The Lost Book of the White (The Eldest Curses #2) - Cassandra Clare Page 0,132
surprised. “You can’t?”
“Hey, guys?” said Simon. “Can we take a moment to, uh, just quickly celebrate that we won, and nobody died? Because I don’t think we should just let that go without mentioning it.”
“Hear, hear,” said Isabelle, punching the air in victory. “Hooray for us. We beat a Prince of Hell.”
“Well,” said Ragnor, “to be fair, you all saved Magnus and me from the Svefnthorn—Alec specifically, obviously—and then Shinyun went mad and began wrecking Diyu, so the Prince of Hell left to find a different realm, and he’ll definitely be back at some point. Shinyun, also, is a loose end, as she is now some kind of dragonfly-spider thing.”
Everyone paused to soberly consider that for a moment. Finally Simon said, “But everyone lived. Magnus saved you. And Alec saved Magnus. And my girlfriend saved me while riding on a giant tiger.”
“Yes,” acknowledged Ragnor, “the day has not been a complete loss.”
Alec smiled, but he was tired of being away. And he felt a pull toward home, one that he wasn’t used to, but that now beckoned him with an incredible force. Max. Max.
He tried to catch Magnus’s eye, but Magnus had come up to Tian, who looked as weary as the rest of them. “Would you say good-bye to Jem for us? And give him all our regards?”
Tian looked surprised. “You’re leaving?”
Magnus nodded. “I really feel like we didn’t have time to explore Shanghai in the way I’d have preferred, but I hope you won’t take it as an insult if we New Yorkers head home straight from here.” Magnus looked over and caught Alec’s eye. “I’d like to see my kid.”
“Of course not.” Tian smiled. A light had come back to his dark eyes that Alec hadn’t even realized was missing before. “I’m going to go see Jinfeng. She’ll be pretty happy to hear I’m not going to be spending time in Diyu anymore. Ragnor—” Ragnor turned to him, surprised. “As far as I know, you’re the only person alive who has been stabbed by Heibai Wuchang and survived. There might be some interesting side effects.”
“Excellent,” said Ragnor mournfully. “Something to look forward to in my coming years of shame and anonymity.”
Tian turned to face the others. “Thank you all, by the way, for all that you have done. And for keeping my and Jinfeng’s secret.”
“And thank you, Tian,” said Simon, reaching to shake the other boy’s hand. “For saving Isabelle. For helping us.”
There was a chorus of assent. “The Cold Peace won’t last forever,” said Alec. “We’ll keep working to make the Clave see reason and bring it to an end.”
“I hope they will,” said Tian, “but I know you’re not the only influential force within the Clave these days.” He put a hand on Alec’s shoulder. “You must understand how much of an inspiration you are,” he said firmly. “Your family—the two of you and your son—just by existing, by being so prominent in the Clave, you are doing much. Your family—if the Clave is to survive, that is their future. It must be.”
“No pressure, though,” said Alec with a smile. “And you’re an inspiration yourself. Don’t forget it.”
Tian inclined his head. “It’s only a matter of time before there’s a real fight for the soul of the Clave. If we don’t want the Cohort’s vision to become reality, we will have to be involved. To be loud, even if we would prefer not to be.”
“You’re a good guy, Tian,” Alec said. “I’m glad we’re on the same side.”
He wasn’t the loud one, in his family. He was the quietest by a good margin. But Tian was right. And he was going to do some thinking.
Ragnor and Magnus had started preparations on a Portal home, though Ragnor seemed to be letting Magnus do most of the heavy lifting. His argument was that he was recovering from three strikes by a Svefnthorn, whereas Magnus was only recovering from two.
“You know who should open this Portal? Clary,” Magnus grumbled. “Nothing that bad happened to her on this trip.”
“I’m not entirely comfortable with that girl’s ability to open Portals,” Ragnor said, with a nervous glance in Clary’s direction. She had Jace’s arm around her, and was laughing with Isabelle. It was amazing how resilient people were, Magnus thought. “I find it… theologically confusing.”
“That,” said Magnus in breezy tones, “is why I never think about the deeper meaning behind anything.” Ragnor’s look told him that the other warlock knew very well that wasn’t true. “So where are you headed?” he