The Golem's Eye

bed socks peeping out incongruously from under his pajamas.
    "Hard to believe anyone would risk her life for this specimen," the djinni observed. "If I were his mother, I'd look the other way."
    "You haven't met this Kitty," Nathaniel said. "She'll come for him."
    "She won't." Hyrnek was standing near the window now; he'd overheard this last exchange. "We used to be close, but not anymore. I haven't seen her for years."
    "Even so," Nathaniel said. "She'll come."
    "Not since... my face was ruined," the boy went on. His voice throbbed with self-pity.
    "Oh, give me a break!" Nathaniel's tension exploded into annoyance. "Your face is fine! You can talk, can't you? You can see? Hear? Well, then. Stop complaining. I've seen far worse."
    "That's what I told him." The djinni negligently stood and hopped down from the wardrobe without a sound. "He's far too het up about it. Look at your face— that's permanent, too, and you're not afraid to parade it before the world. Nope, for both of you its your hair that's the real downer. I've seen better styles on the back end of a badger. Just give me five minutes with a pair of shears—"
    Nathaniel rolled his eyes and sought to reassert some authority. He grabbed Hyrnek's collar and spun him around. "Back to your chair," he snarled. "Sit down. As for you"—he addressed the djinni—"my contact's man will have given the girl this address some hours ago. She will be on her way now, almost certainly with the Staff, since that is her most powerful weapon. When she enters the stair below, a sensory sphere will be triggered and sound the alert up here. You are to disarm her as she comes through the door, hand me the Staff, and prevent her escape. Got that?"
    "Clear as daylight, boss. As it was the fourth and fifth times you told me."
    "Just don't forget. Get the Staff. That's the important bit."
    "Don't I know it? I was at the fall of Prague, remember?"
    Nathaniel grunted and resumed his pacing. Even as he did so, there was a sound from the street outside. He turned to the djinni, wide-eyed. "What was that?"
    "A voice. Man's."
    "Did you hear—There it is again!"
    The djinni indicated the window. "Do you want me to look?"
    "Don't let yourself be seen."
    The Egyptian boy sidled to the window; vanished. A scarab beetle crawled behind the sheet. A bright light flared somewhere beyond the glass. Nathaniel hopped from one foot to the other. "Well?"
    "I think your girl's arrived." The djinni's voice sounded small and distant. "Why don't you take a peek?"
    Nathaniel ripped the sheet aside and looked out, in time to see a small column of flame flare up from the ground halfway down the road. It died back. On the previously deserted street were many running forms—some on two legs, some on four, and some that were evidently undecided about the matter, but were still gamely lolloping along under the bright moon. There was a snapping and a howling. Nathaniel felt the color drain from his face.
    "Oh, hell," he said. "The Night Police."
    Another small blast; the room shook mildly. A slight and agile two-legged form sprinted across the road and leaped through a newly blown hole in the wall of a building. A wolf pursued her, only to be engulfed by another explosion.
    The scarab beetle whistled approvingly. "Nice use of an Elemental Sphere. Your girl's good. Even so, she'll hardly evade the whole battalion."
    "How many are there?"
    "A dozen, perhaps more. Look, they're coming over the rooftops."
    "You think they'll catch—"
    "Oh yes—and eat her. They're angry now. Their blood's up."
    "All right—" Nathaniel stood away from the window. He had come to a decision. "Bartimaeus," he said, "go out and get her. We can't risk her being killed."
    The scarab beetle chittered in disgust. "Another lovely job. Wonderful. Are you sure, now? You'll be going directly against that Police Chief's authority."
    "With luck, he won't know it's me. Take her to..." Nathaniel's mind raced; he snapped his fingers. "That old library—you know, the one we sheltered in, when Lovelace's demons were after us. I'll take the prisoner and meet you later. We all need to get away from here."
    "I'm with you on that one. Very well. Stand clear." The beetle skittered backward on the sill away from the window, rose onto its hind legs and waved its antennae at the glass. A bright light, a spurt of heat; a lopsided hole melted in the middle of the pane. The beetle opened its wing cases and hummed out into the night.
    Nathaniel turned back