The Lost Book of the White by Cassandra Clare

CHAPTER SIXTian

IT WASN’T SOMETHING HE WOULDadmit to anybody but his closest friends, but Alec kept a list in his head of the Institutes he most wanted to visit.

Obviously there were hundreds of Institutes that he would like to visit. This was just a simple top ten.

There was the Maui Institute, of course, where there were no external walls and little ceiling and, it was said, very minimal demon activity. The Amsterdam Institute, a huge invisible boat permanently anchored in the IJ. The Cluj Institute, a great stone castle jutting into the sky, high above the timberline in the Carpathian Mountains. And there was the Shanghai Institute.

Unlike any other Institute Alec could think of, Shanghai’s was in a place that had been well-known and sacred to mundanes long before the Shadowhunters were even created. Once the building had been part of Longhua Temple, a complex of Buddhist monasteries and shrines that had stood for almost two thousand years. The complex had been constantly worked on, repaired, and updated over the centuries, and early in their history the Shadowhunters had taken the opportunity to claim some of the unused grounds to make their home.

Walking with his friends through the warm, sunny morning, Alec stopped outside the temple complex to look at its most famous sight, the Longhua Pagoda, a tower of six roofs with upturned eaves, stacked around a crimson-and-ochre octagon that rose into the sky. Alec had seen pictures of it dozens of times. “I can’t believe I’m actually here,” he said out loud.

“You could have come anytime,” Isabelle noted from behind him. “We have Portals.”

“I just didn’t take the opportunity before,” said Alec. “I should visit some of the others on my list, when we get home.” The brief, disloyal thought, I should have visited these places before I had a kid, flitted through his mind, and he rejected it. It wasn’t like he and Magnus were going to have to fly in a commercial mundane airplane with Max. They could just carry him through a Portal. Assuming Portals didn’t continue going to the wrong places, or being infested with beetle demons.

The pagoda was beautiful, but the crush of mundane tourists suddenly felt oppressive. He turned away. “Let’s go.”

The Institute was made of the same brick as most of the other temple buildings, with the same upturned eaves and hexagonal windows. In a tower off its central axis was a copper bell, the twin of the one in the mundane bell tower close by. The bells had been a set, created to ward off demons, and while the mundanes rang theirs only occasionally, the Shadowhunters welcomed the dusk by tolling theirs. Alec wondered if he’d get to hear it. He was already thinking about how to find an excuse to return here before they left.

Going up the stairs to the massive double doors, he hesitated. Leaving Magnus behind had been a hard choice, but his boyfriend needed a break. Magnus dealt with the stress of adding parenthood to his existing life simply by sleeping less and pushing himself more. It was the least Alec could do to let him sleep in today. It was true that Magnus knew the Ke family, who ran the Institute, and no doubt he would join them soon, but Alec was sure the rest of them could handle going to a friendly Institute without assistance. They were all in gear, and wearing runes, so they’d be immediately recognizable.

He started back up the stairs but froze as one of the giant doors creaked loudly on its hinges, then swung open fully.

Alec was somewhat surprised to discover that behind the door was a very young man—perhaps eighteen, a few years younger than Alec himself—tall and wiry, with straight-cut black hair and dramatic eyebrows. He was wearing gear in a dark, shiny burgundy—the famous oxblood lacquer of the Shadowhunters of China, which went in and out of fashion every few generations. He reminded Alec of someone, but he couldn’t think who it was.

Clary raised her hand in greeting and began to speak, but the young man was looking at Alec.

“Are you Alec Lightwood?” he asked, in accentless English.

Alec raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Isabelle said, “Oh no, Alec’s famous now.”

The man turned to look at her. “And you must be Isabelle, his sister. Come,” he said, waving them inside. “All of you are expected.”

THE INSTITUTE FELT SURPRISINGLY EMPTY.There were only, it turned out, four Shadowhunters at home, the man explained: the rest were out “investigating the Portal situation.”

“Forgive me,” he said when they had all filed in and he had closed the door after them. “I don’t mean to be mysterious. I am Ke Yi Tian—you should call me Tian—and I was told to expect you. Alec and Isabelle Lightwood, as well as Clary Fairchild, Jace Herondale, and Simon Lovelace.”

“So Alec isn’t famous?” Isabelle sounded disappointed.

“Told by whom?” Jace said. He sounded guarded; Alec didn’t blame him.

“A member of my family,” Tian said. “No longer a Shadowhunter, but he continues to… keep an eye on those he considers persons of interest.”

“That’s not ominous at all,” muttered Simon.

“It’s not,” said Clary. “He means Brother Zachariah.”

“Former Brother Zachariah,” said Tian. He looked around at them and gestured to a door. “Shall we walk and talk in the peach orchard?”

They all looked at each other. Alec said, “Yes. Yes, that seems like it would be very nice.”

The peach orchard was a fine and pleasant space, well-shaded and equipped with small wooden tables and stools placed here and there for sitting. Tian led them to one, and Simon and Clary sat down, while the rest of them remained standing. “So are you here about the Portals?”

“Sort of,” said Alec. “What’s going on with the Portals, exactly?”

Tian looked surprised. “Portals are misbehaving all over the world. It only started a few days ago, but it’s quickly become a real mess. I assumed you’d know—didn’t you travel to Shanghai by Portal?”

“Yes,” said Clary, “and they were definitely… misbehaving. We assumed it was just us.”

“Everyone thought it was just them,” said Tian. “But it’s everyone. Portals go to the wrong place, or don’t open at all, or they’re full of demons. Everyone is out looking into it.”

“We think our mission might be indirectly related to the Portals somehow,” Alec said carefully, “but actually we’re in Shanghai to look for a couple of warlocks, one man and one woman. They stole a powerful spell book from New York recently, and we think they’re too dangerous to be allowed to keep it.”

Tian tugged idly at a branch, his dark hair falling into his eyes. “Well, the good news—and the bad news—is that almost all the Downworlders in Shanghai live in the same neighborhood.”

“The Downworlder Concession,” Alec said.

“Exactly. But there are a lot of Downworlders in the city. A lot. I should know—that’s my patrol area.”

“They let you patrol there?” said Isabelle.

Tian nodded and said, with some pride, “Relations between Shadowhunters and Downworlders have always been very good in Shanghai.”

“Even now?” said Alec.

Tian grimaced. “We do our best. It’s about knowing the people, building relationships with them, trusting them, so when it matters, they’ll trust you.”

Alec found he liked this guy. “Do you have any suggestions?”

Tian nodded. “If you can wait, you should go to the Shadow Market tomorrow. There are a few people you could talk to… but really the best place to start would be with Peng Fang. He’s a vampire blood merchant—”

“We’ve met,” Alec said glumly. Isabelle and Simon exchanged puzzled looks.

“And there are others.” Tian hesitated. “Would you be offended if I escorted you? Things are better in Shanghai than elsewhere, but many Downworlders would still be wary of Nephilim strangers. Especially obviously foreign Nephilim strangers.”

“Hey,” said Simon defensively, “Alec here is the founder of the Downworlder-Shadowhunter Alliance. He’s got a Downworlder pass.”

“I don’t,” said Alec, “have a ‘Downworlder pass.’ ”

“If any Shadowhunter does, you do,” Simon insisted.

“I’ll take you and make introductions,” Tian said. “They know me. And you’ll want to split up when you walk around. Six Shadowhunters together in a Shadow Market looks like something’s about to go down.” He smiled at them. “Come to my family home tomorrow. We can have breakfast and then go to the Market.”

“But the Market is at night,” said Simon.

Tian smiled more broadly. “Welcome to Shanghai, home of the one and only Sunlit Market.”

“What do—” began Simon.

“Vampires have a blacked-out section of the Market that’s been enclosed for their use,” said Tian.

Simon nodded, satisfied.

“I heard something about a bookstore,” Alec said. “The Celestial Palace.”

Tian’s eyebrows went up. “It’s nearby. We can stop there as well. It is…” He hesitated. “It is faerie-owned and staffed. You’ll attract attention. The whole concession will know in minutes that a gang of foreign Shadowhunters has come to the Palace.”

“Will it cause trouble?” Jace asked.

Tian shrugged. “Probably not. Just gossip. If you don’t want faerie monarchs or vampire clans or the Spiral Labyrinth to know you’re in Shanghai, that’ll be blown the moment you walk in.”

“Why wouldn’t we want them to know we’re in Shanghai?” said Alec.

Tian hesitated. “May I speak frankly?” he said. When they nodded, he went on. “One of the ways things stay friendly between all of us here in Shanghai is that we Shadowhunters try to take situations as they come, and find solutions where we can.”

“I’m not sure what you’re getting at,” said Clary.

Tian cleared his throat. “Our goal is the overall stability of the Shadow side of the city. That means sometimes allowing some Downworlder activity that might not normally be considered acceptable. Always because of important extenuating circumstances, you understand.”

“Oh, I get it,” said Jace. “You’re saying, if we go to the concession together, we might see some illegal stuff, and you want to know if we can let it slide.”

“Is that what you’re saying?” Alec said.

“I wouldn’t put it in quite those terms, but—yes,” said Tian.

They exchanged looks. Carefully, Jace said, “While all of us are known primarily for our strict adherence to the letter and spirit of the Law…”

“Obviously,” agreed Isabelle.

“… we are also visitors here, and we understand that circumstances are often complicated and have a lot of history. Also, we are from the New York Institute, and we are past masters of letting it slide.”

Jace winked. Tian looked puzzled.

“We’re not here to interfere with the way you do your Shadowhunting,” Alec clarified, by way of reassurance.

Tian’s brow furrowed. “Do you say that in English? ‘Shadowhunting’?”

“No,” said Isabelle. “No one says that.”

“Well, maybe we should start,” returned Alec. Isabelle stuck out her tongue at him.

“So what’s the demon situation like here?” Clary asked.

“Not great. Getting worse.” Tian straightened up. He seemed uneasy. “Let’s go back inside. I’d like to see if my father has returned from his rounds.”

As they walked, he elaborated. “For one thing, in a city this big, there are always going to be idiots who summon new demons, and old demons that showed up centuries ago and are still hanging around. In fact, we’ve been getting a lot of the latter lately. Strange demons, things that haven’t been seen in Shanghai for a hundred years. Things you have to look up in a book when you get back from fighting them.”

“Any idea why?”

“A bunch of theories. Nothing really solid. It’s funny: for decades Shanghai was known as this very safe city, very few demons, safe for Downworlders. In the time after Yanluo—”

They were back in the entry hall of the Institute, and Tian was about to continue speaking when there was a sudden loud knock at the front doors. Tian looked sharply at the doors, then went to answer the knock, his brow furrowed.

“What’s wrong?” said Alec.

“You can’t knock on this door,” Tian said. “It’s half a meter thick. No one could knock hard enough.”

He pulled the door open and behind it, in the glare of the morning, was Magnus. He was doubled over, hands on his knees, panting, as though he’d been running hard.

“Magnus!” Alec started toward him.

Magnus looked wild-eyed, not like himself at all. He looked around at the group, then at Tian. “You must be Tian,” he said. “I’m Magnus Bane, good to meet you. All of you,” he added, “get out here and bring weapons. Now.”

ALEC FOLLOWED MAGNUS THROUGH THEdoors. Behind him, Isabelle gasped.

Black curtains of shadow hung from the sky under what appeared to be a small, low-hanging storm cloud. There was no rain, though thunder rumbled. The area under the cloud was dark as night, and out of the boiling fog at the bottom of the cloud tumbled demons, dozens of them.

In the center of the rain of falling demons, a hundred feet above the ground, Shinyun floated, her hands raised. Light glowed around her, crimson and rippling.

“So, a few things,” said Magnus.

Tian emerged from the Institute, now holding something on a silver cord, which he whipped around beside him. “Who is that?”

“That is a very bad warlock who doesn’t like me,” said Magnus. “That’s the first thing. The second thing is, I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I think she may be in command of some demons.”

The demons who landed were rolling and coalescing into their various different forms. There were creatures that seemed made of the cloud bank itself, with cold, bone-white eyes. There were more of the snake demons that they had fought in the faerie’s apartment, and grinning skeletons.

Alec had come up beside Magnus and was sticking close to him. “How did she find us?”

“She found me,” said Magnus. “At the hotel.”

“How?” said Clary.

He rolled his eyes. “She has spies everywhere, apparently.”

“She attacked you?” said Jace.

“Yes, but then I left the hotel to come to the Institute and she showed up when I was halfway here and attacked me again, with demons this time.”

“Does that mean she stabbed you with the thorn again?” Alec said in alarm.

“There’s no time to go into that—”

Alec turned to face Magnus and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Did she stab you again?” he said again, more intently.

Magnus said, “Yes.”

It was like being stabbed himself. Alec closed his eyes.

“And it gets worse. But we really don’t have time for that yet. Right now we need to deal with her little army. They followed me here.”

“You led her to us?” Simon looked surprised.

“Well,” said Magnus in irritation, “I didn’t think I could handle her and all the demons by myself. What would you have suggested I do?”

Alec didn’t say anything. Normally, Magnus would have been able to neutralize Shinyun easily; he was a much more powerful warlock than her. Either she had grown more powerful or Magnus had become weaker. Or both. And now he’d been wounded again.

He drew his bow and fired a couple of arrows at the balls of fog; they stuck, so there was something solid in there. “Tian!” he called over. “Are these your locals? What am I shooting at?”

“The snakes are Xiangliu—do you not have them in America?” There was a flash, and the rope Tian was whirling suddenly burst forward, at an angle, and Alec saw that at the end of the rope was a diamond-shaped blade of adamas, which lopped the head off one of said Xiangliu. “The clouds are Ala, they’re mostly annoying.”

“Oh man,” said Isabelle, running to Tian, a slender staff in her hand. “What is that weapon? It’s awesome.”

Tian looked pleased. “Rope dart.” Expertly he spun the returning rope around his body, catching it near the blade to regain control.

“I want one,” said Isabelle. She whipped the end of the staff and a long curved blade, like a scimitar, unfolded and snapped into place at its end.

Simon had dropped his bow and drawn two seraph blades, which glowed in his hands like beacons in the unnatural dark. “Is that a guisarme?” he called to Isabelle.

Isabelle impaled a skeleton on the end of the weapon, then whipped it around and impaled a second skeleton before the first had even fallen. “It’s a glaive,” she said, with a wicked grin at Simon.

“God, I love you,” said Simon.

“Can someone throw some water on those two?” said Magnus. “Look, I’m sorry for bringing her here. I didn’t know what to do. Shinyun—I’m going to go and try to talk to her.”

“Can you fly up to where she is?” said Alec.

“Yes, but I’m going to need help if I don’t want to get knocked out of the sky.”

“We’ll keep everything else off you,” said Alec.

“I’m going to engage with the skeletons,” said Simon.

“I’m already engaged with the skeletons,” Isabelle said. She looked Simon up and down, concern showing through her battle-ready expression. “You got this?”

“I,” said Simon, “may only have been a Shadowhunter for a short time, but I have been preparing my whole life to fight skeleton warriors. I got this.”

Jace had disappeared. Alec cast his eyes over the swarm of demons and knocked an Ala out of the sky with two quick arrows. He soon caught sight of Jace, who was taking high leaps into the air, much higher than any mundane could, and whipping his flail into anything near him. Tian’s rope dart was making the Xiangliu dance and dodge to stay away from its unpredictable arcs, and as Alec laid down more arrow fire, he noted that Clary had placed herself so that the disoriented Xiangliu dodged away from Tian and directly into her seraph blades.

Behind Alec, sparks flew from Magnus’s fingers toward the ground, and he rose into the air toward Shinyun. Alec watched him, bow at the ready. There was something different about the sparks—they seemed… sharper? And there was an odd haze over the whole battle, like looking through a hot fire.

Around Alec the five other Shadowhunters laid waste to the demons on the ground. Alec kept his eyes on Magnus, knocking the cloud demons away with a well-placed arrow if they drifted toward him.

“Alec, behind you,” Simon yelled, and Alec whirled just in time to see a surprised-looking Xiangliu shatter its way out of existence. Tian’s rope dart hovered a few inches in front of Alec’s face, then whipped away. Alec looked over at Tian, who winked.

Alec returned his gaze to Magnus.

MAGNUS FLEW TOWARD SHINYUN ANDwondered if she’d try to blow him out of the sky. He kept his gaze on her; he had to trust Alec to keep his path clear. He did trust Alec to keep his path clear.

“Shinyun,” he yelled as he got closer, to be heard over the wind and the rumbling backdrop of thunder. But also because he was mad. “You give me a beautiful gift and then you attack us? I thought our conversation went well!”

Shinyun gazed at him impassively. “You could summon just as large an army, you know.”

“I couldn’t,” said Magnus, “but also I wouldn’t. For one thing, it’s extremely illegal.” Shinyun barked a laugh. “For another, then we would have twice as many demons, rather than no demons, which is my preference.”

“Oh, but you could,” Shinyun said. There was a rush of wind and Magnus became aware of two Ala demons rushing at him, one from each side. Shinyun, he thought grimly, was trying to make a point.

Well, fine. How about this point?

With a roar, Magnus thrust out his arms, letting the simmering bubble of magic deep in his chest come to a full boil. Bolts of lightning crackled out from both of his hands, bright blue and knife-edged. The Ala demons were split clean in half by the two bolts and fell away. Magnus lowered his hands—to his surprise, he had had no trouble keeping himself aloft during his attack.

While Shinyun’s face was as unexpressive as ever, Magnus got the distinct impression that she was smirking at him. “You see? Whatever you may think of my master, the Svefnthorn’s power is undeniable.”

“What does your master think of me?”

She laughed. “He doesn’t know anything about you yet. But I think he’s going to be very pleased when he does.”

“Why would he be pleased?” Magnus said incredulously. “Because you’re strengthening one of his enemies?”

She laughed. “You don’t know Sammael at all.”

“I agree,” said Magnus. “I do not.” He looked around. “Looks like my friends are almost finished mopping up your demon army.”

Shinyun shrugged. “There are more where they came from. But I’ll go. I just wanted you and your friends to see a little demonstration of what the thorn makes possible.”

She raised her hands, and as one, the demons far below them froze. As one, they turned to look at Shinyun. Magnus saw one of them crumple and vanish as a Shadowhunter, he couldn’t tell who, took the opportunity to thrust a blade through its back.

Another gesture, and all the remaining demons rose into the air. They rose until they began to be drawn back into the black cloud whose shadow they had been fighting in.

“Wait,” said Magnus. “Where’s Ragnor? I want to—I need to speak to him.”

“I’ll pass on the message,” Shinyun drawled, “but he’s very busy.”

Magnus yelled, “How did he evade our Tracking magic? What are you trying to accomplish? Where’s the Book?”

Shinyun just laughed. She rose into the storm cloud above her, still laughing. Magnus had to grant her a certain classic villainous style.

After Shinyun entered the cloud, all was still. In silence, over about two minutes, the storm cloud faded, lightened, dissipated into wisps of curlicue mist. It was gone; Shinyun and her demons were gone.

It was, again, a sunny day.

ALEC WATCHED MAGNUS DESCEND, MAGNUS’Scurling black hair tousled by the harsh wind. He touched down lightly, graceful as a cat, and looked toward Alec.

Alec was relieved. He was terrified. He had questions.

He also noticed Tian’s expression. He looked stricken, and Alec wondered whether he hadn’t been around warlock magic much before. But Tian wasn’t looking at Magnus.

“Baigujing,” Tian said. He looked at the sky, then back to Alec. “The skeletons. They were the daughters of Baigujing.”

“Who?” said Isabelle.

“Ooh, I know this, I know this,” Simon said, raising his hand and bouncing up and down. Isabelle gave him a look and he put his hand down. “Sorry. I just Ascended this spring,” he said to Tian.

Tian made a go-ahead gesture. “No, feel free, if you want to explain.”

“Baigujing is a Greater Demon. She’s in Journey to the West,” he added. “The novel. Uh, she’s a shape-shifter, but her real form is a skeleton. And she has these… attendants.”

“Her daughters,” Tian said. He took a deep breath. “Baigujing herself is… well, neither she nor her attendants have been seen in our world in a long time.”

“Like you were saying,” said Clary, “demons nobody’s seen for a long time.”

“These demons were part of an army,” Tian said, shaking his head. “Baigujing was a captain in that army. But that army was destroyed and scattered generations ago. This should be completely impossible. And there’s more—”

“A lot of impossible things have been happening lately,” said Magnus, joining the others.

Simon folded his arms and regarded the warlock with narrowed eyes. “So, flying? You can just fly now? That’s a thing?”

“I… don’t really know,” Magnus said. He sounded distant. He gave Tian a wan smile. “Ke Yi Tian, is it? I’m Magnus Bane. High Warlock of Brooklyn.”

“You’ve already been higher today than any other warlock I know,” Tian said.

Magnus pointed a finger at him. “Good one. Do you think there might be somewhere I could lie down for a minute?”

Alec was at Magnus’s side in under a second, his arm around him, letting Magnus lean on him hard. Magnus was pale, his breath short. “He needs to rest,” Alec said to Tian. “Can we take him into the Institute?”

Tian shook his head. “That will lead to more trouble, not less. My family all knows Magnus, but there are other people coming in and out of the Institute constantly now that this Portal business is happening. And this warlock who doesn’t like you could find you here again.”

“What do you suggest?” Alec said.

Tian smiled. “How would you like to meet my grandmother?”