The Golem's Eye

there were some search spheres here earlier. I think the golem's cloud caused them to retreat, but they'll be back—and soon. It would be best if you depart with haste."
    "Yes." Kitty took a few steps, then remembered the parchment in her hand. With sudden disgust she loosened her fingers; it drifted to the cobblestones.
    "What about the Staff?" Bartimaeus said. "You could take it, you know. No one's here to stop you."
    Kitty frowned, glanced back at it. It was a formidable object, she knew that much. Mr. Pennyfeather would have taken it. So would Hopkins, the benefactor, Honorius the afrit, Mandrake himself... Many others had died for it. "I don't think so," she said. "It's no good to me."
     
    She turned away, began hobbling after Jakob toward the arch. She half expected the demon to call to her again, but it did not do so. In less than a minute, Kitty was at the arch. As she rounded it, she looked back and saw the dark-skinned boy still staring after her across the courtyard. A moment later he was out of view.

46
     
    Nathaniel
     
    A sudden ice-cold shock; Nathaniel gasped, sputtered, opened his eyes. The Egyptian boy stood over him, lowering a dripping pail. Freezing water ran into Nathaniel's ears, nostrils, and open mouth; he tried to speak, coughed, retched, coughed again, and rolled onto his side, conscious of a wrenching pain in his stomach and a dull tingling in every muscle. He groaned.
    "Rise and shine." That was the djinni's voice. It sounded extremely cheerful.
    Nathaniel raised a shaking hand to the side of his head. "What happened? I feel... terrible."
    "You look it too, believe me. You were hit by a considerable magical backlash through the Staff. Your brains and body will be even more addled than usual for a while, but you're lucky to be alive."
    Nathaniel tried to lever himself into a sitting position. "The Staff..."
    "The magical energies have been gradually ebbing through your system," the djinni went on. "Your skin's been steaming gently and the end of each hair's been glowing at the tip. A remarkable sight. Your aura's gone haywire, too. Well, it's a delicate process, ridding yourself of a charge like that. I wanted to wake you straightaway, but I knew I had to wait several hours to ensure you were safely recovered."
    "What! How long has it been?"
    "Five minutes. I got bored."
    Recent memories flooded back into Nathaniel's mind. "The golem! I was trying to—"
    "Overcome a golem? An almost impossible task for any djinni or magician, and doubly so when operating an artifact as subtle and powerful as that Staff. You did well to activate it at all. Be thankful it wasn't charged enough to kill you."
    "But the golem! The Staff!... Oh no—" With sudden horror, Nathaniel realized the implications. With both of them gone, he'd have failed utterly, he would be helpless before his enemies. With great weariness, he put his head in his hands, scarcely troubling to stifle the beginnings of a sob.
    A hard, firm toe jabbed him sharply on his leg. "If you had the wit to look around you," the djinni said, "you might see something to your advantage."
     
    Nathaniel opened his eyes, peeled his fingers away. He looked; what he saw practically jolted him clear of the cobblestones. Not two feet from where he sat, the golem towered against the sky; it was bent toward him, its clawing hand so close he might touch it, the head lowered menacingly; but the spark of life had vanished from it. It had no more motion than a statue or a lamppost.
    And propped up against one of its legs, so casually it might almost have been a gentleman's cane: the Staff of Gladstone.
    Nathaniel frowned and looked, and frowned some more, but the solution to this puzzle quite eluded him.
    "I'd close your mouth," the djinni advised him. "Some passing bird might use it as a nest."
    With difficulty, as his muscles seemed like water, Nathaniel got to his feet. "But how...?"
    "Isn't it a poser?" The boy grinned. "How do you think it happened?"
    "I must have done it, just before I lost control." Nathaniel nodded slowly; yes, that was the only possible solution. "I was trying to immobilize the golem, and I must have succeeded, just as the backlash happened." He began to feel rather better about himself.
    The djinni snorted long and loud. "Guess again, sonny. What about the girl?"
    "Kitty Jones?" Nathaniel scanned the courtyard. He had quite forgotten her. "She—she must have fled."
    "Wrong again. I'll tell you, shall I?" The djinni fixed him with