“But wouldn’t the golem just fall apart when it gets near Scarlett, anyway?” He was really hoping Scarlett’s radius, as she called it, would encompass the witch, the vampire, and the golem, leaving him to face down just two humans and a pile of dirt. That seemed doable.
But Runa was shaking her head, looking solemn. “This is important. Scarlett won’t be able to neutralize the golem.”
“What? That’s…how is that possible?”
She sighed. “I don’t completely understand it. Something about animation as a permanent change, rather than a temporary spell. Think of it like…a loophole.”
“That must be why Olivia wanted to work with Mallory in the first place,” Jesse concluded. “Because she knew Mallory had a way around Scarlett’s ability.”
“Yes.”
He thought that over for a minute. “You said ‘if the witch commands it.’ So it’s sort of about careful wording for the commands?”
“Exactly. If the witch says, ‘Go get me that banana,’ the golem will go over to the banana and pick it up. She would have to specifically instruct it to bring it back to her. And, if she were so inclined, she’d have to tell it to destroy anyone who gets in its way,” Runa said. “That’s the really tricky thing about the golem magic. Once the clay is animated, there are plenty of witches who have the juice to push a command like ‘Bring me Denise Godfry’ into the golem. But only a really powerful witch can hold the golem long enough to give it a complicated command like, ‘Bring Denise Godfrey to the end of the Santa Monica Pier and throw her in the water. Keep her quiet and still the whole time, and kill anyone who gets in your way,’ or something like that.”
Jesse tried to concentrate. He needed to ask the right questions. “So if I can’t destroy the golem physically, how do I stop it?”
He glanced at Runa. “That’s the interesting part,” she said, tucking loose strands of blonde hair behind her ears. “Channeling magic is all about symbolism—this stands in for that, this spell symbolizes that activity. A golem needs more than just words in the air. It needs a word on itself.”
“You lost me.”
Runa reached up and touched her own forehead. “Here. The witch carves a word in the clay right here, and it’s like the stamp of the command spell. In the example I used before, the witch would carve the word banana. If the task is directed at a person, it’s a name, like Denise or Scarlett. The word is the permanent change; it’s what allows the golem to act even in Scarlett’s radius. If everyone is standing next to Scarlett, Mallory wouldn’t be able to give the golem a new command. She needs to channel magic for that. But if she gives the golem a command outside Scarlett’s radius, the golem can follow through within it.”
“Unless I remove the word?” Jesse said.
“Exactly. Take away the word, you take away the command. No command and no magic means no golem. In theory the thing would just…collapse.”
“In theory.”
“Just keep in mind, the thing is made out of hard clay that’s dry on the outside. You can’t just rub your hand across it a couple of times.”
“Okay.”
“I think we’re here,” she said abruptly.
Jesse checked the GPS on his phone. “You’re right.” He parked the car at a legal spot on the block next to Eli’s, and the two of them got out and walked casually toward the outdoor stairs that led up to his place. “Will said it’s on the third floor,” he said quietly to Runa. “There’s an interior door into the building, but you need a key to get in.”
“This is so weird,” she whispered back. “I’ve broken into my friends’ houses before, with a hide-a-key or whatever, but never someone I haven’t actually met.”
“Me neither,” Jesse growled. He was getting more and more nervous as they climbed the stairs. He was a cop, for crying out loud. It helped a little that he knew Eli would approve, if he were conscious, but that would still be hard to explain to the Santa Monica patrol cops. A West LA detective committing a B and E at 11:00 on a school night didn’t look good, no matter how you spun it.
“You sure you want to do this?” Runa whispered, reading his expression.
He nodded. “Let’s just get it over with.”
They finally reached the right door, and Jesse peeked around, seeing no obvious witnesses. There was a bit of noise from some clubs on the next street over. He glanced at Runa, who nodded that it looked all clear to her too. Then Jesse pulled the minicrowbar out of his jacket sleeve.
It was a nice, solid chunk of metal that they’d purchased at a twenty-four-hour convenience store along with two candy bars, a hammer, and some nails to divert suspicion. Jesse fitted the crowbar into the crack of the door, closest to the lock. They didn’t have time for finesse. He nodded at Runa, and she began knocking. “Eli?” Jesse called. “It’s Jesse, man, you around?” The noise from the knocking and yelling almost masked the sharp crack of the wooden door as it splintered open. Jesse and Runa slipped in quickly, closing the broken door behind them, and Jesse turned on all the lights. He immediately wiped the crowbar on his shirt and dropped it on a chair near the front door. If they got caught, he would simply say the door had been broken when they’d arrived.
The apartment was more or less one big room, with two doors jammed in the back. Jesse figured they probably led to a bedroom and bathroom, not the kind of places where one usually kept a spare key. “If you were a spare key, where would you be?” Runa mused.
Jesse checked the walls and tables nearest the door, in case he kept it conveniently in plain sight. No such luck. Eli had decorated the walls with bits and pieces from the ocean, shells and starfish and things, and the main wall space near the front door was taken up by an enormous surfboard. “Usually people go for a kitchen drawer or desk drawer,” he said absently, taking in the rest of the room. It was sparse: a couch, an armchair, a television, and a small card table that was covered in some sort of woodworking project. Runa peeked into the two doors at the end of the room. “No desk,” she reported.
The kitchenette was tiny, but he gestured that way with a nod. “Let’s start there.”
They worked quickly through the drawers and cupboards, shifting through utensils and hard plastic dinnerware that looked like it could take a bullet before cracking. Eli must not eat in very often, Jesse thought, or he only ate sandwiches and fruit, because there weren’t enough dishes for real cooking. In this case it worked to their advantage: less stuff to go through.
Runa checked the freezer, rummaging around behind boxes of microwave dinners. “Saw it in a movie,” she said sheepishly, as she closed the freezer door.
Jesse dropped into a folding chair, fidgeting. “We might be way off about this. He might not even have a spare key. Or he might have given it to a friend for safekeeping. Hell, Scarlett might have it.”
“Don’t give up yet,” Runa soothed him, patting his shoulder. “We still have the bedroom and the bathroom.”
Jesse looked up at her. He still felt the vestiges of love, and the grief, but something had changed fundamentally between them. It was like she’d torn off a mask. He didn’t even know this Runa, who was committing a major crime with him to stop a couple of nutcases she’d never even met. “I don’t want to go in there,” he confessed. “It’s too…personal.” And he didn’t want to see where Scarlett and Eli had slept together.
“Okay, let’s stop and think this through,” she said thoughtfully. “You’re Eli. You lock your keys in your car, which is parked illegally downstairs. You’re running late for something, so you wouldn’t want to have to track through the whole apartment to find it.”
“It’s not in the kitchen, and it’s not on a hook by the door,” Jesse added.
They stood like that for a moment, and Jesse felt the beginnings of despair. If they couldn’t find Scarlett…
“The surfboard,” Runa said suddenly. She was eyeing the giant board by the front door.
“What about the surfboard?”
“Look, there’s
something behind it.”
Jesse followed her line of sight. There was a very narrow closet door set in the wall just behind the surfboard. They moved at the same time; Jesse pulled the board aside so Runa could grab the closet doorknob. It opened with a jingle. There were three sets of keys tacked to the back of the door. Someone had taped a piece of masking tape over each one, labeling the sets Car, Apartment, and HotD.
“Hot Dee?” Runa said, confused.
“Hair of the Dog,” Jesse said. He snatched the car keys off the hook and thrust them at Runa. “Let’s do it.”
Runa looked around the room, and finally went over to the carpeted area in front of the TV. She pulled a piece of chalk out of her skirt pocket. “Other witches do this differently, but I’ve always liked working within circles,” she explained, drawing a large one on the carpeting. She didn’t completely close the circle, leaving a gap of four or five inches. “It helps me focus.”
Jesse shifted his weight uneasily. “Do you need me to leave?”
“No, just be quiet and don’t let anything cross the line.” She looked around. “And I don’t have a map, so I’ll need to do this with a pen and paper.”
“That I did see in the kitchen,” Jesse said, and he retrieved a chewed-up pen and a pack of Post-it notes for her. “How long will it take?” He tried not to sound as anxious as he felt.
Runa shrugged helplessly. “Five minutes? Ten? Usually I do an elaborate circle with candles and stuff to help get me in a trance, but this is the quick-and-dirty version. Just try to be patient.”
He nodded, and she stepped into the circle, sitting cross-legged with the paper and pen and key in front of her. She picked up the chalk again and closed the circle, then exchanged the chalk for the car key. Jesse sat down in the folding chair again, not wanting to crowd her by taking the sofa or armchair. He was expecting her to start chanting in Latin or something, but to his surprise she closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and let it out in a single humming note. Jesse had attended a couple of her yoga classes when they’d first started dating, and this was not unlike the Ommmmmm sound she used at the beginning and end of each class. She had a nice voice, and he found the tone sort of pleasant, rather than annoying.
That went on for a few minutes, until Jesse felt the tiredness overtaking his body. He’d been running on adrenaline since his stakeout at Kirsten’s, and he hadn’t exactly slept well on the floor at his parents’ house. Now that his body was still, he was beginning to feel it.
Suddenly the hum stopped, and Runa did begin to chant, but not in Latin. It was a singsong, lilting language Jesse didn’t recognize. Kirsten was Swedish, wasn’t she? If they were cousins, maybe this was Swedish? Finnish? Something Scandinavian, surely. Runa’s upper body tilted forward, and her right hand crept down to the floor, picking up the pen. She scrawled something on the Post-it note, and Jesse had to restrain himself from running over to break the circle and snatch it up. Instead, he sat impatiently as Runa went through a couple more minutes of the humming tone, and then she opened her eyes. She shook her head a little, focusing on him, and looked blearily down at the note.
“Oh, here.” She ripped the top sheet off and handed it to him. He squinted to make out her tiny handwriting: Dayton and Freight St., Redondo Beach. “Do you know where that is?”
“I think so,” Jesse said. “I know Freight Street, anyway.”
“Then you should go.”
He took a step and hesitated. “What about you?”
Runa smiled sadly. “I’m going to call a cab.” She brightened suddenly. “Oh, wait.” The witch dug in her other skirt pocket and came out with a tiny bag on a long string. “I grabbed this for you from Kirsten’s car. She keeps a couple just in case.”
He took the little bag, looking at her face. “Protection amulet?” he asked, surprised. He’d been under the impression that only certain people were given these.
She nodded. “It’s not elegant, but it’s the quick-and-dirty version again,” she said. She reached over and tapped the bag. “This one is for protection against witches.”
“Not vampires?”
Runa shrugged. “You can only wear one at a time, for it to work. From what Kirsten told me, Olivia will stay pretty close to Scarlett, which means the witch will be the one at large. This will prevent her from spelling you.”
“Thank you.” He hung the long string over his head, tucking the bag into his shirt. Looking around, he also picked up the crowbar and hid it back in his sleeve. Just in case.
“Remember,” Runa added, “as soon as you get close to Scarlett, that amulet will short out. So make it count, Jesse.”
He met her gaze and found a whole unspoken conversation there. She stepped forward and gave him a gentle, brief kiss on the lips. “Go,” she whispered.
He went.
Chapter 29
The second I realized what Olivia was planning, the panic took over. Even though some rational part of my brain knew it was useless, I kicked backward against the golem, forcing it to hold my weight so I could use both legs. Nothing happened. The damn thing didn’t even have to adjust its grip, and my kicks were completely ineffective. I braced my feet back on the ground and slammed my head backward, hoping to startle it, but the golem didn’t have pain sensors, and although I did feel a tiny bit of give as I dented its nose, all I really ended up with was a minor headache.
Olivia had simply taken a small step back while I did all this, a bemused, taunting smile on her face. “All done?” she said cheerfully. I didn’t answer. “Very well.” She nodded to Mallory, who shuffled forward, bent a little, and pinched at a vein in my left hand. The pain was surprising and sharp, and I felt involuntary tears spring to my eyes. I’d had an IV before, but real nurses actually tried not to hurt you. The needle went in, and Mallory held it in place with one hand while she peeled a line of surgical tape off her opposite arm. She taped the needle roughly to my hand, and then straightened up to fiddle with something on the IV pole. The clear liquid—the Domincydactl—flooded down into the tubing.
Mallory took a hobbling step back, admiring her handiwork. She looked at Olivia. “Good?” Olivia nodded, and Mallory checked her watch. “I’m going to begin,” she announced. Mallory hobbled away, toward her pentagram. I felt it when she tugged out of my radius.
The needle was in. The chemo had begun.
I was too stunned to make any kind of comment. Part of me had been counting on Jesse to burst in at the last second, shoot the bad guys, and somehow destroy the golem. That part just couldn’t believe it hadn’t happened.
They were really going to kill me. And then bring me back.
The possibility had honestly never occurred to me, and it was taking a long time to sink in. When I found out about the Old World, I thought I had guaranteed immunity from becoming a vampire or werewolf. Even when I’d learned Olivia was a vampire, I hadn’t really considered the implications. God, I was an idiot.
What would happen after? Best case, maybe I could escape from her, somehow, and go live with Molly again. We could be like morally questionable sisters, or something. But vampires had some sort of power over their progeny. Molly had hinted about it at some point, but I hadn’t asked more questions—it wasn’t like I would ever need to know personally, right? But what if Olivia could order me to do anything she wanted?
And even if she didn’t…I just didn’t want to be a vampire. I didn’t want to only live when the sun was down. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. And I would miss the beach, and running in the sunlight, and oh my God, food…
I struggled to get hold of myself. I had promised Jesse I would fight. I didn’t want to break my last promise as a human.
Olivia disappeared from my line of sight for a second, then returned pushing a wheelchair. She parked it next to the golem, put the brakes on, and settled herself into the chair, crossing her ankles demurely. We watched as Mallory puttered about her pentagram, reciting chants and sprinkling herbs around. She picked up something that
had been resting on the book’s open page and hung it over her head. As she bent forward, I saw an ordinary-looking rock swinging back and forth on a leather thong.
“Exciting, isn’t it?” Olivia sighed. When I didn’t answer, she looked over at my stunned expression. “Oh, relax,” she said dismissively, waving a hand. “It’ll probably take several doses before your aura dies. We’re not really sure, as I had already completed a number of treatments before the Domincydactl worked.” She added brightly, “But we’ll just keep trying until we figure out the formula. This clinic has all the equipment. That’s why I was so eager to get your treatment started, in case it takes us a few tries.” She patted my upper arm again, then frowned at my hair. “Of course, I’d hate for you to lose all that gorgeous hair, even if it does need a trim.” She smoothed her own dark bob. “I was one of the lucky ones who didn’t lose hair with chemo, of course, but I don’t know if you’ll be so fortunate.”
I searched for words, completely at a loss. Olivia’s plan, anyway, was clear to me now: she had threatened and scared and hurt my loved ones just enough so that when she called for me, I would come. Like a dog. Then she could turn me into her little vampire pet. But what the hell was Mallory doing?
Also, if I lost my hair from the chemo, would it grow back, or would I be a bald vampire?
“What,” I began, and had to swallow past my dry throat. “What is she doing?”
Olivia looked at me to see if I was being sincere, and she decided to answer me. “She’s completing a spell she began almost a decade ago,” Olivia whispered conspiratorially. “That was how we met. The spell failed the first time, and the golem she had at the time took most of the lightning strike for her.” Olivia gestured to her own face and chest. “It still managed to hit Mallory, though.”
I was beginning to feel a little woozy, but I was trying to tell myself I might just be tired and sore. I’d lost a reasonable amount of blood too, back at the bar. Maybe that was all I was feeling. “I don’t get it. If she was able to almost complete the spell the first time, why did you guys have to go for the big guns? The Transruah? The mandrake?”
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