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“Huh?”
“I promise you, just be quiet and you’ll be fine.”
The kid fell silent, but I could still feel the weight of his gaze on me, even when I wasn’t looking at him.
A small part of me wondered if I might be able to manipulate the spell enough to remove all memory of last night from Carlos’s mind, to make sure he never talked.
The thought alone made me afraid of myself.
No, he could keep his memories. I’d have to learn that sometimes it was okay to trust people, and maybe this guy was one of them. He’d come here, after all, obviously interested in helping. I’d give him a chance to prove he wasn’t against us.
Perry eyed the salt lines and made sure he didn’t mess them up as he went to the back of the van. He jerked his chin at Wilder and said, “Little help?”
Together they got a body bag out of the tail end of the van and settled it next to the dumpster where it had originally lain. I undid the zipper, expecting the unpleasant smell of decaying flesh to waft out, but I only got the faint smell of chemical cleaner and a very subtle rot that wouldn’t be noticeable to the human nose.
The elephant brain would smell worse than Liam’s body.
“Try not to do anything to it,” Perry said.
“I don’t even need to touch it,” I assured him. “Carlos, do you remember where you were standing when it happened?”
He nodded and moved over to a rear entrance door to the bar. “I was coming out when I heard all the noise, and I got here just before the guy went down.”
Not ideal. I’d have preferred someone who had been around for the whole thing, but if that person existed, I probably wouldn’t need to do this spell at all.
“Stand right where you were, okay?”
He planted himself firmly on the spot, thankfully still within the salt lines, and watched with open curiosity. He didn’t seem terrified of me anymore, which was nice. Fear might lead him to shut down, and I needed him to be open and receptive.
“What is all that?” He pointed to the pot and the jar next to me.
“I’m going to be doing a spell.”
“Like, magic? Like you’re a witch or something?”
I gave him a thin smile. “Or something.”
“Where should we stand?” Perry asked. He was looking at Carlos and the goods I’d compiled—his expression going slightly wan when he saw the brain jar—and I could tell without asking he was already regretting this.
“If you guys don’t mind staying where you are, I think that would give you the best view.” I decided it might be best to walk them through what was about to happen, so no one freaked out and made a run for it in the middle of my incantation. “I’m going to light the stuff in the pot on fire, and when it’s hot enough, I’m going to add the other things beside it. I’m warning you right now, it won’t smell very nice. It’s important no one says anything when I’m casting the spell. The last thing I’m going to add to the pot is the amber, and when I do that, the spell will be complete. If I’ve done it all correctly, we’ll see exactly what Carlos saw that night and hopefully be able to see who really killed this guy.” I indicated the body. “Any questions now, before we start? You won’t get to ask them later.”
Carlos raised his hand like we were in a classroom. “Will it hurt?”
“You? No.” I wasn’t going to enjoy it very much, but no need to invite anyone to back out because of my discomfort.
He pointed at the jar. “Is that a brain?”
“Yes.”
“It’s huge.”
“It belonged to an elephant. Best thing for complex memory spells.”
“Because elephants never forget?” He was staring at the jar, but again his curiosity seemed to be in control, rather than fear or uncertainty.
“Yeah, kind of. I mean, that’s not exactly true, but the size and complexity of their brains make it an especially potent fuel for this kind of thing.”
Nodding slowly, he adjusted his footing and crossed his arms, indicating he was ready to begin.
