The Red Scrolls of Magic
They were closer to the rooftops now. The platform swayed dangerously as Magnus skirted around chimneys, cable wires, and roof stairwells.
The wind was dangerously strong. Magnus felt as if he were fighting the whole sky. The balloon wobbled, swinging side to side, and the ice bucket tumbled over. Magnus managed to just avoid crashing into a tall chimney stack as he watched the champagne bottle roll off the edge. It exploded in a spray of glass and foam as it impacted the roof below.
He opened his mouth to make a remark about the sad waste of champagne.
“Sorry about the champagne,” said Alec. “I hope it wasn’t one of your most-prized bottles or anything.”
Magnus laughed. Alec anticipating him, yet again.
“I only bring the medium-prized bottles to drink on a dangling platform a thousand feet in the air.”
He overcompensated for the wind a bit too much and the platform swung dangerously in the other direction like a pendulum, nearly putting a hole in a giant billboard. He righted the balloon hastily and checked on the situation below.
The swarm of Iblis demons had split in two, encircling the Shadowhunters on the roof below. The unlucky pair were trapped, though they continued fighting valiantly. The fair-haired woman moved like cornered lightning. The first Iblis demon that leaped at them was cut down by a slice of her seraph blade, as were the second and third. But there were too many. As Magnus watched, a fourth demon launched itself toward the Shadowhunter woman, its glowing eyes streaking through the darkness.
Magnus glanced at Alec, and Alec nodded at him. Magnus used a great deal of his magic to hold the hot-air balloon perfectly still, for just a moment. Alec let his first arrow fly.
The Iblis demon never reached the woman. The glow from its eyes dimmed as its smoky body dissipated, leaving behind nothing but an arrow embedded into the ground. Three more demons suffered a similar fate.
Alec’s hands were a blur, raining arrow after arrow at the swarm below. Any time a pair of glowing eyes moved toward the Shadowhunters, a streaking arrow would meet it before it could reach them.
It was a pity Magnus had to devote his attention to controlling the elements rather than admiring his boyfriend.
The rear guard of the Iblis demons turned toward the new threat in the sky. Three broke off their attack on the Shadowhunters and launched themselves toward the balloon. Two were dropped by arrows before they could make it onto the platform, but Alec was too late to draw on the third. The demon, gaping maw exposing a row of sharp black teeth, struck at Alec.
But Alec had already dropped the bow and drawn a seraph blade. “Puriel,” said Alec, and the blade lit up with angelic power. The runes on his body shimmered as he thrust the blade through the Iblis demon and sliced, separating head from body. The demon crumbled away into black ash.
Another group of demons reached the platform, and quickly met a similar fate. This was what Shadowhunters did, what Alec was born to do. His body was a weapon, graceful and swift, an instrument honed to slay demons and shield his loved ones. Alec was very good at both.
Magnus’s skills were more in the areas of magic and fashion sense. He ensnared one demon in a web of electricity and held off another with an invisible barrier made of wind. Alec shot the demon Magnus was holding off, then shot the last demon lingering below. At this point, the fair-haired Shadowhunter woman and her male companion had nothing left to do. They were standing in a whirl of smoky ash and destruction and appeared somewhat at a loss.
“You’re welcome!” Magnus called down to them, waving. “No charge!”
“Magnus,” said Alec. “Magnus!”
The note of real alarm in Alec’s voice was what made Magnus aware that the wind had slipped out of his grasp, even before he felt the lurch of the balloon platform beneath their feet. Magnus made a last frantic, futile gesture, and Alec rushed at him, curling his body around Magnus’s.
“Brace for—” Alec shouted in his ear, as the balloon careened down toward earth and, more specifically, a theater marquee with CARMEN spelled across the front in brilliant yellow bulbs.
Magnus Bane did his best, in life, to always be spectacular.
This crash was.
CHAPTER TWO
* * *
Stars Spell Your Name
JUST AS THE PLATFORM WAS about to plow into the letter R, Alec clutched a fistful of Magnus’s sleeve, yanked him into a rough embrace, and launched them both over the side of the platform. The glittering sky and glittering city changed places as the world spun. He lost track of up and down, until down got his full attention by hitting hard. An instant of dark followed, then he found himself lying on the grass, cradled in Alec’s arms.
Magnus blinked stars out of his eyes just in time to see the balloon smash into the marquee, causing an impressive explosion of sparks and splinters. The gas flame that had been keeping it aloft lurched, and the balloon rapidly deflated as it and the marquee caught fire.
People were already massing across the street to gawk. The distinctive beep-boop of Parisian police sirens became audible and quickly grew louder. Some things couldn’t be glamoured away.
Strong hands pulled Magnus to his feet. “Are you all right?”
Surprisingly, he was. Falling safely from absurd heights was apparently one of the Shadowhunters’ many skills. Magnus was more shaken by Alec’s look of concern than he was by the crash. Magnus found himself wanting to glance over his shoulder to find who the look was really directed at, not altogether able to believe it was for him.