"Thank you, Bartimaeus," Kitty says primly once they're outside, and gives the djinni a scratch between the shoulder blades. Which, yes, her earlier stroking of his head made it clear enough that he didn't have a birdlike reaction to her touch, so there's no reason to think he'll have a catlike reaction to a bit of rubbing, but it just feels like the right thing to do. "And Mrs Koehler thanks you, too, even if she doesn't know it."

She wraps her arms around him, then, bracing for liftoff. "Now," she says, "you can make as much of a scene as you'd like. I'm with you."