The Red Scrolls of Magic (The Eldest Curses, #1)(42)

The weird coincidence emboldened Alec to try again.

“I get shy when there are strangers too,” Alec told the kid.

“I’m not shy,” the boy sneered. “I just hate everyone around me and everything that is happening.”

“Well.” Alec shrugged. “Those feel like similar things sometimes.”

The boy lifted his curly head, pushing the grumpy cat mask off his face, and froze. Alec froze too, at the twin shock of fangs and familiarity. This was a vampire, and Alec knew him.

“Raphael?” he asked. “Raphael Santiago?”

He wondered what the second-in-command of the New York clan was doing here. Downworlders might be flooding in from all over the world, but Raphael had never struck Alec as a party animal.

Of course, he was not exactly coming off as a party animal now.

“Oh no, it’s you,” said Raphael. “The twelve-year-old idiot.”

Alec was not keen on vampires. They were, after all, people who had died. Alec had seen too much death to want reminders of it.

He understood that they were immortal, but there was no need to show off about it.

“We just fought a war together. I was with you in the graveyard when Simon came back as a vampire. You’ve seen me multiple times since I was twelve.”

“The thought of you at twelve haunts me,” Raphael said darkly.

“Okay,” Alec said, humoring him. “So have you seen a guy called Mori Shu anywhere around here?”

“I am trying not to make eye contact with anyone here,” said Raphael. “And I’m not a snitch for Shadowhunters. Or a fan of talking to people, of any kind, in any place.”

Alec rolled his eyes. At this point, a faerie woman came twirling through. She had leaves in her updo and was swathed in ribbons and ivy and not much else. She tripped on a trailing line of ivy and Alec caught her.

“Good reflexes!” she said brightly. “Also great arms. Would you be interested in a night of tumultuous forbidden passion, with an option to extend to seven years?”

“Um, I am gay,” Alec said.

He was not used to saying that casually, to any random person. It was strange to say it, and feel both relief and a shadow of his old fear, twined together.

Of course, the declaration might not mean much to faeries. The faerie woman accepted it with a shrug, then looked over at Raphael and lit up. Something about the leather jacket or the scowl seemed to appeal to her strongly.

“How about you, Vampire Without a Cause?”

“I’m not gay,” said Raphael. “I’m not straight. I’m not interested.”

“Your sexuality is ‘not interested’?” Alec asked curiously.

Raphael said, “That’s right.”

The faerie thought for a moment, then ventured, “I can also assume the appearance of a tree!”

“I didn’t say, ‘not interested unless you’re a tree.’?”

“Wait,” said the faerie suddenly. “I recognize you. You’re Raphael Santiago! I’ve heard of you.”

Raphael made a gesture of dismissal. “Have you heard I like it when people go away?”

“You were one of the heroes in the Downworlder victory over Valentine.”

“He was one of the heroes of the Downworlder and Shadowhunter alliance, which led to the victory,” Alec said.

Raphael stopped looking annoyed and began to look nastily amused.

“Oh, did the Shadowhunters help a little?” he asked.

“You were there!” said Alec.

“Can I have your autograph, Raphael?” asked the faerie lady.

She produced a large, shiny green leaf and a quill. Raphael wrote LEAVE ME ALONE on the leaf.

“I’ll cherish it,” said the faerie. She ran away, clutching the leaf to her bosom.

“Don’t,” Raphael yelled after her.

A blast of music echoing down the corridors was his only reply. Alec and Raphael both winced. Raphael glanced up at him.

“This is the worst party I’ve ever been to,” he said. “And I hate parties. People keep asking me whether I have extra superpowers, and I tell them they are thinking of Simon, whom I dislike.”

“That’s a little harsh,” said Alec.

“You have to be harsh with fledglings or they do not learn,” said Raphael sternly. “Besides, his jokes are stupid.”

“They’re not all gold,” Alec admitted.

“How do you know him?” Raphael snapped his fingers. “Wait, I remember. He’s friends with your annoying blond parabatai, right?”

He was, though Simon would probably be surprised to hear it. Alec was very familiar with how Jace behaved when he wanted to be your friend. He didn’t act friendly, which would have been too easy. Instead he just spent a lot of time in your presence until you got used to him being there, which he was clearly now doing with regard to Simon. When Jace and Alec were little, Jace had done a lot of hostile hanging around him, hoping to be noticed and loved. Alec honestly preferred it to awkward getting-to-know-you conversations.

“Right. Plus, Simon is sort of dating my sister, Isabelle,” said Alec.

“That can’t be,” said Raphael. “Isabelle can do better.”

“Er, do you know my sister?” Alec asked.