Chapter 39

Bartimaeus

Alright. Room two. Well, on the bright side, at least I wouldn't have to go into a battle or anything serious.

My new form—a spider—crawled underneath the door. The spider looked around.

Bad.

Well, on the darker side of things, the girl I had to spy on was Kitty.

But then again, George didn't give any restrictions. He never said I couldn't tell her. Hmm, I think I will.

The spider crawled over to Kitty's bed, crawled to the top, rested at its foot. The spider was replaced by a cat. It had emerald green eyes and midnight black fur. It belonged to Ptolemy once. He called it Anubis(1). Again, don't ask why.

I 'slept' on the bed until Kitty and Ptolemy awoke.

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Maybe that wasn't the greatest idea ever.

When Kitty awoke to find a foreign cat sleeping on her bed, she screamed. Ptolemy bolted upright. "What? Who? Where? Why?" He shouted out in rapid succession.

Kitty swat at the cat. It hissed and drew back. "Alright now," I began. "No need to start throwing things."

"Bartimaeus?" Kitty asked. "But…"

"You're alive!" Ptolemy shouted happily. I looked over to him, smiled the best a cat could, nodded.

"Who summoned you?" Kitty asked seriously. I turned to her.

"Some guy named George."

"George? Wait, what'd he look like?" I concentrated, took his shape. "George!" Kitty yelled angrily. "We have to do something!"

"I knew it," I heard Ptolemy mumble to himself. Kitty couldn't hear, but with my better-advanced hearing, I could. I didn't say anything about it.

"We have to get out of here," I said as I reverted to Ptolemy's form. "But when I say 'we' I mean you two. I'm stuck with him."

"Not for long," Kitty began. "I'm goin' to get our clothes."

She practically stormed out of the room, leaving me alone with Ptolemy.(2)

Ptolemy sighed, fell over onto his back, stared up to the ceiling. He uncovered himself and moved to the edge of the bed, hung most of his body over it and looked up to the ceiling. He was quiet for a moment. "How long has it been?" He asked softly.

I climbed onto the bed, laid down next to him in the same position he was. I was silent for a moment, calculating. "Two thousand, one hindered thirty-four years, 7 months, 24 days, 12 hours, 10,349,90 seconds."

Faintly, Ptolemy smiled. We both sighed in unison. "Too long." I whispered, hoping he hadn't heard.

But he did. He responded by looking at me—studying me—and smiling. He nodded.

"Do you," I began softly, like a child speaking of death and abandonment. I stopped for a moment, thinking of how to word it. I looked him in the eyes. "Do you remember the Other Place?"

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I? I loved it. I remember it as though it was yesterday. I remember everything so clearly," That relieved me but also worried me. Why was he remembering his past so well if he's supposed to be a spirit? I raced my mind on all seven conscious planes, trying to come up with an answer.

"The Afterlife?" I asked him. This he should remember much of.

Ptolemy fell silent, thinking. He seemed to concentrating hard. "I used to remember it, at first. But the memories are slowly slipping away. It's getting harder and harder to recall…" His voice slipped away in thought.

Hmm. Something here isn't right. Ptolemy is supposed to be a spirit. He should remember more of the afterlife and less of his actual life. But it's vice-versa, as though he never died.

Something isn't right here.

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(1) Mentioned this cat before, remember?

(2) Talk about awkward.

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A/n

Well…Yup. There's chapter 39. Holy crap that's a lot…Next chapter Ptolemy.