Here, I give you, my first Bartimaeus Trilogy Fanfiction, and my first full-blown chapterfic.

I'm not sure I have a solid plot completely decided upon, but I have a basic idea. This rather short

chapter is just a simple beginning. I promise it will get exciting soon! I'm hoping to sum up

and give a satisfying ending to the aftermath of Ptolemy's Gate.R&R, and thanks for reading!

I nearly groaned. Well, that is, if I had not been a bit of essence floating about with every single other spirit in The Other Place and had actually been able to groan, I would have. But honestly, when I felt the gentle but persistent pulling at my essence, I had a very strong desire to lash out and bite something. Again, the small problem of my having no definitive shape prevented this desire, but that was certainly not the point! I had just saved an entire country of pathetic humans from being destroyed by rampaging demons, and what do I get? A summons, barely any time at all from the great deed. I had expected at least a bit of recuperation, healing in the Other Place, some R&R, you know, the whole shebang. But no. The great Bartimaeus could have no rest, according to these persistent magicians.

For as long as I was able, I resisted, attempting to firmly ground my essence in the Other Place*1. In my irritability, I was not going to let my master summon the kind, gentle Bartimaeus that I usually was*2. No, he was getting the fierce 5,000 year old djinni who had helped destroy a great golem, steal the Amulet of Samarkand, and rescued millions of little humans from their doom. I blinked, then scowled as I realized that I was unconsciously putting my most recent adventures with the boy at the top of my "Bartimaeus's Greatest Accomplishments" list.

I pushed all of these thoughts to a different level of my mind and concentrated upon my guise. I was definitely leaning toward something frightening and flashy. Something that would scare this magician out of his pants and send him crying to his mummy*3. I quickly selected a huge devil, particularly muscular and wide, with blood-red skin, half-meter long twisting black horns, flaming eye sockets, and smoking nostrils. Just before I appeared, I added a spiked tail, and gave off a scent of sulfurous brimstone to add to the overall hideousness.

I appeared inside a basic pentacle.

Then nearly collapsed upon the floor in shock as I looked upon the face of my summoner.

**o..o**

*1. A bit of a paradox, yes. But hey, I do my best for you people.

*2. ...What? Are you suggesting that I am not usully kind and gentle? Such rubbish.

*3. A bit on the hopeful side, I'll admit.