01_-_The_Alchemyst

angles, further confusing the creature. Another blow from the Golem came
close enough to ruffle Scatty’s spiky red hair, but she caught its arm and used
it as leverage to spin the creature to the floor. Floorboards cracked and
snapped as it hit them. Then her hand shot out…and almost delicately
plucked the paper square from the Golem’s mouth.
Instantly, the Golem returned to its muddy origins, splashing foul,
stinking water and dirt across the once-pristine dojo floor. The microwave
rattled to the ground.
“I guess no one’s cooking anything in that,” Josh murmured.
Scatty waved the square of paper at the twins. “Every magical creature
is kept animated by a spell that is either in or on its body. All you have to do
is remove it to break the spell. Remember that.”
Josh glanced quickly at his sister. He knew she was thinking the same
thing he was: if they ever came up against a Golem again, there was no way
they were getting close enough to stick their hands in its mouth.
Nicholas Flamel approached the rats warily. Underestimating them
would be deadly indeed, but while he had no difficulty fighting and
destroying magical creatures, which were never properly alive in the first
place, he was reluctant to destroy living creatures. Even if they were rats.
Perry would have no such compunction, he knew, but he had been an
alchemyst for far too long: he was dedicated to preserving life, not
destroying it. The rats were under Dee’s control. The poor creatures were
probably terrified…though that would not stop them from eating him.
Flamel crouched on the floor, turned his right hand palm up and curled
the fingers inward. He blew gently into his hand, and a tiny ball of green mist
immediately formed. Then he suddenly turned his hand and plunged it straight
into the polished floorboards, his fingers actually penetrating the wood. The
tiny ball of green energy splashed across the room like a stain. Then the
Alchemyst closed his eyes and his aura flared around his body.