The Red Scrolls of Magic (The Eldest Curses, #1)(80)

Helen wore down the last demon with a series of quick slashes, puncturing its magma skin until it was shooting small jets of flame from all sides. Aline joined in, ducking a flaming fist and dashing past the demon to sink her blade into its back.

As soon as the last of the Cherufe demons fell, the fire was gone, leaving black scars on the earth and gray smoke drifting into the sky. There were still a few branches burning and pockets of ground smoldering, but there, too, the fire seemed to be slowly dying.

“Helen,” said Aline, panting, “are you all right?”

“I am,” Helen answered. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” said Alec. “Not that anyone asked.”

He stowed his bow and winced as he moved, but decided he could bear the pain. There was no time to celebrate their victory—he had to figure out where Magnus was, right away.

Helen clucked her tongue. “You are not fine.”

Alec was startled to recognize the expression on her face, half exasperation and half concern, which he knew he wore constantly whenever Jace or Isabelle was reckless. She really was an oldest sister.

Helen sat him down and pulled up his shirt, grimacing when she saw the red blistered wound. She took out her stele, pressed it over the injury, and began to draw an iratze. The outlines of her strokes glimmered gold and sank into his skin. Alec sucked in air through his clenched teeth as ripples of cold strummed his nerves. When the rune’s effects had subsided, there was only a raised red patch of skin left on his chest.

“I was slightly distracted by the walls of flame and our impending deaths,” said Aline. “But, Alec, did you say that the leader of the Crimson Hand told us to be here?”

He nodded. “There was a warlock who traveled with us named Shinyun Jung. She said she was a reformed Crimson Hand cultist and was trying to put an end to them—but I think she’s the leader we’ve been searching for. We need to find Magnus. He’s in danger.”

“Wait,” said Helen. “So you’re saying that your boyfriend isn’t the leader of the Crimson Hand, but you have another travel companion who is? Like, do you always insist on traveling with cultists?”

Alec glanced at Aline for support, but she only spread her hands, as if to indicate that she felt Helen was making a fair point.

“No, I always insist on traveling with cult leaders,” said Alec. He put his hand in the back pocket of his jeans and drew out the silk scarf he’d untied from Magnus’s throat this morning. He remembered that Magnus had kissed his wrist as he loosened the knot.

Alec clenched the silk material in his fist and drew a tracking rune on the back of his hand. It took a moment for the rune to take effect, and then he saw rows of figures all in white, and unclimbable walls. To his shock, he felt fear. He couldn’t imagine Magnus being afraid of anything.

Perhaps the fear he felt was his own.

He also felt a pull, his heart now a compass leading him in a specific direction. Back to Rome. No, not the city, but south of it.

“I found him,” Alec said. “We have to go.”

“I hate to mention this, but we did just escape a death trap,” said Aline. “How do we know we wouldn’t be walking right into another?”

Helen put her hand on Alec’s wrist and held tightly.

“We can’t go,” she said. “I’ve already made too many mistakes, going off on my own, and someone died as a result. We got lucky here. We need reinforcements. We need to go back to the Rome Institute and explain everything.”

“My priority is Magnus,” said Alec.

He knew Helen was only trying to do the right thing. Alec remembered his own deep frustration when his parabatai had started to chase a girl around on all kinds of lunatic death-defying missions. It felt very different now that he was the one in Jace’s shoes.

“Alec,” said Helen. “I know you don’t want to get Magnus in trouble—”

“I’ll go without you if I have to,” said Alec.

He couldn’t go to the Rome Institute. For one thing, he didn’t want to answer a lot of uncomfortable questions—if they were suspicious enough, they might send for the Mortal Sword, to force him to tell the truth. For another thing, he didn’t have time for any of that; he felt very certain that Magnus was in danger already. He needed to keep Magnus’s secret, and he needed to hurry.

He wished Aline and Helen would come with him, but he didn’t even know how to ask. He couldn’t demand that kind of faith from them. He had done nothing to deserve it.

“Of course you want to protect him,” said Helen. “If he’s not guilty, I want to protect him. We’re Shadowhunters. But the best way to protect him, and defeat the Crimson Hand, is to use every resource at our disposal.”

“No,” Alec said. “You don’t understand. Think of your family, Helen. You would die for them, I know. I would die for my family—for Isabelle, for Jace.” He exhaled. “And for Magnus. I would die for him, too. It would be a privilege to die for him.”

He shook off Helen’s hold on his wrist and started off in the direction the tracking rune guided him. Aline darted into his path.

“Aline,” Alec said with vehemence. “I will not risk Magnus’s life. I will not report to the Institute, I will not wait for reinforcements. I am going to get Magnus. Get out of my way.”