Trail of Dead (Scarlett Bernard #2)(81)

“Wait,” he objected. “So we can’t just use one of Eli’s T-shirts, or something, because that would just lead to Eli himself, right? What exactly are you planning to use as your focus?”

“A spare key,” she pronounced. “The key might belong to Eli, as does the whole car, but a key is also part of the car itself, at least in the eyes of the spell. They belong together. It’s a little different from ownership, but what should happen is I’ll get two locations off the key: one for Eli, one for the car. And we already know where Eli is.”

“What if he doesn’t have a spare key? What if we can’t find it?”

“It’s LA. Everyone has a spare car key. Don’t you?”

“Well, yeah,” he said. “But still…”

“Look, it’s better than driving around the city, yelling Scarlett’s name out of an open car window like she’s a lost puppy.”

“Fair point,” he conceded. They drove in silence for a second, and then he couldn’t help but ask. “So you, like, never lose your keys, huh?”

When he glanced over, she was smiling. “You don’t know the half of it,” she said demurely. “Think of what I could do with a missing murder weapon.”

“Whoa,” he said, eyes wide. Stick to tonight’s problem, Jesse told himself. “Okay, so what do I need to know about this golem thing?”

He felt Runa looking at him. “What did Kirsten already tell you?”

“That the golem is animated by a witch, and then runs on her commands,” he recited.

“Right.”

“And Kirsten said it was indestructible. If you chop it into bits, the bits would keep trying to complete the command.”

She nodded. “And that’s assuming it will hold still and let you chop it. Golems have incredible strength, and if the witch commands it, they can hurt or kill anything that comes between them and their goals. Besides, this is a massive chunk of clay. You could take an ax to its arm and only make it halfway through on your first swing.”

“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.