whatever will she find at Nimrod's house? And far more important and mysterious is the question: Will Nimrod ever find a person to stay with?! Bawww! We just don't know!