Sorry this is a little late!

Shadowfire: Haha, glad I surprised you! Yep, I remember 6th grade . . . (sigh). Aw, your poor best friend! Guys are jerks sometimes. That happened to one of my friend's friends last year. Her date left her for another one. Blah. Anyway, thanks for the review!

Yellow14: Hi! Thanks for coming to check this out! And thank you for reviewing!

And thanks Conception.Creation for your review!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Bartimaeus Trilogy. Gaia and Jard are OC's.

Rated T for violence, language, torture, and overall darkness

CH. 4

Kitty raced into her apartment, mind spinning. She knew she needed help. But with her mission being the rescue of her djinni boyfriend, that narrowed the list.

She knew none of the magicians would help. Rebecca Piper had made it quite clear the way they thought. Kitty wanted to stay mad at her, but she knew Piper was simply going by what she'd been taught all her life. Kitty was never one to follow traditional ideals. She supposed Mr. Button would help her, but what could he do? And all the commoners, including the friendly George Fox, were out of the question.

She tried to summon Bartimaeus again, but it was still no use. She sat down, covering her face.

Just when she decided she should talk to Mr. Button, a new idea popped into her head. She considered it, threw it away, dug it back out, and considered it again.

Deciding it couldn't hurt to try, she picked up a spell book on her desk. It was one of Mr. Button's that he said he didn't need.

Flipping through it, she found what she was looking for and read. Then she arranged everything again, filled up the gap in the pentacle, and summoned Algus.

Algus was an ancient afrit that Bartimaeus had told her about. He was kind and knew about him and Kitty dating. Kitty decided to summon him because he knew and like Bartimaeus, and was understanding to their situation.

When he appeared in the pentacle, he was a large lion. He eyed her, flicking his tail.

"Algus?" Kitty said.

"You summoned me?"

"I'm Kitty. I'm Bartimaeus' girlfriend."

Algus relaxed, studying her. "You are?"

"Yes. And . . .I need your help."

He was silent to show he was listening.

She continued. "Bartimaeus and I just got back from traveling. I dismissed him for the night, but when I tried to summon him in the morning, he didn't come. I went out to think it through, when I saw Bartimaeus . . .destroying Westminster Palace. A group of spirits surrounded him, and then he was called back to his master.

Algus sat down, seeming thoughtful. "That was today?"

"Yes."

"And what do you want me to do?"

She bit her lip. "I don't know. I just want him back."

After a pause, the afrit said, "So we know this: His new master is not a kind one, so he won't just let him go; he also must live nearby, since he could observe Bartimaeus destroying Westminster Palace and re-summon him when he needed to. So we need to track down who his master is and decide if we should

A. reason with him

B. kill him

C. wait until he dismisses Bartimaeus, or

D. give up."

Kitty smiled. "Sounds like a plan. So, you'll help me?"

Algus nodded. "I will."

"Then you have no charge. You may do whatever you wish and I'll dismiss you when you like." With that she stepped from her pentacle, realizing she took a big risk.

But Algus only looked at her admiringly. "You are just like Bartimaeus said."

She smiled.

Algus stepped from the pentacle, changing into golden retriever. "Then let's start searching for this magician."

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Kitty and Algus first searched the scene of the crime. They found no evidence around the building, and decided to question witnesses.

They went up to Rebecca Piper, who was busy giving orders.

"Ms. Piper," Kitty said after she was finished, "do you know who attacked the building?"

"A demon, obviously. My own told me it was a djinni."

"I know, but what magician?"

Piper shrugged. "We'll find out, once we get this mess cleaned up."

Undeterred, they searched through the neighborhoods, checking for any suspicious activity. But they saw nothing, and the neighborhoods proved too big to search entirely.

So they headed to Mr. Button's home.

"We're trying to find a magician who had Bartimaeus," Kitty explained once they were inside. "He had him attack Westminster Palace."

Mr. Button nodded. "Yes, I heard of that. Well, you could check in my books, they list all sorts of wizards."

Hours were spent amongst the sea of books, searching. Algus seemed to be able to search much faster, even as a dog. But he still wasn't finding anything remotely odd. Mr. Button helped by trying to locate his magician books in the mess.

Tired and hungry, Kitty flipped through the pages of a large book until she found something interesting. It was a section about magicians whose misconduct caused them to be banished from London.

Ah-ha, she thought, this guy obviously had some resentment toward this city.

She scanned down the list. Most were already dead. But she found three that were still alive.

One was Mark Smithson, he had been banished and returned ten years ago. Currently he was in prison.

The second was Stephen Hack, he was banished and last records showed he was in Spain.

And the last was Gaia Black, who had been banished and not heard of since.

Kitty smiled. "Guys, I found something! Three magicians that were cast out of London."

"Well then," Algus said, "let's find them."

Sorry there's no Bartimaeus in this chapter, he'll be in next one! Please review!

Oh, and Algus is my OC.