The Lost Book of the White (The Eldest Curses #2) - Cassandra Clare Page 0,92

the dazzling glow, his hand was strange, elongated. It was something like a bird’s, with fingers too long for any human and black talons curling wickedly from their ends.

Unsure what to do, Magnus left the bedroom. He had trouble passing through the open doorway and bumped his head somehow, and when he reached up to check, he could feel horns emerging from his forehead, or maybe more than horns, maybe antlers. He knew without seeing them that they were bone white, like Ragnor’s, and sharp. He felt for his chest and looked down, trying to see if the thorn wound was there. He couldn’t tell; the light radiating from his hand was too bright. Maybe he needed a mirror.

He ducked and went into the hallway, and as he passed Max’s room, he looked inside. Alec was there, putting clothes on Max. He looked up at Magnus, and Magnus expected him to cry out in alarm, but he didn’t seem to think anything was wrong. “Okay,” he said to Max, “arms up!” and Max amenably stuck his arms straight up in the air like he was celebrating a victory. Alec pulled the T-shirt over Max’s arms and head and tugged it down. “Wow, great, that’s really helpful,” Alec said. “Thanks!”

“Wow!” Max repeated—he was in that phase where he tried to repeat most of what his parents said—and grinned at Magnus. Magnus went to wave his fingers at Max and then paused, remembering the glow, the talons.

Instead he just said, “Hey, blue, what’s new?”

“Boo,” Max said.

“You want to eat?” Alec said. Max nodded, and Magnus watched the little nubs of Max’s horns go up and down. Horns just like his. No. He didn’t have horns. But he did have horns. Like Ragnor. But Ragnor was dead, wasn’t he?

“Magnus,” said Alec, “could you grab his cereal bowl and his sippy cup? They’re in the dishwasher.”

“Sure.” Magnus padded down to the kitchen. Why were they still living here when he could barely fit his antlers through the hallway? There was a good reason, but for the moment he couldn’t remember it.

In the kitchen, Raphael Santiago was sitting on the counter, swinging his legs back and forth.

“Raphael,” Magnus said in surprise. “But you’re dead.”

Raphael gave him a withering look. “I’ve always been dead,” he said. “You never knew me when I was alive.”

“I guess that’s true,” Magnus admitted, “but I mean now you’re dead and not moving around anymore. You’re gone. You let yourself be killed in Edom, rather than kill me.”

Raphael furrowed his brow. “Are you sure? That doesn’t sound like me.”

Magnus fumbled at the dishwasher, trying to open it, but his talons were in the way. “Could you give me a hand?” he asked.

Raphael sarcastically applauded.

“You’ve gotten grumpier since Sebastian killed you,” Magnus remarked. “Which honestly I would not have thought was possible.”

“Well, I didn’t exactly want to die. I didn’t deserve to die,” Raphael said. “I was immortal! I was supposed to live forever. And as it turned out, I didn’t even make it to a full mortal human life span.”

“You didn’t, did you,” said Magnus. He managed to hook one claw under the lip of the dishwasher and, bending awkwardly, levered it open. It was not his most graceful moment, but he couldn’t feel too embarrassed in front of Raphael, who, after all, was dead.

“How’s Ragnor?” Raphael said. He was still swinging his legs back and forth from his perch on the counter. It was a very un-Raphael thing to do, and it made Magnus want to shout at him to stop, but that seemed crazy. “Still dead as well?”

“No,” said Magnus, but then he stopped. How was Ragnor? When he’d last seen Ragnor, it had been in—

—Diyu.

He reached for the cup and the bowl, awkwardly balancing them in his glowing hands. “I have to bring these to Max,” he said.

“Try not to claw him up too much,” Raphael advised, and Magnus winced. He turned to leave the kitchen, and the cup and bowl slipped from his hands. Though they were definitely plastic—a matched set covered in apples that was Max’s favorite—when they hit the tile floor of the kitchen, they shattered into thousands of sharp splinters, as though they had been crystal.

“Whoa!” said Raphael. “I’ll just stay up here for now.”

The broom was in Max’s room. Magnus walked through the shards and felt them cutting up his bare feet (but why were his feet bare?). He looked behind him as he made his way back up the hallway and saw