The Golem's Eye

overly conscious of his youth and frailty, of his raw vulnerability beside her power.
    "We do not have much time," his master said. "For your sake, I hope you have a competent demon readily to hand."

10
     
    Bartimaeus
     
    As always, of course, I tried to resist.
    I exerted all my energies to counteract the pull, but the wrenching words were just too strong; each syllable was a harpoon spearing my substance, drawing it together, dragging me off. For three short seconds, the gentle gravity of the Other Place helped me hang back... then, all at once, its support weakened and I was torn away like a child from its mother's breast.
    With extreme suddenness, my essence was compacted, extended to an infinite length and, a moment later, expelled out into the world and the familiar, hated confinements of a pentacle.
    Where, following the immemorial laws, I materialized instantly.
    Choices, choices. What should I be? The summons was a powerful one—the unknown magician was certainly experienced, and thus unlikely to be cowed by a roaring buggane or a cobweb-eyed specter. So I decided upon a delicate, fastidious guise to impress upon my captor my formidable sophistication.
    It was a snappy piece of work, if I say so myself. A large iridescent bubble, glimmering all over with a pearly sheen, rotated in midair. Soft fragrances of aromatic woods drifted forth, with—faintly, as if borne from a great distance—the ethereal music of harps and violins. Inside the bubble, with little round spectacles perched upon her shapely nose, sat a beautiful maiden. [1]  She peered calmly out.
     
    [1] Her face was based on a vestal virgin I'd met in Rome, a woman of admirably independent outlook. Julia used to sneak away from the Sacred Flame by night to bet on the chariots at the Circus Maximus. She didn't really wear spectacles, of course. I added them here to give the face a bit more gravitas. Call it artistic license.
     
    And let off a cry of astonished fury.
    "You!"
    "Now, hold on, Bartimaeus—"
    "You!" The ethereal music cut off with an unpleasant squelch; the soft aromatic fragrances turned rank and sour. The beautiful maiden's face grew crimson, her eyes bulged like a pair of poached eggs, the glass in the spectacles cracked. Her rosebud mouth opened to reveal sharp yellow teeth champing up and down with rage. Flames danced inside the bubble and its surface swelled dangerously, as if about to burst. It spun so fast, the air began to hum.
    "Just listen for a minute—"
    "We had an agreement! We each made a vow!"
    "Now, strictly speaking, that's not quite true—"
    "No? Have you forgotten so soon? And it is soon, isn't it? I lose track in the Other Place, but you look barely different from before. You're still a kid!"
    He drew himself up. "I am an important member of the government—"
    "You're not even shaving. What is it?—two years later, maybe three?"
    "Two years, eight months."
    "So you're fourteen now. And already you're summoning me again."
    "Yes, but wait a minute—I never made a vow back then. I just let you go. I never said—"
    "That you'd not call me back? That was the firm implication. I'd forget your true name, you'd forget mine. Deal. But now..." Inside the whirling bubble, the beautiful maiden's face was fast regressing down an evolutionary slope—a prominent beetling brow had appeared, a jagged nose, red feral eyes... the little round glasses were somewhat out of place, and a claw reached up within the bubble, seized the glasses, and shoved them into the mouth, where sharp teeth crunched them into powder.
    The boy raised a hand. "Just stop messing around and listen to me for a moment."
    "Listen to you? Why should I do that, when the ache from last time has barely gone? I can tell you I was anticipating rather longer than two years—"
    "Two years, eight months."
    "Two measly human years to get over the trauma of meeting you. Sure, I knew some idiot with a pointy hat would one day call me up again, but I hardly thought it would be the same idiot as last time!"
    He pursed his lips. "I don't have a pointy hat."
    "You're a fool! I know your birth name and you bring me back into the world against my will. Well, that's fine, because I'm going to crow it from the rooftops before I'm done!"
    "No—you vowed—"
    "My vow is over, finished, void, annulled, returned to sender marked unopened. Two can play at your game, boy." The maiden's face was gone. Instead, a bestial shape, all teeth and spiny hair, snapped at the