"Let me guess," Magnus said, exhaling smoke. It made a white cloud in the shape of a heart that distorted as it drifted away from his mouth, expanding and twisting until it was no longer recognizable. "You had the lemonade. "
Tessa and Will, now standing side by side, glanced at each other. It was Tessa who spoke first. "I-yes. Nate brought me some. "
"It has a bit of a warlock powder mixed into it," said Magnus. He was wearing all black, with no other ornamentation save on his hands. Each finger bore a ring set with a huge stone of a different color-lemon yel ow citrine, green jade, red ruby, blue topaz. "The kind that lowers your inhibitions and makes you do things you would"-he coughed delicately-"not otherwise do. "
"Oh," said Will. And then: "Oh. " His voice was low. He turned away, leaning his hands on the balustrade. Tessa felt her face begin to burn.
"Gracious, thats a lot of bosom youre showing," Magnus went on blithely, gesturing toward Tessa with the burning tip of his cigar. " Tout le monde sur le balcon, as they say in French," he added, miming a vast terrace jutting out from his chest. "Especial y apt, as we are now, in fact, on a balcony. "
"Let her alone," said Will. Tessa couldnt see his face; he had his head down. "She didnt know what she was drinking. "
Tessa crossed her arms, realized this only intensified the severity of the bosom problem, and dropped them. "This is Jessamines dress, and shes half my size," she snapped. "I would never go out like this under ordinary circumstances. "
Magnus raised his eyebrows. "Changed back into yourself, did you? When the lemonade took effect?"
Tessa scowled. She felt obscurely humiliated-to have been caught kissing Will ; to be standing in front of Magnus in something her aunt would have dropped dead to see her in-yet part of her wished Magnus would go away so she could kiss Will again. "What are you doing here, yourself, if I might ask?" she snapped ungraciously. "How did you know we were here?"
"I have sources," said Magnus, trailing smoke airily. "I thought you two might be up against it. Benedict Lightwoods parties have a reputation for danger. When I heard you were here-"
"Were well equipped to handle danger," Tessa said.
Magnus eyed her bosom openly. "I can see that," he said. "Armed to the teeth, as it were. " Done with his cigar, he flicked it over the balcony railing.
"One of Camil es human subjugates was here and recognized Will. He got a message to me, but if one of you was recognized already, whats the chance it could happen again? Its time to make yourselves scarce. "
"What do you care if we get out or not?" It was Will, his head still down, his voice muffled.
"You owe me," Magnus said, his voice steely. "I mean to col ect. "
Will turned on him. Tessa was startled to see the expression on his face.
He looked sick and ill. "I should have known that was it. "
"You may choose your friends, but not your unlikely saviors," Magnus said cheerful y. "Shal we go, then? Or would you rather stay here and take your chances? You can start up with the kissing where you left off when you get back to the Institute. "
Will scowled. "Get us out of here. "
Magnuss cat eyes gleamed. He snapped his fingers, and a shower of blue sparks fell around them in a sudden, startling rain. Tessa tensed, expecting them to burn her skin, but she felt only wind rushing past her face.
Her hair lifted as a strange energy crackled through her nerves. She heard Will gasp-and then they were standing on one of the stone paths in the garden, near the ornamental pond, the great Lightwood manor rising, silent and dark, above them.
"There," said Magnus in a bored tone. "That wasnt so difficult, was it?"
Will looked at him with no gratitude. "Magic," he muttered.
Magnus threw his hands up. They still crackled with blue energy, like heat lightning. "And just what do you think your precious runes are? Not magic?"
"Shush," Tessa said. She was bone-weary suddenly. She ached where the corset crushed her ribs, and her feet, in Jessamines too-smal shoes, were in agony. "Stop spouting off, the both of you. I think someones coming. "
They all paused, just as a chattering group rounded the corner of the house. Tessa froze. Even in the cloudy moonlight, she could see they were not human. They were not Downworlders, either. It was a group of demons- one a shambling corpse-like figure with black holes for eyes; another half again the size of a man, blue-skinned and dressed in a waistcoat and trousers, but with a barbed tail, lizards features, and a flat snakelike snout; and another that seemed to be a spinning wheel covered in wet red mouths.
Several things happened at once.
Tessa jammed the back of her hand against her mouth before she could scream. There was no point in running. The demons had already seen them and had come to a dead stop on the path. The smel of rot wafted from them, blotting out the scent of the trees.
Magnus raised his hand, blue fire circling his fingers. He was muttering words under his breath. He looked as discomposed as Tessa had ever seen him.
And Will -Will, whom Tessa had expected to reach for his seraph blades -did something entirely unexpected. He raised a trembling finger, pointed at the blue-skinned demon, and breathed, "You. "
The blue-skinned demon blinked. all the demons stood stock-still, looking at one another. There must have been some agreement in place, Tessa thought, to keep them from attacking the humans at the party, but she did not like the way the wet red mouths were licking their lips. "Er," the demon Will had addressed said, in a surprisingly ordinary voice. "I dont recal -That is, I dont think Ive had the pleasure of your acquaintance?"
"Liar!" Will staggered forward and charged; as Tessa watched in amazement, he barreled past the other demons and threw himself onto the blue demon. It let out a high-pitched shriek. Magnus was watching what was going on with his mouth open. Tessa cried, "Will! Will!" but he was rol ing over and over on the grass with the blue-skinned creature, which was surprisingly nimble. He had it by the back of its waistcoat, but it tore free and dashed away, streaking across the gardens, Will in hot pursuit.
Tessa took a few steps after them, but her feet were a white-hot agony.
Kicking off Jessamines shoes, she was about to race after Will when she realized the remaining demons were making an angry buzzing noise. They seemed to be addressing Magnus.
"Ah, well, you know," he said, having regained his composure, and he gestured in the direction Will had disappeared in. "Disagreement. Over a woman. It happens. "
The buzzing noise increased. It was clear the demons did not believe him.
"Gambling debt?" Magnus suggested. He snapped his fingers, and flame burst up from his palm, bathing the garden in a stark glow. "I suggest you not concern yourselves over-much with it, gentlemen. Festivities and merriment await you inside. " He gestured toward the narrow door that led to the bal room. "Much more pleasant than what Will await you out here if you continue to linger. "
That seemed to convince them. The demons moved off, buzzing and muttering, taking their stench of garbage with them.
Tessa spun around. "Quickly, we have to go after them-"
Magnus reached down and scooped her shoes up off the path. Holding them by their satin ribbons, he said, "Not so quickly, Cinderel a. Will s a Shadowhunter. He runs fast. Youl never catch him. "