Disclaimer-I do not own the Bartimaeus Sequence, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or any related works by their respective creators. I do own my OCs, and the plot of this story - so please, no copying.

Please read, review, and enjoy!

Chapter 2

Abby's shock quickly transformed into disbelief and confusion. How could there be light coming out of Riley's hands? Her sister wasn't holding a light source, and Abby knew that a normal, everyday flashlight could never cause an explosion. How was their father's killer so gigantic? Why did he have only one eye in the center of his forehead? And why had their cat been replaced by the boy that she had seen Riley walking with a year ago?

She didn't know how to respond. All that Abby could do was stand frozen as the man was hammered with mini explosions, but even those attacks proved fruitless as the man once again raised his club.

A man just as big came barreling into the side of the murderer. Just like the murderer, the man had only one eye, and, just like the murderer was only wearing a pelt of some sort around his waist.

There was a well aimed kick to the first's crotch, and the murderer stumbled back in pain.

"Didn't you hear," her rescuer began, "that cyclops are so 1600s?" The same light appeared in the large man's hands and he wasted no time in shooting it at the murderer's face. The murderer howled in pain as the light exploded. He fell to the ground.

Suddenly, their rescuer disappeared, and in his place was that mysterious boy from before. He turned to face the sisters with his lips curling into a smile. "That should have taken care of him-" he began.

"Geist, he's behind you!" Riley cried out.

The boy looked over his shoulder and swore in a language that Abby recognized. She wasn't sure where she knew it from, but she certainly had heard it before.

The murderer was back on his feet, his face burnt beyond recognition.

The boy dodged the swing of the club by rolling to the side. "Alright. Detonations don't seem to be having much effect. Riley, do you remember what I've been teaching you?"

Her sister gave a hesitant nod. "Of course I do…" Riley's voice was filled with uncertainty. Abby was worried; the name Riley Bell and the word uncertain just didn't go together.

"I want you to use an Inferno on him."

Riley's face paled. "But I haven't been able to control it before!"

The boy ducked to avoid a blow. "In an actual fight, you're suddenly able to do things you can't normally. You can do it. I believe in you, Riley."

She bit her lip. "Alright," Riley finally said. "I'll try."

He rushed to Abby's side. To her surprise, he lifted her off the ground and held her bridal-style. A startled yelp escaped her lips.

"Let me go!" she cried out. She struggled in his grip, but her punches and slaps didn't seem to bother him.

"No can do," he replied. "Riley wouldn't like it if I let you become fried to a crisp by her attack." The boy brought her into the hallway. He let her down, but put his hand on her shoulder to prevent her from running back into the room. It was a useless act. Abby was too terrified to do so.

She watched with amazement and wonder as fire started to appear in Riley's hands. It soon grew into a fireball, yet somehow Riley wasn't getting burned by it. Just like with the strange green light, she lifted her hands up and aimed it at their father's murderer.

The fire shot across the room. It engulfed its target it a brilliant display of warm colors, but flames quickly started to lick the sides of the room. To Abby's horror, it began to come towards her and the boy.

When the man didn't rise, her sister rushed out of the room. "Geist, what are we supposed to do? I knew that I couldn't do it, and now the entire house is going to burn down!"

Despite the flames beginning to engulf the building around, he calmly replied with, "I had guessed you wouldn't be able to do it."
"Wait, you did?!" Riley exclaimed. He nodded. "Then why did you let me do it?! We're going to lose the house!"

"You're going to lose it anyways. You're not old enough to own it. Both you and Abby would have been shipped off to foster homes, possibly not even the same ones. But if the house burns down, on the other hand, then you both died in a fire. You get what I'm thinking?" Abby somehow managed to understand; she was still in shock from the events that had occurred. He directed the two of them to their rooms. She complied, but her mind wasn't truly there as she gathered up the few items she could save before they escaped the house.

As they burst into the street, Abby cast one last glance over her shoulder at the burning place she had once called home.

The weather decided to match their moods, and soon they were walking through a downpour. The boy glanced around them. He kept a neutral expression on his face as he did so, making it seem as if he was taking in the houses lining the streets. But there was something in the way he did so that suggested otherwise, something that suggested to Abby's grief-stricken mind that he was watching for something.

Riley remained silent as they trudged along. Even if she had been feeling up to conversation, Abby didn't know where to begin. They had lost nearly everything. Their father, their home, and the majority of their belongings. Abby hadn't been able to grab any clothes before the fire consumed the house, and her possessions consisted of an old backpack, a protein bar, the outfit she wore, a half-empty water bottle, a sketchbook her father had given her, dull pencils, a pencil sharpener that barely worked, and a copy ofthe first Nancy Drew book. Her phone had been left on the kitchen table, along with Riley's, and both had been lost to the flames.

We only have each other now, she realized. She was still in too much shock to really comprehend the meaning of her father's death, and she knew the pain of it would come crashing down on her when they finally had a chance to stop.

Riley suddenly draped her leather jacket over Abby's wet shoulders. She hadn't realized it before, but she was shivering from the cold. Her teeth were even chattering.

The boy spoke. "I can't make up for the loss of your father," he began. The now orphans turned their attention to him. He had a small bag on his back, one that she hadn't seen him with back at the house when the man had attacked. He reached into it. "But I can try to make the two you feel at least a little better."

He was holding something.

She looked closer.

He was holding their phones.

Abby eagerly grabbed hers out of his hand, Riley mirroring the action. She could communicate with other people now; Samantha was only a phone call away-

But what would she tell her? How was she supposed to begin?

She would have to wait until she understood what was going on. Rather reluctantly, she put the phone into her backpack.

"Something has been bothering me, Geist," Riley informed the boy. She was whispering, as if she didn't want Abby to hear their conversation. "It was a cyclops on all of the planes."

The boy nodded. "I noticed that too. I would say it was an entity higher than a marid, but if it was, it shouldn't have been beaten so easily."

Riley bit her lip. "So it was an actual, living, breathing cyclops."

Another nod. "As of right now, that's the only explanation, kid."

Abby couldn't wrap her mind around the murderer being a thing that supposedly didn't exist. She pinched herself in an attempt to wake herself up. This had to be some crazy nightmare. Riley couldn't do magic, their father wasn't dead, he wasn't killed by a cyclops, and their cat wasn't the boy she had seen Riley with.

But when she finished pinching, she was still walking in pouring rain.

Suddenly, Abby felt like they were being watched. She glanced behind her. The watcher's face was hidden by a combination of his hoodie and hat, but Abby felt as though she had seen him before. He kept his distance.

The hoodie looked oddly familiar, and when she noticed that, she knew who he was.

"We're being followed by someone." The two stared at her. Slightly fazed by their attention, she added, "He was watching Samantha and I earlier."

Riley and the boy glanced over their shoulders. Riley muttered something. She had heard the boy mutter it before as well – it sounded like verdammt, whatever that was. "Not now," Riley muttered. "Not now. Damn magicians. Can't they ever give us a break?"

Abby didn't get what was so bad about magicians, or why her sister would be followed by them. The most terrifying thing that magicians did was saw someone in half. Unless Riley didn't pay for one of their magic shows, magicians shouldn't have been so intent on catching her.

Their follower started to shorten the gap between them.

"Apparently not," the boy commented. Abby suddenly realized that even after all this time, she still didn't know his name. What had Riley called him? Geist? It was certainly a strange name, but what else was she supposed to call him?

In about five seconds, the follower had caught up to them. Both Riley and Geist got into what appeared to be defensive stances as they all slowed to a halt. The follower took in the sight of them and said, "L-Leave the demigod alone, monsters."

It wasn't exactly the most terrifying threat with his legs shaking, and how he kept looking away from them, as if he just wanted to run off and never come back.

Geist and Riley exchanged glances. "Demigod?" she questioned. "There's no such thing as gods. What in the world are you talking about?"

"And neither of us take very kindly to be calling monsters," Geist said, smiling in a way that made shivers race up and down Abby's spine. It seemed to have the same effect on the mystery man, because he gave a very large and audible gulp. "Now, if you excuse us, we'll be on our way. Right, Riley?"

Her older sister nodded. She grabbed Abby's hand, and the three of them started to walk away from the boy. Abby continued to look over her shoulder at him.

He seemed to come to some deep decision, taking a deep breath and rushing to their side. "Wait! I never said that you could go-" The boy, just as he reached them, tripped and knocked all of them to the ground. The boy's hood, along with his shoes, went flying off.

Abby was astonished to see that he had horns peeking out of his hair.

"Well, I don't think he's a magician," Geist said, peering at the follower's feet. Abby pulled herself out of the pile of tangled limbs and stared. "Something about him having a pair of horns on his head and hooves for feet is telling me otherwise."

She was shocked this wasn't a dream.

A/N Hey there, all you wonderful Souls! I'm back once again with a bit of news. Actually, this isn't just a bit. CsMelody, an amazing writer who writes an equally amazing NathanielxBartimaeus called Calendar, have decided that October 30th is the Bartimaeus Sequence's fandom day. We chose this because the time line on the official website says Bartimaeus was summoned all the way back in 3010 BC, 30/10. Also, we thought it being near Halloween was neat. :D

Please spread the word and give us suggestions for what to do!

And, once again, here are the other accounts I have:

Quotev: TheHopefulSoul

DeviantArt: SoulErrorArwitch

Tumblr: soulerrorarwitch, ask-telos-of-minecraftia, ask-geist-of-germany

Have a great day/night! See you in Chapter 3~