The Golem's Eye

we can. We encourage them to vie with one another, and set them at one another's throats. We load them with luxuries until their bodies grow fat and their minds too dull to notice their own downfalls. We do our best. Which is more than you humans manage to do most of the time."
    At this, the girl uttered a strange, ragged laugh. "What do you think I've been trying to do all these years? Sabotaging government, stealing artifacts, disrupting the city—it's been hopeless, the whole thing. I might as well have been a secretary, like my mother wanted. My friends have been killed or corrupted and demons like you have done it all. And don't tell me you don't enjoy it. That thing in the crypt loved every second of..." Her body gave a violent shudder; she broke off, rubbed her eyes.
    "Well, there are exceptions," I began—then desisted.
    As if a thin barrier had been broached, the girl's shoulders shook and she suddenly began to cry with great spasms of pent-up grief. She did so silently, stifling the noise with her fist, as if to save me embarrassment. I didn't know what to say. It was all very awkward. She went on a long time. I sat myself cross-legged a little way off, turned respectfully away from her and gazed off into the shadows.
    Where was the boy? Come on, come on. He was taking his time.
    Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. Try as I might to ignore them, her words gnawed away at me in the still of the night.

42
     
    Kitty
     
    Kitty gathered herself at last. The last ructions of despair subsided. She sighed heavily. The ruined building was dark, save for the small area near the roof where the magical light glowed faintly. Its radiance had dimmed. The demon sat close by, still wearing the form of a dark-skinned youth clad in a wrapped skirt. Its face was turned aside, the light casting angular shadows on its thin neck and hunched bare shoulders. It looked oddly frail.
    "If it's any consolation," the demon said, "I destroyed that afrit from the crypt." It did not turn around.
    Kitty coughed and straightened her back, smoothing her hair out of her eyes. She did not reply at once. The despairing hopelessness that had overcome her when the demon plucked her into the sky had subsided now, washed away by the sudden out-welling of grief for her lost friends. She was left feeling hollow and lightheaded. Even so, she tried to gather her thoughts.
    Escape. She could try to escape.... No, there was Jakob to consider, she should wait for him. If he was actually coming.... She scowled: she had only the demon's word for that. Perhaps it was better to flee.... She craned her head from side to side, seeking inspiration. "You killed it...?" she said absently. "How?" There was a stairwell close by; they were on the first floor, then. Most of the windows were boarded up.
    "Dropped him in the Thames. He was quite mad, you know, after so long. He'd bound his essence into Gladstone's bones. Wouldn't—or couldn't—get himself free. A sad business, but there you go. He was a menace to everything—djinni or human—and is best trapped under hundreds of meters of water."
    "Yes, quite..." There looked to be a broken window not far off; perhaps she could leap from it. The demon might attack with some magic as she ran, but her resilience would see her through. Then she could drop to the street, seek cover—
    "I hope you're not thinking of doing anything rash," the boy said suddenly.
    She started guiltily. "No."
    "You're thinking of doing something; I can hear it in your voice. Well, don't. I won't bother using a magical attack. I've been around, you know. I'm well aware of your defenses. I've seen it all before. I'll just lob a brick at you."
    Kitty chewed her lip. Reluctantly, and only for the moment, she dismissed escape from her mind. "What do you mean, seen it before?" she said. "You're talking about the alley?"
    The boy flashed a look at her over his shoulder. "Well, there was that, of course—your chums withstood a fairly high-intensity Inferno from me head on. But I mean further back, long before London's precious little magicians started getting above themselves. Time and again, I've seen it. It always happens sooner or later. You know, considering what's at stake you'd think that wretched Mandrake would make a bit of an effort to get here, wouldn't you? We've been here an hour already."
    Kitty's brow furrowed. "You mean you've seen people like me before?"
    "Of course! A dozen times over. Huh, I suppose the magicians don't let you