The Golem's Eye

door, straight-backed, the leather on his jackboots squeaking. No one said a word.
    The door closed. Ms. Whitwell remained still. The strip lights in the ceiling shone down harshly upon her; her face was more cadaverous even than usual. She stroked her pointed chin thoughtfully, the long nails making a slight scratching noise upon the skin. "We must consider this with care," she said at last. "If the demon speaks truthfully, we have gained valuable insight. But Duvall is right to be skeptical, although he speaks from a desire to belittle our achievements. Creating a golem is a difficult business, considered nigh on impossible. What do you know of it, Tallow?"
    The minister made a face. "Very little, madam, thank goodness. It is a primitive kind of magic that has never been practiced in our enlightened society. I have never cared to investigate."
    "Mandrake, what of you?"
    Nathaniel cleared his throat; he always relished questions of general knowledge. "A magician needs two powerful artifacts, ma'am," he said brightly. "Each with a different function. First, he or she requires a parchment inscribed with the spell that brings the golem to life; once the body has been formed of river clay, this parchment is inserted into the golem's mouth to animate it."
    His master nodded. "Exactly. That is the spell that is considered lost. The Czech masters never wrote the secret down."
    "The second artifact," Nathaniel continued, "is a special piece of clay, created by separate spells. It is placed in the monster's forehead and helps focus its power. It acts as a watch-eye for the magician, much as Bartimaeus described. He or she can then control the creature through a common crystal orb."
    "Correct. So, if your demon speaks truthfully, we are looking for someone who has acquired both a golem's eye and the animating parchment. Who might that be?"
    "No one." Tallow interlinked his fingers and, flexing, cracked the joints loudly, like a volley of rifle shots. "It is absurd. These objects no longer exist. Mandrake's creature should be consigned to the Shriveling Fire. As for Mandrake, madam, this disaster is his responsibility."
    "You seem very confident about your facts," the panther remarked, yawning loudly and displaying an impressive set of teeth. "It's true that the parchments disintegrate when they are removed from the golem's mouth. And by the terms of the spell, the monster must then return to its master and subside back into clay, so the body doesn't survive either. But the golem's eye is not destroyed. It can be used many times. So there may well be one here, in modern London. Why are you so yellow?"
    Tallow's jaw dropped in rage. "Mandrake—keep this thing under control, or I'll make you suffer the consequences."
    Nathaniel removed his smirk promptly. "Yes, Mr. Tallow. Silence, slave!"
    "Oooh, pardon me, I'm sure."
    Jessica Whitwell held up a hand. "Despite its insolence, the demon is correct on one account at least. Golem's eyes do exist. I saw one myself, two years ago."
    Julius Tallow raised an eyebrow. "Indeed, madam? Where?"
    "In the collection of someone we all have reason to remember. Simon Lovelace."
    Nathaniel gave a little start; a cold shiver ran between his shoulder blades. The name still had power over him. Tallow shrugged. "Lovelace is long dead."
    "I know..." Ms. Whitwell had an air of preoccupation. She sat back in her chair and swiveled it to face another pentacle similar to the one in which the panther sat. The room contained several, each of subtly different design. She snapped her fingers and her djinni appeared, this time in full bear's guise. "Shubit," she said, "visit the Artifact Vaults beneath Security. Locate the Lovelace collection; itemize it fully. Among it, you will find a carved eye of hardened clay. Bring it to me at speed."
    The bear bent its legs and vanished as it sprang.
    Julius Tallow gave Nathaniel an unctuous smile. "That's the kind of servant you need, Mandrake," he said. "No glibness, no chatter. Obeys without question. I'd get rid of this smoothtongued serpent, if I were you."
    The panther swished its tail. "Hey, we've all got problems, chum. I'm overly talkative. You look like a field of buttercups in a suit."
    "The traitor Lovelace had an interesting collection," Ms. Whitwell mused, ignoring Tallow's cries of fury. "The golem's eye was one of several noteworthy items we confiscated. It will be interesting to inspect it now."
     
    With a clicking of hairy joints, the bear was back,