The Red Scrolls of Magic

Magnus guided Alec away from the busy canal and down a quieter street. The moon painted a row of squat gray houses sandwiched side by side with a pale glow that split into a kaleidoscope of silver among the wavering trees. They turned at random intersections, letting chance be their guide. Magnus could feel his blood coursing through his veins. He felt alive, he felt awake. He hoped Alec was as electrified as he was.

Cool wind stroked the back of Magnus’s neck, prickling his skin. For a moment, he felt something strange. An itch, a nagging sensation, a presence. He stopped in his tracks and looked back the way they’d come.

Magnus watched the crowds move past. He still felt it: eyes watching, ears listening, or possibly thoughts focused on him floating in the air.

“Something wrong?” asked Alec.

Magnus realized he had pulled away from Alec, ready to face a threat alone. He shook off his unease.

“What could be wrong?” he asked. “I’m with you.”

He reached for Alec and laced their fingers together, Alec’s calloused palm pressed tight against his own. Alec held himself more at ease in the night than during the day. Possibly he felt more comfortable hidden from the view of even those with the Sight. Perhaps all Shadowhunters felt more at home in the shadows.

They stopped just inside the entrance of the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. The glow from the city lights gave the horizon a soft brown hue as it merged with the blackness of the night sky, punctuated only by the moon. Magnus pointed at a faint cluster of stars sparkling to his right. “There’s Bo?tes, the bear watcher, and Corona and Hercules next to it.”

“Why is it supposed to be romantic to point out stars?” Alec said, but with a smile on his face. “Look, that one is . . . Dave . . . the Hunter . . . and that one is the . . . Frog, and . . . the Helicopter. I don’t know constellations, sorry.”

“It’s romantic because it’s sharing knowledge about the world,” said Magnus. “The one who knows about stars teaches the one who doesn’t know. That’s romantic.”

Alec said, “I don’t think there’s anything I can teach you.” He was still smiling, but Magnus felt a pang.

“Sure there is,” said Magnus. “What’s that on the back of your hand?”

Alec lifted his hand and examined it as if it were new to him. “It’s a rune. You’ve seen them before.”

“I know the basic idea. You draw the runes on your skin, you get powers,” said Magnus. “I’m not all that clear on the details. Humor me. The Mark on your hand is the first one you get, right?”

“Yes,” Alec said slowly. “Voyance. That’s the rune they usually put first on Shadowhunter children, the rune to verify that they can bear runes at all. And it lets you see through glamour. Which is always useful.”

Magnus looked at the shadowy curve of an eye against Alec’s pale skin. Glamours protected Downworlders. Shadowhunters needed to see through glamours because Downworlders were potential threats.

Did Alec not think the same thought when he looked at the Mark on his hand? Or was he simply kind enough not to speak it? To protect Magnus, as he had protected him in the fall from the balloon. Strange, thought Magnus. But sweet.

“What about this one?” he said, and found himself trailing an index finger down the curve of Alec’s bicep, watching Alec shiver at the unexpected intimacy of the gesture.

Alec looked Magnus in the eyes. “Accuracy,” he said.

“So I have this one to thank for your skills with the bow?” He used his hold on Alec’s hand to draw him in, so they met in the middle of the path under the soft shine of the moon. He leaned over to plant a small kiss on Alec’s arm.

“Thanks,” he whispered. “And this one?”

Now he grazed his fingers along the side of Alec’s throat. Alec’s shuddering breath broke the soft stillness of the night. His arm snaked around Magnus’s waist, pressing their bodies tighter together, and Magnus felt Alec’s heart pounding through his shirt.

“Equilibrium,” Alec said breathlessly. “Keeps me steady on my feet.”

Magnus bowed his head and laid his lips gently on the rune, faded to silvery almost-invisibility against the smooth skin of Alec’s neck. Alec inhaled sharply.

Magnus slid his mouth along warm skin until he reached Alec’s ear and purred, “I don’t think it’s working.”

“I don’t want it to,” Alec murmured.

He turned his face into Magnus’s and caught Magnus’s mouth with his own. Alec kissed as he did all things, so dedicated and wholehearted he swept Magnus away. Magnus curled his hand in the soft leather of Alec’s jacket and saw through his eyelashes new skin being bared to the moonlight. Another rune, filigreed like a musical note, was inscribed below the dip of Alec’s collarbone.

Magnus said, in a low voice, “And what’s that one?”

Alec answered, “Stamina.”

Magnus stared. “Are you serious?”

Alec began to grin. “Yeah.”

“Really, though,” Magnus said. “I want to be clear on this. You’re not just saying that to be sexy?”

“No,” Alec answered, his voice husky, and swallowed. “But I’m glad if it is.”

Magnus laid his rings against the space beneath Alec’s collarbone and saw Alec shiver at the cool touch of metal. He traced up the back of Alec’s neck and palmed the back of his head to pull him close again.